7 Churches of Revelation Part I

I’ll try catch you up on the last 2 days without boring anyone. As I told Kedra about visiting ancient sites, you have to care and you have to have imagination. Some people lack one or both. Ha ha.

On Saturday morning I flew from Istanbul to Izmer (ancient Smyrna). Izmir is the 3rd largest city in Turkey with a population of more than 4 million people. I was met at the airport by my guide, a 31 year old single man named Selguk. He is a gentle, kind non-practicing Muslim.

[Today at a carpet/rug place the owner was showing me all his carpets. He pointed out how one had 5 stars, symbolizing the 5 daily prayers for good Muslims. He said, “Good Muslims pray 5 times a day.” I said, “What do bad Muslims do?” He said, “Drink Raki (whiskey) and sell carpet!” I cracked up, and so did he, thankfully. I said, “You naughty Muslim.” Really, I did. He laughed. Whew.]

We loaded my bags into Selguk’s small brown Fiat car and made our way toward Pergamum. As we drove I was struck by how different this part of Turkey was from Istanbul. I like the rural side of Turkey better. It’s funny - people drive tractors everywhere in this part of Turkey. Sadly I have not been able to take any photos yet. The funniest thing I saw yesterday was two Muslim women, fully dressed in their normal attire, driving a tractor down the road. I often saw a man driving, a woman riding on the fender, and some kids riding in a trailer or wagon. [This is giving me some ideas, since I no longer have a vehicle to drive; R.I.P. Smokey.]

There is a reason that these sites are often described as ancient ruins. Pergamum was fascinating. I won’t go into detail about these places, but I was struck by the remains of the Temple of Trajan, built in the early 2nd century to honor the Roman Emperor. Our brothers and sisters of Revelation would have probably been around to watch this construction. They would have sat in the amazing theatre, and they knew about the Temple of Zeus, which Jesus may be referencing as “Satan’s throne.” Read Revelation 2:12-17. Later I thought of Antipas who was martyred in this city.

After Pergamum we had a very Turkish lunch, which means I can tell little of what I ate. It was good, however. I had some Turkish coffee after lunch. Wow! Powerful stuff! Selguk and I then made our way to Thyatira. See Revelation 2:18-29. Sadly there are very few things to see here. Most of the ruins are under modern buildings. There is about a city block of a few things, including a church building from the 5th or 6th century. I wonder if Lydia (Acts 16:14) spent time in this square. I would guess so, and that’s a neat thought.

I spent last night in Izmir, and this morning we made our way to Ephesus, which is really the main focus of my sabbatical travels. We started out by visiting the site on the mountain beside Ephesus which is supposed to be the house of the Virgin Mary. This an ancient tradition, so who knows? There is a tiny little Catholic Church there. When I walked in 2 nuns were singing unaccompanied and in English. I stayed for a little while. I really missed worship today, so this was a nice surprise.

Ephesus is quite remarkable, and I will have more to say later. I am going to spend 2-3 more days at the site later this week. After we left Ephesus we had lunch at a carpet place (see above) and made the long journey to Hierapolis, which is NOT one of the Seven Churches but is still significant in the New Testament. This place surprised me. It is the place that Jesus probably alludes to in his remark to the Laodiceans about being lukewarm. Hierapolis is known for its hot mineral water, which still flows today. There are some amazing white mineral formations on the hillside.

Tradition says that Phillip was martyred and buried at this place. Trouble is no one can decide which Phillip - the Apostle or the Evangelist. Oh well, something significant must have happened here.

OK, that’s enough for now, probably too much.

I love you and hope to post again sometime tomorrow evening late or early the next day...

Some pictures: