Journey to the Seven Churches

Tour 3, two days: Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea

Day 1

Sardis

It sas once the capital of ancient Lydia, established 1200 –1100 BC, also among others under Roman rule. It gloriedin superb marble constructions, gold, silver, sulfur, wool, gem carving 600BC to 300BC. Sardis was destroyed by the mighty earthquake in 17 AD. Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Caesar, died here in this earthquake.

Sardis has one of the most picturesque surrounding of the seven churches. There is a mountain of rich brown sandstone, upon which the ruins of the former acropolis can be seen; wind and weather carved sharp edges on the mount give it a distinctive sharp silhouette.

At the base a short distance away are the remains of ancient buildings,recently excavated, a number of shops, bath, a latrine, a Jewish synagogue well preserved,the last several meters of the Royal Road, leading from Susha to Sardis, etc, and the most imposing huge gymnasium, whose facade has recently been restored with great care. Beautiful carvings in the giant columns and arched structure can be admired, a place which once has been a great learning centre.

On the opposite site, 1-2km to the west lie the ruins of the vast Artemis temple, built by order of Alexander the Great in 334BC. Before that, King Croesus had a temple erected near the same place dedicated to Cybele, the fertility cult goddess, but was destroyed by an Athenian army against their Persian rulers at that time 498 BC. However, the spirit of Cybele lived on in the people, and Artemis became the goddess with the same attributes as Cybele, later in Roman times known as Diana.

At the back of the temple are the remains of a small Byzantine church. Sardis had a strong citadel on the mountain, and King Croesus (the richest man at that time) lived there. He improved the currency of that time by minting pure gold and silver coins, which helped the trading business, financing literature and art. King Cyrus of Persia, by a wise and simple method conquered the kingdom of the Lydians, and Sardis fell in 546 BC.

Cyrus built the Royal Road from there to Persia, connecting with the capital of Persia, Susha. Hellenistic era, 334- 133 BC. Alexander conquered Sardis in 334 BC and all of Minor Asia. The Roman period was from 133-1315 AD, with a peaceful, easy life. Caesar Augustus was here deified, a temple was dedicated to him which was condemned by Christ in the letter to the church of Sardis.

The Jews lived here with good businesses; the synagogue (320 –360 AD) was then in the centre of the city. With Diocletian began a new era; Sardis was the capital of his new province of Lydia, and Constantine made it a Christian metropolis, mixed with pagan practises. Riches and prosperity had an effect on the church; they died spiritually, had a name but were dead so Christ rebukes them, and He tells them to strengthen what remains. But there were some who kept the faith, a minority not ?known from there. But in the historical period applied to the 7 churches (1560 – 1833 AD) Sardis had men, who, after the effect of the Reformation had almost died out, preached the crucified Saviour, and did not spot their garments with the world and apostasy, including Whitefield and the Wesley Brethren who then formed the Methodist Church.

Philadelphia

After visiting Sardis we came down to Philadelphia (today Alasehir), where we had lunch right on the precinct of the former Basilica in Byzantine style dedicated to the apostle John. There are only the large corners of the brick construction left today, hard to photograph, because they are so huge and far apart. One can not get the whole site on the film at once. The area suffered many earthquakes and thus this church has been affected too in 17AD and 23 AD.

Philadelphia was founded in the reign of Attalus II of Pergamon, (159-38 BC), 45 km south of Sardis. It is the least distinguished of the cities of the Seven Churches. Few ruins are left of the old Philadelphia now.

It was once under another name, Calletebus, on the Persian Royal Road, and controlled the most important valleys of Asia Minor, the River Hermus, and the Meander River. The religion before Christianity was not centred around emperor worship of the Romans, but more on local gods and the gods of Olympus, Zeus, etc. It was the centre of grape cultivation and thus Dionysus naturally was the main god of the people. Grapes are still grown today along with liquorice in large productions.

Philadelphia was from the beginning when the Gospel came to them, a missionary city. It witnessed to the Hellenistic culture (Greek was spoken there) in all the surrounding areas. The Christians there loved Jesus supremely and desired to tell others about Him with a burning heart of love. Thus Christ has only good things to say about them and promised them a great reward. No suffering was too hard or effort too great to bring the message of salvation. The Advent movement 1833 –1844 is the perfect reproduction of what the Philadelphia church has been, with their love for the brethren, the suffering of ?want and the scorn from the world, yet had regarded it as nothing in comparison with the treasure of the love of Jesus Christ their King, dwelling in their hearts.

Laodicea and Pamukkale

After several hours we come to Laodicea, almost straight south of old Philadelphia, situated on a hillside between two valleys, one with olives the other with almond plantations, and mountains in the distance.

It is already five PM, but we still had the privilege to enter the ancient site, which had been excavated only four years ago. The theatre, stadium, an Odeon, have been unearthed some decades ago. The street of Laodicea is of marble, but there is not much to see of the once rich city with marble buildings, temples, theatres, etc. except broken marble everywhere. The majority is still under the earth, waiting to be excavated. Its origins go back to 250 BC with the Hellenistic rule. Cicero lived here in early 50 BC, bringing justice to some unpleasant distress caused by Appius Claudius. He also stopped the demand of his friends to send wild animals to Rome for their games there.

Laodicea was at the cross-roads between Sardis and Perga north to south, and the east- west traffic from the Euphrates to Ephesus. It soon developed into a busy, rich city, and so self-sufficient, it refused outside help after the devastating earthquake in 60AD. Jews lived here well before the Christian era, and were probably much engaged in the money transactions the city was famous for. The woollen blankets of black goat hair produced there was of very good quality and sought out. In 1860 the entire region was destroyed by an earthquake.

Beside this a certain eye-balm made there added to the fame of Laodicea. There was an eye-disease going around in those days, called Trahoma, which if not treated, caused blindness. The apothecaries mixed water containing calcium- bicarbonate and olive oil together, put a white stone in the solution, a Phrygian marble, and let it dissolve to a paste-like compound in about 15 days. It was also used as powder then put onto the affected eyes for three days. Tablets of it were exported also for other uses.

The water supply came from the mountain of Hierapolis, across Laodicea, where hot springs from deep in the earth containing volcanic rocks emerged, flowing down the hills turning the area it covered white with the rich calcium deposit, forming pools on several levels. The water was partly contained in open channels, thus cooled down when it had reached Laodicea. It is interesting how natural occurrences fitted the spiritual conditions of the church there, so that Jesus saw it necessary to use them to open the eyes of a seemingly blind, self-sufficient church. The same rebuke is for the church today, and the visit to those places of the early churches will hopefully not be forgotten by any one, but serve as an eye-opening experience.

The apostle Paul had been here and maybe preached in the theatre and market place, where most of the people gathered. The first letter to Timothy had been written from Laodicea. There was a church in Paul´s days in Laodicea in a house of one called Nymphas, as he sent regards to them in the epistle to the Colossians.

It is now evening and the bus takes us to our booked hotel in Pamukkale, a new, very nice complex, where we shall spend the night. There are pools with the water from the thermal spring, and some make use of it right away. We have dinner in a very large elegant dining room, with a grand selection at the buffet prepared for us. There is a room at the lower level for our worship, and tired from a big day, it was wonderful to sleep between crisp white sheets in a very quiet, peaceful environment.

Day 2

Hierapolis and Aphrodisias

After worship in the morning we headed for the thermal spring area and ancient Hierapolis, called Pamukkale today.

The since ancient times the road leads through a most interesting, 2500 year old cemetery, with open (empty) sepulchres, graves, sarcophaguses everywhere in a 6.5 sq/km area. We have no time for a closer look except for a short picture-taking break. We came to the world famous pools of warm water from the thermal spring; people must take off their shoes if they want to step into them. There is an established spa where people can sit in the pool with the hot water coming from the mountain, restaurants, shops.

Behind it is the ancient city of Hierapolis, which is busy with excavating teams. You have to climb the hill to get there and receive a rewarding look down the valley and the very large, well preserved amphitheatre, with many statues and niches at the stage. There are more ruins to see, but time did not permit a longer stay. We are off towards the direction of Aphrodisias, and travelling through the area we see the modern, world recognized University for medicine. The surroundings of Pamukkale are engaged in carpet weaving, handmade of best quality, has a large textile centre exporting clothing articles worldwide, industry of glass,crystal, silk carpet productions, electronics, fibre cables, etc.

The landscape is lush with orchards of oranges, peaches, pomegranates, okra, grapes, and other fruits and vegetables. The mountain ranges in the distance differ from totally bare to wooded slopes.

The road is the same except for the paving, which Paul travelled with his companions toward Colossae; it was the only one through the land here then. When he wrote a letter to the Colossians, he mentioned Epaphras, (he was from that area and was accompanying Paul), who was very concerned for their welfare and faith of those in Laodicea and Hierapolis; Paul petitioned them to read this letter to them, too. We do not go to Colossae, it is too far away.

Before noon we arrive at Aphrodisias (150 000 pop. in 20 AD), a recently excavated large ancient city and directly on that road, so that Paul had to pass through it. The area was dedicated to Aphrodisia, the goddess of beauty and love; she had a nice temple built for her. There was a beautiful entrance made, a marble gate through which every pilgrim had to walk who wanted to visit the temple area. This is one of the best parts still intact. There was a long marble columned street with shops, school,drinking fountains, the Hadrian bath with marble walls and other buildings. At one far end is the amphitheatre, well preserved, and at the other end of the huge city is an enormous stadium, the largest in the antique world seating 35 000. It had races, gladiator fights, lions and tigers. Twenty years ago this stadium was still covered with soil and farm fields.

The city was a centre of art schools, producing marble statues and exporting them to other cities. The temple of Aphrodisias, like many other Paganworship places was used as a Christian church in 600 AD. In 1180 AD an earthquake destroyed the whole area.

Our guide told us that historians say Paul and Barnabas visited here, though the Bible does not mention this. But they say that some information concerning the travels of Barnabas have been taken out of the Bible at the 1st Council of Nicaea.

After this we had our lunch in a lovely, rustic restaurant in the country and were served a very good, healthy meal.

Then it was time to head back for our hotel, taking hours to get there; it is long after sunset that we finally arrive. We are tired, but grateful for a most interesting journey.

End of Part 3. To be continued.

Edda Tedford, Canada