St. Lydia

I saw a Facebook meme the other day: "People who like green: Green is a good color. People who like orange: Orange is a good color. People who like purple: Purple is my life. I dress purple, I glow purple, I eat and sleep purple . . . "  I know a couple people like that. If colors had Patron Saints, the Patron Saint of Purple would be St. Lydia.

What we know about Lydia comes from Scripture - specifically the Acts of the Apostles. We are told that Paul and his companions met Lydia in Philippi, but she is identified as being from Thyatira and a dealer in purple goods (a businesswoman). Thyatira was know for its dying facilities and was the center of the purple cloth trade. Purple dye was made from the secretions of sea snails - it took tens of thousands of snails and significant labor making purple cloth very expensive. This is why purple was associated with royalty - and incidentally why purple is associated with Advent and the coming of the King of Kings.

When we first meet Lydia in Scripture, she is gathered on the river bank with other women in a place that Paul and Co. went to pray. The missionaries spoke to the women and Lydia is converted and baptized with her whole household. She then invited the missionaries to stay at her house. The social power evident by her control of a household and ownership of a house indicates that she was probably a free woman and possibly a widow.

Many Christian denominations recognize Lydia as a Saint. In the Roman Catholic Church, her feast day is celebrated on August 3; the Episcopal Church honors her along with Sts. Dorcas and Phoebe on January 27; many Orthodox Churches remember her on May 20 and others observe June 25 and March 27 as her feast days. The Lutheran community is also divided with the ELCA following the Episcopal church observing January 27 and the LCMS commemorating the three women on October 25.