Lydia of Thyatira
1st‑century Lydian merchant of purple cloth, Christian saint, early European convert to Christianity mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles
Lydia of Thyatira (Greek: Λυδία) is a woman mentioned in the New Testament who is regarded as the first documented convert to Christianity in Europe. Several Christian denominations have designated her a saint.
Lydia of Thyatira and Philippi
The name "Lydia", meaning "the Lydian woman", by which she was known indicates that she was from Lydia in Asia Minor. Though she is commonly known as "St. Lydia" or even more simply "The Woman of Purple", Lydia is given other titles: "of Thyatira", "Purpuraria", and "of Philippi ('Philippisia' in Greek)". "[Lydia's] name is an ethnicon, deriving from her place of origin". The first refers to her place of birth, a city in the ancient region of Lydia (modern-day Akhisar, Turkey). The second comes from the Latin word for purple and relates to her connection with purple dye. Lydia was living in Philippi in modern-day (Greek) Macedonia when she met St. Paul and his companions.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lydia of Thyatira” is 1st‑century Lydian merchant of purple cloth, Christian saint, early European convert to Christianity mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lydia, Thyatira and century, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q292282. VIAF identifies the subject as 130931422. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Lydia of Thyatira” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.