Macedonia

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burning; adoration
Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary


MACEDONIA.—The Macedonians were a part of the Hellenic race who settled early in history in the region round the river Axius at the N. W. corner of the Ægæan. When they first came into Greek politics they had dominion from the mountains N. of Thessaly to the river Strymon, except where the Greek colonies of the peninsula of Chalcidice kept them back. Their race was probably much mixed with Illyrian and Thracian elements; they did not advance in culture with Southern Greece, but kept their primitive government under a king, and were regarded by the Greeks as aliens. Down to the time of Philip (b.c. 359) they played a minor part as allies of various Greek cities having interests in the N. Ægæan. Under Philip, through his organization of an army and his diplomatic skill, they became masters of Greece, and under his son Alexander conquered the East. The dynasties which they established in Syria and Egypt were Macedonian, but in the subsequent Hellenization of the East they took no larger part than other Greek races. In their original dominions they remained a hardy and vigorous race. After several wars with Rome, Macedonia was divided into four separate districts with republican government, but it received the regular organization of a province in b.c. 146.
Macedonia was the scene of St. Paul’s first work in Europe. See Philippi, Thessalonica, Berœa. The province at that time included Thessaly, and stretched across to the Adriatic; but Philippi was a colony, not subject to the governor of the province, and Thessalonica was also a ‘free city,’ with the right of appointing its own magistrates. The Via Egnatia ran across the province from Dyrrhachium to Neapolis, and St. Paul’s journey was along this from Neapolis through Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia, to Thessalonica. A further visit is recorded in Act_20:3-8, and the Pastoral Epistles imply another after his first imprisonment (1Ti_1:3).
A. E. Hillard.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


The first country in Europe where Paul preached the gospel, in obedience to the vision of a man of Macedonia, saying "come over and help us." The Haemus (Balkan) range, separating it from Maesia, is on its N.; the Pindus, separating it from Epirus, on the W.; the Cambunian hills S. separating Macedonia from Thessaly; Thrace and the Aegean sea E. There are two great plains, one watered by the Axius entering the sea near Thessalonica, the other by the Strymon which passes near Philippi and empties itself below Amphipolis. Between lies Mount Athos, across the neck of which Paul often travelled with his companions. Philip (from whom Philippi is named) and Alexander were its most famous kings. When Rome conquered it from Perseus, Aemilius Paulus after the battle of Pydna divided it into Macedonia Prima, Secunda, Tertia, and Quarta. Macedonia Prima, the region E. of the Strymon, had Amphipolis as its capital, Macedonia Secunda, the region between the Strymon and Axius, had Thessalonica. Macedonia Tertia, from the Axius to the Peneus, had Pella.
Macedonia Quarta, the remainder, had Pelagonia. In New Testament times the whole of Macedonia, Thessaly, and a district along the Adriatic, was made one province under a proconsul at Thessalonica the capital. The great Ignatian Road joined Philippi and Thessalonica, and led toward Illyricum (Rom_15:19). Philippi had supplanted Amphipolis in importance. Mention of Macedonia in this wide sense occurs Act_16:9-12; Act_18:5; Act_19:21-22; Act_19:29; Act_20:1-3; Act_27:2; Rom_15:26; 1Co_16:5; 2Co_1:16; 2Co_2:13; 2Co_7:5; 2Co_8:1; 2Co_9:2; 2Co_9:4; 2Co_11:9; Php_4:15; 1Th_1:7-8; 1Th_4:10; 1Ti_1:3 (which last passage proves Paul accomplished the wish expressed in his first imprisonment, Php_2:24). Achaia S., Illyricum N.W., and Macedonia comprehended the whole region between the Danube and the southernmost point of the Peloponnese.
The Macedonian Christians are highly commended; the Bereans for their readiness in receiving the word, and withal diligence in testing the preached word by the written word (Act_17:11); the Thessalonians for their "work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus," so that they were "examples" to all others (1Th_1:3; 1Th_1:7); the Philippians for their liberal contributions to Paul's sustenance (Php_4:10; Php_4:14-19; 2Co_9:2; 2Co_11:9). Lydia was the first European convert, and women were Paul's first congregation (Act_16:13-14); so the female element is prominent at Philippi in the epistle to the Philippians as working for Christ (Php_4:2-3). How Christianity, starting from that beginning, has since elevated woman socially throughout Europe!
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
By Andrew Robert Fausset, co-Author of Jamieson, Fausset and Brown's 1888.


Macedo'nia. (extended land). A large and celebrated country lying north of Greece, the first part of Europe which received the gospel directly from St. Paul, and an important scene of his subsequent missionary labors and those of his companions. It was bounded by the range of Haemus or the Balkan northward, by the chain of Pindus westward, by the Cambunian hills southward, by which it is separated from Thessaly, an is divided on the east from Thrace by a less definite mountain boundary running southward from Haemus.
Of the space thus enclosed, two of the most remarkable physical features are two great plains, one watered by the Axius, which comes to the sea, at the Thermaic Gulf, not far from Thessalonica; the other by the Strymon, which after passing near Philippi, flows out below Amphipolis. Between the mouths of these two rivers, a remarkable peninsula projects, dividing itself into three points, on the farthest of which Mount Athos rises nearly into the region of perpetual snow. Across the neck of this peninsula, St. Paul travelled, more than once, with his companions.
This general sketch sufficiently describes the Macedonia which was ruled over by Philip and Alexander and which the Romans conquered from Perseas. At first, the conquered country was divided by Aemilius Paulus into four districts, but afterward, was made one province and centralized under the jurisdiction of a proconsul, who resided at Thessalonica.
The character of the Christians of Macedonia is set before us in Scripture in a very favorable light. The candor of the Bereans is highly commented, Act_17:11, the Thessalonians were evidently objects of St. Paul's peculiar affection, 1Th_2:8; 1Th_2:17-20; 1Th_3:10, and the Philippians, besides their general freedom from blame, are noted as remarkable for their liberality and self-denial. Phm_4:10; Phm_4:14-19; 2Co_9:2; 2Co 9:11:9.
Smith's Bible Dictionary
By Dr. William Smith.Published in 1863


a kingdom of Greece, having Thrace to the north, Thessaly south, Epirus west, and the AEgean Sea east. Alexander the Great, son of Philip, king of Macedonia, having conquered Asia, and subverted the Persian empire, the name of the Macedonians became very famous throughout the east; and it is often given to the Greeks, the successors of Alexander in the monarchy. In like manner, the name of Greeks is often put for Macedonians, 2Ma_4:36. When the Roman empire was divided, Macedonia fell to the share of the emperor of the east. After it had long continued subject to the Romans, it fell under the power of the Ottoman Turks, who are the present masters of it.
St. Paul was invited by an angel of the Lord, who appeared to him at Troas, to come and preach the Gospel in Macedonia, Act_16:9. After this vision, the Apostle no longer doubted his divine call to preach the Gospel in Macedonia; and the success that attended his ministry confirmed him in his persuasion. Here he laid the foundation of the churches of Thessalonica and Philippi.
Biblical and Theological Dictionary by Richard Watson
PRINTER 1849.


Macedonia was the northern part of the land known today as Greece, and the centre of power during the time of the Greek Empire. It later became an important province of the Roman Empire. Ships from the port of Troas in Asia Minor connected with the port of Neapolis in Macedonia, from where the main highway led through the Macedonian town of Philippi, Amphipolis, Apollonia and Thessalonica towards Rome (Act_16:11-12; Act_17:1). Another route went south from Thessalonica through Berea to Athens (Act_17:10-15). The administrative centre of the province was Thessalonica.

Paul passed through Macedonia on his second missionary journey and established churches in a number of towns (Act_16:9-40; Act_17:1-14; see BEREA; THESSALONICA; PHILIPPI). He revisited the area during his third missionary journey (Act_19:21; Act_20:1-6; 1Co_16:5; 2Co_2:13; 2Co_7:5). At this time Paul was organizing a collection of money for the poor Christians in Jerusalem, and the Macedonian churches cooperated generously (Rom_15:26; 2Co_8:1-4; 2Co_9:1-4). After being released from his first imprisonment in Rome, Paul visited Macedonia again (1Ti_1:3).
Bridgeway Bible Dictionary by Don Fleming
PRINTER 1990.


mas-ḗ-dō?ni-a (Μακεδονία, Makedonı́a, ethnic Μακεδών, Makedṓn):
I. THE MACEDONIAN PEOPLE AND LAND
II. HISTORY OF MACEDONIA
1. Philip and Alexander
2. Roman Intervention
3. Roman Conquest
4. Macedonia a Roman Province
5. Later History
III. PAUL AND MACEDONIA
1. Paul's First Visit
2. Paul's Second Visit
3. Paul's Third Visit
4. Paul's Later Visits
IV. THE MACEDONIAN CHURCH
1. Prominence of Women
2. Marked Characteristics
3. Its Members
LITERATURE
A country lying to the North of Greece, afterward enlarged and formed into a Roman province; it is to the latter that the term always refers when used in the New Testament.

I. The Macedonian People and Land.
Ethnologists differ about the origin of the Macedonian race and the degree of its affinity to the Hellenes. But we find a well-marked tradition in ancient times that the race comprised a Hellenic element and a non-Hellenic, though Aryan, element, closely akin to the Phrygian and other Thracian stocks. The dominant race, the Macedonians in the narrower sense of the term, including the royal family, which was acknowledged to be Greek and traced its descent through the Temenids of Argos back to Heracles (Herodotus v. 22), settled in the fertile plains about the lower Haliacmon (Karasu or Vistritza) and Axius (Vardar), to the North and Northwest of the Thermaic Gulf. Their capital, which was originally at Edessa or Aegae (Vodhena), was afterward transferred to Pella by Philip II. The other and older element - the Lyncestians, Orestians, Pelagonians and other tribes - were pushed back northward and westward into the highlands, where they struggled for generations to maintain their independence and weakened the Macedonian state by constant risings and by making common cause with the wild hordes of Illyrians and Thracians, with whom we find the Macedonian kings in frequent conflict. In order to maintain their position they entered into a good understanding from time to time with the states of Greece or acknowledged temporarily Persian suzerainty, and thus gradually extended the sphere of their power.

II. History of Macedonia.
Herodotus (viii. 137-39) traces the royal line from Perdiccas I through Argaeus, Philip I, Aeropus, Alcetas and Amyntas I to Alexander I, who was king at the time of the Persian invasions of Greece. He and his son and grandson, Perdiccas II and Archelaus, did much to consolidate Macedonian power, but the death of Archelaus (399 BC) was followed by 40 years of disunion and weakness.

1. Philip and Alexander:
With the accession of Philip II, son of Amyntas II, in 359 BC, Macedonia came under the rule of a man powerful alike in body and in mind, an able general and an astute diplomatist, one, moreover, who started out with a clear perception of the end at which he must aim, the creation of a great national army and a nation-state, and worked consistently and untiringly throughout his reign of 23 years to gain that object. He welded the Macedonian tribes into a single nation, won by force and fraud the important positions of Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, Olynthus, Abdera and Maronea, and secured a plentiful supply of gold by founding Philippi on the site of Crenides. Gradually extending his rule over barbarians and Greeks alike, he finally, after the battle of Chaeronea (338 BC), secured his recognition by the Greeks themselves as captain-general of the Hellenic states and leader of a Greco-Macedonian crusade against Persia. On the eve of this projected eastern expedition, however, he was assassinated by order of his dishonored wife Olympias (336 BC), whose son, Alexander the Great, succeeded to the throne. After securing his hold on Thrace, Illyria and Greece, Alexander turned eastward and, in a series of brilliant campaigns, overthrew the Persian empire. The battle of the Granicus (334 BC) was followed by the submission or subjugation of most of Asia Minor. By the battle of Issus (333), in which Darius himself was defeated, Alexander's way was opened to Phoenicia and Egypt; Darius' second defeat, at Arbela (331), sealed the fate of the Persian power. Babylon, Susa, Persepolis and Ecbatana were taken in turn, and Alexander then pressed eastward through Hyrcania, Aria, Arachosia, Bactria and Sogdiana to India, which he conquered as far as the Hyphasis (Sutlej): thence he returned through Gedrosia, Carmania and Persis to Babylon, to make preparations for the conquest of Arabia. A sketch of his career is given in 1 Macc 1:1-7, where he is spoken of as ?Alexander the Macedonian, the son of Philip, who came out of the land of Chittim? (1:1): his invasion of Persia is also referred to in 1 Macc 6:2, where he is described as ?the Macedonian king, who reigned first among the Greeks,? i.e. the first who united in a single empire all the Greek states, except those which lay to the West of the Adriatic. It is the conception of the Macedonian power as the deadly foe of Persia which is responsible for the description of Haman in Additions to Esther 16:10 as a Macedonian, ?an alien in truth from the Persian blood,? and for the attribution to him of a plot to transfer the Persian empire to the Macedonians (verse 14), and this same thought appears in the Septuagint's rendering of the Hebrew Agagite (אגגי, 'ăghāghı̄) in Est_9:24 as Macedonian (Makedōn).

2. Roman Intervention:
Alexander died in June 323 BC, and his empire fell a prey to the rivalries of his chief generals (1 Macc 1:9); after a period of struggle and chaos, three powerful kingdoms were formed, taking their names from Macedonia, Syria and Egypt. Even in Syria, however, Macedonian influences remained strong, and we find Macedonian troops in the service of the Seleucid monarchs (2 Macc 8:20). In 215 King Philip V, son of Demetrius II and successor of Antigonus Doson (229-220 BC), formed an alliance with Hannibal, who had defeated the Roman forces at Lake Trasimene (217) and at Cannae (216), and set about trying to recover Illyria. After some years of desultory and indecisive warfare, peace was concluded in 205, Philip binding himself to abstain from attacking the Roman possessions on the East of the Adriatic. The Second Macedonian War, caused by a combined attack of Antiochus III of Syria and Philip of Macedon on Egypt, broke out in 200 and ended 3 years later in the crushing defeat of Philip's forces by T. Quinctius Flamininus at Cynoscephalae in Thessaly (compare 1 Macc 8:5). By the treaty which followed this battle, Philip surrendered his conquests in Greece, Illyria, Thrace, Asia Minor and the Aegean, gave up his fleet, reduced his army to 5,000 men, and undertook to declare no war and conclude no alliance without Roman consent.

3. Roman Conquest:
In 179 Philip was succeeded by his son Perseus, who at once renewed the Roman alliance, but set to work to consolidate and extend his power. In 172 war again broke out, and after several Roman reverses the consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus decisively defeated the Macedonians at Pydna in 168 BC (compare 1 Macc 8:5, where Perseus is called ?king of Chittim ?). The kingship was abolished and Perseus was banished to Italy. The Macedonians were declared free and autonomous; their land was divided into four regions, with their capitals at Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella and Pelagonia respectively, and each of them was governed by its own council; commercium and connubium were forbidden between them and the gold and silver mines were closed. A tribute was to be paid annually to the Roman treasury, amounting to half the land tax hitherto exacted by the Macedonian kings.

4. Macedonia a Roman Province:
But this compromise between freedom and subjection could not be of long duration, and after the revolt of Andriscus, the pseudo-Philip, was quelled (148 BC), Macedonia was constituted a Roman province and enlarged by the addition of parts of Illyria, Epirus, the Ionian islands and Thessaly. Each year a governor was dispatched from Rome with supreme military and judicial powers; the partition fell into abeyance and communication within the province was improved by the construction of the Via Egnatia from Dyrrhachium to Thessalonica, whence it was afterward continued eastward to the Nestus and the Hellespont. In 146 the Acheans, who had declared war on Rome, were crushed by Q. Caecilius Metellus and L. Mummius, Corinth was sacked and destroyed, the Achean league was dissolved, and Greece, under the name of Achea, was made a province and placed under the control of the governor of Macedonia. In 27 BC, when the administration of the provinces was divided between Augustus and the Senate, Macedonia and Achea fell to the share of the latter (Strabo, p. 840; Dio Cassius liii. 12) and were governed separately by ex-praetors sent out annually with the title of proconsul. In 15 AD, however, senatorial mismanagement had brought the provinces to the verge of ruin, and they were transferred to Tiberius (Tacitus, Annals, i. 76), who united them under the government of a legatus Augusti pro praetore until, in 44 AD, Claudius restored them to the Senate (Suetonius, Claudius 25; Dio Cassius lx .24). It is owing to this close historical and geographical connection that we find Macedonia and Achia frequently mentioned together in the New Testament, Macedonia being always placed first (Act_19:21; Rom_15:26; 2Co_9:2; 1Th_1:7, 1Th_1:8).

5. Later History:
Diocletian (284-305 AD) detached from Macedonia Thessaly and the Illyrian coast lands and formed them into two provinces, the latter under the name of Epirus Nova. Toward the end of the 4th century what remained of Macedonia was broken up into two provinces, Macedonia prima and Macedonia secunda or salutaris, and when in 395 the Roman world was divided into the western and eastern empires, Macedonia was included in the latter. During the next few years it was overrun and plundered by the Goths under Alaric, and later, in the latter half of the 6th century, immense numbers of Slavonians settled there. In the 10th century a large part of it was under Bulgarian rule, and afterward colonies of various Asiatic tribes were settled there by the Byzantine emperors. In 1204 it became a Latin kingdom under Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, but 20 years later Theodore, the Greek despot of Epirus, founded a Greek empire of Thessalonica. During the 2nd half of the 14th century the greater part of it was part of the Servian dominions, but in 1430 Thessalonica fell before the Ottoman Turks, and from that time down to the year 1913 Macedonia has formed part of the Turkish empire. Its history thus accounts for the very mixed character of its population, which consists chiefly of Turks, Albanians, Greeks and Bulgarians, but has in it a considerable element of Jews, Gypsies, Vlachs, Servians and other races.

III. Paul and Macedonia.
In the narrative of Paul's journeys as given us in Acts 13 through 28 and in the Pauline Epistles, Macedonia plays a prominent part. The apostle's relations with the churches of Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea will be found discussed under those several headings; here we will merely recount in outline his visits to the province.

1. Paul's First Visit:
On his 2nd missionary journey Paul came to Troas, and from there sailed with Silas, Timothy and Luke to Neapolis, the nearest Macedonian seaport, in obedience to the vision of a Macedonian (whom Ramsay identifies with Luke: see under the word ?Philippi?) urging him to cross to Macedonia and preach the gospel there (Act_16:9). From Neapolis he journeyed inland to Philippi, which is described as ?a city of Macedonia, the first of the district? (Act_16:12). Thence Paul and his two companions (for Luke appears to have remained in Philippi for the next 5 years) traveled along the Ignatian road, passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, to Thessalonica, which, though a ?free city,? and therefore technically exempt from the jurisdiction of the Roman governor, was practically the provincial capital. Driven thence by the hostility of the Jews, the evangelists preached in Berea, where Silas and Timothy remained for a short time after a renewed outbreak of Jewish animosity had forced Paul to leave Macedonia for the neighboring province of Achaia (Act_17:14). Although he sent a message to his companions to join him with all speed at Athens (Act_17:15), yet so great was his anxiety for the welfare of the newly founded Macedonian churches that he sent Timothy back to Thessalonica almost immediately (1Th_3:1, 1Th_3:2), and perhaps Silas to some other part of Macedonia, nor did they again join him until after he had settled for some time in Corinth (Act_18:5; 1Th_3:6). The rapid extension of the Christian faith in Macedonia at this time may be judged from the phrases used by Paul in his 1st Epistle to the Thessalonians, the earliest of his extant letters, written during this visit to Corinth. He there speaks of the Thessalonian converts as being an example ?to all that believe in Macedonia and in Achaia? (1Th_1:7), and he commends their love ?toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia? (1Th_4:10). Still more striking are the words, ?From you hath sounded forth the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith to God-ward is gone forth? (1Th_1:8).

2. Paul's Second Visit:
On his 3rd missionary journey, the apostle paid two further visits to Macedonia. During the course of a long stay at Ephesus he laid plans for a 2nd journey through Macedonia and Achaia, and dispatched two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia to prepare for his visit (Act_19:21, Act_19:22). Some time later, after the uproar at Ephesus raised by Demetrius and his fellow-silversmiths (Acts 19:23-41), Paul himself set out for Macedonia (Act_20:1). Of this visit Luke gives us a very summary account, telling us merely that Paul, ?when he had gone through those parts, and had given them much exhortation,... came into Greece? (Act_20:2); but from 2 Cor, written from Macedonia (probably from Philippi) during the course of this visit, we learn more of the apostle's movements and feelings. While at Ephesus, Paul had changed his plans. His intention at first had been to travel across the Aegean Sea to Corinth, to pay a visit from there to Macedonia and to return to Corinth, so as to sail direct to Syria (2Co_1:15, 2Co_1:16). But by the time at which he wrote the 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, probably near the end of his stay at Ephesus, he had made up his mind to go to Corinth by way of Macedonia, as we have seen that he actually did (1Co_16:5, 1Co_16:6). From 2Co_2:13 we learn that he traveled from Ephesus to Troas, where he expected to find Titus. Titus, however, did not yet arrive, and Paul, who ?had no relief for (his) spirit,? left Troas and sailed to Macedonia. Even here the same restlessness pursued him: ?fightings without, fears within? oppressed him, till the presence of Titus brought some relief (2Co_7:5, 2Co_7:6). The apostle was also cheered by ?the grace of God which had been given in the churches of Macedonia? (2Co_8:1); in the midst of severe persecution, they bore their trials with abounding joy, and their deep poverty did not prevent them begging to be allowed to raise a contribution to send to the Christians in Jerusalem (Rom_15:26; 2Co_8:2-4). Liberality was, indeed, from the very outset one of the characteristic virtues of the Macedonian churches. The Philippians had sent money to Paul on two occasions during his first visit to Thessalonica (Phi_4:16), and again when he had left Macedonia and was staying at Corinth (2Co_11:9; Phi_4:15). On the present occasion, however, the Corinthians seem to have taken the lead and to have prepared their bounty in the previous year, on account of which the apostle boasts of them to the Macedonian Christians (2Co_9:2). He suggests that on his approaching visit to Achaia he may be accompanied by some of these Macedonians (2Co_9:4), but whether this was actually the case we are not told.

3. Paul's Third Visit:
The 3rd visit of Paul to Macedonia took place some 3 months later and was occasioned by a plot against his life laid by the Jews of Corinth, which led him to alter his plan of sailing from Cenchrea, the eastern seaport of Corinth, to Syria (2Co_1:16; Act_20:3). He returned to Macedonia accompanied as far as Asia by 3 Macedonian Christians - Sopater, Aristarchus and Secundus - and by 4 from Asia Minor. Probably Paul took the familiar route by the Via Egnatia, and reached Philippi immediately before the days of unleavened bread; his companions preceded him to Troas (Act_20:5), while he himself remained at Philippi until after the Passover (Thursday, April 7, 57 AD, according to Ramsay's chronology), when he sailed from Neapolis together with Luke, and joined his friends in Troas (Act_20:6).

4. Paul's Later Visits:
Toward the close of his 1st imprisonment at Rome Paul planned a fresh visit to Macedonia as soon as he should be released (Phi_1:26; Phi_2:24), and even before that he intended to send Timothy to visit the Philippian church and doubtless those of Berea and Thessalonica also. Whether Timothy actually went on this mission we cannot say; that Paul himself went back to Macedonia once more we learn from 1Ti_1:3, and we may infer a 5th visit from the reference to the apostle's stay at Troas, which in all probability belongs to a later occasion (2Ti_4:13).

IV. The Macedonian Church.
1. Prominence of Women:
Of the churches of Macedonia in general, little need be said here. A striking fact is the prominence in them of women, which is probably due to the higher social position held by women in this province than in Asia Minor (Lightfoot, Philippians4, 55 ff). We find only two references to women in connection with Paul's previous missionary work; the women proselytes of high social standing take a share in driving him from Pisidian Antioch (Act_13:50), and Timothy's mother is mentioned as a Jewess who believed (Act_16:1). But in Macedonia all is changed. To women the gospel was first preached at Philippi (Act_16:13); a woman was the first convert and the hostess of the evangelists (Act_16:14, Act_16:15); a slave girl was restored to soundness of mind by the apostle (Act_16:18), and long afterward Paul mentions two women as having ?labored with (him) in the gospel? and as endangering the peace of the church by their rivalry (Phi_4:2, Phi_4:3). At Thessalonica a considerable number of women of the first rank appear among the earliest converts (Act_17:4), while at Berea also the church included from the outset numerous Greek women of high position (Act_17:12).

2. Marked Characteristics:
The bond uniting Paul and the Macedonian Christians seems to have been a peculiarly close and affectionate one. Their liberality and open-heartedness, their joyousness and patience in trial and persecution, their activity in spreading the Christian faith, their love of the brethren - these are a few of the characteristics which Paul specially commends in them (1 and 2 Thessalonians; Philippians; 2Co_8:1-8), while they also seem to have been much freer than the churches of Asia Minor from Judaizing tendencies and from the allurements of ?philosophy and vain deceit.?

3. Its Members:
We know the names of a few of the early members of the Macedonian churches - Sopater (Act_20:4) or Sosipater (Rom_16:21 : the identification is a probable, though not a certain, one) of Berea; Aristarchus (Act_19:29; Act_20:4; Act_27:2; Col_4:10; Phm_1:24), Jason (Act_17:5-9; Rom_16:21?) and Secundus (Act_20:4) of Thessalonica; Clement (Phi_4:3), Epaphroditus (Phi_2:25; Phi_4:18), Euodia (Phi_4:2; this, not Euodias (the King James Version), is the true form), Syntyche (same place) , Lydia (Act_16:14, Act_16:40; a native of Thyatira), and possibly Luke (Ramsay, St. Paul the Traveler, 201 ff) of Philippi. Gaius is also mentioned as a Macedonian in Act_19:29, but perhaps the reading of a few manuscripts Μακεδόνα is to be preferred to the Textus Receptus of the New Testament Μακεδόνας in which case Aristarchus alone would be a Macedonian, and this Gaius would probably be identical with the Gaius of Derbe mentioned in Act_20:4 as a companion of Paul (Ramsay, op. cit., 280). The later history of the Macedonian churches, together with lists of all their known bishops, will be found in Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, II, 1 ff; III, 1089 ff 1045 f.

Literature.
General: C. Nicolaides, Macedonien, Berlin, 1899; Berard, La Macedoine, Paris, 1897; ?Odysseus,? Turkey in Europe, London, 1900. Secular History: Hogarth, Philip and Alexander of Macedon, London, 1897, and the histories of the Hellenistic period by Holm, Niese, Droysen and Kaerst. Ethnography and Language: O. Hoffmann, Die Makedonen, ihre Sprache und ihr Volkstum, Gottingen, 1906. Topography and Antiquities: Heuzey and Daumet, Mission archeologique de Macedoine, Paris, 1876; Cousinery, Voyage dans la Macedoine, Paris, 1831; Clarke, Travels 4, VII, VIII, London, 1818; Leake, Travels in Northern Greece, III, London, 1835; Duchesne and Bayet, Memoire sur une mission en Macedoine et au Mont Athos, Paris, 1876; Hahn, Reise von Belgrad nach Saloniki, Vienna, 1861. Coins: Head, Historia Nummorum, 193 f; British Museum Catalogue of Coins: Macedonia, etc., London, 1879. Inscriptions: CIG, numbers 1951-2010; CIL, III, 1 and III, Suppl.; Dimitsas,Ἡ Μακεδονία Athens, 1896.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Macedo′nia, a country lying to the north of Greece Proper, having on the east Thrace and the Aegean Sea, on the west the Adriatic and Illyria, on the north Dardania and M?sia, and on the south Thessaly and Epirus. The country is supposed to have been first peopled by Chittim or Kittim, a son of Javan (Gen_10:4) [NATIONS, DISPERSION OF]; and in that case it is probable that the Macedonians are sometimes intended when the word Chittim occurs in the Old Testament. Macedonia was the original kingdom of Philip and Alexander, by means of whose victories the name of the Macedonians became celebrated throughout the East, and is often used for the Greeks in Asia generally. The rise of the great empire formed by Alexander is described by the prophet Daniel under the emblem of a goat with one horn (Dan_8:3-8). As the horn was a general symbol of power, and as the oneness of the horn implies merely the unity of that power, we are not prepared to go the lengths of some over-zealous illustrators of Scripture, who argue that if a one-horned goat were not a recognized symbol of Macedonia we should not be entitled to conclude that Macedonia was intended. We hold that there could be no mistake in the matter, whatever may have been the usual symbol of Macedonia. It is, however, curious and interesting to know that Daniel did describe Macedonia under its usual symbol, as coins still exist in which that country is represented under the figure of a one-horned goat. There has been much discussion on this subject?more curious than valuable?but the kernel of it lies in this fact.
When subdued by the Romans under Paulus ?milius (B.C. 168), Macedonia was divided into four provinces; but afterwards (B.C. 142) the whole of Greece was divided into two great provinces, Macedonia and Achaia [GREECE, ACHAIA]. Macedonia therefore constituted a Roman province, governed by a proconsul, in the time of Christ and his Apostles.
The Apostle Paul being summoned in a vision, while at Troas, to preach the Gospel in Macedonia, proceeded thither, and founded the churches of Thessalonica and Philippi (Act_16:9), A.D. 55. This occasions repeated mention of the name, either alone (Act_18:5; Act_19:21; Rom_15:26; 2Co_1:16; 2Co_11:9; Php_4:15), or along with Achaia (2Co_9:2; 1Th_1:7). The principal cities of Macedonia were Amphipolis, Thessalonica, and Pella (Liv. xlv. 29); the towns of the province named in the New Testament, and noticed in the present work, are Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Neapolis, Apollonia, and Berea.




The Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature
by John Kitto.


Macedonia
(Μακεδονία, from a supposed founder Macenus or Macedon), a name originally confined to the district lying north of Thessaly, east of the Cardanian mountains (a prolongation of Mount Pindus), and west of the River Axius; but afterwards extended to the country lying to the north of Greece Proper, having on the east Thrace and the AEgaean Sea, on the west the Adriatic and Illyria, on the north Dardania and Moesia, and on the south Thessaly and Epirus. “In a rough and popular description it is enough to say that Macedonia is the region bounded inland by the range of Haemus or the Balkan northwards and the chain of Pindus westwards, beyond which the streams flow respectively to the Danube and Adriatic; that it is separated from Thessaly on the south by the Cambunian hills, running easterly from Pindus to Olympus and the AEgmean; and that it is divided on the east from ‘Thrace by a less definite mountain boundary running southwards from Haemus. Of the space thus enclosed, two of the most remarkable physical features are two great plains, one watered by the Axius, which comes to the sea at the Thermaic Gulf, not far from Thessalonica; the other by the Strymon, which, after passing near Philippi, flows out below Amphipolis. Between the mouths of these two rivers a remarkable peninsula projects, dividing itself into three points, on the farthest of which Mount Athos rises nearly into the region of perpetual snow.” The whole region was intersected by mountains (among these were the famous Olympus and Athos), which supplied numerous streams (especially the Strymon and Axius), rendering the intervening valleys and plains highly fruitful (Pliny, 4:17; Mela, 2:3; Ptol. 3:13). The natives were celebrated from the earliest times for their hardy independence and military discipline. The country is supposed to have been first peopled by Chittim or Kittim, a son of Javan (Gen_10:4), and in that case it is probable that the Macedonians are sometimes intended when the word CHITTIM occurs in the Old Testament. Macedonia was the original kingdom of Philip and Alexander, by means of whose victories the name of the Macedonians became celebrated throughout the East. The rise of the great empire formed by Alexander is described by the prophet Daniel under the emblem of a goat with one horn (Dan_8:3-8). As the horn was a general symbol of power, the oneness of the horn implies merely the unity of that power. It is, however, curious and interesting to know that Daniel did describe Macedonia under its usual symbol, as gems and other antique objects still exist in which that country is represented under the figure of a one-horned goat. (See Murray's Truth of Revelation Illustrated, and the art. Macedonia, in Taylor's Calmet.) SEE GOAT.
Monuments are still extant in which this symbol occurs, as one of the pilasters of Persepolis, where a goat is depicted with one immense horn on his forehead, and a Persian holding the horn, by which is intended the subjection of Macedon by Persia. In Esther 16:10, Haman is described as a Macedonian, and in 16:14 he is said to have contrived his plot for the purpose of transferring the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians. This sufficiently betrays the late date and spurious character of these apocryphal chapters; but it is curious thus to have our attention turned to the early struggle of Persia and Greece. Macedonia played a great part in this struggle, and there is little doubt that Ahasuerus is Xerxes. The history of the Maccabees opens with vivid allusions to Alexander, the son of Philip, the Macedonian king (Α᾿λέξανδρος ὁ τοῦ Φιλιππου ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ Μακεδών), who came out of the land of Chettiim and smote Darius, king of the Persians and Medes (1Ma_1:1), and who reigned first among the Grecians (ib. 6:2). A little later we have the Roman conquest of Perseus, “king of the Citims,” recorded (ib. 8:5). Subsequently in these Jewish annals we find the term “Macedonians” used for the soldiers of the Seleucid successors of Alexander (2Ma_8:20). In what is called the Fifth Book of Maccabees this usage of the word is very frequent, and is applied not only to the Seleucid princes at Antioch, but to the Ptolemies at Alexandria (see Cotton's Five Books of Maccabees, Oxf. 1832). When subdued by the Romans (Livy, 44) under Paulus AEmilius (B.C. 168), Macedonia was divided into four provinces (Livy, 45:29). Macedonia Prima was on the east of the Strymon, and had Amphipolis for the capital. Macedonia Secunda stretched between the Strymon and the Axius, with Thessalonica for its metropolis. The third and fourth districts lay to the south and the west. Of two, if not three of these districts, coins are still extant (Akerman, Numismatic Illust. of the N.T. p. 43). Afterwards (B.C. 142) the whole of Greece was divided into two great provinces, Macedonia and Achaia. SEE ACHAIAA; SEE GREECE.
Macedonia therefore constituted a Roman province, governed by a propraetor, with the title of proconsul (provincia proconsularis; Tacit. Annal. 1:76; Sueton. Claud. 26), in the time of Christ and his apostles. (See fully in Smith's Dict. of Class. Geog. s.v.) The apostle Paul being summoned in a vision, while at Troas, to preach the Gospel in Macedonia, proceeded thither, and founded the churches of Thessalonica and Philippi (Act_16:9), A.D. 48. This occasions repeated mention of the name, either alone (Act_18:5; Act_19:21; Rom_15:26; 2Co_1:16; 2Co_11:9; Php_4:15), or along with Achaia (2Co_9:2; 1Th_1:8). The principal cities of Macedonia were Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Pella, and Pelagonia (Livy, 45:29); the towns of the province named in the New Testament are Philippi, Amphipolis, Thessalonica, Neapolis, Apollonia, and Beroea. When the Roman empire was divided, Macedonia fell to the share of the emperor of the East, but in the 15th century it fell into the hands of the Turks. It now forms a part of Turkey in Europe, and is called Makdonia. It is inhabited by Wallachians, Turks, Greeks. and Albanians. The south- eastern part is under the pasha of Salonika; the northern under beys or agas, or forms free communities. The capital, Salonika, the ancient Thessalonica, is a commercial town, and the only one of any consequence, containing about 70,000 inhabitants. (See Cellarii Notit. 2:828 sq.; Mannert, 7:420 sq.; Conybeare and Howson, 1:315.) On the question whether Luke includes Thrace in Macedonia, SEE THRACE. “Nothing can exceed the interest and impressiveness of the occasion (Act_16:9) when a new and religious meaning was given to the well-known ἀνὴρ Μακεδών of Demosthenes (Philippians i, p. 43), and when this part of Europe was designated as the first to be trodden by an apostle. The account of St. Paul's first journey through Macedonia (Act_16:10 to Act_17:15) is marked by copious detail and well-defined incidents. At the close of this journey he returned from Corinth to Syria by sea. On the next occasion of visiting Europe, though he both went and returned through Macedonia (Act_20:16), the narrative is a very slight sketch, and the route is left uncertain except as regards Philippi. Many years elapsed before St. Paul visited this province again; but from 1Ti_1:3, it is evident that he did accomplish the wish expressed during his first imprisonment (Php_2:24). The character of the Macedonian Christians is set before us in Scripture in a very favorable light. The candor of the Beraeans is highly commended (Act_17:11); the Thessalonians were evidently objects of St. Paul's peculiar affection (1Th_2:8; 1Th_2:17-20; 1Th_3:10); and the Philippians, besides their general freedom from blame, are noted as remarkable for their liberality and self-denial (Php_4:10; Php_4:14-19; see 2Co_9:2; 2Co_11:9). It is worth noticing, as a fact almost typical of the change which Christianity has produced in the social life of Europe, that the female element is conspicuous in the records of its introduction into Macedonia. The Gospel was first preached there to a small congregation of women (Act_16:13); the first convert was a woman (ib. Act_16:14); and, at least at Philippi, women were prominent as active workers in the cause of religion (Php_4:2-3). It should be observed that, in St. Paul's time, Macedonia was well intersected by Roman roads. especially by the great Via Egnatia, which connected Philippi and Thessalonica, and also led towards Illyricum (Rom_15:19).” For the antiquities of this region, see Cousinery, Voyage dans le Macedoine (Paris, 1831); Leake, Travels in Northern Greece (London, 1835); compare also Holland, Travels in the Ionian Isles, etc. (Lond. 1812-13).

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
press 1895.





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