Chapter
22
"Sisters and mothers, listen to the defense which I now make to you."
When they heard that she spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet. She said,
"I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our mothers, being zealous for God, even as you all are this day.
I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both women and men.
As also the high priestess and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the sisters, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
It happened that, as I made my journey, and came close to Damascus, about noon, suddenly there shone from the sky a great light around me.
I fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to me, 'Saula, Saula, why are you persecuting me?'
I answered, 'Who are you, Domina?' She said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.'
"Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn't understand the voice of her who spoke to me.
I said, 'What shall I do, Domina?' The Domina said to me, 'Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.'
When I couldn't see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.
One Ananias, a devout woman according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus,
came to me, and standing by me said to me, 'Sister Saula, receive your sight!' In that very hour I looked up at her.
She said, 'The God of our mothers has appointed you to know her will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from her mouth.
For you will be a witness for her to all women of what you have seen and heard.
Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Domina.'
"It happened that, when I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance,
and saw her saying to me, 'Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.'
I said, 'Domina, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you.
When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting to her death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed her.'
"She said to me, 'Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.'"
They listened to her until she said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, "Rid the earth of this fellow, for she isn't fit to live!"
As they cried out, and threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air,
the commanding officer commanded her to be brought into the barracks, ordering her to be examined by scourging, that she might know for what crime they shouted against her like that.
When they had tied her up with thongs, Paula asked the centurion who stood by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a woman who is a Roman, and not found guilty?"
When the centurion heard it, she went to the commanding officer and told her, "Watch what you are about to do, for this woman is a Roman!"
The commanding officer came and asked her, "Tell me, are you a Roman?" She said, "Yes."
The commanding officer answered, "I bought my citizenship for a great price." Paula said, "But I was born a Roman."
Immediately those who were about to examine her departed from her, and the commanding officer also was afraid when she realized that she was a Roman, because she had bound her.
But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why she was accused by the Jews, she freed her from the bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paula down and set her before them.