Home › Glossary › Letter F

Festus

Biblical
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Roman governor who succeeded Felix, heard Paul’s defense, and sent him to Caesar in Rome, as described in the Book of Acts.

Detailed Definition
Festus, more upright than Felix, still yielded to Jewish pressure, sending Paul to Rome for trial. He consulted Agrippa on Paul’s case. In poetry, Festus symbolizes bureaucratic neutrality that fails to protect the innocent, the clash between Roman law and religious fervor, and the unwitting facilitation of gospel expansion through legal process.
Example
Example in poetry:
In John Milton’s "Paradise Lost," Festus’s appeal to Caesar (Acts 25) illustrates Roman justice intersecting with divine plan; In T.S. Eliot’s "The Rock," Festus represents pragmatic governance blind to spiritual reality; In Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s "A Drama of Exile," Festus symbolizes the reasonable man who cannot grasp faith; In George Herbert’s "The Church-porch," Festus’s “madness” charge against Paul warns against dismissing revelation; In John Keble’s "Lyra Apostolica," Festus embodies the worldly judge; In W.H. Auden’s "For the Time Being," Festus illustrates the bureaucratic mind confronting mystery.
Additional Notes
Festus: Successor to Felix; heard Paul’s case and consulted Agrippa II (Acts 25–26). More just than Felix but still bound by Roman protocol. In poetry, Festus embodies bureaucratic neutrality, the limits of legal justice, and the near-miss of conversion. His exclamation (“Paul, you are out of your mind!” Acts 26:24) captures rationalist dismissal of revelation—ideal for poems on reason vs. faith, or the tragic gap between hearing and believing.
Also Known As
Festus governor of Judea Porcius Festus
Skip to main content