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Here I Stood: Santa Prisca (Rome)

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In a rather remote, quiet and attractive neighborhood in Rome there stands a church and an adjoining school. It is the church of Santa Prisca or St. Priscilla, and bears the name of a woman mentioned in the Bible, the wife of Aquila. Paul mentions her in the 16th chapter of his letter, a section in which he sends his personal greetings to Christians in Rome before he himself arrived in the city.


Much of what we encounter in Rome as well as in other locations as we try to identify sites that relate to people and places mentioned in the Bible is based on tradition. However, there is always some source to a tradition, some germ of truth, at least, that gives rise to the story. How much is mythical and how much is real is often difficult to discern. However, because of the fact that traditions grow out of some reality, we should not dismiss them out of hand.


That being said, the location of Santa Prisca is supposedly the house of Aquila and Priscilla which is mentioned in Romans 16. Paul makes an interesting statement in this greeting: “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, Greet also the church in their house” (Rom. 16:3-5). Thus, we know that the Roman church, or at least one congregation of Christians in Rome, perhaps the original one, met in this house that belonged to this evangelical couple who were of such great help to Paul in spreading the gospel.


Those who have done archaeological research at the site believe that the house was located where the adjoining school stands today, and the church was later built to accommodate the growing congregation. Such was not unusual, for a church to begin in a private home and then later build a sanctuary next door.


What was thrilling for me was to stand there and consider that here was probably the very location where the letter Paul wrote to Roman Christians was received and first read. It is also thrilling to realize that this event took place before Paul ever arrived in Rome, and that this location was evidently the place where the church in Rome began and first assembled!


[pic of school]

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