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SYNAGOGUE OF THE LIBERTINES, a section of the Hellenistic Jews who attacked Stephen (Acts vi. 9).
The passage reads, rtv~c T&J ~K ru1 (rvva~wyijs ruc X yojthv1~ Aq3eprivwv, xai Kvp~vali&i~ s~ai A)t~~avbp&~v, ~lai rflv 7rb KtXudal ~ai Acrictc, and opinion is divided as to the number of synagogues here named. The probability is that there are three, corresponding to the geographical regions involved, (I) Rome and Italy, (2) N.E. Africa, (3) Asia Minor. In this case the Synagogue of the Libertines is the assembly of the Freedmen from Rome, descendants of the Jews enslaved by Pompey after his conquest of Judaea 63 n.c. If, however, we take AiI3eprivwv icaL Kvp~pato,v sai AX av,3p&~w closely together, the first name must denote the people of some city or district. The obscure town Libertum (inferred from the title Episcopus Libertinensis in connection with the synod of Carthage, A.D. 411) is less likely than the reading (Aq3iwv or) Ar~8uartpwv underlying certain Armenian versions and Syriac commentaries. The Greek towns lying west from Cyrene would naturally be called Libyan. In any case the interesting point is that these returned Jews, instead of being liberalized by their residence abroad, were more tenacious of Judaism and more bitter against Stephen than those who had never left Judaea.
References: This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
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