Lydia of Thyatira

About Lydia of Thyatira

Lydia of Thyatira appears in Acts as a woman trading in purple cloth at Philippi. She listened to Paul among women gathered for prayer outside the city gate beside a river.

The narrative says that she responded to Paul's message and was baptized with her household. She then invited the missionaries to stay at her home and persuaded them to accept.

Later, after Paul and Silas left prison, they returned to Lydia's house. They met the believers there, encouraged them and departed. These two scenes place her hospitality within the beginnings of the Christian community at Philippi.

The Catholic Church in Norway remembers her as Lydia Purpuraria and lists August 3 as her commemoration. Its notice identifies Thyatira with Ak-Hissar, while providing no death chronology.