A/N: This is the story of a first century Christian, from her viewpoint, written in the style of the Epistles of St. Paul. I am Catholic, but there should be nothing in here to offend others; however, I make no apologies for my writing about her life in the way I have. It is not meant to offend anyone at all.
Notes on the text: The Diachae is a document that was written presumably in the first century, for early Christians.
I hope you enjoy this little piece of work.
Christina of Lystra to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, greetings and salutations. It gives me great joy to be able to share my journey to the Faith in order that it may strengthen and comfort others. Truly our Lord Himself has inspired you to ask this question for this purpose!
Some time ago, when I was young and a slave, I met Paul on his first journey to Lystra.* I was present when the city tried to honor him as a god, along with his companion, Barnabas. As I watched the crowd collect around them, I realized that in all the stories, as soon as the gods were recognized by men, they instantly acknowledged it and preform some wonderful work or they would vanish. These men did no such thing. That was the moment God chose to enlighten me, an insignificant slave of no nation, for suddenly I knew in my heart that these men were exactly what they said they were, that is men, like us, who came to tells us the good news of a new God. And, since the old gods had never answered my prayers, I thought that it would, perchance, be of good import for myself.
As I began to try to get closer to them, certain Jews came and began to stir the people in the opposite direction, saying "These men are false prophets!" and various such things. Low murmurs began to spread, quickening into a roar. Soon after, a rock flew the air, narrowly missing two little boys. Three men snatched the chief speaker, beginning to drag him away. Soon the crowd waxed dangerous, and it was neither safe or prudent to remain.
Reluctantly, I went back to my master's house, resolved to seek out these men, if they still lived, at the end of the day. As the sun sank down, I slipped out of the house, eager to find someone who could tell me exactly who those men were and more about their strange, new God.
I wandered the streets, looking up and down for any signs of those men. Soon I came to the outer walls and peeked out of the gate. A little group of men and a few women were gathered around something—I couldn't tell what. So, I trotted through the gate and up to them, asking "Pardon me; is someone hurt? Can I help?"
Well! I had never seen anyone whirl so fast before that! They formed a hollow circle around whatever they were looking at, and one man asked me in a gruff voice "What are you doing here, girl?"
The answer I wanted to give him was suppressed by the fact that right then, the man who I wanted to see rose up from the middle of the circle, swaying somewhat, but otherwise unharmed. A woman cried out, and they all turned to him, asking questions and helping him sit down. In the commotion, I was quite forgotten, and I simply watched them all care for the man. Soon, they began to walk back to the gate, and I followed them until one of the women noticed me. She stopped and asked, "Why are you here?"
"I wanted to know more about what this man was speaking of, Mistress," I answered turning to face her.
"Well, he told us that he is to leave tomorrow, but if you come to the small green house on the Market Road, one of the disciples will be there. He can tell you of our Faith, if you truly desire to know more."
I suddenly felt reluctant, but answered, "I will come. Who should I ask for?"
"Ask for Rebecca the Weaver. Farewell!"
She slipped away into the gloom. I hurried to the gate, hoping that no one noticed my absence from the house.
The next day, Rebecca introduced me to Amyntas, an Egyptian, former pagan and disciple of the man whom I had met yesterday. (the Apostle Paul) There, my instruction in the Faith began.
Amyntas began by telling me the story of Jesus** This was the hardest part of our Faith for me to comprehend—the mere fact that the Son of the God of Heaven and earth would come here—like that? However, Rebecca, who had met His mother before, was able to explain Jesus' story in a different way than Amyntas had, and between them, God brought me to a state of understanding. This took some time, but Rebecca was very patient with me.
After I understood in some level the story of Christ's life, Amyntas moved along to the Dichae, a copy of which Paul had left with him. At this time, I also began making greater changes in my life—controlling my tongue,~ praying as Christ taught us to^ and striving to do the will of our Father in all things. In all things, I sought the hand of God and constantly asked Him for help. He did not, nor ever has failed to give it to me; however, it did not nor does not always come in the form I desire.
Soon, the Faith began to influence my life at my master's house. However, the majority of my fellow slaves were against the Christians, for our master's son was one of the Jews who had enticed the people to rise against Paul and his companion and they did not wish to antagonize the master's son. Amyntas advised me not to spread the good news as of yet, for I was not baptized and was very weak in the Faith then, often falling back to my old ways. This chafed me, but I obeyed him, only praying and attempting to fast for them. This was made easier for me by our Lord, who had so gifted me in such ways that I was not a favorite of the other slaves. If my work was done in a timely way, I did not get in the others' way, and the master did not notice my absence from his house, the other slaves did not care where I went or what I did. In like manner, I had not many friends at all, and those that I had (Rebecca and Amyntas) were already Christian. Hence, my path was smoothed in that way by our Father, who cares for us all.
When Amyntas decided I knew enough of the Dichae, he brought me to my first gathering of Christians. They had no priest of the Faith in Lystra then, so it was merely a gathering, not a cerebration of the Eucharist, but it was an important part of my conversion journey, even so. There was singing, discussion of the Dichae, re-telling of the story of Jesus, and most importantly, much talk about Paul and Timothy; I found out that they were in the city of Derbe, and would be coming back sooner than expected.
This made Amyntas and Rebecca very excited, and Rebecca declared that I would have to be ready to be baptized by the time Paul came back. Amyntas shook his head, but began giving me more and more lessons in the Faith so that when Paul did come back, I could be baptized. As for my opinion of it all, I knew that I wanted Baptism with all my heart, and I studied avidly, hoping and hoping that God would so will it.
Soon, Paul did come back to Lystra and there, with many others, I was baptized and received the precious gift of the Eucharist for the first time.* I will never forget that day, so blessed by God.
And now, my dear friends in Christ, I hope this letter will be of some use to you in any way that God wills it to be so. The brothers and sisters here send their greetings and love to all there; greet them all by name from us. The blessings of our Lord be with all of you, now and forever. Amen!
*Acts 14:8-23 **the Gospels ~the Dichae, chapter two ^the Our Father, Luke 11:2-4, the Dichae, chapter eight, section two,