In 34 AD, on a mission from the Jewish high priest of the Jerusalem Temple, Saul of Tarsus, at 26 years old, was on a mission: to kill or capture as many Christians as he could fleeing Jerusalem for the safety of Damascus. The Bible tells us Paul was knocked from his horse and blinded by a brilliant light. A voice asked why he persecuted "his people" Saul was immediately converted but his blindness remained. His troops brought him to the city to a house on Straight Street, still a popular street today.
Ananias, a leader of the Christians, also heard a voice that day . It told him to go to Straight Street and find the blind Paul, baptize him and cure him. Reluctant to do so because he had heard the evil Saul of Tarsus had done to Christians, he obeyed and found the house in which Paul was staying. Ananias then saved Paul and this allowed Paul to write his epistles and letters from prison and as many scholars say become the single most powerful force in the spread of Christianity as a religion.
Ananias turned his home into a chapel and a place to honor the deeds of St. Paul. Ananias went on to become a bishop of the Chruch and met a martyr death by stoning.
The relief above shows the three major events in St. Paul's stay in Damascus. The middle shows Paul's baptism. The right shows his
conversion and the left shows him being lowered in a basket through a breach in the wall to escape the Jewish authorites. They had vowed to kill him and put guards on all seven gates around the city.
Paul avoided all seven gates in order to avoid capture. This is one of the remaining gates that allowed people to enter Damascus. Paul was able to escape and spread Christianity until his imprisonment in Rome and martyrdom in 63 AD
(Okay , I made that up but as my Irish grand uncle used to say: "don't let the truth get in the way of a good story" )
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