7 Churches Tour- Colossae, Hieropolis, Pamukkale

Last week I had the opportunity to travel with a tour company to visit the 7 churches of the Revelation. This was supposed to be the first post detailing the trip, but somehow it did not publish. Whoops.

Monday morning I woke up very early to meet my tour company, Anatiolian Tours, at Kent Park mall to begin the adventure of visiting the 7 Churches of the Revelation. In the book of Revelation, John is instructed to write to 7 groups of believers in 7 different cities. They all just so happen to be in Turkey! Every day that I am here in Turkey, I become more and more aware of all of the major events that happened in this country, not just in Christian history but in world history.

Day 1 of the trip actually did not involve visiting any of the 7 churches. We drove from Ankara to Pamukkale and visited the cities of Colossae and Hieropolis, along with the natural, limestone formed Hot Springs in Pamukkale. Colossae, the city that the book of Colossians was written to, has not been excavated yet. Instead, the build up of silt and dirt have covered the acropolis in a large mound. Only a few pieces are visible. The only major building that you can see the shape of is the theater. I had no idea that there are still sites that have not been excavated yet. I just assumed that the heyday of archaeology in the early 1900s had found and excavated everything. However, as you will see on this trip with me, many things are being discovered every year. Colossae has not been excavated yet because the Turkish government does not see enough significance of the city's importance to have a group come in and spend all that time and money on an insignificant city, as not much is known about Colossae except for the fact that a book in the Bible is named after it. I have a feeling that eventually it will be excavated, which then I will have to go back to see the city as it would have been. But, even with it just being a mound, it was peaceful with the orchards surrounding it and the mountains in the distance. Note: Anywhere you go in Turkey, expect to see mountains on the horizon. Many have snow on the tops for the majority of the year. Turkey seems to be plains surrounded by hills repeated over and over until you reach a coast line, then it is beach with mountains in the distance. OK, maybe not mountains, but very large hills. Philemon, his slave, Onesimus, and Epaphras, who was in jail with Paul in Rome, were all from Colossae. Paul actually never visited Colossae, but wrote to encourage them none the less.

This trip is giving me a new appreciation for archaeologists. I look at the mound that would have been the acropolis in Colossae and know that every single city now excavated used to look like this. Where do you even begin to dig in such a vast area? How can you piece together small shards of pottery to recreate vases? How do you fit pieces of stone together to rebuild pillars? How do you not destroy what is underneath you as you are digging? It is definitely a long, tedious, and rewarding process.

The city of Hieropolis and the natural pools of Pamukkale make up a UNESCO world heritage site. Hieropolis is not one of the 7 churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation, but there was a group of believers in Hieropolis that is mentioned in the Bible in Paul’s letters to the Colossians. It is a massive city acropolis with temples spread across the hillside. Their theater is one of the best excavated theaters in the world. It is in the hillside and is VERY steep. But it is absolutely stunning,  and the view that it offers of the distant hills is beautiful. One of the Philips, either the apostle or the one who ministered to the Ethiopian, was stoned in Hieropolis after preaching the Gospel to the people of Hieropolis. A few hundred years later, a church,  was built in his honor. Everyone believed that Philip was also buried somewhere in the city of Hieropolis, but his tomb was not located until 2011. Just down the hill from the church there is a tomb that has the name Philip on it. See? Things in history are still being found. They are still doing restoration work on the chapel and tomb. History is still being unearthed!

We then got to walk in the natural hot spring pools of Pamukkale and taste the mineral water from its source. The water tasted like a rock, but it is very good for you as it has so many important nutrients in it. Walking in the pools was something I have been looking forward to doing ever since I came to Turkey. It is one of the most amazing natural beauties I have ever seen. God is certainly creative as he forms each of these unique places.

We then walked through the Necropolis of Hieropolis, which is where all of the rich citizens would have been buried if they were not cremated, which was the more popular thing to do. The most important citizens had huge house like dwellings while others just had a sarcophagus. There was a large Jewish sect in Hieropolis as well with many rich Jewish tombs. While walking through the Necropolis, the sky was absolutely breathtaking. So I took many MANY photos. It was a wonderful day 1.

3 Month Anniversary

Yesterday marked being in Turkey for 3 months! In one more month I will finish out the semester here at Bilkent and in 5 weeks my family will be arriving for our adventure in Turkey! I am very excited to finish school. I am in that final stretch. It is hard, but school is always hard. I am learning and growing immensely.

I would like to report that the weather is actually nice, but, unfortunately, it is still very cold. In fact, on Wednesday night it snowed a little bit! I really want to break out my shorts as it is the end of April, but it's just too cold. There are hints of spring with leaves beginning to form. And the flowers are so beautiful! While walking in Ankara, you get this lovely aroma of the flowers on the trees. Turkey has a lot of pink flowered trees. I will try to get a picture, as they are a very pretty color. Hopefully May will bring the wonderful nice weather.

I have seen many beautiful sunsets over the past few weeks, which is always a calm reminder of God's Love.

Thursday was a national holiday in Turkey, the National Sovereignty and Children's Day. It is a day celebrating the founding of the Turkish Parliament and to celebrate the children of Turkey and of the world. So Bilkent decorated every building with at least one Turkish flag. Here is my dorm and the flag hanging outside of the music building. They were very large flags! All classes were cancelled for the National holiday, but I had to be here for class on Friday, so I did not travel. I just had a relaxing day, which is nice once in a while.

 I was able to attend two concerts this week in the Bilkent Concert Hall. The first was a piano trio (violin, cello, piano) performing a Tchaikovsky piece. This evening I attended the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra performance that commemorated National Children's Day. They performed The Sorcerer's Apprentice, The Carnival of the Animals, and a Disney Medley with the choir students from grades 5-10 who attend the music conservatory. There were so many singers! It was a lovely concert with a reminder that music is fun and brings so much joy to life.

That's all to report for this week. Have a blessed week!

Care Package

A week ago I received a care package from my university campus ministry, Wittenberg Lutheran Center. I was expecting it for over 2 weeks and was very excited to receive it. I got back from my 7 Churches tour on Sunday and had a note indicating that I had a package to pick up. Well, Monday was crazy, so I was unable to go pick it up. But Tuesday, I ventured over to the PTT (post office). The gentleman working there did not know English, but I had my note indicating that I had a package, so he was able to go and find the right one. He handed it to me, and then I tried to carry it. Well, this package was 13 pounds! It was actually a bit of a struggle to carry across campus back to my dorm. What could possibly be in this package that would make it weigh 13 pounds?

I promised my church family at Wittenberg that I would open the package over Skype so they could see my reaction. So my package just sat in my room that evening, tempting me to open it. So I went to bed early and set my alarm for 3am, which is 7pm back in Normal, IL, right in time for their Bible Study. It was so wonderful to see all of the people that put together my care package "face to face." I was actually quite nervous to open this package since they all wanted to see my reaction to it. What did they put into this package? Was there live snakes? Confetti? Jack in the Box? I was excited but a bit apprehensive.

I had requested for them to send me a few things: 1) granola bars from Aldi, which are my favorite kind (granola bars are a bit hard to find in Turkey and are quite expensive when I can find them), 2) A Hershey bar, as I absolutely LOVE Hershey's Chocolate bars (you can find chocolate in Turkey, but more Snickers and Twix, not Hershey's. There are other chocolate bar brands, but I wanted some good ol' Hershey's), 3) dried fruit (as it is very expensive in Turkey), and 4) a notebook for a new journal, as my current one is almost filled up. 

Well, when you ask the LORD for something, the LORD will give abundantly. He just used my church group to display this to me. Here's what was in my package. If you notice, most of it is food, since I really love food!

 

I received 30 granola bars (almost enough to eat one a day until I leave!),

 23 Hershey chocolate bars AND a 1 pound chocolate bar (so much chocolate!!!!). 

There were also 2 notebooks and some additional candies from their Easter basket at church.

In the dried fruit department, they truly went overboard. A regular amount of dried cherries and then a HUGE bag of dried cranberries! Look at how big that bag is! 

 But my favorite part was the personal letters from my Wittenberg family and some of my other friends. 9 individual, personal letters just for me! There is nothing as wonderful as a hand-written, thoughtful note from people you love. They made me laugh so much! You can hear the writer's voice through their writing. It makes me miss them so much, with all of their hugs and smiles, but this semester is coming to a close quite fast. Then I will be back at ISU to personally thank each person that wrote me a letter and to thank all of you for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers!

7 Churches Tour - Thyatira, Pergamum

Before continuing the travel adventures, let me tell you about Turkish breakfast. Turkish breakfast is wonderful. At the hotels they always have a spread of about 10 different cheeses, 10 different breads, 10 different jams and honeys, and then eggs, potatoes, sausages, cucumbers, and tomatoes. They also have many kinds of coffees, Turkish tea and other teas, hot milk, cold milk, and many kinds of juices. It is definitely a delicious spread that I cannot get enough of. But I didn't take any pictures of it, as I was too busy stuffing my face. 

The ancient city of Thyatira has little left, since the current city, Akhisar, has been built on top of it, just like Philadelphia. The one section that has been excavated was part of the major road connecting Pergamum and Sardis. There were also ruins of a basilica from around 1000 AD. Originally, Thyatira was a military outpost for the Lydian empire whose capital was Sardis. Then, thanks to its location, it became a major trade city. It was very famous for its trades like dyes, specifically purple and indigo, and textiles. Each of these textiles had a trade guild that all of the producers had to be a part of, similar to today's unions. These guilds would have a specific deity that they would pray to, sacrifice to, and have festivals in honor of them. All guild members were expected to be involved in these events.

The road at Thyatira

The Basilica at Thyatira

The Lord praises the church of Thyatira for their faith, service, perseverance, and growth. However, many people were living a double life. They were Christian when they were with Christians, but participated in non-Christian acts when they were with non-Christians, like performing the guild rituals. The prophetess, who is called Jezebel in the letter, was pulling people away from the Word of God. She may have reasoned with them that there are some things that you must do in your line of work that go against what God says, but you have to do them because you have to make a living somehow. However, the Lord has eyes like flames of fire. He can see everything. He tells the people to “keep my work,” meaning display God everywhere you go in everything you do, even in your line of work.

Next we went to Pergamum, or Pergamos, in today’s city of Bergama. Pergamos was the capital of the Pergamum kingdom. It was a very wealthy city, not just in gold, but in knowledge. On the Acropolis of this ancient city was the second largest library in the ancient world, only being surpassed by the library in Alexandria. In fact, the Egyptians got so worried that the Pergamos library would surpass their own that they stopped sending Pergamos papyrus. So Pergamos invented a new writing material called parchment. Pergamum actually means parchment (in German this city is called Pergament). Their parchment was originally made from leather, but this is the origins of our parchment and paper from. Much later, Marc Antony, in his love for Cleopatra, stole many scrolls from Pergamos and carried them back to Egypt with him, where they then burned in the fire in the library at Alexandria. The last King, Attalos III, did not have a worthy heir so in his will he gave his empire to Romans in 133 BC. Pergamos is the place where emperor worship began in the Roman empire. They built temples not only to Augustus, but to Trajan and Hadrian, also their pre-Roman kings like Attalos I, II, III, and Eumenes I, II, III. in addition to all of the Greek gods. 

The Acropolis at Pergamos had two major temples, one to to Zeus and one to Athena. They were excavated by a German team, and thanks to the relationship between the Ottoman sultan and the German king, the archaeologists actually carried both of these temples back to Berlin, where they are now very well preserved and very much intact.

The Theater at Pergamum

The temple to Trajan

Pergamos also had an Ascelepion dedicated to Ascelepius, the god of healing. A famous doctor named Galen worked here, assisting the ill. Ascelepions were places dedicated to healing. They were the ancient hospitals. Their remedies included some medicines, but also psychotherapy – thinking to yourself that you can get better – and prayers to the gods. They would let the patients sleep, then wake them up in the middle of the night to descend into this tunnel and one of the doctors would dress up like Ascelepius and tell the patients to get well soon. This would spur them on to work on getting better by reading books in the library, making prayers to the gods at the temple, or even participating in plays at the theater. Over the entrance to this hospital were the words "death shall not enter here,” a positive message for those entering the hospital. However, they did screen people and if people were deemed terminally ill, they were not allowed to enter the hospital, as the doctors wanted a good record. 

"Death Shall Not Enter Here."

The Tunnel for healing

The Ascelepion at Pergamos

The church of Pergamos is praised for their faithfulness as they are in the “where Satan has his throne.....where Satan dwells.”  However, the church of Pergamos had started to compromise on some of their convictions. They were being pressured on all sides to not follow the Gospel, as it was not popular. Some believers were even killed for their faith in Pergamos. But the Lord gave them the sharp two-edged sword, which is the Word of God. This is what they, and we, should stay true to, because, in the end, the Word of God is the only thing that will remain. This world will pass away, with all of its lies and pressures. So remain faithful to His Word, not to the world. Never compromise on the Truth.

We next went to a carpet store where they demonstrated how silk is made from the silk worm cocoons. The cocoons are boiled in regular hot water, then the woman grabed a few of the cocoons and gathered the threads together. Each cocoon is made of one single strand and can be anywhere from 300-750 meters long, depending on the size of the cocoon. She set the threads on a spinning machine to let them unravel, which took at least 5 minutes. It was truly incredible to watch. They even let us have one of the dry cocoons to take home. It is a little sad that all of those silkworms have to be suffocated in order to harvest their cocoons. The Lord’s creation is definitely diverse as silk is strong enough to cut marble, yet the most smooth and breathable material. And it never seems to wear out. Praise the Lord for silk.

Next there were women demonstrating how handmade carpets are made, whether wool or silk. They take the dyed thread and weave a type of double knot onto the carpet weave. They repeat this many, many, MANY times, using different colors to create the different patterns on the carpets. It reminds me a bit of crocheting or knitting as you perform the same action over and over to create a large masterpiece. It also seems to be like cross-stitch or embroidery work, using multiple colors to create patterns. It is also like creating a mosaic, as you cannot really see the big picture until you have put hours into the work. We were told that for the silk carpets, the weavers can only work on it for about an hour at a time, because after that the silk cuts into their hands as it is so fine yet strong, smooth yet sharp. This was extremely fascinating to me. Maybe I'll move to Turkey and make handmade carpets. 

 These last two are just some of the amazing designs made on small carpets, purely for display I think. Both are silk on silk, the most expensive kind. The one on the left is of birds with the Turkish designs surrounding it. The one on the right is of the four seasons, like in Vivaldi's masterpiece violin concerto. They also had one of DaVinci's Last Supper painting. It's just amazing that this much detail can be done on a carpet.

7 Churches Tour - Laodicea, Philadelphia, Sardis

Tuesday morning we went to Laodicea, which is very close to Pamukkale. From Laodicea you can look across the valley and see the limestone hot springs. On this tour we are visiting the churches in backwards order, so Laodicea is actually the last church mentioned Revelation. It also would have been the last letter delivered by the messenger, as the road connecting all of the cities would have begun in Ephesus and winded through all of the cities, finishing in Laodicea.

The excavations at Laodicea are being paid for by local business owners whose goal is to rebuild as much of the city as they can in order to give visitors a very clear picture of what it would have been like. When they need to use new materials, they still use natural marble like the ancient builders would have used, but they use a different shade of marble in order for the viewers to recognize which pieces are original. So far they have uncovered a temple to a deity, the marketplace, a Greek theater with a view of the ravine that includes the hot springs (Greek theaters have a wonderful view for the audience to enjoy as well in addition to the performance), a Roman theater (Roman theaters could care less about what the viewers could see, so its view is boring), the main road, which still has chariot wheel imprints and drainage systems in the roads. On either side of Roman roads, there would  have been a large sidewalk for the people to walk on with shops on bordering the sidewalks. Laodicea did not have a natural river or spring in the city, so the Romans built an aqueduct from the mountain hot spring 5 miles away using terra-cotta pipes. Because the water was hot, it would create a calcium residue on the pipes and this would need to be cleaned out periodically in order for the flow of water to not be clogged.

The Greek Theater. On the left side you can see the hot springs (white)

Laodicea

Temple to a deity

The calcium build-up (white) in
the terra-cotta pipe (orange)

Laodicea was a rich city thanks to it being on a trade route. In fact, the city denied Roman assistance to rebuild after an earthquake because they could pay for the rebuilding and still have enough money to pay their taxes. They were also famous for black wool coats and for inventing a type of hearing aid and something similar to glasses. However, in the Lord’s letter to the church in Laodicea, he says that they are lukewarm, poor, naked, and blind in their faith, taking each thing the city was proud of and turning it back on them. They had become distracted by the things around them instead of making Christ the center of the church. Jesus says “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” Why was Jesus having to knock? Because He was on the outside of the church. Keep Christ the central focus of church. Don’t let flashy things get in the way. And don’t let your life get clogged up by flack and gunk like the pipes in Laodicea. Clean it out so that God can flow through you.

The next church was Philadelphia in today’s city of Alasehir (pronounced Alashehir). The current city has been built right on top of the ancient ruins of Philadelphia, so the only excavated remains are the city gates and the ruins of a basilica built in 1000 AD. It is neat to think that people have been living in this same patch of land for at least 4000 years, but it would be nice to be able to see those remains as well. The area around Philadelphia has many earthquakes, so instead of constantly rebuilding, many people chose to live outside of the city, cultivating many foods, especially grapes, as the soil is very fertile around the city. A king from a neighboring city was offered a huge sum of money by the Romans if he would help them conquer the city of Philadelphia. He declined and, in addition, stood with his brother, the leader of Philadelphia, risking his own life in order to help his brother, displaying brotherly love.

The Basilica

Basilica with the modern city surrounding it

In the letter to the church of Philadelphia, there is no rebuke, only praise. The Lord does encourage the believers to “open your doors,” meaning minister to those living outside of the city and beyond. Get out of your comfort zone. Even though you have many things on your plate, like having to rebuild after an earthquake, look at those situations as opportunities instead of hardships. The Lord gives each of us opportunities to share the Gospel when we least expect it.

The last city of the day was Sardis. Sardis was the capital of the Lydian empire (it’s where we get the name for the Lydian mode in music – a very soothing sounding melody).  It was a huge city and remained important throughout the ages, having the honor to build a temple to Aphrodite, which you can still see today. You can also see a Jewish Synagogue from 3rd century AD baths built at the same time. And the ancient Roman bath house that has been rebuilt. It is truly fantastic. By visiting these ruins, you get an idea of the grandeur of these cities when they were at their height. The buildings are almost always 2 stories. Imagine if they were all still standing!

Jewish Synagogue

Roman Bath House

Temple to Aphrodite

However, the city fell to King Cyrus of Persia in a remarkable story. The city had a fortification on top of this huge hill, almost mountain, that was protected not only by man-made walls, but also by natural vertical cliffs, which makes it almost impossible to conquer. Cyrus laid siege to the city for 3 years but could not conquer it. One day, one of the soldiers on the wall of Sardis was a bit careless and did not strap on his helmet. It accidentally fell off and fell down the hillside. To retrieve it, he exited the city from a secret entrance, unaware that he was being watched by the Persians. That night, the Persians led a surprise attack through that secret entrance and conquered the city. Sardis became the western capital of the Persian empire, but it never returned to its former glory of the capital of the Lydian empire.

The church in Sardis had an issue with Reputation vs. Reality. The church body was known at one point from something amazing that they did. They thought their faith was strong and confident, just like their city, but the reality was that they were dead and needed to become alive again. Jesus says “Watch out. If you don’t watch out, you’re going to fall.” Even the little sins in life make us fall. Don’t underestimate the significance of the tiniest sins, because those are what lead to huge destruction. In addition to being vigilant against all sin, encourage the spiritual weak among the group, because you are only as strong as your weakest link. Do not shun them away, but bring them close to the group and protect them.

Spring Break Trip - Kos

After a 3 hour ferry, I arrived in Kos where I had to then walk to the opposite side of the bay to reach my hotel. The owner was up waiting for me as she knew I would be arriving that night. Come to find out that she lived in America for at least 10 years and has always wanted to return. She even had an American passport. She guided me to a local fish restaurant where she knew the owner and he prepared for me one of the most amazing fish I have ever had. There is nothing like being in a coastal city and eating freshly caught fish that is grilled to perfection and melts in your mouth. I also had traditional Greek salad, which has olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and a slab of cheese. There was actually no lettuce in my Greek salad.

I had one day to try and experience all of Kos. First, I had to put my feet in the water. Then, I wanted to find the Asclepieion of Kos. Kos is famous for having been the home of Hippocrates who wrote the Hippocratic Oath that is still taken by doctors today. The god of medicine and health, Ascelepious, is I believe the god of the island, thus the acropolis is built in his honor. On the way to the Asclepieion, I came across the remains of the ancient Agora with other temples right near the coast. From here, the ancient people would have walked the roughly 3 miles to the Asclepieionon to present their offerings to the gods. I decided to do the same. It was a long walk uphill, going back and forth between humidity and rain. 

Along the way I saw other lonely temples all around Kos. They are now surrounded by modern Kos but the remains of the temples are still there as a reminder of the old days. I also found the Roman theater. It is very well preserved or restored and I think I read that they still use it for performances today. 

After finding a bakery and getting some snacks and continuing up the path I finally reached the Asclepieion! It is a very peaceful place as it overlooks the town far below it and the sea surrounding it. You can see other islands in the distance as well. I have a feeling that some of the land masses that I could see were part of Turkey. Of course, in addition to the landscape is the ruins of the Asclepieion. Seeing so many ruins of huge acropolises makes me want to see them in all of their glory when they were fully built. We only see the remnants of history. It is a bit sad, but still incredibly beautiful.

I passed an international museum for Hippocrates, but it was closed, probably due to it being low season. I did not have time to go to the fortress near the port as it closed early. I guess that’s a reason to go back. I returned to my hotel, grabbed my bag, said goodbye to my wonderful hotel owner, and went to catch my ferry back to Turkey. On the ferry I met a teacher who was taking the year off to travel the world. He had already done all of Asia and now is heading into Europe. His parents met him for 3 weeks to do Greece and Turkey. They were from Chicago. Everyone that I meet abroad is from the Midwest. I guess when we travel, we REALLY travel. It was so nice to have a slice of home again! And returning to Turkey actually felt quite comfortable. I at least know a little bit of Turkish, where I know no Greek. I had a relaxing evening with more wonderful food in Bodrum before getting up early the next morning to return to Ankara.

As you can see, I had many adventures during my week of travels.  I am so thrilled to say that I successfully traveled for a week by myself. It is definitely a growing experience but a rewarding experience. My backpack started out weighing a little under 10 pounds. That is really the trick: pack light! By the end, I had bought at least 5 pounds worth of souvenirs.  But it all still fit in a carry on size backpack. I hope that you can get an idea of how much I enjoyed seeing these amazing, historical places. Thanks for traveling with me in spirit!Check out more pictures at my shutterfly account: https://experienceturkey2015.shutterfly.com/