06/07/2009
Guest article by Gary Dix

Is this the likeness of St Paul?

Archaeologists have uncovered a 1,600 year old image of St Paul, the oldest one known of, in a Roman catacomb.
The fresco, which dates back to the 4th Century AD, shows the thin face of a bearded man with large eyes on a red background surrounded with a yellow circle—the classic image of St Paul.

Fragments of bone which have been kept in an underground sarcophagus for nearly 2,000 years have been identified as the remains of St Paul.

For centuries it was believed that his remains were buried beneath the basilica's main altar, which was covered with a slab of marble inscribed in Latin with the words Paulo Apostolo Mart – "Paul, apostle and martyr".

In 2006, Vatican archeologists discovered a white marble sarcophagus hidden beneath the floor of the basilica – the largest in Rome after St Peter's at the Vatican – after four years of excavations. Experts had drilled a tiny hole in the sarcophagus, which has remained closed for nearly two millennia, to allow inspection of its interior.

Inside they found "traces of a precious linen cloth, purple in colour, laminated with pure gold, and a blue coloured textile with filaments of linen.” It also revealed the presence of grains of red incense and traces of protein and limestone. There were also tiny fragments of bone, which, when subjected to Carbon 14 tests by experts, turned out to belong to someone who lived in the first or second century.

"This seems to confirm the unanimous and undisputed tradition that these are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul," Benedict, an archaeological spokesman, said.

Paul is believed to have been beheaded in Rome around AD 65, on the orders of Emperor Nero, during the persecution of early Christians. Paul’s ministry and writings shaped our western civilization, yet he is almost unrecognised in the wider world.

Paul was the Apostle (special bearer of the Christian message) to the Gentiles (non-Jews), and what a tough road that turned out to be for him. Beaten, jailed, left for dead, called crazy by kings, he was the last person back then you would think would still be revered 2000 years later.

Yet his life was a signpost to Jesus Christ. He lived so that others would come to know about Jesus and his saving power.

Some of Paul’s sayings:
.
From First Timothy 1:15: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners--of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

From Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? …in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Ephesians 2:8: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.

This is a watershed moment in religion—any religion—for no other religion has Grace as its core, as no other religion has Jesus as its Saviour.

All this says much about a man who so longed to be emptied and filled with Christ that his teaching has changed lives for 2000 years. And yet only now has his appearance been discovered.

Basilica

Photo: Basilica's Saint Paul's Outside-the-Walls in Rome is the site of a tomb thought to contain the remains of Saint Paul. Scientific tests confirmed shards found in the underground chamber at the church of St Paul's-Outside-the-Walls in Rome were from the apostle.