Apostle Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul was likely born between the years of 5 BC and 5 AD. The Book of Acts and modern scholars agree that Paul came from the city of Tarsus, which was part of the Roman province of Cilicia. Paul the Apostle of the Gentiles, was born a Jew at Tarsus and studied under the respected Rabbi Gamaliel as a strict Pharisee at Jerusalem (Acts 22:3). The Acts of the Apostles indicates that Paul was a Roman citizen by birth, and scholars largely accept this claim.

In his childhood and youth, Paul learned how to "work with [his] own hands" (1 Corinthians 4:12). His trade, tent making, which he continued to practice after his conversion to Christianity, helps to explain important aspects of his apostleship.

While he was not one of the Twelve Apostles and did not know Jesus during his lifetime, Paul experienced a vision of the ascended Jesus on the road to Damascus. The account says that "He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' The reply came, 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting'." When Ananias of Damascus arrived, he laid his hands on him and said: "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit." His sight was restored, he got up and was baptized.

Paul founded several Christian communities in Asia Minor and Europe from the mid-40s to the mid-50s AD. This vision of the glory of God is the call by which Paul becomes the Apostle to the Gentiles, the greatest missionary in the history of Christianity. It is through his missionary efforts that Christianity, originally a sect of Judaism, becomes a world religion.

Paul was attacked and beaten by a mob for preaching against the enactments of the Jewish Law, but Paul invoked his privileges as a Roman citizen and eventually appealed to Caesar for a trial at Rome, as his life was in danger. On the voyage to Rome he suffered shipwreck at Malta. When he reached it, he was under house arrest for two years, during which time he wrote the four 'captivity' epistles.

St. Paul, a Roman citizen, was beheaded. Led in chains under the escort of three soldiers, St. Paul was condemned to death at Acque Salvie, three miles from the city of Rome (today the site of the Three Fountains Abbey).

Of the 27 books of the New Testament, 13 are traditionally attributed to Saint Paul, though several may have been written by his disciples. Paul's epistles continue to be vital roots of the theology, worship, and pastoral life in the Latin and Protestant traditions of the West, as well as the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions of the East. Paul's influence on Christian thought and practice is pervasive in scope and profound in impact.

At the time of his death, Paul was the founder of many of the ancient Orthodox churches of the East, but he is perhaps most closely associated with the Church of Antioch, which includes him with St. Peter as its patron saint. The Church remembers St. Paul together with St. Peter on June 29.

The holy, glorious, and all-laudable Apostle Paul holds a unique place in the life of the Church. Though not one of the original Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus during His earthly ministry, Paul was chosen by God to take the place of Judas, as evidenced by Orthodox hymnography and iconography. Paul was the "Apostle to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:13, Galatians 2:8, 1 Timothy 2:7), being called by God as an apostle while on the road to Damascus.

Named Saul at his birth in the city of Tarsus, the holy apostle was a son of the tribe of Benjamin. Saul became a Pharisee under Gamaliel, one of the chief Jewish Rabbis (Masters/Teachers) of the day. After his study under the great Rabbi, Saul became one of the chief persecutors of Christians. Present at the stoning of St Stephen (Acts 7: 58), Saul later found himself blinded by Jesus Himself on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-22). Sought out by the Apostle Ananias, Saul immediately repented and Ananias baptized him.

The account of Paul's missionary journeys and the letters he wrote to the Churches he founded form an important part of the New Testament. St. Paul was martyred with the Apostle Peter under Nero by beheading. The life of St. Paul, his letters in particular, are celebrated in the Orthodox Church with annual feasts and fasts.