ake Tiberias. This
second generation had not seen Jesus, and could not equal the first in
authority. But it was destined to surpass it in activity and in its love
for distant missions. One of the best known among the new converts was
Stephen, who, before his conversion, appears to have been only a simple
proselyte. He was a man full of ardor and of passion. His faith was of
the most fervent, and he was considered to be favored with all the gifts
of the Spirit. Philip, who, like Stephen, was a zealous deacon and
evangelist, attached himself to the community about the same time. He
was often confounded with his namesake, the apostle. Finally, there were
converted at this epoch, Andronicus and Junia, probably husband and
wife, who, like Aquila and Priscilla, later on, were the model of an
apostolic couple, devoted to all the duties of missionary work. They
were of the blood of Israel, and were in the closest relations with the
apostles.

The new converts, when touched by grace, were all Jews by religion, but
they belonged to two very different classes of Jews. The one class was
the Hebrews; that is to say, the Jews of Palestine, speaking Hebrew or
rather Armenian, reading the Bible in the Hebrew text; the other class
was "Hellenists," that is to say, Jews speaking Greek, and reading the
Bible in Greek. These last were further subdivided into two classes, the
one being of Jewish blood, the other being proselytes, that is to say,
people of non-Israelitish origin, allied in divers degrees to Judaism.
These Hellenists, who almost all came from Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, or
Cyrene, lived at Jerusalem in distinct quarters. They had their separate
synagogues, and formed thus little communities apart. Jerusalem
contained a great number of these special synagogues. It was in these
that the words of Jesus found the soil prepared to receive it and to
make it fructify.

The primitive nucleus of the Church at Jerusalem had been composed
wholly and exclusively of Hebrews; the Aramaic dialect, which was the
language of Jesus, was alone known and employed there. But we see that
from the second or third year after the death of Jesus, Greek was
introduced into the little community, where it soon became dominant. In
consequence of their daily relations with the new brethren, Peter, John,
James, Jude, and in general the Galilean disciples acquired the Greek
with much more facility than if they had already known something of it.
The Palestini