The Acts of the Apostles

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CHRONOLOGICAL DATA 17
But now for the other side of the picture !
From
this condition of things no manufactured dates
it follows that the history of the Primitive Com-
munity of Jerusalem and of the earliest period of
the mission in Palestine is practically destitute of
chronology. Only two points stand out in this desolate
chronological plain, and are therefore worthy of special
notice and consideration. These are the date of St.
PauVsfirst andfundamentally important visit to Antioch,^
St. Paul's sermon in Troas that it lasted fi^xP'^ jJ-ea-ovvKriov (xx. 7),
indeed even axpt avyrji (xx. 11). In xxviii. 23 we are informed that
the meeting in Rome in which St. Paul delivered his apology before
the Jews lasted dirb -rrput Iws iairipas; in xxii. 6 and xxvi. 13 it is
recorded that St. Paul saw the vision of Christ irepl ixearjfjifiptav and
"nfJt^pai fiiarjs respectively (this detail does not occur in ix. 3) ; and
in iv. 3 we hear that the imprisonment of the Apostles took place in
the evening ; lastly, in v. 21, that the Apostles when set free entered
into the Temple vir6 tov 6p6pov—both statements almost necessarily
follow from the context. As for the hours, icpa is used pleonastically,
or at least not in a strictly technical sense, in x. 80 (/i^xpt ra^jTrjs t^s
w/)as), xvi. 18 (ayrij ry iopg.), xvi. 33 {iv Udv-Q tt} Cbpq.), and xxii. 13
(aimj Ty iapq). Signifying hour of prayer, &pa occurs in iii. 1 {^ttI
T. (bpav T. Trpoaevxv^ t. ivvdrrju), x. 3, 30 (w