In the Footsteps of Paul: Day 7, February 28

Iconium and Lystra

We were up and off early because we had a long, three and half hour drive to Iconium in Pisidia.  Paul and Barnabas visited Iconium on their first missionary journey, staying for what Acts 14:3 describes as "a long time".  They preached boldly and won many to faith in Jesus, both Jew and Greek.  But they also aroused deep hostility, and when they learned of a plot by leaders in the city to stone them, they fled the city.  There are no visible remains of Paul's 1st century Iconium. It lies beneath the modern Turkish city Konya, which is built on top of the site.  In addition to its Christian history, Konya (Iconium) is also famous as the home of the 13th century Persian poet and Sufi mystic Rumi.  Rumi's mosque and tomb are a major pilgrimage site for Muslims.  We visited the mosque and museum.

Rumi's mosque.

                                          Rumi's tomb.

As it says in Acts 14:6-7, Paul and Barnabas fled from Iconium "to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel."  In Lystra, Paul miraculously healed a crippled man, and it led the people there to declare the gods Zeus and Hermes had come to earth.  They wanted to offer sacrifices to honor them.  Aghast, Paul and Barnabas tore their clothing and rushed into the crowd declaring they were just men, who proclaimed the salvation offered in Jesus Christ.  Paul and Barnabas stayed in Lystra long enough to win many people to faith, but Jews came down from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the crowd to stone Paul, drag him out of the city and leave him as dead.  As it says in Acts 14:20, "But when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and entered the city, and the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derbe."  They later returned to Lystra, where they appointed elders to oversee the churches in the area, "and entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they believed." (Acts 14:23).

We left Konya in search of Lystra.  It was no easy task, as the city of Lystra itself disappeared centuries ago and is buried under a huge tel (or hill).  After driving through the beautiful rural landscape of Lycaonia with the snow covered Taurus Mountains looming ahead, we found the tel.

The tel of Lystra.

We then continued a few more miles along a country lane to the village of Kilistra, one of those places in "the surrounding country" where Paul most certainly had appointed "elders".  Much to our surprise and delight, we discovered the ancient stone church of Kilistra, carved out of rock cliffs, just like those in Cappadocia.

The Pilgrims at Kilistra.

Several of us, scrambled up a steep snow covered path to discover a second church, carved into a perfect miniature basilica, with a crossing and three apses.  We rejoiced in being in a place where St. Paul had brought the first Christians to faith.  

The view of Kilistra from the top of the ridge.

Pilgrims in the second church at Kilistra.

In the Footsteps of Paul: Day 6, Friday, February 6th

Goreme and the Zelve Valley in Cappadocia 

We were scheduled to have a pre-dawn hot air balloon trip to begin our day, but strong westerly winds  resulted in cancelation.  We might have ended up in Athens two weeks ahead of time.  So we reverted to our normal schedule, and after morning prayer and a lively discussion on Philippians 2:6-12, we drove to the Goreme Open Air Museum.  This is truly one of the worlds most astonishing wonders.  Dating from the 9th century onwards, 30 or more churches throughout the valley were built out of the soft volcanic tuff so the Cappadocians could worship without being persecuted by the invading Seljuk Turks. Six churches remain and we visited them all.

The Church of St. Barbara

Goreme is worthily a Unesco World Heritage Site, as some of these tiny cave churches, particularly the Dark Church and the Buckle Church, have walls and ceilings completely covered with spectacular Byzantine frescoes depicting the life of Christ and other scenes from the Bible.

Pilgrims at Goreme.

A view of Goreme from inside the Church of Sandals. 

Next, we devoted time to exploring Cappadocian culture and folk craft.  We visited Elifzu Turizm, a weaving cooperative that keeps the ancient Turkish tradition of rug making alive and well.  We also went to the new Guray Pottery Museum, which has a pottery collection stretching from 2000BC to 2000AD.

The master potter and the master weaver.

Late in the day, we hiked in the Valley of Zelve, where Cappadocians carved literally hundreds of homes, chapels, and monasteries inside the rock cliffs and pillars.

Pilgrims in Zelve Valley.                                             

The entrance to a church in Zelve.  

We ended our day with prayer and a presentation on the Cappadocian Fathers: Basil of Caesarea, his brother Gregory of Nyssa and their lifelong friend Gregory of Nazianzus.  These three men, active in the latter part of the 4th century, shaped the Church's thinking on the nature of the Trinity and the Incarnation.  It was their work that gave the Church its theological identity, which resulted in the statement of faith we stand and declare every time we gather for worship: the Nicene Creed.  

                                                                                 

In the Footsteps of Paul: Day 5, Thursday February 26

Tarsus and the Underground City of Kaymakli

After Morning Prayer and a teaching on the significance of the theology that emerged from Antioch, we drove across lush farmland from Adana to Tarsus, the birthplace of St. Paul.  Tarsus was the capital of the Roman Provence of Cilicia, and served as the primary staging place for the Roman Army's campaigns in the East.  Several major trade routes converged there, bringing merchants from as far away as Spain in the West, Africa in the South and India in the East.  Tarsus was also a center of Hellenistic culture, at one time boasting a library of over 200,000 volumes.  It was the place where Mark Anthony and Cleopatra met, and in Greek mythology, Perseus and Hercules both had adventures in Tarsus.

Today it is a lovely, friendly town.  There is a 1st century archeological excavation called Paul's House.  On the same site is Paul's Well, still providing fresh drinking water.

Paul's Well

Pilgrims tasting water from the well.

The River Cydnus rages through the town, at one point bursting over a splendid waterfall.  Little wonder, this is the place where Alexander the Great nearly drowned when trying to cross it on horseback.

Pilgrims at lunch.

After lunch we drove across the spectacular snow covered Taurus Mountains into Cappadocia.  Our first stop was the underground City of Kaymakli, built by Christians to hide from their Byzantine and Persian persecutors.  At Kaymakli, Cappadocia Christians excavated an underground city that is fourteen stories deep!  It had apartments for families to live, wine presses, storage rooms, kitchens, and even a church!  We explored down four stories, often on our hands and knees, squeezing through long narrow passageways.  Not recommended for the claustrophobic.   Our day together ended after evening prayers, with a lively, enriching discussion on two different topics:  the accuracy of biblical history, as well as how emotional darkness can lead to a deeper intimacy with God.

In the Footsteps of Paul: Day 4, Wednesday, February 25

Antioch and Seleucia 

Egad, after a 2:45am wake up call we sleepily embarked on a 5:40am flight to Antakya, Turkey on the very northeastern corner of the Mediterranean Sea.  Upon arrival we were off to visit sites from the ancient city of Antioch, where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians.  Tradition teaches that St. Peter founded the church there, and became its first bishop (before later becoming the Bishop of Rome).  The earliest Christians worshipped in a church hewn from a cave, called the Church of St. Peter.

The Church of St. Peter

Pilgrims around the altar.

Later Barnabas and Paul assumed leadership in this church, and what happened then shaped Christian identity into the future.  It was there Gentiles and Jews first joined together through faith in Jesus Christ, and the full acceptance of Gentile believers transformed Christianity from a Jewish sect to a universal religion.  The entire community prayed and fasted together to discern God's will, and then sent Paul on three missionary journeys, where he intentionally reached out to both Jew and Gentile, all across Anatolia and into Europe.  This was also the first Christian community to prayerfully send material assistance to other Christians who were in need. 

Darlene Swanson teaching in St. Peter's Church.

We then visited the new Hatay Archaeological Museum, which not only has perhaps the finest collection of Roman mosaic floors and walls in the world, but traces the human history of the region from 6000BC until the present day.

Our next stop was Seleucia Pieria, the port from which Paul sailed on his first missionary journey, launching the Christian faith across the Mediterranean into Anatolia, Trace, Macedonia and Greece.  

We ended our day with a long drive along the Mediterranean coast to Adana.  This is some of the most fertile farmland in the world, and is of striking beauty with the sea to the left and the snowcapped Taurus Mountains on the right.  

The journey begins Feb. 22.

In the Footsteps of Paul

A 20-day Pilgrimage to

TURKEY & GREECE

February 22 - March 13, 2015

St. David's Episcopal Church

led by The Rev. Kenneth Swanson, Ph.D. & Darlene Swanson, M.Div.