The concept of paroikia runs like a scarlet thread through the entire biblical narrative. Abraham lived as a paroikos in Canaan, the land God promised him, and yet "went out, not knowing where he was going" (Heb 11:8–9). He and the patriarchs confessed that they were "strangers and exiles on the earth," seeking a city "whose designer and builder is God" (Heb 11:13–16). Israel's entire identity was shaped by memory of their alien status: "A wandering Aramean was my father" (Deut 26:5).
In the New Testament, Peter addresses the Church as "elect exiles of the Dispersion" and "sojourners and exiles" (1 Pet 1:1; 1 Pet 2:11), urging them to abstain from fleshly passions and to maintain honorable conduct "among the Gentiles." The paroikia identity is not passive resignation but an active calling: precisely because we are not at home here, we live differently, bear witness differently, and die differently from those who mistake this present age for the final city.
Remarkably, the English word "parish" derives directly from paroikia — the local congregation being understood as a community of resident aliens gathered around Word and Sacrament while awaiting the coming Kingdom.
Paroikia does not appear in Webster 1828. However, Webster's entry for PILGRIM captures the spirit: "A wanderer; a traveler; particularly, one that travels to a distance from his own country to visit a holy place, or to pay his devotion to the remains of dead saints... In a general sense, any wayfarer."
Webster's entry for STRANGER: "A foreigner; a person belonging to another country. One who is unknown; one not a native of the place. In Scripture, a sojourner; one who has no settled habitation or home." This legal precision matters: a stranger has no deed, no vote, no abiding city — only lodging.
The Church in the West has largely abandoned the paroikia identity in favor of citizenship. Rather than resident aliens who live by a different constitution, Western Christians have come to regard national or cultural identity as primary and ecclesial identity as secondary or private. "Christian nation" language — when it collapses the kingdom of God into any earthly nation-state — is the precise inversion of paroikia: it makes the alien into a homeowner and the sojourner into a landlord. The saints of Scripture, by contrast, "died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth" (Heb 11:13). The saints did not mistake Canaan for heaven. The Church must not mistake America — or any other nation — for the Kingdom.
1 Peter 2:11 — "Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles [paroikous] to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul."
Hebrews 11:13 — "These all died in faith... having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."
Philippians 3:20 — "Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."
1 Peter 1:17 — "If you call on him as Father... conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile [paroikia]."
Hebrews 13:14 — "Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come."
G3927 — Parepidemos: a stranger sojourning beside a people — used alongside paroikos in 1 Pet 2:11
G3941 — Paroikos: a resident alien, sojourner — the individual bearing the paroikia identity
G3940 — Paroikia: the state or time of sojourning — used in 1 Pet 1:17 and Acts 13:17
• The word "parish" (English) comes from paroikia — a congregation understood as a community of holy strangers gathered while waiting for the city of God.
• The paroikia calling is not escapism — it is engagement with the world from a position of freedom: the believer who is not ultimately invested in earthly outcomes is the freest person in any room.
• Abraham's greatness was not possessing the land — it was trusting God's promise about the land while living as a stranger in it. This is the posture of every true heir of Abraham.