Ancient Ephesus and the Spread of Christianity
The Old and New Testaments of the
Bible are full of historical and spiritual events that seem to have taken place
in some surreal and distant land, like that of a children’s book. Often, the
stories are so inconceivable to modern Christians that they have lost their
literal sense, making it difficult to relate to them in a complete spiritual
sense. This certainly has been the case for myself. However, after walking the
streets of ancient Ephesus, I feel that I can personally relate to Paul’s
writings spiritually and understand more about Paul’s life and the people that
he influenced during his missionary journeys.
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| Venerating the tomb of the Apostle St. John |
Ancient
Ephesus holds such an important role in the spread of Christianity as well as a
lot of intriguing history that is not necessarily dogmatic, but spiritually
enlightening. For example, Mary’s house and the tomb of the Apostle John are
found here. Neither of these landmarks can be one hundred percent accurate and
must be taken with faith, but both landmarks indeed do have scriptural and
spiritual evidence for their credibility, and influence Christians today in
their spiritual life. I will touch more on this latter.
As for the ancient port town and
its influence in Christianity, this city was arguably the most important
location for the spread of Christianity through Asia Minor. What we can know
about Ephesus is that Paul lived in Ephesus for two years on his third
missionary journey and wrote his letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians
from here.[1] We
know that the Ephesians worshiped the goddess of Artemis and Paul had to flea
Ephesus because the silversmiths saw a decline in the pagan worship and the
people began to turn against him.[2] We
also know that St. John lived in Ephesus while he wrote the Fourth Gospel
during the later part of his life and is traditionally buried in the former
Basilica of St. John which was built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th
century.[3]
This ancient port town was located
strategically for the spread of Christianity which is most likely why Paul
chose to reside here and preach the Gospel. About 250,000 people are predicted
to have lived in ancient Ephesus.[4]
Because this thriving city was located along a bay that not only was a joining
point for the eastern and western worlds, but also along the crossroads between
Miletus and Ionia, the most skilled artisans, rich merchants, scientists and philosophers
flourished and developed in the city.[5] Given
the location of Ephesus today, five miles inland, it is hard to imagine that
the Mediterranean use to be just outside of the agora.
This location and gathering of people was a prime selection for Paul to live, preach and share the good news of the Lord for a many reasons. Not only was it great that Paul could interact with thousands of people but many of these people would have been just passing through the port town and then on to other parts of the world. Therefore, Paul could evangelize a few men from a ship and send the Gospel message with them to keep sharing the Word of God. Paul also established a church in Ephesus which he later sends a letter to. This means that the sailors would have the opportunity to come back to the Church whenever they passed through the town. Moreover, many philosophers gathered in Ephesus which means that Paul could dialogue, teach and strengthen the church with them. Paul was certainly aware of the endless possibilities offered in Ephesus and it is no wonder that he stayed there for two years.
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| Artemis |
The fact that many Philosophers and
religious cults flourished in Ephesus also means that Paul was most definitely
challenged for this strange new teaching that he preached. We know from the
scriptures that Paul lived as a missionary in Ephesus, and we also know from archaeology that there was a large pagan influence and even a Jewish influence
in Ephesus. When we walked through the streets of Ephesus, we saw where the
statue of Artemis once stood and also her temple, which is considered to be one
of the seven Wonders of the Ancient World. This goes to show that there was
absolutely a large amount of pagan devotions in Ephesus well before Paul
arrived. We know from the book of Acts (19:21-41) that Paul struggled largely
with the pagans who worshiped Artemis and they even drove Paul to leave the
city.
When we walked through the ancient
city, we saw all along the streets alters for pagan animal sacrifice. Artemis
was a largely venerated Greek deity, the daughter of Demeter. She was believed
to be the goddess of virginity and motherhood. Her statue is often depicted to
have what some say “many breasts,” to show her motherhood, and what others say
is “bull testicles hanging off her chest,” again to show her fertility. Artemis
was most likely a great opportunity for Paul to teach about Mary as the Mother
of God, her virgin fertility and motherhood to Christ.
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| Library of Celsus |
The Jewish
population in Ephesus has really been left undiscovered today. However, we do
know that they existed because of the menorah that was carved into the stares
of the Library of Celsus. Unfortunately all of the books of the library were
destroyed in a fire so we have no literature to go off of from the ancient
city. We do not have any account of Paul encountering Jews in Ephesus, but
there is still hope for archeologists to find a Jewish temple buried underneath
the earth in the future.
Ancient Ephesus and the New Testament
Though
Ephesians is among Paul’s disputed letters and critical scholars such as Raymond
Brown claim that Paul did not write the letter, tradition holds that Paul
penned the letter to the Ephesians. Ephesians is one of Paul’s captivity
letters written from prisons in Rome, along with Philippians, Colossians and
Philemon. No doubt this letter stands out in Paul’s texts with its style,
occasion, lack of reference to the Ephesians, and systematic format. The letter
itself reads like a large prayer. It has no occasion whatsoever which is
extremely strange for Paul; and is more systematic even than his letter to the
Romans. The understanding for this strange style is that even though Paul had
the letter sent to Ephesus with Tychicus, it was meant to be more of a circular
letter such as an encyclical to be sent to other Christian communities.[6] However, we can be sure that Paul had an
important massage to deliver to the Ephesians with this letter and we can begin
to see what the Christian community struggled with in ancient Ephesus.
The first
half of the letter is almost all doctrinal and speaks about Christ’s decent to
the earth to conquer demons and ascension into heaven for our salvation.[7]
His focus is on the Holy Spirit and that we are sealed with a promise which is
like a down payment for our eternal inheritance. Paul’s teaching on salvation in the letter to
the Ephesians takes place in the first chapter verses 3-14. This pericope is in
a sense a proof done by Paul with an underlying message that nothing can drive
truth out of our thoughts or holiness out of our lives because we have been
predestined to be united with the Father with Christ as the head. This passage
teaches that each person of the trinity is active in salvation. Paul also
focuses in chapter two on reconciliation and uses the beautiful image of the
cross to show our vertical reconciliation with God and horizontal
reconciliation between Jews and gentiles. This image helps us to understand
that possibly Paul encountered some turmoil between Jews and gentiles in
Ephesus. Paul continues to use the cross to show how it has been destroyed in
reference to the wall outside the temple precincts in Jerusalem.
The second
half of the letter lays out the Apostles Creed, the household code and the
paradox of the cross.[8] We
get the oneness of God from this part of the letter: One body, one spirit, one
lord, one baptism, one God the Father. We also see that Christ descended into
the lower parts of the earth which is quoting Psalm 68. From this we can gather
that the Ephesians may have been struggling with the trinity and the decent of
the Lord before he could rise on the third day. Paul also gives us the correct
hierarchy of the family and the paterfamilias,
which had to be given before he could address the paradox of the cross. Paul’s
teaching regarding the role of the husband and wife to one another is that
every household, no matter the hierarchy, has an obligation to self sacrificial
love. The type of submission that a wife gives to her husband is the same as
the church submits to Christ. Christ presents the Church to himself by his own
saving grace, thus man should present his bride through grace. The body
subjects itself to the head out of its best interest because the head wishes to
protect the body. Obviously the Ephesians were having a hard time understanding
that grace was given in proper order which led to greater confusion. This led
to the greatest confusion that, if one gets grace when he sins, he should sin
more to get more grace. Paul obviously felt the need to readdress this
misunderstanding for the Ephesians.
Paul’s
Ephesian ministry is seen more accurately in the Acts of the Apostles and
briefly in 1 Cor 16:8-9. In Acts 18 Paul seems to have passed through Ephesus
on his way back from Corinth and meets with a Jewish teacher named Apollos who
teaches in the synagogue. Again this is evidence for a synagogue that has yet
to be discovered. Then, in Acts 19, Paul is seen again in Ephesus, this time
for two years. One of the first things that Paul does when he settles in to the
city is lay his hands on some disciples who receive the gift of the Holy Spirit
(19:1-7), and Paul begins to build his Church. Paul preaches in the lecture
hall of Tyrannus and his ministry flourishes. By the grace of God, Paul cast
out demons in Ephesus and gained many disciples who publically burned their
magic books.
The House of Mary
Mary’s life after the crucifixion
of her Son Jesus Christ remains mostly unknown. What we do know is that there
is a shrine to the Virgin Mary in Ephesus that is believed to be her home. I
for one was a huge skeptic about this seemingly radical claim. I was happy to
hear that the Church does not claim this to be fact, but that both John Paul II
and Benedict XVI have venerated the Holy Mother at this site. After some
explaining, I was able to see that this location is in fact very plausible for
the Virgin Mary to have lived after Christ died. I also learned that there is
some spiritual evidence for this location as well.
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| Me at the House of the Virgin |
The Gospel of St. John tells us
that when Christ was on the Cross he entrusted the care of his Mother onto the
beloved disciple. Most scholars hold that the Beloved Disciple was John.
Tradition tells us that the after the persecutions of Christians in Jerusalem,
John went to Ephesus to preach the gospel.[9] If
indeed this was the case, then John would have taken the Virgin Mother with him
to Ephesus. Evidence for this is also that St. John was buried in Ephesus and
both John and Mary have ancient basilicas built for them there. The spiritual
evidence for this site has to do with the German nun, Catherine Emmerich. She
was an invalid and had never left her country, yet she had detailed visions
about the sacred site which led two scientists to the discovery of the house in
1891.
After walking through the streets
of Ancient Ephesus and praying at the shrine of the Holy Mothers house, I have
a much deeper respect and understanding of Paul, the Ephesians and the Virgin.
After putting myself in the shoes of the ancient people, I can more precisely
relate to not only the messages that Paul was trying to convey, but appreciate
more of the people who were receiving his message. There is so much exciting history to still be
discovered in this ancient city and I was truly thrilled to have the
opportunity to walk the streets and see it through my own eyes. As for the House
of Mary, do we have enough evidence to know that this is where the Virgin
Mother lived and was likely assumed into heaven? I cannot say for myself; but,
what I can say is that it is plausible, and if it is good enough for our
last two Popes to venerate, it is good enough for me.
[1] Pope
Benedict XVI, Saint Paul (San
Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2009), 18.
[2] Ibid.,18.
[3] Naci
Keskin, Ephesus (Istanbul: Keskin
Color Kartpostalcilik A.S., 2012), 9.
[4] Ibid.,
3.
[5] Ibid.,
3.
[7] Ibid
[8] Dr.
Jamie Blosser, class notes: TH 350. April 13, 2012.
[9] Visitor information
at the Holy site of the Virgins House. August 2, 2012.
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