7 Churches Tour - Smyrna, Ephesus Day 1

Thursday morning we departed for Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey (after Istanbul and Ankara) to visit the ancient city of Smyrna. As with Philadelphia and Thyatira, the current city was built right on top of the old, so only small parts of the old city have been excavated. We went to the ancient Agora, where all of the shopping, selling, and bartering would have taken place. This Agora is unique in that it ascends up the hillside, making 3 tiers or levels of shopping instead of a flat shopping area. Many of the archways have been reconstructed to give the viewer an idea of the beauty of this Agora.

Smyrna was one of the most important cities of the ancient world. It had about 200,000 inhabitants and was a port city. They had a close relationship with Rome at least 100 years before the Roman empire conquered Anatolia (Turkey) as part of their empire. They built temples to Roman gods and emperors to honor of the city of Rome. The Christians in Smyrna were persecuted due to their different beliefs. as they only wanted to worship the One True God. Because the Jewish people had contributed in many ways to the success of the Roman empire, the Roman empire allowed the Jews to only worship their God, so they got a "get jail out of free" card on this issue.

The church body in Smyrna was being persecuted from all sides. Rome persecuted Christians not for what they believed but because the Christians did not worship all the other gods and emperors. Rome wanted to create a vast body of gods for all their subjects to worship, which would unify the empire. They wanted Jesus to be added to this collection. The Christians would not agree with this, thus they were seen as a threat and as traitors to the Roman empire. The Jews wanted to be the only "special" group in the eyes of Rome and did not want to lose their privileges, so they persecuted the Christians.  The Jews in Smyrna would reveal the Christians in Smyrna to the Roman government because they did not like them and what they were teaching. The Lord says to the church in Smyrna “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of Life.” God knew that many Christians in Smyrna would be martyred and wanted to encourage them to remain steadfast in Him. He also tells them that there will be 10 days of persecution. This could be 10 literal days or it could reference something else. It’s fascinating that there were 10 emperors of Rome that were ruthless in their reigns to Christians where persecution was horrible. These include Domitian, Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius, Septimus Severus, Maximum, and, worst of all, Valerin. Eternal death is worse than physical death. Hold on to your faith even in the face of death.

We then drove down to Selcuk, which is modern day Ephesus, and went to the Ephesus Museum, where they have many of the artefacts found at the site of Ephesus, including the famous Artemis statue, and the pieces of the huge statue of Emperor Domitian. It is a very nice museum where everything is being well preserved away from the elements. The hard part is trying to piece together what you see in the museum to where it would have been in the city of Ephesus.

Just to give you an idea of how big
he would have been

We went and had coffee/tea/ice cream in a local coffee house that is owned by a Turkish Christian. The place is called St. John’s coffee shop. I of course got ice cream with fresh strawberries. It was so yummy. The owner was so kind. I am so grateful for the Christian community all around the world. The Lord is indeed good!

Then, my dream came true. We went to a pottery store where they demonstrated how to make pottery on a pottery wheel. Then they asked if anyone would like to try. My hand shot up so fast. I have always wanted to try the pottery wheel, as it is one of the most amazing things to me. Let me tell you, it takes skill. The masters make it look easy. It is hard to control the clay and make it form the exact shape you want. In order to even have a chance, the wheel must be going at a very fast speed, which is hard to keep consistent while your hands are trying to be steady on the pottery. The master potter just spun the wheel while I attempted to make something. Ah! It was so neat! I really want to take a potter class now and use the wheel again. It was so incredible.

Lastly, we visited the House of the Virgin Mary. It is believed that when John came to live in Ephesus, he brought Mary the mother of Jesus with him as he was her caretaker now. John was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Book of John and the Book of Revelation. Once Domitian died, the emperor who exiled him, he was allowed to return to Ephesus, where he died. It is believed that Mary would have died here too. There is a house where she could have lived that is now dedicated as a chapel. It is a very reverent place, where I think monks and nuns live to take care of it. They have a tradition where people can write a prayer on a piece of cloth or paper and tie it up on a wall near the house. There is also a stream of fresh, clean, spring water where you can drink the water. I filled up my water bottle here and it tasted good. It is quite a neat site. And only 5 km up the road from the main site of Ephesus, so when you come, you should go and see it.

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the chapel,
but this is a picture of what it looks like inside

The prayer wall