Apostle Paul Hand Drawn Bulgarian Icon. Saint Paul the Apostle was a Jewish preacher, one of the most important apostles of Christianity, who played a decisive role in its spread outside the Jewish community. He was born in the city of Tarsus in Cilicia to a Jewish family and the name he used in the Jewish community was Saul (Savel). At the same time, he was a Roman citizen by birth and, when writing in Greek, used his Latin name Paulus (Paul). Paul received a good education at the school of Gamaliel in Jerusalem and initially participated in the persecution of Christians. After a miraculous appearance of Christ near Damascus, he became a Christian and one of the most zealous propagators of the Christian faith. The New Testament of the Bible contains fourteen epistles written by the apostle Paul, in which he explains the meaning of the gospel, i.e. salvation by faith, as it is written in Rom.1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel (of Christ), because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes - to the Jew first, and then to the Greek." The icon is in good condition.