for hospitality, because the villagers did not want to facilitate a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a practice which they saw as a violation of the Law of Moses. Two of his disciples want to "call down fire from heaven and destroy them," but Jesus rebukes them. The Parable of the Good Samaritan. Jesus healed ten lepers, of whom only one returned to praise God, and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asks a Samaritan woman of Sychar for water from Jacob's Well, and after spending two days telling her townsfolk "all things" as the woman expected the Messiah to do, and presumably repeating the Good News that he is the Messiah, many Samaritans become followers of Jesus. He accepts without comment the woman's assertion that she and her people are Israelites, descendants of Jacob. Jesus is accused of being a Samaritan and being demon-possessed. He denies the latter accusation explicitly, and denies the former previously—having already done so in his conversation with the Samaritan woman. Christ tells the apostles that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon them and that they would be his witnesses in "Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth." The Apostles are being persecuted. Philip preaches the Gospel to a city in Samaria, and the Apostles in Jerusalem hear about it. So they send the Apostles Peter and John to pray for and lay hands on the baptized believers, who then receive the Holy Spirit (vs. 17). They then return to Jerusalem, preaching the Gospel "in many villages of the Samaritans". Acts 9:31 says that at that time the churches had "rest throughout all Judaea and Galilee and Samaria". Acts 15:2–3 says that Paul and Barnabas were "being brought on their way by the church" and that they passed through "Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles". (Phoenicia in several other English versions). Notable Samaritans Baba Rabba Justa Marinus of Neapolis See also Crimean Karaites Karaite Jews Mandaeans Notes Citations Sources External links "Samaritans" in The Jewish Encyclopedia "Good Samaritans: Israel's smallest religious minority offers Jews a glimpse of what might have been" by Benjamin Balint, Tablet Magazine "The Origin and Nature of the Samaritans and Their Relationship to Second Temple Jewish Sects", David Steinberg "Samaritans" (theory on the Samaritan–Jewish tensions), Jona Lendering "Guards of Mount Gerizim", Alex Maist The Samaritans: The Earliest Jewish