Ephesus
May 3,2023
At least I think that’s what day it is - seeing so many things makes each day feel like several days!
Today our focus was Ephesus - modern day Selcuk. We started in the morning visiting the partially restored ruins of a Byzantine era church, commissioned by Emperor Justinian, that was built in memorial of St John, who spend the last decades of his life here and imprisoned on the island of Patmos not far from here. The church was built in the image of the church of the holy Apostles in Constantinople (no longer standing) in the 6th century. It is built over the tomb of St John. It is a huge structure with a long central nave and apse and several side chapels with apse. There were at least 5 domes. The baptistery was somewhat like a Jewish Mikveh but now in the shape of a cross.
We spent a little time in the Ephesus archeological museum looking at the finds from Ephesus that go back as far as the 8th century BC. The center pieces are two huge marble statues of the goddess Artemis - recall that in Ephesians there was nearly a riot caused by the threat that Paul and Christianity posed to the pagan city that worshipped Artemis. A city that boasted the largest temple to her which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world ( not much to look at now as you will see from the pictures! But it once was composed of 127 columns and drew visitors from all over Asia / Asia Minor).
The site of the city of Ephesus is huge - and only about 15% of it has been excavated. Our group made the trek up the mountain to St Paul’s grotto - a 4th or 5th century cave church with frescos of Paul’s image. Everyone’s knees and hips are still intact, but barely!! This isn’t generally open to the public… the trek up and down is tricky and I don’t think we even took pictures of the route - you know it’s bad if Craig puts down the phone/camera ! The same archeologist guided us up to the cave as did in 2021.
It is incredibly exciting to connect scripture with the physical world - the road on which the school of Tyrannus was located (Acts 19:9), the theater where the silversmith riot took place (Acts 19:29), the center of pagan Artemis worship (Acts 19:28). There is a menorah carved into the steps of the Celsus Library demonstrating a Jewish presence in the city.
At the site of a Ephesus there is also the ruins of the Church of Mary, where the 3rd ecumenical counsel was held in in 431 AD.
A slow evening - which we all needed - at a beautiful hotel on the Aegean Sea, and a stunning sunset capped a wonderful day spent with wonderful people exploring a beautiful biblical city.
Fresco depicting Paul and Thecla - St Paul’s Grotto, Ephesus
