Priscilla (also called by her formal name “Prisca”) and her husband Aquila were missionaries and teachers in the early church who worked alongside the Apostle Paul as tentmakers and Christian ministers. They are mentioned in four books of the New Testament, a total of six times by name. The Feast Day of Priscilla and Aquila is celebrated on July 8 in the West and February 13 in the East.
Fleeing Rome for Corinth
Most of what we know about Priscilla and Aquila is found in Acts 18. Aquila is identified as “a Jew” and “a native of Pontus” (a region on the northeastern coast of modern-day Turkey). Jews from Pontus were present at Pentecost, and so it is possible that Aquila was there for the pilgrimage feast and heard the gospel (Acts 2:9). Priscilla may have been Jewish as well, but since only Aquila is clearly called a Jew, it may be more likely that she was a God-fearing Gentile like Cornelius (Acts 10:2).
Priscilla and Aquila lived in Italy, probably in or near Rome. However, the Roman Emperor Claudius was determined to keep alive the old Roman religion, and in his zeal to oppose what he viewed as foreign “superstitions,” he issued an edict expelling Jews from Rome. This likely happened in 49 AD and some evidence suggests that it was in response to controversy within the Jewish community about Jesus.
Priscilla and Aquila had probably already turned to Jesus as the Messiah when they were forced to flee their home. They traveled over 600 miles to Corinth, a city in Greece, and set up a tent-making business there. Artisans like this had low social status, were looked down on, worked long, hard hours, and often worked together with other artisans in trade guilds for support and friendship. It is in this context that Paul, who was also a tentmaker, met Priscilla and Aquila and developed a friendship with them. For around eighteen months—a year and a half—they worked together in their trade. Paul likely spent many hours teaching them Christian doctrine.
Ministry in Ephesus
Paul thought so highly of Priscilla and Aquila that when he decided to leave Corinth and head back to his missionary base in Antioch in Syria, he invited them to come along. But along the way, they stopped at Ephesus in Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), and Paul decided to leave them there. Paul probably wanted them to strengthen the Christian witness in Ephesus, and to pass on to others what they had learned from him. Priscilla and her husband had already uprooted their entire lives fleeing persecution in Rome; now, they willingly did it again for the sake of the gospel.
Around this time, an eloquent speaker named Apollos came to Ephesus and began preaching Jesus to his fellow Jews. However, Apollos “knew only the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). He knew that Jesus was the Messiah, whom John proclaimed as “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29), and since he was well-versed in the Old Testament Scriptures, he was likely putting some of the dots together. However, Apollos likely did not know key information about Christ’s ministry, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, or Christian baptism in the Triune name. He needed to be catechized in the whole counsel of God. When Priscilla and Aquila heard Apollos preaching and recognized his limited knowledge, “they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:26). Like the believers in Acts 19:3 who knew only of the baptism of John, Apollos was likely then baptized in the name of Christ.
It is significant that in the highly patriarchal culture of the ancient world, Priscilla is named first, before her husband. This is also the case in Acts 18:18, Acts 18:26, and when Paul mentions them in Romans 16:3 and 2 Timothy 4:19. If Aquila was a Jew and Priscilla was a God-fearer, then it may be more likely that she came from a higher status Roman family, and/or was a Roman citizen. Since the context is focused on their ministry, it may also indicate that she was the primary and/or superior teacher. What is clear is that a woman took an important role in catechizing a prominent male preacher. Priscilla reminds us that in the church in every age, the Holy Spirit gives the gifts of knowledge and teaching to both men and women, and we need these gifts for the church to flourish. We need women of the Word and men of the Word who can teach others and spread the truth about Jesus Christ.
Some time later, Paul returned to Ephesus and stayed there for three years, no doubt working once again with Priscilla and Aquila. Paul later wrote that they “risked their lives to save his neck” (Rom. 16:3), and it may be during his prolonged stay in Ephesus that this happened. Acts 19 records how Paul’s teaching led to a dangerous riot, and two of Paul’s traveling companions were dragged into the Ephesian theater by the rioters. Paul wanted to go in after them, among the crowd, but “the disciples would not let him” (Acts 19:30). Perhaps Priscilla and Aquila were among those who intervened and helped to pull Paul away, opening themselves up to being seized by the angry rioters and possibly harmed or killed. Whatever the case, we see here that Priscilla was a courageous woman who was willing to risk her very life for her brothers and sisters in Christ and for the gospel. Jesus and the church was her all in all.
At some point, Priscilla and Aquila opened their home to other believers in Ephesus and began to host a church in their house. Near the end of his stay in Ephesus, around 53–55 AD, Paul wrote a letter to the church at Corinth, and concludes by telling the Corinthians, “Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord” (1 Cor. 16:19). Remember that Priscilla and her husband had originally met Paul at Corinth and probably loved and missed their Corinthian brothers and sisters. It is also noteworthy that in Paul’s letter, he frequently mentions Apollos as a teacher whom the Corinthians highly regarded (1 Cor. 1:12; 3:4–6, 22; 4:6; 16:12). Even though Priscilla and her husband left Corinth, they continued to impact the church there through their formative role in the life of Apollos.
Return to Rome
At some point, Priscilla and Aquila decided to return to Rome. Perhaps it was safe for them to do so because Emperor Claudius died in AD 54. Whatever the case, they ministered to the church there, and when Paul sent his letter to the Romans, likely in AD 57, he said, “Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well.” Paul felt indebted to them for his very life, and the story of how they saved him had spread to churches throughout the world.
Back to Ephesus
Some time later, Priscilla and her husband decided to return to Ephesus. Perhaps they missed the church in which they had invested so much. Whatever the case, when Paul wrote his second letter to Timothy, the chief pastor in Ephesus, he told Timothy to greet his friends and gospel coworkers Priscilla and Aquila. This puts them in Ephesus around 64–67 AD, and it is the last thing that we know for sure about their lives.
Some much later documents claim that Priscilla and Aquila ultimately died together as martyrs, perhaps at Ephesus, but we do not know for sure. Some have suggested that Priscilla was the author of Hebrews, but there is little scholarly support for this view. In his book Priscilla: The Life of an Early Christian (IVP Academic, 2019), Ben Witherington III draws on his knowledge of the ancient world to offer a creative but informative story of what Priscilla’s life may have been like.
Conclusion
In the Western Church, Priscilla and Aquila are honored together on July 8, and in the Eastern Church they are commemorated on February 13. In the Book of Common Prayer, this prayer is appointed for the Feast of Priscilla and Aquila, coworkers of the Apostle Paul:
God of grace and might, you plenteously endowed your servants Priscilla and Aquila with gifts of zeal and eloquence to make known the truth of the Gospel: Raise up, we ask you, in every country, heralds and evangelists of your kingdom, that the world may know the immeasurable riches of our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
