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.