It is believed that one of the central characters of the New Testament changed its name as a sign of the adoption of a new faith. We checked whether this is the presentation of the text of the Bible.

The expression “from Saul Paul” in the Russian language became winged with the meaning “change to opposite”. As stated on the encyclopedic resource Otrezal.ru, “The noble Jew Saul (Saul) was a fierce opponent of the first Christians: they say that he even took part in the murder of one of them - Stefan. But once, on the way to the city of Damascus, one legend says, he heard a voice from the sky that reproached him in black affairs. The shocked Saul accepted the name Paul (and the word "Paulus" in Latin means "small", "insignificant"), turned into a convinced Christian and even one of the preachers of Christianity. "

The fact that the disciple of Christ broke up with the former name can be recognized, for example, from the encyclopedia "Who is in the Bible", works of a religious philosopher Vasily RozanovaLev Gumilyova's work "String of history" and many other special and general impressive books. Saint Jerome, one of the biographers of the Apostle, clarifiesthat Saul changed his name in honor of the Pronsul Sergius Paul - The first to whom he turned into the faith of Christ.

Firstly, we will immediately make a reservation that the issue of the existence of the real apostle Paul Open still. The object of our interest in this case is the image, the biography that has developed from biblical texts, and historical realities can only help us in some reasoning.

Let's see what our topic is said directly in the New Testament. From the Old Testament it is known that God changed the names of the two patriarchs: Abram - on Abraham And Jacob - on Israel. Here is a slightly different case - one of the key figures in the spread of Christianity changes the name for itself. According to one of the above sources, a decisive event for this was the path to Damascus. It is described in 9th chapter Books "Acts of the Apostles." After the appearance of the voice of Jesus, Saul began to preach Christianity in Damascus and met the rest of the apostles.

So:
1. In his phenomenon, Pavel Jesus addresses him “Saul, Saul” (Acts 9: 4).
2. Already after the appeal of our hero the future Apostle from seventy Ananias addresses him like Savla (Acts 9:17).
3. The Holy Spirit calls Pavel Saul in front of his first missionary journey. The “Acts” say: “When they served the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: Separate me to Barnabas and Savla to the matter to which I called them” (Acts 13: 2).

In total after the appearance of Jesus before the future Paul, the hero is called Saul 11 times 11 times. And the use of the name Pavel becomes constant later, after the start of the missionary travels: “Savior from Pafa, Pavel and the former arrived in Permeia, in Pamfilia” (Acts 13:13). However, no change in the name, rejection of the old version is not said by direct text.

Moreover, immediately before the specified episode It is said: “But Saul, he and Paul, fulfilled the Holy Spirit and put an eye on him ...” That is, in the New Testament, the names Saul and Paul are directly called equivalent to the same person. And the idea of such a combination of Paul names is not new - back in the middle of the III century, the theologian expressed it Origen.

What then encouraged the evangelists from some moment in the text to begin to call the apostle Paul? As many Researchers, for a native Tars (a city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea on the territory of modern Turkey) There is nothing unusual in this. According to the row researchers, relatives for Paul could be Koynya - The common language of the era of Hellenism, which absorbed various Greek dialects. Just as many immigrants in English -speaking countries choose an engraved name, in addition to their ethnic name, many Greek -speaking Jews during Paul from birth had two names: Jewish and Greek / Latin. We must also forget that Savel was born on the territory of the Roman Empire and was Roman citizen. Saul (Saul) is a Jewish name that wore The first king Israel, a Paul - This is the Greek form of the Latin name Paulus ("small"). It was when Saul went to preach into pagan lands, whose inhabitants mainly spoke to Greek, it would be logical to present to these people more understandable of their names. Later, Paul recalls that on the way to Damascus, Jesus turned to him “in Jewish:“ Saul, Saul! ”, And also does not say anything about the abandonment of this name (Acts 26:14).

Another source NotesThe reason for the beginning of the widespread use of the named after Paul in the New Testament could certainly not be the Christian essence of this name - it became Christian just purely thanks to Pavel.

As for the transition to the name of Paul in honor of the first commanded by the Pronsul Sergius Paul, as states in some interpretations, then it should be noted the following. 1) In the Bible itself, nothing is said about such an act, and we are interested in the canonical text. 2) This still would not mean a complete refusal on behalf of Saul. Authors of the GOT Questions portal writeWhat, most likely, took place here.

Thus, in the Gospel there is no obvious evidence that Saul abandoned his behalf in favor of Pavel. Two names in one person are not at all rare phenomenon For the Bible. Therefore, by default it is more correct to assume that this did not happen.