Damaris

Biblical Account

Damaris appears at the close of the account in Acts 17 of Paul's stay in Athens, which took place during what is commonly called Paul's second missionary journey. Paul reasoned with people in the synagogue and in the marketplace. He then stood on the Areopagus and, taking as his starting point an altar inscribed "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD," proclaimed God the Creator and the resurrection of Jesus. The name Areopagus refers both to a hill in Athens and to the council that met there.

Those who heard this sermon responded in three ways. Some mocked, and others said they would hear him again on the matter. A few joined Paul and believed. Acts 17:34 records: "Howbeit certain men clave unto him, and believed: among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them." This single verse is the entire biblical record concerning Damaris; it gives no information about her social status, her family, or her later life.

Significance Within Scripture

Acts does not portray the mission in Athens as especially fruitful. Even so, it notes that some people believed and preserves the names of two of them: a male official and a woman. In this respect the passage fits a broader pattern in Acts of naming women who received the gospel, such as Lydia and Priscilla. Damaris is not mentioned elsewhere in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Issues

Because the text is so brief, most of what has been said about Damaris rests on later conjecture.

• Tradition that she was the wife of Dionysius: Some Church Fathers, including John Chrysostom, are reported to have regarded Damaris as the wife of Dionysius. The text, however, simply lists the two names side by side and does not state how they were related.
• Speculation about her status: Because women seldom appeared in public debate in Athens at that time, some have suggested that Damaris was a foreign woman or an educated woman of the upper class. This view, too, is speculation with no basis in the text.
• Manuscript differences: Her name is reportedly absent from some manuscripts of the Western text, notably Codex Bezae. Scholars have offered various explanations for this difference. Korean translations such as the New Korean Revised Version include her name.
• Veneration as a saint: The Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church have traditions that commemorate Damaris as a saint. Protestants generally do not practice the veneration of saints and present her as one of the early believers.

In the Korean Church

Few sermons or Sunday school lessons focus on Damaris alone. She is usually mentioned in treatments of Paul's Areopagus sermon in Acts 17. In such sermons she may be presented as an example of someone who responded to the gospel in a place marked by mockery and indifference, or cited as one of the women of faith in the early church.