Publius

About Publius

Acts of the Apostles says that after Paul’s shipwreck on Malta, Publius, described as the island’s leading man, welcomed Paul and his companions for three days. Paul then prayed over and healed Publius’s father. This is what the biblical narrative reports; it does not call Publius a Christian or bishop.

Maltese church tradition venerates Publius as the island’s first bishop, interpreting the Greek title “protos” as a leadership designation. The surviving historical evidence for Malta’s earliest church is limited, so the identification of the Acts figure with a later bishop remains a tradition rather than a verified biographical fact. No feast date is asserted here.