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60. Saul.

The vehemence of Stephen's speech made the name of Jesus even more hated than it had been before, and his stoning was the beginning of a general persecution. The whole community in Jerusalem fled and scattered throughout the country and into Syria, so that now the confessors of Jesus and the messengers of his kingdom were spread throughout Judea and Samaria and beyond the borders of the country, in Galilee anyway. For what does the storm and the tempest do? It carries on the fruitful seeds. But the worst of all those who destroyed the church in Jerusalem was the young Pharisee who had taken such great pleasure in the death of Stephen. Indeed, he now persecuted the confessors of the hated name as far as foreign cities, so that he led them bound to Jerusalem.

When he went to Damascus in Syria for such purposes - his conscience might have troubled him from time to time as to whether he was also on good paths; God does not allow anyone to go unwarned on evil paths - suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice: ‘Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ He said, ‘Lord, who are you?’ The voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’ He asked, ‘Lord, what do you want me to do?’ The voice said, "Go into the city. There they will tell you what you should do."