February 10

Silas, Fellow Worker with Paul

Silas, a leader in the church at Jerusalem, was chosen by Paul (Acts 15:40) to accompany him on his second missionary journey from Antioch to Asia Minor and Macedonia. Silas, also known as Silvanus, was imprisoned with Paul in Philippi and experienced the riots in Thessalonica and Berea. After rejoining Paul in Corinth, he apparently remained there for an extended time. Beyond that there is little further mention of Silas and his association with Paul. [From "Commemorations Biographies," Lutheran Service Book, LCMS Commission on Worship, ]

1535 A dozen Anabaptists run stark naked through the streets of Amsterdam. Such strange actions, usually by Melchiorite Anabaptists, led to the group’s ridicule by Protestants and Catholics alike. Former Catholic priest Menno Simons (1496–1561) was finally able to bring the group into a nonresistant, discipled and disciplined vision.

1604 Cyriacus Spangenberg, theologian, died (b. 7 June 1528, Nordhausen, Germany).

1604 King James I of England (1566–1625) authorized an English Bible translation, which was completed in 1611.

1662 Michael Walther, Lutheran theologian, died (b. 1593, Nürnberg).

1690 Samuel S. Wesley, composer, was born (d. 6 November 1739). Samuel was the brother of John and Charles Wesley.

1706 Johann Justus Henkel Sr., early American Lutheran pastor, was born (d. August 1778).

1783 James Nares, hymnist, died (b. 19 April 1715, Stanwell, Middlesex, England).

1791 Henry H. Milman, Anglican churchman, scholar and hymnist, was born at Saint James, Westminster, London (d. 24 September 1868, Sunninghill, Ascot, England).

1812 Carl Ernst Christoph Ochs, missionary to India, was born in Greglening, Wuerttemberg (d. 16 November 1863).

1819 Richard S. Willis, American Catholic music critic and composer, was born in Boston (d. 7 May 1900, Detroit, Michigan).

1829 Pope Leo XII died (b. 22 August 1760).

1859 Jonathan Goforth, Presbyterian missionary to China, was born in Thorndale, West Ontario, Canada (d. 8 October 1936).

1861 John Henry Frederick Feth, Lutheran pastor and professor, was born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 29 July 1927).

1870 The first chapter of the YMCA in America was established in New York City.

1899 The Church of England first authorized the use of the 1881 English Revised Version of the Bible (known also as the ERV or RV) in the Anglican liturgy and worship.

1912 Tullius C. O'Kane, American educator and music publisher, died (b. 10 March 1830, Fairfield County, Ohio).

1918 Abdul Hamid II, the last sultan of Turkey, died in Bosporus, Turkey (b. 21 September 1842).

1939 Pope Pius XI (b. 31 May 1857), 258th Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, died.

1963 The Missouri Synod seminary in Hong Kong was dedicated.