20 Alexander C. Loney lapping structures (e.g., 11,27 – 13,1, between the Petrine and Pauline narratives) and small (e.g., 8,1b-2, between the narratives of Christianity in Jerusalem and its spread beyond)54. Longenecker draws attention to verse 12,25 in particular as having special importance in creating an overlapping transition55. The first half of this verse, along with 12,24, deserves a closer look: [24] δ λ γος το θεο η ξανεν κα πληθ νετο. [25] Βαρναβ ς δ κα Σα λος π στρεψαν ξ ερουσαλ μ πληρ σαντες τ ν διακον αν... [24] And the word of God grew and spread. [25] Then Barnabas and Saul returned from Jerusalem having completed their ministry... 56 Longenecker does not note linguistic features on the level of verbal aspect as markers of his “‘chain-link’ interlock”. However, we see a pat- tern here very much in keeping with the Lukan cadential practice. We have two imperfective verbs, η ξανεν and πληθ νετο, that utilize the mimetic mode of discourse, “vivifying” the narrative. In conjunction with these we have an aorist verb of motion, π στρεψαν, which relates a point of historical record. From this aorist verb onward –set apart from the preceding mimetic section by the discontinuous particle δ – the narrative proceeds by the diegetic mode. The nature of this sequence as a transition and a “‘chain-link’ interlock” with elements of different narrative sections interwoven with one another can also be seen on the referential level: the linearly earlier text refers to circumstances to follow in the narrative’s chronology and the linearly later text to events having happened previ- ously on the timeline. V. 24 points forward (and to some extent back- ward), anticipating the spread of “the word of God” to Cyprus (13,4) and beyond. At the same time, v. 25 points backward, referring to Barnabas and Saul’s service in Judea, spent partly in Jerusalem (11,29-30). These verbal features strengthen Longenecker’s proposal for a Lukan tendency to interconnect narrative episodes57. Such an overlapping structure can be seen in Luke 4,1-2. The pericope immediately preceding the temptation episode is the story of Jesus’ bap- 54 Ibid., 188-89. The other two are Luke 24,47 – Acts 1,12 (between books) and 19,21-41. 55 Ibid., 190-91, 200-01. 56 Acts 12,24-25a, author’s translation. I have taken as preferable the reading of ξ ερουσαλ μ to ε ς ερουσαλ μ, as has Longenecker (Ibid., 190). 57 It should be made clear that the narrative passages that Longenecker treats as overlap- ping are not pericopes; they are rather major thematic sections of four to eight chapters in length (he outlines four in total for the book). Nonetheless, this stylistic feature that Longenecker finds at a larger level is also present at a smaller, pericope-scale level.