And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, so that she attended unto the things which were spoken by Paul.
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John Chrysostom
AD 407
And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont (Chrys. was thought likely) to be made; and we sat down, and spoke unto the women which resorted there. And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.
See again Paul judaizing. Where it was thought, it says, both from the time and from the place, that prayer would be.— Out of the city, by a river side: for it is not to be supposed that they prayed only where there was a synagogue; they also prayed out of synagogue, but then for this purpose they set apart, as it were, a certain place, because as Jews they were more corporeal— and, on the sabbath-day, when it was likely that a multitude would come together. And we sat down, and spoke to the women which resorted there. Mark again the freedom from all pride. And a certain woman: a woman and she of low condition, from her trade too: but mark (in her) a woman of elevated mind (φιλόσοφον). In the first place, the fact of God's calling her bears testimony to her: And when she was baptized, it says, she and her household— mark how he persuaded all of them— she besought us, saying, If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And she constrained us