This will be a very brief post wrapping up the Greece part of the tour as we are leaving the hotel at 4.30 am tomorrow morning for our flight to Rome. Yesterday we journeyed into the region of Macedonia (not to be mistaken with the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) to the cities of Berea and Vergine. In Acts 17, before Paul visits Athens, we are told that he was in Berea in Macedonia. There is a Jewish quarter in Berea that at one time would have been a well populated Ghetto. The synagogue still stands and is pictured in these photos, however it is not currently in use.
Following Berea, we journeyed to Vergine. Vergine does not have particular biblical reference but is a place that had a rather spectacular archaeological discovery in relatively recent history: the uncovering of some royal tombs. Unfortunately no photographs may be taken here, so we do not have a lot to show. However, this you tube video gives an idea of what we saw: Click Here. The tomb is believed to be the tomb of King Phillip II, the father of Alexander the Great. The grandeur of his burial is said to be unsurpassed by other royalty of his day.
We concluded out study tour for the day by arriving in Thessalonica (or Thessaloniki in Greek). Paul writes two letters in the New Testament to Thessalonica and in the Acts of the Apostles, we get a window into his ministry here. Again Acts 17, verses 1-9, account for Paul and Silas' visit to Thessalonica. We are told that there were Jews living in this city and that Paul went to the Synagogue on three Sabbaths in a row to reason from the scriptures. Some were pesuaded, the text says, as were many Greeks and not a few of the leading women (v4). However there were many who were not pursuaded and violent hands were laid on Jason, who had received Paul and Silas in his home.
Today, Thessaloniki remains a cosmopolitan and multicultural city. Our tour guide told us that the best and the cheapest food can be found here. That evening, we joined some others of our group for a drink in the main square of town which was a very cool place with couches and subdued lighting. In the end, Steph, Heather and I were the "stayers" who rolled back into our hotel room quite late, but thoroughly pleased with ourselves.
The following day (today), we journeyed to Philippi which is about a 2.5 hour drive from Thessaloniki. Again, Philippi has its own book in the New Testament, and an extended section in the Acts of the Apostles. From Paul's letter to the Philippians, we see Paul joyful and full of praise for the Church there. In Acts 16, we see that the first convert is Lydia, seemingly a wealthy widow (a seller of purple cloth). James offered us many convicning archaeological and sociological proofs for the production of purple cloths by people of Thyiatira (where Lydia was from) and also premises in Roman law for a woman being able to run a business if she was a widow with three or more children.
We see in Philippi (Filipos in Greek) that there was not Synagogue there. Paul goes out fo town to find some people praying and speaks to them there. There Lydia is converted, baptised and welcomes Paul and the Church to meet in her home. Paul is later seized and put in prison at Philippi but is miraculously saved and in the process the gentile Jailer and his family are saved.
There is so much more to say about Philippi but I will have to save it for my assessment, beacuse I need to get to bed. However, enjoy the pictures! A highlight for me today was going to the traditional site where Paul met Lydia and the other women praying by a river outside the city gates.
6 July 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Toward Th
It's intersting to consider just how much travel Paul did on his missionary journeys. We have spent countless hours on coaches, a cruise ship, chair-lifts, and later this week, a plane flight - all while enjoying a high-level of accomodation and an abundance of fine food. We may be tracing the steps of St Paul, but we are certainly not wearing out our shoes in the same way. Paul covered an amazing amount of ground!
On Monday morning we disembarked at Athens. We have a new guide, James, - very different from Cem in personality - but an amazing guide nonetheless. James is an evangelical Christian who has an unbelievably good knowledge of history and archeology of Christian sites and their connection to the Bible. If you know anyone who has difficulty in believing the historicity of the New Testament, you need to introduce them to James - he is incredibly credible, and we have learned a lot just listening to him. James also has a great knowledgeof Greek mythology and philosophy and their influences on some of the arguments of the New Testament.
Well, I mentioned in my last post that the time aboard the ship was deemed to be "down time," our entry into Athens, therefore, definitively marked the end of this as we had a big day in the sun visiting the site of the Akropolis, the Parthenon and Mars Hill (in Greek, Areogapus). Paul had come to Athens from Macedonia on his "Second Missionary Journey" (49-52 AD). Chapter 17 illustrates this and verses 16-33, record his address to the council. I encourage you to read it here before reading on. What's particularly amazing about Paul's interaction with the Athenians is that he doesn't provide proofs for the resurrection of Christ from Scripture (why would he? ... they weren't Jews), instead he observes their practices and speaks from their own context. By the end of his speech, some are convinced and wish to hear him again.
Now, you will see amongst the photos pictures of Mars Hill. However 'Areogapus' is a word similar to 'Parliament' which can mean the building or the gathering of parliamentarians/counsellors - so it is difficult to pin-point where this speech took place, despite the 'X' that marks the spot on the hill. The Agora (gathering place) of Athens was a bit like a university where people gathered to discuss and debate new ideas/philosophies/etc. ... so it was the perfect place for Paul to addres the Athenians. However, on the other hand it was also illegal to introduce foreign deities, so Paul was risking prosecution for his address. What's more, his listeners thought that he was promoting two foreign gods, Jesus Christ and Anastasis ('anastasis' being the Greek word for 'resurrection').
All these factors, together with the grandeur of this site, do help to give some context for Paul arriving (solo, as his companions had remained in Macedonia) and challenging the belief system of a people who considered themselves to be especially enlightened and knowledgeable regarding spiritual things.
The famous Parthenon (at the pinnacle of the Akropolis, a word that simply means the highest point in the city), also has an amazing history: It was the culmination of the Doric style of architecture. It was ercted in 447-438 BC as the cardinal feature of the Pericles' plan initially as a pagan temple dedicated to the goddess, Athena, from whom the city of Athens gets her name. In the sixth century AD it was converted to a Christian Church. Under Justinian it was first dedicated to Hagios Sophia (Holy Wisdom), then as a Catholic Church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God (Theotokos), adding a bell-tower; then as a Cathedral of the Frankish Dukes. During the Ottoman occupation, the bell-tower came down and minurettes went up and it became a mosque. It wa partially destroyed by the Ventians in the seveneenth century and was used for the housing of artillery.
Additionally, the Parthenon is a construction of mathematical/engineering genius that allows it to look perfectly symmetrical, accounting for the way the eye sees things converging on the horizon.
After a great lunch in the Plaka, we visited the National Archaeological Museum (there are many photos from the museum, we have tried to photograph the plaques near the statues to help us recall what they are when we look at them later). That night we lodged and dined at our hotel in Athens, and after dinner I enjoyed an Ouzo with Tim, Peter, Brett & Heather at a cool nearby bar, which also boasted free wi-fi.
_______________________________________________________________
The following day, whilst maintaining our lodging at Athens, we made our way to Corinth. Now I was particularly excited to be visiting Corinth as I will be doing a research project on worship in Corinth based on chapters 11-14 in the second half of this year. On the way to Corinth, we stopped at the Corinth Canal briefly, and also drove through Cenchrea which we're told in Romans 16.1 was the home of Phoebe the Deacon. Paul commends the Roman Church to welcome her and help her as with any of the saints (Rom 16.2).
You will note in the photos of Corinth some interesting things:
- Firstly, there is an interesting section of pavement with an inscription in Latin. The inscription reads "Erastus, in return for his aedilship (treasurer-ship), laid the pavement at his own expense." It is likely that this is the same Erastus, the city treasurer mentioned by Paul as sending greeting to the Church in Rome (Romans 16.23). Erastus was apparently and unpopular name which gives further credibility to this claim. The piece of pavement was only found only in 1929.
- Secondly, we saw the speaker's platform (also called the Judgement Seat) called the 'Bema' which is the very likely place where Paul would have been brought before Gallio (Acts 18.12-17). Here Gallio dismissed Paul saying that this was a matter of Jewish law and therefore of no interest to the Roman authorities. The mention of Gallio here dates Paul's time in Corinth, as Gallio was procounsel of Acachia from June 51 - May 52. A much more recent excavation in another region shows an inscription to Gallio with title and date.
- Thirdly, Acts 18 also records that when Paul was thrown out of the Synagogue he 'set up shop'next door in the home of Titus Justus. A piece of Graffiti with the words "Hebrew Synagogue" have been recovered which gives us an idea of where both the synagogue and the home of Titus (and hence the early Corinthian Church) was.
- Fourthly, there is also a museum at Corinth with a lot of the stautues and items recovered from the site. Amongst them is a room of plaster casts of many body parts. The Temple dedicated to Asklepeieon existed in Corinth and was a place where people came for healing. If they received a healing, they would have a plaster cast made of the body part as a testament to the healing and as a part of the ritual to the pagan god. Some believe that it was against this bacground that Paul used the analogy of the Church as one body with many parts (1 Cor 12).
We concluded the day with a visit to Mycenae. Though not a biblical site, Mycenae boasts a bee-hive shaped tomb and many other historic sites. By the time we arrived at Mycenae, Heather and I were quite tired and didn't take in a great deal, so ... not much to report here. However, the views were magnificent and you will see some of these included with the pictures.
That evening Heather and I went out together into the city of Athens, after a long walk, we found ourselves a nice place to eat and had a bit of catch-up time.
The following day we embarked on a five hour bus-trip to the Meteora monastery. Meteora is in the north of Greece in the mountains. The mountains created by a rare geological pnenomenon producing looming rocks which thrust skywards from the plain of Thessaly. The word 'meteora' (from where we get the word meteor) means something that is suspended in the sky. During fog, these mountain-top monastery buildings appear to be floating in mid-air.
James, our tour guide, took us to one of the monastery chapels on the mountain, he explained much of the Orthodox iconography. Perhaps the most interesting learning (that I didn't know) is that Jesus is often depicted with Mary (his mother) and John the Baptist (the forerunner). Also Greek Orthodox Christians depict the twelve apostles as including Paul (as the replacement for Judas).
The Narthex - traditionally the area where the non-Baptised catechumens would gather - show icons not only of the exaltation of Christ, but also graphic depiction of the martyrs and the various deaths they suffered at the hands of their persecutors, together with a depiction of the final judgement, These semed to function both as a witness to these not-yet-believers as well as an encouragement that the path they were on was the right one. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take photos in the Chapel, so we do not have images of these icons.
Following the visit to the monastery, we lodged in Kalmbaka, at the bottom of the mountain. We had a swim, dinner and group meeting and concluded the evening with a quiet drink out the front of the hotel with Steph.
4 July 2012
On Monday morning we disembarked at Athens. We have a new guide, James, - very different from Cem in personality - but an amazing guide nonetheless. James is an evangelical Christian who has an unbelievably good knowledge of history and archeology of Christian sites and their connection to the Bible. If you know anyone who has difficulty in believing the historicity of the New Testament, you need to introduce them to James - he is incredibly credible, and we have learned a lot just listening to him. James also has a great knowledgeof Greek mythology and philosophy and their influences on some of the arguments of the New Testament.
Well, I mentioned in my last post that the time aboard the ship was deemed to be "down time," our entry into Athens, therefore, definitively marked the end of this as we had a big day in the sun visiting the site of the Akropolis, the Parthenon and Mars Hill (in Greek, Areogapus). Paul had come to Athens from Macedonia on his "Second Missionary Journey" (49-52 AD). Chapter 17 illustrates this and verses 16-33, record his address to the council. I encourage you to read it here before reading on. What's particularly amazing about Paul's interaction with the Athenians is that he doesn't provide proofs for the resurrection of Christ from Scripture (why would he? ... they weren't Jews), instead he observes their practices and speaks from their own context. By the end of his speech, some are convinced and wish to hear him again.
Now, you will see amongst the photos pictures of Mars Hill. However 'Areogapus' is a word similar to 'Parliament' which can mean the building or the gathering of parliamentarians/counsellors - so it is difficult to pin-point where this speech took place, despite the 'X' that marks the spot on the hill. The Agora (gathering place) of Athens was a bit like a university where people gathered to discuss and debate new ideas/philosophies/etc. ... so it was the perfect place for Paul to addres the Athenians. However, on the other hand it was also illegal to introduce foreign deities, so Paul was risking prosecution for his address. What's more, his listeners thought that he was promoting two foreign gods, Jesus Christ and Anastasis ('anastasis' being the Greek word for 'resurrection').
All these factors, together with the grandeur of this site, do help to give some context for Paul arriving (solo, as his companions had remained in Macedonia) and challenging the belief system of a people who considered themselves to be especially enlightened and knowledgeable regarding spiritual things.
The famous Parthenon (at the pinnacle of the Akropolis, a word that simply means the highest point in the city), also has an amazing history: It was the culmination of the Doric style of architecture. It was ercted in 447-438 BC as the cardinal feature of the Pericles' plan initially as a pagan temple dedicated to the goddess, Athena, from whom the city of Athens gets her name. In the sixth century AD it was converted to a Christian Church. Under Justinian it was first dedicated to Hagios Sophia (Holy Wisdom), then as a Catholic Church dedicated to the Virgin Mother of God (Theotokos), adding a bell-tower; then as a Cathedral of the Frankish Dukes. During the Ottoman occupation, the bell-tower came down and minurettes went up and it became a mosque. It wa partially destroyed by the Ventians in the seveneenth century and was used for the housing of artillery.
Additionally, the Parthenon is a construction of mathematical/engineering genius that allows it to look perfectly symmetrical, accounting for the way the eye sees things converging on the horizon.
After a great lunch in the Plaka, we visited the National Archaeological Museum (there are many photos from the museum, we have tried to photograph the plaques near the statues to help us recall what they are when we look at them later). That night we lodged and dined at our hotel in Athens, and after dinner I enjoyed an Ouzo with Tim, Peter, Brett & Heather at a cool nearby bar, which also boasted free wi-fi.
_______________________________________________________________
The following day, whilst maintaining our lodging at Athens, we made our way to Corinth. Now I was particularly excited to be visiting Corinth as I will be doing a research project on worship in Corinth based on chapters 11-14 in the second half of this year. On the way to Corinth, we stopped at the Corinth Canal briefly, and also drove through Cenchrea which we're told in Romans 16.1 was the home of Phoebe the Deacon. Paul commends the Roman Church to welcome her and help her as with any of the saints (Rom 16.2).
You will note in the photos of Corinth some interesting things:
- Firstly, there is an interesting section of pavement with an inscription in Latin. The inscription reads "Erastus, in return for his aedilship (treasurer-ship), laid the pavement at his own expense." It is likely that this is the same Erastus, the city treasurer mentioned by Paul as sending greeting to the Church in Rome (Romans 16.23). Erastus was apparently and unpopular name which gives further credibility to this claim. The piece of pavement was only found only in 1929.
- Secondly, we saw the speaker's platform (also called the Judgement Seat) called the 'Bema' which is the very likely place where Paul would have been brought before Gallio (Acts 18.12-17). Here Gallio dismissed Paul saying that this was a matter of Jewish law and therefore of no interest to the Roman authorities. The mention of Gallio here dates Paul's time in Corinth, as Gallio was procounsel of Acachia from June 51 - May 52. A much more recent excavation in another region shows an inscription to Gallio with title and date.
- Thirdly, Acts 18 also records that when Paul was thrown out of the Synagogue he 'set up shop'next door in the home of Titus Justus. A piece of Graffiti with the words "Hebrew Synagogue" have been recovered which gives us an idea of where both the synagogue and the home of Titus (and hence the early Corinthian Church) was.
- Fourthly, there is also a museum at Corinth with a lot of the stautues and items recovered from the site. Amongst them is a room of plaster casts of many body parts. The Temple dedicated to Asklepeieon existed in Corinth and was a place where people came for healing. If they received a healing, they would have a plaster cast made of the body part as a testament to the healing and as a part of the ritual to the pagan god. Some believe that it was against this bacground that Paul used the analogy of the Church as one body with many parts (1 Cor 12).
We concluded the day with a visit to Mycenae. Though not a biblical site, Mycenae boasts a bee-hive shaped tomb and many other historic sites. By the time we arrived at Mycenae, Heather and I were quite tired and didn't take in a great deal, so ... not much to report here. However, the views were magnificent and you will see some of these included with the pictures.
That evening Heather and I went out together into the city of Athens, after a long walk, we found ourselves a nice place to eat and had a bit of catch-up time.
The following day we embarked on a five hour bus-trip to the Meteora monastery. Meteora is in the north of Greece in the mountains. The mountains created by a rare geological pnenomenon producing looming rocks which thrust skywards from the plain of Thessaly. The word 'meteora' (from where we get the word meteor) means something that is suspended in the sky. During fog, these mountain-top monastery buildings appear to be floating in mid-air.
James, our tour guide, took us to one of the monastery chapels on the mountain, he explained much of the Orthodox iconography. Perhaps the most interesting learning (that I didn't know) is that Jesus is often depicted with Mary (his mother) and John the Baptist (the forerunner). Also Greek Orthodox Christians depict the twelve apostles as including Paul (as the replacement for Judas).
The Narthex - traditionally the area where the non-Baptised catechumens would gather - show icons not only of the exaltation of Christ, but also graphic depiction of the martyrs and the various deaths they suffered at the hands of their persecutors, together with a depiction of the final judgement, These semed to function both as a witness to these not-yet-believers as well as an encouragement that the path they were on was the right one. Unfortunately, we were not permitted to take photos in the Chapel, so we do not have images of these icons.
Following the visit to the monastery, we lodged in Kalmbaka, at the bottom of the mountain. We had a swim, dinner and group meeting and concluded the evening with a quiet drink out the front of the hotel with Steph.
4 July 2012
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Aboard the Louis Olympia
Having finished our time in Turkey, we boarded the Louis Olympia Cruise Ship for a tour from Kusadasi to Patmos, Santorini and on to our final destination of Athens. The time on the boat was designed to be 'down time'. This will therefore be a brief post but with plenty of photos nonetheless.
At 4.00pm we docked at Patmos. Patmos is the place where John received the visions from Jesus and wrote the book of Revelation while exiled there (Rev 1.9). For us, it was also our first experience of Greece. It seemed to be even hotter than Turkey in the heat of the afternoon sun, but it was beautiful! After several attempts to secure ten taxis for the forty of us, the majority boarded a bus and went up the very steep mountain to the fortified monastery of St John. We were "unguided" through the monastery and Church, so we were a little uncertain of which parts to pay particular attention to. However, the Church was small and ornate with traditional Orthdox iconography. The museum boasted various liturgical items, icons, books and vestments. There are priests still living at this monastery, so my own reflection was that it was great to visit a "live" Christian site, having been travelling to ancient Chistian sites in a Muslim country (Turkey).
We walked back to the bus via a donkey-track which gave us an opportunity to walk through "suburban" streets and local hang-outs. Along the way, we stopped at the Chapel of St Anne (Mother of the Virgin Mary) at the site believed to be the cave where John wrote the book of Revelation. Tim seemed to think that the relative absence of other caves in the region suggested the authenticity of this site. Authentic or not, Patmos is a beautiful Island and there was a sense of completion of our background study of the book of Revelation, having had visited all of the cities that the book was written to, we had now also seen the place (or at least the geographical location) where the vision was given and recorded. That evening, we enjoyed a lovely night on the boat that involved a buffet dinner, karaoke, dancing and good company.
After a late night, which made for a good sleep despite the rocking, we disembarked at Santorini. Now apart from the fact that Santorini is named after St Irene (Holy Peace), it has no biblical significance at all. So this was essentially a day of site-seeing, fine dining, visiting a winery and lazing on a beach. See the picturesque scenery below.
Fellow Ridley students, Ben and Rowan, had the previous day befriended a group of American Catholics who were doing a similar tour to us. Therefore, upon our return to the ship, at their invitation, we joined them for evening mass, and then went to the a-la-carte restaurant with Ben and Rowan and had a lovely dinner together.
Heather opted for an early night, but I joined a large group of travellers for the final of the European Cup between Spain and Italy. Suffice to say, given the outcome, I wished I had followed Heather's example. The next morning would be an early disembarkment at Athens where we were to have another very full day of biblical sites.
3 July 2012
At 4.00pm we docked at Patmos. Patmos is the place where John received the visions from Jesus and wrote the book of Revelation while exiled there (Rev 1.9). For us, it was also our first experience of Greece. It seemed to be even hotter than Turkey in the heat of the afternoon sun, but it was beautiful! After several attempts to secure ten taxis for the forty of us, the majority boarded a bus and went up the very steep mountain to the fortified monastery of St John. We were "unguided" through the monastery and Church, so we were a little uncertain of which parts to pay particular attention to. However, the Church was small and ornate with traditional Orthdox iconography. The museum boasted various liturgical items, icons, books and vestments. There are priests still living at this monastery, so my own reflection was that it was great to visit a "live" Christian site, having been travelling to ancient Chistian sites in a Muslim country (Turkey).
We walked back to the bus via a donkey-track which gave us an opportunity to walk through "suburban" streets and local hang-outs. Along the way, we stopped at the Chapel of St Anne (Mother of the Virgin Mary) at the site believed to be the cave where John wrote the book of Revelation. Tim seemed to think that the relative absence of other caves in the region suggested the authenticity of this site. Authentic or not, Patmos is a beautiful Island and there was a sense of completion of our background study of the book of Revelation, having had visited all of the cities that the book was written to, we had now also seen the place (or at least the geographical location) where the vision was given and recorded. That evening, we enjoyed a lovely night on the boat that involved a buffet dinner, karaoke, dancing and good company.
After a late night, which made for a good sleep despite the rocking, we disembarked at Santorini. Now apart from the fact that Santorini is named after St Irene (Holy Peace), it has no biblical significance at all. So this was essentially a day of site-seeing, fine dining, visiting a winery and lazing on a beach. See the picturesque scenery below.
Fellow Ridley students, Ben and Rowan, had the previous day befriended a group of American Catholics who were doing a similar tour to us. Therefore, upon our return to the ship, at their invitation, we joined them for evening mass, and then went to the a-la-carte restaurant with Ben and Rowan and had a lovely dinner together.
Heather opted for an early night, but I joined a large group of travellers for the final of the European Cup between Spain and Italy. Suffice to say, given the outcome, I wished I had followed Heather's example. The next morning would be an early disembarkment at Athens where we were to have another very full day of biblical sites.
3 July 2012
Monday, July 2, 2012
Second Post - Turkey Wrap-Up
Who would have thought that by the time I got around to writing this second post, the Turkey component would be behind us (literally) and I would be aborad a ship on the way to Patmos (the place where John received the vision and wrote down what he saw and heard, cf Revelation 1.9)? But we will come back to that. Further ... who knew that Turkey was such a beautiful place? We have enjoyed our time there immensely!
If you are following these posts via the blog and/or Facebook, you will see many more photos have been added. Heather is doing a great job as official photographer and I am trying to keep up with backingm up and sharing them with friends back home!
My previous post took us from Istanbul to Galipoli and Cannakale. The map below shows our movement south from Istanbul. I have included the numbers to indicate the order of our travels from Tuesday 26 - Friday 29 June.
You will also note the blue astricks, these are the original sites of the seven churches that John is commanded to write to in the book of Revelation. If you are not familiar with this section of scripture you may wish to familiarise yourself by reading this short section of Revelation 2.1-3.22. If you take the time to scroll through the pictures you will see that the sites look quite similar. Most of these ancient cities are in ruins today. An exception is Smyrna which today is still a trade city called Izmir. Ephesus, while an ancient city that is not inhabited, is the largest of the Revelation cities we visited which gives us some idea of the scope of what was once a bustling town.
Our days were broken up as follows:
Tuesday: A visit to Ancient Troy (known for its famous Trojan horse whereby the Greeks were able to take the city - fact or legend?), then a drive to Pergamum (cf. Rev 2.8-11.) which involved a chairlift up to the ancient city, then a long drive to Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, cf Rev 2.12-17.), where we spent the night. The site at Smyrna had closed early and we didn't get to investigate, yet a few good photos are included that we were able to take from behind the gates. See pics above ...
Wednesday: A stop at Sardis (Rev 3.1-6.) on the way to Thyatira (Rev 2.18-29). We then drove through the region of Philadelphia (Rev 3.7-13) a forty minute drive to the ruins which were apparently quite minimal and then onto Hierpolis which boasts natural calcium streams (you will see some photos that look like ski slopes covered in snow, these are in fact the calcium springs). Hieropolis is mentioned in the bible in conjunction with Philip (Acts 21.8), but it also is a large site (like Ephesus) that gives us a sense of what an ancient city was like. On Wednesday evening we camped at Pamukkale (near Hieropolis) and enjoyed some more of the renown natural springs of the area. More pics below ...
Thursday: We visited Laodicea (which though smaller, was an extraodinary site that is still in the process of being excavated, see pictures of men at work here, (cf. Rev 3.14-22). We later stopped at nearby Colossae, by contrast to Laodicea and other sites, Colossae is an unexcavated site. No doubt one day work will be done here, but at the moment, it is just a large mound with odd biuts of rubble here and there. Colossae is not a Revelation Church but has its own epistle by Paul in the New Testament. We later visited Aphrodisias, original site of the Temple of Aphrodite and significant city at the time of the early Church, though not specifically mentioned in scripture. We retreated that evening to the amazing Charisma Resort at Kusadasi (near Ephesus) where Heather and I also celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. The venue was too nice to leave, so Gem, our tour guide, organised a private table away from our tour group to celebrate the ocassion together overlooking a fabulous sunset.
Friday: Today we visited Ephesus. We know a lot about Ephesus as one of the Revelation Churches, (Rev 2.1-7), its own Pauline Epistle and also the pastoral letters to Timothy from Paul in the New Testament. We spent a fair bit of time at Ephesus. Heather led the group in a celebration of the Lord's Supper at the site of Str Mary's Church at Ephesus and we also visited the Ephesus Museum. Lunch was at a Turkish Rug factory, which was an experience all unto itself. We had the afternoon to ourselves and enjoyed our time swimming, relaxing and eating again at the Charisma Hotel at Kusadasi. Ephesus pics at the end of this post
What have we been learning?
Well, in each of the Revelation cities, we had a mini-lecture from either Tim, Lindsay or Andrew. I will save the details for the assignment but in each city we got a sense of some of the traits that characterised these cities, for example:
- Ephesus and Smyrna were both great trade cities. Izmir (modern-day Smyrna) is still a bustling city (one of the largest in Turkey) and as soon as we got off the bus, people were trying to sell things to us. To the Church in Smyrna, Jesus says "I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich." (2.9).
- Pergamum was the city that had the throne of Zeus in it (now in the Berlin museum). This is possibly the reference in 2.13 to "I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name."
- Sardis had a reputation for fine black clothing and had great wealth, in this letter Jesus makes reference to "... you have a few in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; yet they walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy."
- The letter to Laodicea is probably the one with the most specific references. At a time when they had needed to rebuild their city they had refused assistance from Rome and proudly covered their own costs, they also had great medical knowledge and had invented a salve for the eyes that cured eye diseases, people came from all over the Roman world for cures and to gain medical knowledge. In 3.17-18, the letter reads: "For you say, Í am rich, I hav prospered, I need nothing.' You do not realise that you are wretched, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see." The people of Laodicea, also had water pumped from some distance that arrived to them lukewarm, this reference is there too in vv 15-16.
There is so much more to say ... however let me summarise at this point by saying that it has been a great privilege to walk through these places and tangibly witness the issues that afflicted these Churches in some cases, idolatry and paganism ... industry ... knowledge ... pride ... as well as the Churches that were praised for their faithfulness. The map that I included, above, also shows something of these cities proximity to one another (not unlike an Anglican deanery or diocese). Despite the highly apocalyptic language of the latter chapters of Revelation than can sometimes cause confusion due to our unfamiliarity with this style of writing, we see here in chapters 1 and 2 an appeal to seven churches with language and metaphors easy for them to understand: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it; for the time is near (Rev 1.3).
(We have had limited internet access these past few days which has delayed the publication of this post)
30 June 2012
If you are following these posts via the blog and/or Facebook, you will see many more photos have been added. Heather is doing a great job as official photographer and I am trying to keep up with backingm up and sharing them with friends back home!
My previous post took us from Istanbul to Galipoli and Cannakale. The map below shows our movement south from Istanbul. I have included the numbers to indicate the order of our travels from Tuesday 26 - Friday 29 June.
 |
| From Turkey Map |
You will also note the blue astricks, these are the original sites of the seven churches that John is commanded to write to in the book of Revelation. If you are not familiar with this section of scripture you may wish to familiarise yourself by reading this short section of Revelation 2.1-3.22. If you take the time to scroll through the pictures you will see that the sites look quite similar. Most of these ancient cities are in ruins today. An exception is Smyrna which today is still a trade city called Izmir. Ephesus, while an ancient city that is not inhabited, is the largest of the Revelation cities we visited which gives us some idea of the scope of what was once a bustling town.
Our days were broken up as follows:
Tuesday: A visit to Ancient Troy (known for its famous Trojan horse whereby the Greeks were able to take the city - fact or legend?), then a drive to Pergamum (cf. Rev 2.8-11.) which involved a chairlift up to the ancient city, then a long drive to Smyrna (modern-day Izmir, cf Rev 2.12-17.), where we spent the night. The site at Smyrna had closed early and we didn't get to investigate, yet a few good photos are included that we were able to take from behind the gates. See pics above ...
Wednesday: A stop at Sardis (Rev 3.1-6.) on the way to Thyatira (Rev 2.18-29). We then drove through the region of Philadelphia (Rev 3.7-13) a forty minute drive to the ruins which were apparently quite minimal and then onto Hierpolis which boasts natural calcium streams (you will see some photos that look like ski slopes covered in snow, these are in fact the calcium springs). Hieropolis is mentioned in the bible in conjunction with Philip (Acts 21.8), but it also is a large site (like Ephesus) that gives us a sense of what an ancient city was like. On Wednesday evening we camped at Pamukkale (near Hieropolis) and enjoyed some more of the renown natural springs of the area. More pics below ...
Thursday: We visited Laodicea (which though smaller, was an extraodinary site that is still in the process of being excavated, see pictures of men at work here, (cf. Rev 3.14-22). We later stopped at nearby Colossae, by contrast to Laodicea and other sites, Colossae is an unexcavated site. No doubt one day work will be done here, but at the moment, it is just a large mound with odd biuts of rubble here and there. Colossae is not a Revelation Church but has its own epistle by Paul in the New Testament. We later visited Aphrodisias, original site of the Temple of Aphrodite and significant city at the time of the early Church, though not specifically mentioned in scripture. We retreated that evening to the amazing Charisma Resort at Kusadasi (near Ephesus) where Heather and I also celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. The venue was too nice to leave, so Gem, our tour guide, organised a private table away from our tour group to celebrate the ocassion together overlooking a fabulous sunset.
Friday: Today we visited Ephesus. We know a lot about Ephesus as one of the Revelation Churches, (Rev 2.1-7), its own Pauline Epistle and also the pastoral letters to Timothy from Paul in the New Testament. We spent a fair bit of time at Ephesus. Heather led the group in a celebration of the Lord's Supper at the site of Str Mary's Church at Ephesus and we also visited the Ephesus Museum. Lunch was at a Turkish Rug factory, which was an experience all unto itself. We had the afternoon to ourselves and enjoyed our time swimming, relaxing and eating again at the Charisma Hotel at Kusadasi. Ephesus pics at the end of this post
What have we been learning?
Well, in each of the Revelation cities, we had a mini-lecture from either Tim, Lindsay or Andrew. I will save the details for the assignment but in each city we got a sense of some of the traits that characterised these cities, for example:
- Ephesus and Smyrna were both great trade cities. Izmir (modern-day Smyrna) is still a bustling city (one of the largest in Turkey) and as soon as we got off the bus, people were trying to sell things to us. To the Church in Smyrna, Jesus says "I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich." (2.9).
- Pergamum was the city that had the throne of Zeus in it (now in the Berlin museum). This is possibly the reference in 2.13 to "I know where you are living, where Satan's throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name."
- Sardis had a reputation for fine black clothing and had great wealth, in this letter Jesus makes reference to "... you have a few in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; yet they walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy."
- The letter to Laodicea is probably the one with the most specific references. At a time when they had needed to rebuild their city they had refused assistance from Rome and proudly covered their own costs, they also had great medical knowledge and had invented a salve for the eyes that cured eye diseases, people came from all over the Roman world for cures and to gain medical knowledge. In 3.17-18, the letter reads: "For you say, Í am rich, I hav prospered, I need nothing.' You do not realise that you are wretched, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes that you may see." The people of Laodicea, also had water pumped from some distance that arrived to them lukewarm, this reference is there too in vv 15-16.
There is so much more to say ... however let me summarise at this point by saying that it has been a great privilege to walk through these places and tangibly witness the issues that afflicted these Churches in some cases, idolatry and paganism ... industry ... knowledge ... pride ... as well as the Churches that were praised for their faithfulness. The map that I included, above, also shows something of these cities proximity to one another (not unlike an Anglican deanery or diocese). Despite the highly apocalyptic language of the latter chapters of Revelation than can sometimes cause confusion due to our unfamiliarity with this style of writing, we see here in chapters 1 and 2 an appeal to seven churches with language and metaphors easy for them to understand: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is written in it; for the time is near (Rev 1.3).
(We have had limited internet access these past few days which has delayed the publication of this post)
30 June 2012
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)