Saints
Aquila and Priscilla of Rome
Depiction of Saint Paul (left) in the home of Saints Aquila and Priscilla.
Holy Couple and Martyrs
Born Unknown
Died Rome
Venerated in • Catholic Church
• Eastern Orthodoxy
• Oriental Orthodoxy
• Lutheran Church
Canonized
Pre-Congregation
Feast
• 8 July (Catholic Church)
• 13 February (Eastern Orthodoxy)
• 14 July (other Orthodox Churches commemorate Saint Aquila alone as an Apostle)
Attributes
Crown of Martyrdom
Martyr's palm
Cross
Patronage
• Love
• Marriage
Priscilla and Aquila
Priscilla and Aquila were a first-century Christian missionary married couple described in the New Testament. They lived, worked, and traveled with the Apostle Paul, who described them as his "fellow workers in Christ Jesus." Aquila is usually listed among the Seventy Disciples.
Death place: Rome
In the year 52 A.D., the Roman Emperor Claudius issued an edict expelling all Jews from the city of Rome. From what the Roman historian Suetonius says, it seems that they were persecuting their Christian neighbors and causing a considerable disturbance in the city. Claudius cared little about the reason for the trouble and even less about who the guilty parties were. He knew they were Jews, which was enough, so all Jews were uprooted from their homes and banished from Rome, the innocent and the guilty.
That was when a Jew named Aquila, who had migrated to Rome from the province of Pontus on the Black Sea, packed his belongings, bid farewell to his friends, and embarked for the city of Corinth. By his side was his faithful wife, Priscilla. We do not know whether she was Jewish or Roman, nor are we sure whether they were both Christians at the time. However, one thing we do know—they were together. One's name never occurs without the other. They were always together.
For one thing, they made their living together. "For by trade, they were tentmakers" (Acts 18:3). Every Jewish boy in New Testament times was taught a trade. Since tents were such a prominent part of Hebrew life, Aquila's parents chose to have their son learn this practical means of earning his livelihood. Their tents were made of rough goat hair fabric, which took great skill to cut and sew properly. Aquila had acquired that skill and later taught it to his wife, and she happily assisted him in his business.
Not every husband and wife can work together like this. It takes a mature relationship to work closely under the kind of pressure a job sometimes generates. However, that is the kind of relationship Aquila and Priscilla had. They were not only mates and lovers; they must have been good friends and companions. They had to be willing to give to each other more than they tried to take. They had to be able to accept suggestions as readily as they offered them. They enjoyed being together and working together. They were inseparable, and they were equals.
So, when they arrived in Corinth, they scoured the marketplace together for a small open-air shop to rent and set up their tent-making business. The timing was obviously of God, for no sooner had they settled down in their shop than another Jewish tentmaker arrived in town fresh from an evangelistic crusade in Athens, the Apostle Paul. Whenever he entered a new city, he would stroll through the marketplace looking for opportunities to talk about Jesus, looking for indications of God's direction for future ministry, and, of course, looking for work to sustain him as he ministered. It was inevitable that he would amble into the tent-making shop of Aquila and Priscilla. Scripture tells the story: "After these things, he left Athens and went to Corinth. Furthermore, he found a certain Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working; by trade, they were tentmakers" (Acts 18:1-3).
Their affinity was instantaneous, and a deep and lasting friendship was born that day. Paul came to work with them in their shop and even lived in their home during his stay in Corinth. If they had not known Christ before this, they certainly met him now, for no one could spend time in Paul's presence and not be infected by his contagious and enthusiastic love for his Savior. These two who lived together, worked together, and suffered exile together, came to know and love Jesus Christ together, which made their marriage complete. Now they were one in Christ, and His love made a good marriage even better. That may be just the thing your marriage needs. If either of you has never placed your faith in the sacrifice Christ made for your sins; your marriage cannot be complete. True oneness can only be found in Christ.
From the day Aquila and Priscilla met the Savior, they grew in the Word together. No doubt, they went with Paul to the synagogue each Sabbath day as he reasoned with the Jews and Greeks and encouraged them to place their trust in Christ for salvation (Acts 18:4). Not everyone received his testimony. Some resisted and blasphemed. So, he withdrew from the synagogue and began teaching in the house of Titus Justus next door.
Moreover, God blessed his ministry. Even the chief ruler of the synagogue came to know Christ. "And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them" (Acts 18:11). Think of it, eighteen months of intensive Bible study under the most outstanding Bible teacher in the early church, how Aquila and Priscilla must have grown!
Moreover, after the lessons, the three probably went home together and sat up into the early morning hours talking about the Lord and His Word.
They grew to love God's Word. Sharing the Word strengthened their love for each other and their spirit of togetherness. Moreover, although they worked long and hard running their shop, making, and repairing tents, maintaining a home, and caring for their distinguished guest, they always found time for serious Bible study.
This is precisely what many Christian marriages lack. Husbands and wives need to open the Word together. That is not difficult to do in a pastor's home. When preparing a message, I often talk to my wife about it and get her thoughts on the passage I am studying. If she is preparing a lesson, she may come to help me understand a particular verse, and we find ourselves sharing the Word.
Teaching a Sunday school class and sharing the preparation might be a comfortable beginning. Nevertheless, it may be more difficult at your house, especially if you have never done it. Reading and discussing a Bible-centered devotional guide would be profitable. Reading through a book of the Bible together will allow God to speak to our lives. However, we use it, God's Word is one necessary ingredient for enriching our relationship with each other.
The events that follow in the account of the Acts reveal how thoroughly Aquila and Priscilla learned God's Word. When Paul left Corinth for Ephesus, they accompanied him, and he left them there when he embarked for his home church in Antioch (Acts 18:18-22). The move was providential; for a while, Paul was gone "a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue" (Acts 18:24-26).
Aquila and Priscilla went to hear him and were deeply impressed by his sincerity, love for God, knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures, and brilliant oratorical ability. He could be mightily used in the service of Jesus Christ, but his message was deficient. All he knew beyond the Old Testament was the message of John the Baptist, which merely looked forward to the coming Messiah. "But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately" (Acts 18:26). They lovingly and patiently rehearsed the life and ministry of Jesus Christ on earth, His sacrificial and substitutionary death on Calvary's cross for the sins of the world, His victorious resurrection from the tomb and glorious ascension into heaven, the necessity for personal salvation from sin by faith in His finished work, the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the birth of the Body of Christ, and other great New Testament doctrines.
Aquila and Priscilla may not have been accomplished public speakers, but they were diligent students of the Word and loved sharing it with others. They were even willing to invest the time necessary to take one young man under their spiritual care and pour the things of Christ into his life. Apollos had a keen mind and a quick understanding. He absorbed the truth they taught him and made it a part of his life and ministry. Moreover, because of this encounter with Aquila and Priscilla, he became an effective servant of God whom some of the Corinthians later placed on a level with Peter and Paul (1 Cor. 1:12).
Some of us will never be influential preachers, but we can be faithful students of the Word, and our homes can be open to people whose hearts are hungry to hear the Word. We may have the joyous privilege of nurturing a young Apollos who someday will have a comprehensive and powerful ministry for Jesus Christ.
Aquila and Priscilla not only made their living together and grew in the Word together, but they also served the Lord together. We know it from what we have already seen, but there is another facet of their Christian service that bears mention. When Paul left Antioch on his third missionary journey, he traveled through Asia Minor by land and returned to Ephesus, where he remained teaching the Word of God for approximately three years (cf. Acts 26:31). During that time, he wrote his first letter to the Corinthians and said, "The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house" (1 Cor. 16:19).
Their home was a meeting place for the Ephesian church. When they were starting a business in Corinth, their home was probably not big enough to hold all the Christians, so the house of Titus Justus was used. But now, it looks as though God had blessed them materially, and they were using their resources in Ephesus for His glory.
Moreover, that would not be the last time their home served that purpose. When Paul left Ephesus for Greece, they believed God directed them back to Rome. Claudius was dead now, so the move seemed safe, and Rome needed a gospel witness. So off they went! Paul wrote his Epistle to the Romans from Greece on that third missionary journey. He said, "Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow-workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their necks, to whom not only do I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles; Also greet the church that is in their house" (Rom. 16:3-5). They had hardly gotten to Rome, and already there was a church meeting in their house. Churches in New Testament times could not afford to own land and build buildings, nor would it have been wise to do so if they could, because of the continual pressure and persecution. They met in homes. Furthermore, the home of Aquila and Priscilla was always open to people who wanted to learn more about Christ and for Christians who wanted to grow in the Word.
While we have church buildings, there is no substitute for the home as a center for evangelism and spiritual nurture in the community. Some Christians conduct evangelistic dinners, where they invite unsaved friends to hear an outstanding personal testimony. Many dedicated women use coffee cup evangelism, establishing close friendships with their neighbors and sharing Christ with them over the kitchen table. Home Bible classes can effectively reach the lost or get believers growing in the Word. Young people have profited dramatically from adults who have opened their homes to youth groups. The possibilities for using our homes to serve the Lord are unlimited. This might be a good thing for husbands and wives to discuss and pray about together.
There was one short statement in the greeting in the Book of Romans that we cannot afford to pass over lightly, however: "Who for my life risked their necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles." We do not know what Paul was referring to, nor when it happened, but somewhere, somehow, Aquila and Priscilla together endangered their own lives to save Paul's. His two friends were willing to give everything in the service of the Savior, even their lives. Moreover, for that, we also can give thanks to God. Our knowledge of divine truth would be incomplete without the epistles which God inspired him to write.
Aquila and Priscilla are mentioned in the New Testament, in the last chapter of the last book the Apostle Paul wrote. It had been sixteen years since Paul first met them at Corinth, and now he was in a Roman prison for the second time. His death at the hands of Emperor Nero was imminent, and he was writing the last paragraph of his long and fruitful life. "Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus" (2 Tim. 4:19). It was just a brief and simple greeting, using the shorter form of Priscilla's name that we have seen in several other passages. However, Paul wanted to be remembered by them in the last hours of his life. He is thinking of his dear friends who were then back in Ephesus where Timothy was ministering, possibly having left Rome to escape Nero's latest outburst of persecution against Christians.
However, an interesting observation is to be made from that short verse. Priscilla's name appears before Aquila's. Her name is first in four of the six biblical references. Moreover, that is unusual! Most references to husbands and wives in the Bible place the man first. Why the switch? Several explanations have been suggested, but the most reasonable one seems to be that Priscilla was the more gifted of the two and often took the more prominent role. However, it appears that never affected their love for one another, their understanding of each other, or their ability to work together.
It does not always happen that way. Some husbands feel threatened because their wives are more knowledgeable or capable than they are, and to avoid embarrassment and save face, they sometimes become spiritual dropouts. Others become overbearing and belligerent to establish their position of authority. It is easier for them not to show up than to have their wives outshine them.
In some cases, the wives are to blame. They seem to have something to prove, competing with their husbands for the spotlight, grasping after authority and preeminence. It is no wonder their husbands feel threatened. God's order of authority in marriage never changes. Although the wife may be more intelligent and resourceful than her husband, God still wants her to look to him as her leader. It is not always easy for an extremely talented woman, but Priscilla did it. She was not competing with Aquila. She was just using her God-given abilities as a helpmeet to her husband for the glory of God. I am sure Aquila thanked God for her many times and accepted her wise counsel on many occasions. She was one of the world's genuinely liberated women, for there is no freedom that brings more joy and satisfaction than the freedom of obeying God's Word.
Read the following nine questions and consider the answers together with your wives. Talk it over!
1. Are you looking for opportunities to share Christ wherever you go, as Paul did? Do those who spend time with you become infected with your love for Christ? How can you improve this area of your life?
2. What spiritual contribution are you making to the lives of others? What else could you be doing to share God's Word with others?
3. How could you use your home more effectively to serve the Lord?
4. Are you sharing the Word of God? Discuss what kind of mutual Bible study you think will work best for you, then covenant to do it regularly together.
5. For husbands: Does it bother you when your wife outshines you? How does God want you to behave toward her on those occasions?
6. For wives: Are you threatening your husband by striving to prove your superiority in certain areas? Do you seek praise from others at his expense? How can you avoid these pitfalls?
7. Are there occasions when you feel that your mate undermines you in public? Share this and discuss how it can be avoided.
8. If you and your mate were considering working together in a business, what problems would you foresee arising? What could you do now to avoid those problems?
9. How can you demonstrate more fully the equality you share in Christ as husband and wife?
In our world, married couples must live lives well-grounded in Jesus Christ. Aquilla and Prescilla did that in the story we read from the New Testament – Aquila and Priscilla have left the following seven excellent and worthy lessons to be learned and followed by every Christian couple.
1. Priscilla and Aquila have overcome hardships together
The first time they are mentioned in the Bible, we learn the following about this beautiful couple:
After these things, he (Paul) left Athens and went to Corinth. And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them, and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them, and they were working, for by trade, they were tentmakers. (Acts 18:1-3) (NASB)
Changing your place of residence is difficult, especially when you are forced. Today, material needs make men send their wife to the end of the earth, and the man himself goes to the other end. Unfortunately, it has become a model for some. People who are not lacking often send their wives to work in other countries and agree to be separated for long periods, just for material gain. It is even sadder to see that some Christians have started to rush to gain wealth and sacrifice their relationship and marriage.
2. Aquila and Priscilla worked together
The Bible tells us that they had the same job as Paul: making tents. At the end of the Epistle to Romans, in conclusion, the Apostle Paul wrote about them:
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus. (Romans 16:3) (NASB)
While overcoming material difficulties and working for Christ, this wonderful couple knew always to work together.
3. Priscilla and Aquila kept their house open
When someone has an open heart, his home will always have room for others. However, if one spouse does not welcome guests, nor can the other welcome others. Priscilla and Aquila were welcoming the guests. Although they recently arrived in Corinth, they received Paul into their home to stay. Then, when they were at Ephesus, the following happened:
Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus; and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John. He began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. However, when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained God's way more accurately. (Acts 18:24-26) (NASB)
Their home was open for Apollos, and in the first Epistle to Corinthians, Paul wrote in conclusion:
The churches of Asia greet you, and Aquila and Prisca greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church in their house. (1 Corinthians 16:19) (NASB)
Because they lived in Rome, then in Corinth, and later in Ephesus, they had to change their residence frequently. Nevertheless, in any place, their house was open to people and God's work.
4. Aquila and Priscilla were a missionary couple
If they were driven away by Claudius and all other Jews from Rome, then from Corinth, they left for Ephesus joining Paul and stayed there to preach the Lord's Way and plant a church.
Having remained many days longer, Paul took leave of the brethren and put out to sea for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. In Cenchrea, he had his hair cut, for he was keeping a vow. They came to Ephesus, and he left them there. Now, he entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. (Acts 18:18-19)(NASB)
When Paul wrote the first Epistle to Corinthians, the church was already gathered in Priscilla and Aquila's house. It is sad to see how some people are willing for a Christian mission, but after they marry, they become too comfortable to leave somewhere.
5. Aquila and Priscilla taught people the Gospel
After they had listened to Apollos in the synagogue from Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila invited him to their home and showed him the Way of God more accurately. Not traditions, not customs, not human opinions, not doctrines of one or another church, but they have shown him the way of the Lord more accurately.
6. Priscilla and Aquila risked their lives for others
This is how Paul writes about it in Romans:
Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their necks, to whom not only do I give thanks but also all the churches of the Gentiles; also greet the church that is in their house Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia. (Romans 16:3-5) (NASB)
7. Aquila and Priscilla showed mutual respect
They did not have problems like who was or was not first because they were treated with mutual respect. Neither Paul nor Luke distinguishes in their writings between these two, showing that both the husband and the wife have worked with all dedication in close cooperation. One time they say, "Aquila and Priscilla," and another time, "Priscilla and Aquila. None of them rejected the other but worked in the most beautiful and fruitful collaboration.
So God help us all behave in our marriage for the cause of the Gospel.
They are mentioned six times in four books of the New Testament, consistently named as a couple and never individually. Of those six references, Aquila's name is mentioned first only twice: one of the times because it was Paul's first encounter with them, probably through Aquila first. Priscilla's name is mentioned first on four occasions; this may indicate her equal status with her husband, or even possibly that Priscilla was thought of as the more prominent teacher and disciple. In 1900, Adolf von Harnack suggested that Priscilla wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews.
1. Acts 18:2–3: "There he became acquainted with a Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently arrived from Italy with his wife, Priscilla. They had left Italy when Claudius Caesar deported all Jews from Rome. Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was."
2. Acts 18:18: "Paul stayed in Corinth for some time after that, then said good-bye to the brothers and sisters and went to nearby Cenchrea. There he shaved his head according to Jewish custom, marking the end of a vow. Then he set sail for Syria, taking Priscilla and Aquila with him."
3. Acts 18:26: "When Priscilla and Aquila heard him preaching in the synagogue, they took him aside and explained the way of God even more accurately."
4. Romans 16:3: "Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus."
5. 1 Corinthians 16:19: "The churches here in the province of Asia send greetings in the Lord, as do Aquila and Priscilla and all the others who gather in their home for church meetings."
6. 2 Timothy 4:19: "Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and those living in the household of Onesiphorus."
The couple
The Christian Church, beginning with Jesus, had a radical view of the status of women. Jesus demonstrated that he valued women and men equally as being made in the image of God. Luke clearly indicates Priscilla's "agency and her interdependent relationship with her husband. She is certainly not Aquila's property – as was customary in Greco-Roman society – but rather his partner in ministry and marriage".
Priscilla and Aquila were tentmakers as was Paul. Priscilla and Aquila had been among the Jews expelled from Rome by the Roman Emperor Claudius in the year 49 as written by Suetonius. They ended up in Corinth. Paul lived with Priscilla and Aquila for approximately 18 months. Then the couple started out to accompany Paul when he proceeded to Syria, but stopped at Ephesus in the Roman province of Asia, now part of modern Turkey.
In 1 Corinthians 16:19, Paul passes on the greetings of Priscilla and Aquila to their friends in Corinth, indicating that the couple were in his company. Paul founded the church in Corinth.[1 Cor. 4:15] His including them in his greetings implies that Priscilla and Aquila were also involved in the founding of that church. Since 1 Corinthians discusses a crisis deriving from a conflict between the followers of Apollos and the followers of Cephas (possibly the apostle Peter), it can be inferred that Apollos accompanied Priscilla and Aquila when they returned to Corinth. This happened before 54, when Claudius died, and the expulsion of the Jews from Rome was lifted.
In Romans 16:3–4, thought to have been written in 56 or 57, Paul sends his greetings to Priscilla and Aquila and proclaims that both of them "risked their necks" to save Paul's life.
Tradition reports that Aquila and Priscilla were martyred together.
