History of Lydia’s baptism
In 49 AD the Apostle Paul founded in Philippi the first Christian Church in Europe, baptizing the first European Christian, Lydia and her family in the river Zygactis. The inhabitants of Philippi were the first Europeans to hear the preaching of the new Religion.
A day in 49 (or 50) AD. a ship landed the Apostle Paul, Timothy and the writer of the Acts of the Apostles – probably Luke – at Neapolis, now Kavala. From Neapolis via the Egnatia road they reached the city of Philippi, where they settled. Near the western side of the city wall, next to the river Zygactis, was the place where the Jews gathered. The Apostle Paul went there one Saturday with his companions and for the first time addressed his sermon to the women present. Lydia _from Thyatira she listened carefully to him and was the first to receive the baptism of the new Religion. Then she begged Paul to accept her hospitality. Lydia was the first European to be baptized a Christian. For many days the Apostle Paul with his companions walked the road from the gate to the Jewish quarter and preached the Word of God. He was followed all the way by a slave woman – according to the Philippian world possessed – by her fortune-telling ability whose masters were making money from her. This “possessed” slave accepted the preaching of the Apostle Paul and showed faith in the new Religion. She proclaimed to the city that she was cured of the demon inside her. This had the effect of offending the interests of her masters, who arrested Paul and Silasand led them into the Agora. There they were abused and then imprisoned. Of the night of their imprisonment, the great earthquake that occurred at midnight, and of the baptism of the jailer and his family, there is a detailed account in the Acts of the Apostles .
Modern building development
In the Zygactis river, west of Philippi and at the border of the settlement of Lydia, it began in 1972 following the inspiration of the then Metropolitan of Philippi, Neapolis and Thassos etc. Alexandrou, the construction of the Holy Baptistry of Agia Lydia, which very soon became internationally known and became a pole of attraction for believers who came for pilgrimage or for baptism from every corner of the earth. The Church dedicated to Saint Lydia, gathers the faithful to honor Lydia the Philippian Apostle on May 20 every year, by performing adult baptisms in the open-air Baptistry of the Zygactis River .
The balanced building development of the complex of the Baptistery of St. Lydia and the promotion in the European and global community of the spiritual radiation and the important historical role of Philippi imposed and led in the middle of 2011 to the construction in the wider area of the Holy Baptistery of another building suitable for the creation of an intellectual and scientific center, with an architectural organization capable of holding international conferences. This building was named “Apostolos Pavlos conference center” and was inaugurated on May 20, 2011 by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.