On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there — the absence of a synagogue in Philippi (itself remarkable for a significant Jewish settlement) meant the Jewish community gathered at the riverside (rivers provided water for ritual purification). Luke's notation that women gathered suggests their prominence in this particular prayer group, possibly indicating male Jewish leadership's absence.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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