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346 CITY OF GOD
Saint Paul had entered the fifth year of his conversion
and the other Apostles, except the two he saw, had already
left
Jerusalem and were preaching- the Gospel of Christ,
each one in his appointed province.
377. Conformably with this reckoning we must as
sume, that saint Paul spent the first year after his conver
sion, or the greater part of in it, journeying to Arabia
and preaching the Gospel there ; then, the three following
years, in Damascus. Hence the evangelist Luke, in the
ninth chapter of his Acts of the Apostles, although he
says nothing of Paul s journey to Arabia, nevertheless
says that for many days after his conversion the Jews
of Damascus plotted to take his life, these many days re
ferring to the four years thus passed. Then he adds, that
his disciples, aware of the plots of the Jews, on a certain
night lowered him in a basket from the city walls and thus
despatched him on his journey to Jerusalem. There, al
though knowing of his miraculous conversion, the Apostles
and the new disciples, nevertheless retained a certain fear
and suspicion of his not persevering, because he had been
such a professed enemy of Christ, our Savior. Hence
they at first held themselves aloof from saint Paul, until
saint Barnaby spoke to them and introduced him to saint
Peter, saint James and other disciples (Acts 26, 27).
Saint Paul prostrated himself at the feet of the vicar of
Christ, kissed them in acknowledgment of his errors and
sins, and begging to be admitted as one of his subjects and
as a follower of his Master, whose holy name and faith he
desired to preach at the cost of his blood.
378. From the fear and suspicion of saint Peter and
James concerning the perseverance of saint Paul we can
likewise deduct that he arrived in Jerusalem in the absence
of the most blessed Mary and saint John; for he would
have presented himself first of all to Her to allay suspicion
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