July: Day 14: Teaching 2:
Holy Apostle Aquila
(Believers Must Be of One Mind)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
Holy Apostle Aquila
(Believers Must Be of One Mind)
By Archpriest Grigory Dyachenko
I. The Holy Apostle Aquila, whose memory is celebrated today, was a Jew from Pontus, who believed in the Lord Jesus, and lived in Rome with his wife Priscilla. On account of unrest among the Jews, Caesar Claudius expelled them all from Rome, and then Aquila moved to Corinth, where he lived by his trade making tents. When the Apostle Paul arrived in Corinth from Athens, he settled in the house of Aquila, and they both worked together, engaging in the same trade. Paul found in Aquila and his wife zealous co-workers; they helped him spread the word of God, joyfully enduring persecution and danger for the holy cause. They followed Paul to Ephesus and there labored with the same zeal. In the Acts it is mentioned that when Apollos of Alexandria began to teach about the Lord, Aquila and Priscilla received him and also explained to him the ways of the Lord, for Apollos knew only the baptism of John. When Apollos went to Achaia, Aquila and Priscilla gave him letters to the disciples there, so that he would be received with love. “So the believers then acted with one mind” with “zeal and a fervent spirit,” serving God with all their strength, with all their means. Ardent love united them; they all considered themselves brothers in Christ and loved one another as brothers. In many of his epistles the Apostle Paul mentions his faithful co-workers. In the Epistle to the Romans he says: “Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in Christ Jesus, who laid down their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles, and the church in their house” (Rom. 16:3-4).