Achaia is a Greek region that, in antiquity, was believed to be the birthplace of the Achaeans. Achaeans derive from Aryan stands for “alliance of water,” so it does not indicate a specific people but a coalition. They are defined by a ritual centered on sacred waters or by coming together to form maritime raids.

The history of Achaia

Achaia was annexed to the Roman Empire in 146 BCE after a military campaign led by Lucius Mummius. For his victory, Mummius received the agnomen Achaicus, “conqueror of Achaia.” Greece became a Roman protectorate in 146 BC, while the Aegean islands became part of it in 133 BC.

Once Greece was subjugated to Rome, the immediate effect was the cessation of all internal state-to-state wars. The Roman attitude toward Greece has been marked not so much by respect but by arrogance and contempt. On the cultural level, Athens maintained its role as an intellectual center but was outclassed by Alexandria.

The Romans punished the rebellious Greeks severely. In Greece, as elsewhere, the Romans were concerned with enriching themselves as much as possible by war, taxation, or trade. For everything else, the Roman attitude was one of great indifference, so much so that it brought Greece to a dramatic situation where piracy took over the eastern part of the Mediterranean, finding in Crete and Cilicia its main logistical bases.

From these regions, pirates organized increasingly daring expeditions into the Aegean Sea, building veritable flotillas and carrying out raids whose main goal was to enslave entire populations.

Has Achaia ever known peace? 

The creation of the principate by Octavian Augustus brought peace and balance to Greece. The first Roman emperor, in 27 B.C.E., turned Greece into the Roman province of Achaia.

After the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra, Augustus separated Macedonia from Achaia, making the latter an independent province.

Under the reign of his successor Tiberius the region experienced benevolence and prosperity aimed at the subjects of the Roman empire. He reduced taxation to the provinces of Achaia and Macedonia. His successors then continued this policy of great goodwill toward the Greek world; notably, Nero (54-68) and Hadrian (117-138) adopted a pro-Hellenic policy.

With the Greek scholar Herod Atticus, Hadrian began a vast program of building reconstruction. He beautified Athens and restored many of the ruined Greek cities.

Origins of the Catholic Church in Greece

St. Paul, on his second missionary journey (52-53, with Silas and Timothy), while in Troas in Misia, had the vision (“Come to Macedonia, and help us”). This vision brought him to Europe for the first time. He founded the first Christian Church on European soil in Philippi, Macedonia. He then moved on to Thessalonica, Berea, and, traveling south, Athens. Here he preached “the unknown God” on the Aeropagus and moved to Corinth.

In Corinth, he was brought before Gallio, “proconsul of Achaia; from Cenchrea, the port of Corinth, he returned to Ephesus by the sea with Priscilla and Aquila. On his third voyage (54-58), he went again to Macedonia (around 57), and from there, “to Greece,” where he stayed three months in Corinth and then returned to Asia Minor (Troas) from Macedonia.

According to his custom, St. Paul preached in all these places, first to the Jewish colonies and then to the Gentiles. The alleged missions of other Apostles to Greece have no such solid basis.

St. Andrew is said to have preached in Patras in Scythia, Thrace, Epirus, Macedonia, and Achaia. He was crucified (on a cross whose shape was named after him) by order of the Aegean Proconsul. The story of his mission and martyrdom goes back to the second century.

The Church spread rapidly in Greece. We know of bishops in several cities as early as the first persecutions.

How important was Achaia in the Bible?

Luke, the Evangelist, operated in Achaia (Greece, where Corinth is). Luke the Evangelist is venerated as a saint by all Christian churches that admit his cult. For Catholics, he is the patron saint of artists, doctors, and notaries, and is celebrated on October 18.

The Catholic Church credits Luke as the patron saint of painters. According to one account, already attested in the 500s, Luke painted images of Jesus, the apostles, and especially Mary. At the Academy of St. Luke in Rome, there is a painting by Raphael. It shows him painting a picture of Mary holding the baby Jesus.

The symbol of the Evangelist Luke is the winged bull regarding the Apocalypse of John and a vision of the prophet Ezekiel.

The Evangelist Luke had a natural death in Bithynia (Turkey, toward the Black Sea). This is how the ancient Monarchian prologue records it: “Having had no wife or children, aged 74 years, he died full of the Holy Spirit.

Where were the four gospels written?

Luke the Evangelist would write the 4 Gospels in Achaia, Greece. He would do so two years later, fifteen years after the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, and John the Evangelist twenty-five years later, in the fifty-eighth year while in Asia Minor, Anatolia, Turkey.

They were written between the years 66 and 110. They were not written in the order they appear in the Bible (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). There are also similarities between them that suggest there were transfers (copies) from one to the other if we stick to the synoptic or canonical gospels.

The primary purpose of the 4 Gospels is to show that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, and the source of all blessing and salvation.

The three synoptic Gospels present us with Jesus in well-defined roles. Matthew presents him as the King, Mark as the deer, and Luke as the son of man. But John presents Jesus to us as God.

Conclusions about Achaia in the bible

Achaia was an important place in history for all believers.

Luke, the Evangelist, spent a time from his life in Achaia and wrote the 4 Gospels in the Greek language. The 4 Gospels: It is almost certain that the Gospels of Luke were published in the years 62-66, immediately before the ruin of the Jewish nation announced by Jesus.

The Gospels of Luke were also based on this text and followed its primary approach. Luke’s Gospel was written for non-Jewish converts and traced Jesus’ genealogy back to Adam, making him a universal figure.

The gospels are the power of God because it is revealed by faith and by faith, as it is written: But the righteous shall live by faith.