CYPRUS

The island of Cyprus was located in the Mediterranean Sea. In former days it was called Kittim and its people were well known as sea traders (Num 24:24; Isa 23:1,12; Jer 2:10; Ezek 27:6; Dan 11:30). Barnabas, a leading man in the early church, came from Cyprus (Acts 4:36). When the Jews killed Stephen and drove the Christians from Jerusalem, some of those Christians took the gospel to Cyprus (Acts 11:19). Barnabas and Paul further helped the growth of the church in Cyprus by conducting a preaching tour that stretched from one end of the island to the other. A few years later Barnabas and Mark did further work there (Acts 13:2-6; 15:39). Paul sailed past the island on later journeys, but there is no record that he visited the island again (Acts 21:3; 27:4). Under the Roman administration, the capital of Cyprus was Paphos (Acts 13:6-7). The island had a large Jewish population and many synagogues (Acts 13:5-6). The Jews of Cyprus who became Christians had a much broader outlook than the Jews of Jerusalem, and were sympathetic to the expansion of the gospel among the Gentiles (Acts 11:20; 13:46; 21:16).