Map of the Roman Empire - Lystra
Lystra
P-7 on the Map
Ancient Lystra was a city of Lycaonia. Its modern name is Klistra and it is located in Turkey. Lystra is mentioned in the Bible in Acts 14:6-21; It was the home of Timothy, Acts 16:1-2; and 1 Timothy 3:11.
Acts 14:6-21 - They were ware of [it], and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: And there they preached the gospel. And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked: The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. [Which] when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard [of], they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them. And there came thither [certain] Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and, having stoned Paul, drew [him] out of the city, supposing he had been dead. Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and [to] Iconium, and Antioch,
Acts 16:1-2 - Then came he to Derbe and Lystra: and, behold, a certain disciple was there, named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman, which was a Jewess, and believed; but his father [was] a Greek: Which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium.
1 Tim. 3:11 - Even so [must their] wives [be] grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things.
Lystra. A city of Lycaonia, on the confines of Isauria, celebrated as one chief scene of the preaching of Paul and Barnabas (Acts, xiv. 8). - Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
Lystra LYSTRALystra (Ancient Greek: Λύστρα) was a city in what is now modern Turkey. It is mentioned six times in the New Testament of the Bible and was visited a few times by the Apostle Paul, along with Barnabas or Silas.
History
The Roman Empire made Lystra a colony in 6 BC, possibly to gain better control
of the tribes in the mountains to the west. Later, it was incorporated into the
Roman province of Galatia and soon after, the Romans built a road connecting
Lystra to Iconium in the north. St. Paul visited here in 48 AD and again in 51
AD on his first and second missionary journeys.[2] In Christian times Lystra had
a bishop, and it is still a Roman Catholic titular see.[3]
Paul's Visit
Paul preached the gospel in Lystra after persecution drove him from Iconium.[4]
Here Paul healed a man lame from birth.[5] The man leaped up and began to walk
and thus so impressed the crowd that they took him for Hermes, because he was
the "chief speaker," and his companion Barnabas for Zeus. The crowd spoke in the
local Lycaonian language and wanted to offer sacrifices to them,[6] but Paul and
Barnabas tore their clothes and shouted that they were merely men. They used
this opportunity to tell the Lystrans of the Creator God. Soon, however, through
the influence of the Jewish leaders from Antioch, Pisidia and Iconium, they
stoned Paul and left him for dead.[7] As the disciples gathered around him, Paul
stood on his feet and went back into the town. The next day, he and Barnabas
left for Derbe; but on the return part of their journey, they stopped once more
at Lystra, encouraging the disciples there to steadfastness.
Paul visited this city again on his second missionary tour.[8] Timothy, a young
disciple there,[9] was likely among those who on the previous occasion at Lystra
witnessed Paul's persecution and courage. Timothy left Lystra to become the
companion of Paul and Silas on the rest of the Second Missionary Journey. It is
also possible that Paul revisited Lystra near the beginning of his Third
Missionary Journey.[10] Unlike other cities Paul visited, Lystra apparently had
no synagogue, though Timothy and his mother and grandmother were Jewish [11].
Perhaps for the first time in his missionary work, Paul was reaching Gentiles
with the gospel of Christ without approaching them through the common ground of
Judaism. - Wikipedia