Heading to Roma

Today is our last day in Turkey. We left Izmir this morning and drove to Sardis. As we drove to Sardis, we got in groups on the bus to discuss Acts 14:8-28. In this section Barnabas and Paul are mistaken for Zeus and Hermes. We read and discussed this passage keeping the historical context that we have been learning about in mind. What struck me in this passage was just how deeply the idea of the gods were in this time, to the point that Barnabas and Paul would have been called gods. It was also amazing to see that they turned down this status for the truth of the one true God. Also we see that Paul is willing to be persecuted for his beliefs, stoned even, but he still willing returns to the city to continue to spread his message. His faith in the midst of persecution is amazing, and it is also amazing that people still turned to Christ knowing that the reality of this persecution. As we see in chapter 16 Timothy was from Lystra, this same town where Paul was stoned.

Sardis is one of the seven churches mentioned in the beginning of the book of Revelation. The church here is criticized as being dead despite its reputation for being alive. Sardis was a wealthy city on the edge of a trade route. The wealth of the city could be seen in the buildings. At the center of the city were the ruins of the ancient gymnasium; it was larger than a football field. The back wall of the gymnasium was fully restored. The columns and the designs were absolutely stunning. The inscriptions below the capitals of the columns were of praise of the emperor. The words that were used to describe the emperor were also words that we use to describe Christ, all powerful and divine for example. We went into the ancient synagogue that shared a wall with the gymnasium. It was a beautiful building covered in mosaics, indicating that there must have been a substantial Jewish community here that could keep up such a building.
A few hundred yards from these buildings we found the temple to Artemis. The temple was huge! Large than a football field with columns so large that you would need more than four people to wrap their arms all the way around it. On the side of the temple was a small Christian chapel that could maybe hold 100 people. The chapel was built in the fourth century, after earthquakes had partially destroyed the temple and as Christianity grew in the area. It was such a neat contrast to stand in this small chapel and look out through the windows and see the ruins of the massive temple go on across the site and to see the gigantic columns above you. Even though the temple was much more impressive than the chapel, today most of us would dismiss the beliefs held by those who used the temple as myth, and Christianity still is strong.
We are flying back to Greece today. From Izmir to Istanbul and then back to Athens, where we will stay for the next few days before traveling to Rome.

Where Satan had his throne

            Today we went to go see where Satan has his throne. We left Izmir early in the morning and headed to Pergamum. The ancient city of Pergamum was located on top of hill that over looked a great valley. From this valley, one could see the temple of Pergamum from many miles away. On the top of the hill was the Trajan Temple, dedicated to the Emperor. Here at Pergamum, the ruins were so were so well crafted, it was stunning. The stones used to build this temple and a few of the other building in the city were taken from the Mamorus Sea, near Istanbul, over two hundred kilometers away! This is an unbelievable feat! The stones used for the Acropolis in Athens were taken from a quarry sixteen kilometers away, which was an amazing accomplishment, the dedication of the people of Pergamum to the gods is really evident. Slightly down the hill was the temple of Zeus. The ruins are no longer on site, but in a museum in Berlin, but the remains of the foundation is still on site. This temple would have been massive, with an unbelievably large alter dedicated to Zeus in it. This temple and alter could have been seen throughout the valley. All the people living and traveling through the area would have seen it and known about it. In the second chapter of the book of Revelations, there is a letter to the church of Pergamum. In 2:13, Pergamum is said to be the city where Satan lives and has his throne. The temple and alter to Zeus is where Satan lives and his throne respectively. It was large symbol to the all who passed by the prominence of the pagan gods, and the separation from the true God that the people of Pergamum had. It was and interesting experience to walk around the ruins of these temples with the words of Revelation on my mind.

            We went down the mountain to the ancient Asclepion, the ancient center of medicine for the city and one of the first “hospitals” in the loose sense of the word. As we entered the grounds, we passed an inscription that said “Death is not allowed here.” A good saying for a place of healing, but really a bad saying because it meant that they turned away those that they did not believe they could save. It was interesting how much belief in the gods and mythological stories influence this early practice of medicine. It was very interesting to find out that some of the earliest forms of psychological treatment were performed here. It was interesting to learn that those preforming the healing thought that comedy shows, listening to music, and the sound of running water could all help in the heling process. This caused them to build a theater and have streams flowing through the complex. It was a very interesting site, especially sense I have thought about going into the medical field myself.

            We returned to Izmir and found out that we had a surprise of a free afternoon. As a group we walked through the Grand Bazaar. I was overwhelmed by the amount of people and junk that was being sold.  It seemed that every other store was selling the same thing. One store would be selling jewelry, probably knockoffs and low quality, the next would be selling a random collection of knock off clothes, then there would be another jewelry store. I was so surprised by the sheer volume of stuff and people in the tight streets. My favorite sign of the Bazaar was “Genuine Fake Watches.” We continued to explore the city, and got ice cream and walked down ot the sea. The coast line was absolutely beautiful. There was a nice little park along the breakwater. It was beautiful. It was nice just to be able to sit down, eat ice cream, and relax in the sun by the sea. It was exactly what we all needed after five long weeks of constant travel, learning and new experiences.

            We left from Izmir, the ancient town of Smyrna, and headed to Ephesus, early this morning. Ephesus was a beautiful site, it seemed that as we kept walking, the ruins kept coming and got more and more beautiful. As we entered the city, we discussed the historical significance of the city. Ephesus was a large and important city in Anatolia and in the Roman Empire; Ephesus was the New York City of Anatolia. Ephesus was a free city in the Roman Empire; it was ruled by a city council that reported to Rome, not by Rome itself. Here in Ephesus, the cult of Artemis was very popular; the temple to Artimus that was here was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Needless to say throughout the ruins of the city, pagan images and institutions were everywhere.

As we entered the site we sat under the shade of a tree and started our discussion with Dr. Cohick on the book of Ephesians. Paul carries wright in this letter because he is a self-identified prisoner of Christ. Throughout this letter Paul talks about the mystery of the Gospel; the mystery that through the Gospel, Gentiles and Jews are brought together as one body. There is unity among the people through the Gospel in the Church. Again, this idea of unity of peoples and the unity of the Church is present. Paul states that this unity was Jesus’ purpose. Jesus’, “purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of two, thus making peace” (Ephesians 2:15). Unity of humanity, in Christ, was his purpose, and through this unity we can find peace. Looking at the historical context, and even today, it is important to recognize that this is s a new humanity, the Gentiles are not becoming Jews and the Jews are not becoming Gentiles. The imagery that Paul uses of a the body of Christ, the Church, the believers, as a mighty temple to the Lord at the end of chapter 2 (verses 20-22) would have definitely rocked the ancient Ephesians world. The Temple to Atremis that was here was massive, drawing people from all over the known world, it was a site of pride, power and status to the people living here, and to have the body of Christ be a temple to the one true God would have been a mind-blowing concept.

We walked the streets of the ancient city, admiring the ruins of statues, theaters, homes and many public buildings.  The wealth and prestige of this city was so evident by its beauty. We went into the Terraced Houses, a section of the city where the a group of houses were built on top of one another. These houses were stunning, Every wall would have been covered with marble or a beautiful mosaic or fresco. They are in the process of reconstructing these houses, but the sections that are reconstructed are absolutely mazing.

Near these houses, was the library of Ephesus, by far my favorite part of the site.  The library has an extremely tall front wall, that was ornately carved and had beautiful mosaic patterns. The detail and beauty was beyond compare, so amazing.

            We went off the main tourist path to the church of Mary the Mother of God. This was the location of the third ecumenical council that took place in the fourth century. Dr. Kalantzis discussed the historical context of this meeting and the debates between Syril and Nestorious on the nature of Christ. Nestorious, in the end, was found to be heretical, for his inability to see Christ as fully human and fully God, he could not see Christ being born in a manger. Nestorious was looking at the nature of Christ rationally, he was trying to logically define who God was. But the attempt to define God, is really no different than trying to control God. Syril on the other hand was looking at the mystery of God.

            We heading up a nearby hill to the Church of the Virgin Mary. This site is remember to be the house of the Virgin Mary, after she moved to Ephesus with St. John after the resurrection.  It was very peaceful up here. There weren’t a lot of tourists, there were plenty of plants, there was a view of the sea in the distance and the church was a small simple room with just an altar. We sat out in front of the church and finished our discussion on Ephesians. We mainly discussed the different ways of interpreting the 5:21-6:9, the instructions for Christian households. In this discussion we mainly looked at the historical context. These relationships, husband-wife, child-parent, slave-master, would have been the common familial relations that Paul’s whole audience would have been familiar with. One thing that I found very interesting, in verse 25, the verb, in the Greek, telling husbands to “love” their wives is a command, while in verse 22 the verb telling wives to “summit” to their husbands was the imperative. To Paul’s audience the command for husbands to love their wives would have been the most shocking part of this passage. Our discussion on this topic didn’t go into as much detail as I would have liked. I am looking forward to being able to talk to Dr. Cohick more about this topic and her understanding of this passage and similar passages. It seems as though she has a lot to say on the subject and has very strong views, that are similar to mine, that are theologically backed up. It will be very interesting and helpful t hear here talk more about this subject.

            We then when to St. John’s Basilica near the city of Ephesus. It was one of the largest and most extravagant churches of its time. Walking around the ruins, you could still get a sense of the greatness this church had. The ruins of the baptistery were still well preserved. Dr. Kalantzis told us about the different practices concerning baptism and how it changed throughout the centuries.

            We returned to Izmir for the night, and I am turning in early because my neck is still bothering me after yesterday’s travel.

An Unexpected Day

            Today was unexpected. But I’ll get to that later. We started out our day with a quick lecture on Orthodoxy and finalizing our questions for our meeting with the Patriarch. I was wearing one of my bowties for the occasions and I was getting some compliment on my style. We left our hotel and went to the Cora Church. As you walked into the church the first thing you saw was a mosaic of Christ with the inscription something along the lines of asf asfa .  On the reverse wall was an icon representing the incarnation of Christ with the inscription containing the uncontainable. The church was small but absolutely beautiful! Every wall was covered with mosaics, icons, or frescos. In the first room there were icons form the life of Jesus, his birth, miracles, death and resurrection. The second room was mainly filled with icons of the Virgin Mary’s life, obtained from a few apocryphal sources. In the last room there was a beautiful fresco illustrating Jesus’ conquering of death, in which he was pulling Adam and Eve out of Hell, Hells gates were broken and the devil was bound up, as Jesus Stood in victory. It was a beautiful image of the power of the resurrection. We had some time to reflect and pray here which was good. Christ’s victory over death is something that we shouldn’t forget and we should think about and praise more often!

            We headed across town to the Church of the Patriarch. We walked into the complex of the Patriarch, and stepped into the small, beautiful and unbelievably ornate church. The images, gold, and interact details were absolutely stunning! After we had looked around the church for a few minutes, we were hit with our first piece of unexpected news. The Patriarch could not meet with us, he was in Athens on an unpublicized journey. We were to be meeting with the Patriarch’s English secretary instead. This was an ironic surprise and really unfortunate. We had all been excited and preparing for this meeting; we had learned about Orthodoxy and had prepared for a discussion with its head. The Secretary we spoke with was himself ordained in the Orthodox church, and happened to be from Chicago before coming to work for the Patriarch seven years ago. Our discussion was helpful and honest, but it wasn’t what we were expecting.  Most of our questions were tailored to His Holiness himself not his secretary.
            We went to the airport to fly to Izmir, in southern Turkey. We would be in Izmir for the next couple days traveling to Biblical cities such as Ephesus and Pergamum.  The flight was supposed to be a short one, maybe an hour long. As we took off a storm was starting to roll in, and there was some slight turbulence, making the take-off uncomfortable. As we reached cruising altitude and the stewardesses started bring out the drinks, everything went really bad. The turbulence had been going on the whole flight, but at this moment the plane dipped and we went into a moment of free fall. Everyone screamed. Almost instantly, the plane regained itself, and then almost instantly, it fell again. More screams. The plane regained a normal flight pattern. Everyone was looking around, talking nervously, or as in the case of one of the stewardess, still screaming and holding on to a seat for dear life.  In these few moments, it really didn’t look good, people were scared, things had moved all about the plane and there was still really bad turbulence. I first thought of God, then I thought of my loved ones, it was terrifying and yet strangely peaceful (this probably isn’t the best word, but I don’t know how to describe it) at the same time. The rest of the flight was very rocky, and the landing was rough, it felt as though we just dropped down.  The whole experience was not good for my neck. The constant and violent jostling really did a number on it; it hasn’t hurt this bad in a while. Beside the pain the flight messed with my head. After an injection in my neck a few months ago I started experiencing some vertigo-like symptoms. They had just started to go away by the time I was leaving for this program, but this movement of my neck brought the symptoms back with vengeance.  All in all, it was not what I wanted from the flight. I’m not excited to take the same flight back with the same airline. The day was definitely not what I expected when I woke up, and not in a good way.

           

Turkey Day

            We headed to the airport early in the morning to fly out to Istanbul, Turkey. As we were boarding the plane, Dr. Kalantzis played the song, “Istanbul was Constantinople,” which was interesting have stuck in my head as we fly into the city, especially when both of these names can be politically charged in certain circles. We landed safely in Istanbul around noon. As we drove out the airport with our new guide, Ilke, my first sight of the city had a minaret in the foreground. This is fitting because even though the state of Turkey is constitutionally secular, the country is 99 percent Muslim, with less than 4,000 Orthodox Christians.  It is hard to believe that the leader of the world’s 300,000 Orthodox Christians live in a country that has a Christian population less than double that of Wheaton’s student body. It will be very interesting to hear from the Patriarch tomorrow.

As we were driving through the city to get to our restaurant, it was just overwhelmed by the Muslim presence in the city, it seemed as though every time I looked out the window, I could see a mosque. It was a very different feel from what I have seen the past couple weeks and especially what I am used to in the US. As I looked out into the streets, I saw very few women, almost none. Most of the women I saw were either with men or were foreigners. Within Ilke’s first three minutes of talking to us, she warned us, especially the girls, of the “machoness” of the men here in Turkey. It was strange to hear this soon quickly from the person whose job it is to welcome and promote her country. It was a little jarring and odd at first, and I needed a few hours to get used to it.

After lunch we headed to the ancient hippodrome, where chariot races would have been held. The site is now paved, but still has some of the statues, columns, and obelisk that were there hundreds of years ago. Today along the hippodrome are the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. We first went into the Blue Mosque, which is still an active mosque. It was the first time I had ever been inside a mosque. It was very beautiful. But as I was walking around, I wouldn’t really want this to happen in a church that I was worshiping in. It was hot, smelly and full of tourists taking pictures, and not being very respectful.

Only a few hundred yards from the Blue Mosque was the Hagia Sophia, once one of the greatest churches in Christendom, converted to a mosque with the invasion of the Turks, now under the modern Turkish government, it is a museum. When Constantinople fell, the Muslims did not destroy Hagia Sophia, but they painted over the icons, mosaics, and frescos, In a way this preserved some of these images. In the restoration of the building, a few of these images were uncovered. As I entered the building the first thing I noticed was the large slab of marble that was used in the entry way was worn down about five inches in the middle because of foot traffic throughout the years! It is a truly amazing thing to see, a noticeable dip in the solid marble from the feet of pilgrims. It was with this mindset that I entered the church, I didn’t want this to be just another old building, I wanted my heart and mind to be in the right state.

The building is partially under construction, but the first thing that grabs your attention are the giant green and gold circles midway up the building. Each of these circles have the name of a holy person of Islam written in beautiful Arabic. The two prominent ones that are at the front of the church that you notice first are the names of Allah and Mohamed.  But, as you look up in the dome above these name, you the icon of Christ. I thought that it was a really powerful image, Christ is still above all things, no matter the circumstance, no matter the country. We went through the church, learning about its history, and seeing some of the beautiful Christian images that still existed. We then had some free time to reflect and pray as we walked around the church. As I prayed and walked around the idea of God being above all things and all circumstances, His sovereignty, really sunk in. Some of the lines form In Christ Alone went through my head, “No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand,” as I walked around. Throughout all time God reigns supreme, above any human action or power of hell. This was a much needed reminder on my first day here in Turkey, when the presence of a different religion and a different and at times uncomfortable culture was prevalent.

Later in the evening, we got together as a group and had a chance to debrief and prepare for the days to come. We were able to talk about our first impressions of Turkey and our thoughts about all that we’ve seen in the last few weeks. We got together and prepared questions for our meeting with the Patriarch. We ended our time together with a time of prayer for Turkey, it’s people, and the church in it.

A Day of Thought and Preparation

We left our little sea side town early in the morning and headed to Mycenae. At this site the remains of an ancient fortress stood on a hill overlooking the whole valley. The stones of these walls were massive, some weighing up to 200 tons. These walls were built in the 15th century BC! The engineering power that this shows is truly amazing, in ancient times people believed that the walls of the city were built by Cyclopes.  The view from the top of this fortress was stunning. The city was known for its wealth and power. Fifteen kilograms of gold were found in one of the mass, beehive graves just outside the city walls. This city is believed to be the mother city of the colonies of the "sea people" in Biblical Palestine, the Phoenicians and Philistines. This city also had colony in Troy. The Trojan War, that we are all familiar with from the Iliad, resulted from Mycenae trying to keep its control on its colony. It was very interesting to see the power, wealth and history of this ancient city.

As we drove back to Athens, we had time to discuss some of what we have been learning the past few weeks; we discussed what we learned in the Biblical text and why it mattered that we had gone to these sites. It was good to be able to have this time to really sit and think and process what we had seen in the past couple days, and really in the past few weeks. Looking at Paul’s letters, he was writing to a specific people, in a specific time, dealing with specific problems, problems of their culture. These letters still hold truth to us today, but it is important to understand the historical context of the letters in order to get a more full understanding. Being in these Greek cities helped me see how the struggles of the early church were real and how they could apply to me. We also talked about our discussions of the Eastern Orthodox Church and why that was important to do. The unity of the church has been a reoccurring theme, that I have seen appear in various places over the past few weeks. The unity of the church is very important, and how do we as Christians actively work towards that as a goal. It has been very useful to study the Orthodox tradition, so that we can begin to understand and even appreciate our differences. Through this understanding, maybe we can see that it is Christ that unifies us not our traditions.

When we got back to Athens, we had a few lectures by Drs. Cohick and Kalantzis. First, Dr. Cohick discussed the book of Revelations. We focused on this book today because we will be visiting the churches mentioned in the beginning of the book this upcoming week as we travel around Turkey. It was a very interesting lecture, explaining the apocalyptic genre that the book is written in and the different ways of interpreting the book. It was very useful to go through the different theological ways of understanding this book. We talked about how the book of Revelation shows the Glory and Power of God. It also gives hope; hope due to the perfect judgment of God, we can place our hope in his sovereignty. Dr. Cohick then lectured on Hermeneutics, the study of the activity of interpretation. This idea, along with exegesis, is very important with what we have been doing the past few weeks; trying to understand the historical context and see how the Bible still applies to us today. We discussed Speech-Act Theory, Relevance Theory and Redemptive Movement Hermeneutics, and in all of these schools of thought, we looked at the importance of the words and the importance of how we the reader interprets the words. There is somewhat of an ambiguity when reading the text of the Bible. This is not a bad thing, it allows the text ot be fluid, to grow, to not be static; it allows the Biblical text ot be just as relevant to me as it was to those reading it two thousand years ago. This however means that how we read and interpret the text is very important. We have to be aware of the weight and importance the words of the Bible have; we need to be aware of the author’s purpose; but our own reading and understanding is also important. It is however important to remember that our interpretation is not the center aspect. The Biblical text is dynamic and pushes us to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit, but it requires humility on our part.

In preparation for our excursion to Turkey tomorrow and our meeting the Patriarch of Constantinople in two days, Dr. Kalantzis, lecture to us about Orthodoxy in general, Orthodoxy in Turkey, and the Patriarchy. It was a good discussion that fostered questions that we can ask the Patriarch when we meet with him.

 

Visiting Corinth

We left Athens for Korinthos the city of the Corinthians.  Again the beauty of what was left of the city and of the mountains around the city gave way to an incredible site. One thing that shocked me was the size of the city; only five percent of the city has been excavated, and it was still huge. As we wandered around the site we saw building that would have been essential in the daily lives of the Corinthians, such as the temple of Apollo, the butcher, and many other public buildings. We saw the Bema, the building from which Paul would have preached his message. We discussed the history of the city, giving context to the people who would have lived here, their beliefs, practices and the lifestyles they would have led. Along with this context we were able to discuss the ruins of the building still on the site to get a better sense of the lifestyle these first century Corinthians would have led. Here again we could see public displays of wealth and opulence in some of the monuments, that we saw in Delphi yesterday.  This display of wealth would have been a way of showing honor, it was a way of publically praising yourself. We were asked to consider how an early Christian, especially one of some status, would deal with this system, especially when such acts often included pagan rituals. As we were thinking about how the early Christians would have responded to the pagan culture around them both here in Korinthos and the rest of the nation, we sat under the shade of a big tree in the forum, and Dr. Cohick lectured to us about both 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians. It is interesting to me that we can often relate more to the letters of Paul to Christians struggling with the paganism infused in their culture, than the accounts in the Old Testament.

In our discussion on Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, we discussed the purpose of the letters, the context in which they were written, and the themes that Paul addresses. It is important to remember that these are letters written to a specific people, the context matters in how we read it. Paul talks a lot about the unity of the church to the people here at Corinth. This issue has seemed to come up over and over again the past few weeks, and it is so crazy that it has been an issue since the very beginning of the church. Once again it was very powerful to read these letters in the place where they were written to. Being able to understand the historical context of the letter helps me understand the meaning more, and then how I can apply it to my life.

We hiked up to the Acropocorinth, a large fortress on top of the mountain just above the city of Korinthos. From the top, I could see for miles! The sea on one side, and more mountains and fields of olive trees and grape vines on the other. It was a beautiful place. It was a lot of fun to hike around on top of this mountain among the ruins.

            We headed to the small seaside town of Navplion which is also nestled in the hills, the original capital of the modern state of Greece. Today, Navplion is a small but growing town, that is quite picturesque. Right on the water, the town is filled with tiny shops, restaurants and public squares. Across the water, one can see the mountains of the mainland and islands. We had some time to walk around the town, eat at an authentic Greek restaurant, and see the sunset over the water. It was a very relaxing way to end the day.