Acts 13:5

Salamis was the largest town in eastern Cyprus, about 60 miles from Seleucia. It lay on the coast, and there were enough Jews there to warrant more than one synagogue. Salamis’ population was mainly Greek, but many Jews lived there as well. [Note: Josephus, Antiquities of . . ., 13:10:4.] Barnabas and Saul habitually visited the Jewish synagogues when they preached the gospel. They undoubtedly did so because that was where the people who were God-fearers and anticipators of the Messiah assembled, both Jews and Gentiles. Of course, this was not the first time the Christian gospel had come to Cyprus, but the Christians had only evangelized Jews earlier (cf. Acts 11:19). John Mark probably provided assistance in many ways. Timothy served in a similar capacity when Paul and Silas left Lystra on Paul’s second missionary journey (cf. Acts 16:1-3). [Note: See the map of Paul’s first missionary journey in Longenecker, p. 248, or in Toussaint, "Acts," p. 386.]