Areopagus was the name given to the most iconic hill in Athens, Greece.
This elevation of limestone, also called Mars Hill, was where the Supreme Council convened to hear important judicial cases. It was also a popular gathering place for people to debate and discuss novel ideas of the day. It’s a logical setting for Paul to deliver his famous sermon in 54AD to the leading citizens and philosophers of Athens. Luke records the sermon in considerable detail in Acts 17.16-31, one of the most extensively narrated sermons in Scripture. Paul speaks to these leading intellectuals the improbable story of the risen Christ. Luke tells his readers that the result is mixed—some sneer, some want to hear more, and some become followers of Christ. One judge of the high court, Dionysius, is singled out as a new convert (Acts 17.34). It’s the last we hear of Dionysius in Scripture, although it is believed that he later accompanied Paul in his missionary travels and continued the mission after Paul was martyred. The early church historian Eusebius identified Dionysius as the bishop of the church in Athens. Tradition has it that as a young man, Dionysius and his friends witnessed the solar eclipse at the precise moment Christ died on Calvary. He told his comrades, “God suffers, or everything is lost.”
A prayer from the Liturgy of St. Dionysius leads us to pray: