After his conversion and time in Arabia and Damascus, Paul returned to Jerusalem where he debated the Hellenistic Jews (Acts 9:19–29). When the Jews attempted to kill him, the church there sent Paul back to Tarsus of Cilicia (Gal. 1:21; Acts 9:30). Little is known about Paul’s so-called “silent years” back home. Yet two obscure references in Acts 15 suggest that Paul was probably active in church planting. The churches in Cilicia were one of the addressees of the letter drafted by the Jerusalem council (Acts 15:23). Later Paul visited these Cilician churches at the beginning of his second ministry journey (Acts 15:41). Since only Paul is known to have been in Cilicia during this period, the existence of these churches suggests that the apostle is their founder. The core of these churches was undoubtedly diaspora Jews who, like Paul’s family, lived in the region. Paul’s time in Cilicia was between 5–10 years. Around the mid 40s a.d. Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Paul and brought him back to Antioch, the capital of the province of Syria and the third largest city in the Roman Empire. The two men discipled the growing church of Jews and Gentiles there for a whole year. It was at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians (Acts 11:20–26). After Agabus prophesied that a severe famine would come, Paul and Barnabas were chosen to carry a gift from the church in Antioch to the church in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27–30; Gal. 2:1–2). After completing their mission, the two brought John Mark back with them to Antioch (Acts 12:25).

 

The distances were measured on the Barrington Atlas of the Classical World using a Brunton Digital Map Measurer. The distances are over 95% accurate. Higher accuracies are difficult because of the page creases and the way the maps overlap in the atlas. Hopefully a flat map of Asia Minor will be issued someday. Alternate routes for the journeys are provided; the route of the North Galatian hypothesis is not measured.

Origin	Destination	Distance Km/M
Jerusalem	Caesarea	106/68
Caesarea	Ptolemais	64/40
Ptolemais	Tyre	46/29
Tyre	Sidon	38/24
Sidon	Berytus	42/26
Berytus	Laodicea	42/26
Berytus	Laodicea	232/144
Laodicea	Antioch on Orontes	96/60
Jerusalem	Antioch on the Orontes	624/391
Antioch on Orontes	Alexandria ad Issum	48/28
Alexandria ad Issum	Mopsuestia	80/51
Mopsuestia	Adana	30/19
Adana	Tarsus	40/25
Antioch on Orontes	Tarsus	198/123

Origin	Destination	Distance Km/M
Antioch on Orontes	Syrian Gates	32/20
Alexandria ad Issum	Syrian-Cilician Gates	10/6
Mopsuestia	Amanian Gates	36/22
Mopsuestia	Hierapolis Castabala	66/41
Mopsuestia	Zeugma	228/141