PAUL’S PERSECUTION OF THE CHURCH
Immediately Stephen died, there was mass persecution against members of the early Church in Jerusalem. Many of the Christians were killed. Paul was at the forefront of the persecution, killing or dragging many Christians from their homes to prison.
Some of those who survived the persecution fled to places in Judea and Samaria. However, the apostles remained in Jerusalem. After Paul had persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, he heard that many of them had fled Jerusalem to places like Damascus, in faraway Syria. Paul who wanted to stamp out Christianity was not happy with the success of Christianity in Damascus.
Therefore, he went to the high priest and obtained permission to go to Damascus so that he could arrest the Christians there and bring them for punishment. The high priest gave Paul a letter of introduction to the synagogues in Damascus.