Wrong theories on St Paul's shipwreck

Every now and then we are faced by a letter day prophet. A false and wrong theory can never become gospel.

One such misleading and confusing idea is about the period of St Paul's Shipwreck. Bernard A. Vassallo (February 16) has repeated previous fallacies on which I have written many a time.

Mr Vassallo and others like him ignore two major points, namely: (a) The Great Jewish Diaspora of the first century AD, and (b) The Apocryphal Acts of Peter and Paul. With the destruction of Jerusalem and the Great Temple, many Jewish writings and studies were lost forever. One such great loss was the complicated calendar. No one can tell the dates of Jewish feasts and thus it is impossible to pinpoint certain dates.

The limitation of sailing periods was purely a Jewish custom and the Romans had other ideas. One must remember that the Jews were not a marine nation. Their sailing was practically limited to internal waters. It was the Romans who controlled the seas and they could not afford to stop their ships from plying the waves during the winter months.

The Acts of Peter and Paul declare clearly that St Paul reached Syracuse on May 28. Now, considering that his stay in Malta was of three months, it means that he must have been shipwrecked in February. Q.E.D.

Any other theory is false from its very inception. I blame our Church authorities for never deciding once and for all such an important fact of our Catholic roots and historical importance. I plead to all true Maltese: Please stop confusing the issue.