The adoption ceremony took place at the courthouse on the south edge of the agora. Stephanas’s entire household was present for the occasion, though Achaicus did not seem very pleased by the turn of events. He’d barely spoken to Paul since learning the news, wishing he’d never talked to him about the boy. Only once, [...]

Abi came often to visit, slipping into the house through the alley doorway after casting furtive glances up and down the lane. A nervous smile to the domestics at work in the kitchen as she skirted the pot-laden tables. Head down while she hurried across the atrium to enter Hester’s chambers. The mere thought that [...]

Paul returned to Stephanas’s house the next day. “Greetings, Fortunatus! Fine morning, don’t you think?” He squinted up at the heavy overcast skies, pregnant with rain, and grinned back at the boy. “I’ve come to speak with your master.” Paul was a different man this morning. He’d spent much of the night in prayer, wrestling [...]

Not long after Timothy and Silas left for the north, Gaius heard that the Apostle had gone back to the shop, cutting and stitching to earn his keep. And soon after that, he started dropping occasional comments. “There are better ways to spend your time than making tents, Paul.” “Wouldn’t you rather be in the [...]

Fall blew in with a vengeance, bringing to Corinth an unusual cold snap. It could not last. But the chill in the air was enough to suggest that winter was looming and might be hard. Suddenly, the heat of summer was a distant memory, chased away by frosty mornings and lashing rains. People who, weeks [...]

I thought I would teach you many things,” Paul said softly, looking around at the faces focused so intently on him. “But the Lord told me there is only one thing you need to learn.” Paul sat on a cushion, his back propped against an expensive mural. The others sat around him, squirming on the [...]

Late in the evening on the first day of the week, the believers gathered at Gaius’s house for worship. The group was growing, Paul noted happily. They met at night because Corinth recognized no regular day of worship. Her holy days were scattered across the calendar, dictated by the rituals of various temples and the [...]