Early Life and Persecution
Saul was born around 5 AD in Tarsus, a city of Cilicia, into a devout Jewish family of the Tribe of Benjamin. His parents were Roman citizens, and so he held Roman citizenship from birth; the name 'Paulus' was his Greco-Roman name rather than a title adopted after his conversion.
As a young man he was sent to Jerusalem and trained in the Law under Gamaliel, one of the most noted Jewish teachers of the age, becoming a Pharisee. He also worked in the leather-crafting or tentmaking trade.
Before his conversion Saul was a zealous persecutor of the early disciples of Jesus, particularly targeting Hellenized diaspora Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. By tradition he was present at the stoning of the first martyr, Stephen.
Conversion on the Road to Damascus
Saul's conversion took place between about 31 and 36 AD. While traveling to Damascus to arrest Christians, he fell to the ground and heard a voice ask, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?'
He was blinded for three days, during which he neither ate nor drank, until he was healed by Ananias of Damascus. Ananias told him, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Ananias then baptized him, and Saul, taking the name Paul, came to be numbered among the apostles.
The name 'Paulus,' meaning 'small' or 'little,' has been understood as marking his transformation from pride into humility.
After his conversion Paul went into Arabia — possibly to Mount Sinai — and then returned to Damascus before going up to Jerusalem some three years later, where he met James and stayed fifteen days with Simon Peter, around 35–36 AD.
Missionary Journeys and the Council of Jerusalem
Paul undertook three major missionary journeys, traveling by tradition some 12,000 kilometers by land and 8,000 by sea. On his first journey (about 46–49 AD) he set out with Barnabas through Cyprus and southern Asia Minor, establishing churches.
Around 49 AD he took part in the Council of Jerusalem alongside James, Peter, and John, who accepted his mission to the Gentiles. On his second journey (from about 49 AD) he recruited Timothy in Lystra, crossed into Macedonia after a vision, and established the Church of Corinth around 50–51 AD, remaining there eighteen months.
Known as the 'Apostle to the Gentiles,' Paul carried his preaching far and wide — by tradition from Arabia to Spain — to both Jews and Gentiles, devoting himself throughout to founding and organizing churches. His ministry was marked by chains, imprisonments, and shipwrecks; as he wrote, he 'labored more abundantly than all of them: yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me.'
Epistles
Fourteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament are traditionally attributed to Paul, including Romans, 1–2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1–2 Thessalonians, 1–2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, and Hebrews.
Seven of these are undisputed among scholars: Romans, Galatians, 1–2 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Philippians, and Philemon. Modern scholars question the authorship of several of the others, particularly Hebrews.
Martyrdom
Paul's final visit to Jerusalem resulted in his arrest, and he was subsequently imprisoned in Rome for two years. According to tradition he was martyred around 64–65 AD under the emperor Nero, executed by beheading.
He is commemorated together with the Apostle Peter, who was martyred under Nero in the same period; the two are honored on June 29 for their true faith, holy life, and pure confession.
Relics & Shrines
By tradition Paul was buried along the Ostiense Way in Rome, where a tropaeum was erected and soon became a place of veneration. Constantine I built the original basilica over the site, which Theodosius I later greatly expanded — the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls.
His reputed remains rest in a marble sarcophagus set about 1.37 meters below the altar. The tombstone bears the Latin inscription 'PAULO APOSTOLO MART' ('to Paul the apostle and martyr'), with three holes — two square and one circular — once connected to the tomb by a pipeline for ritual libations.
In 2006 Vatican archaeologists confirmed a white marble sarcophagus beneath the altar, measuring 2.55 meters long, 1.25 meters wide, and 0.97 meters high. In 2009 it was announced that radiocarbon dating of bone fragments found within indicated a 1st- or 2nd-century origin, consistent with Paul's traditional timeline; other finds included purple linen laminated with gold, incense grains, and blue textiles. A Vatican expert cautioned that the dating 'neither confirms nor invalidates the relics' traditional assignment to St. Paul.'
Veneration and the Apostles' Fast
The Feast of Saints Peter and Paul on June 29 honors the apostles' martyrdom at Rome and ranks among the great feasts of the Eastern Orthodox tradition, often celebrated with an all-night vigil beginning the evening before.
For the Eastern Orthodox the feast marks the conclusion of the Apostles' Fast, which begins on the Monday following All Saints' Sunday — the second Monday after Pentecost. In the Julian calendar the June 29 date corresponds to July 12 on the Gregorian calendar for the years 1900–2099. The celebration is of ancient origin, the date representing either the apostles' death or the translation of their relics.
