#Bible discovery turkey series

Christian young people visit one of Turkey’s ancient cave churches Nor are they aware that Turkey was home to a sizeable Christian community right up to World War 1, or that many remained as late as the 1950s. Most Turks have no idea of the deep Christian and biblical history of their land. A lost pastīut this rich history also raises the question of what the legacies of these are to Turkish society today. We can travel to Turkey today and see traces of those ancient cities and societies in many historic sites and in place names adopted by more modern cities. Cappadocia was a major Christian centre with monasteries, churches and places of refuge carved in caves and underground in a remarkable landscape. Basil, Gregory of Nyssa and Gregory of Nazianzus were central in developing the Christian understanding of the Trinity that was agreed at the Council of Constantinople in 381 and expressed in the Nicene Creed. Those who know their Church history will be aware of the importance of a group of theologians known as the Cappadocian Fathers. All of these councils were named after and held in four cities that are in modern-day Turkey: Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus and Chalcedon. Ultimately, they also led to the “Great Schism” of 1054 that has separated the Eastern and Western Churches ever since. The first seven Ecumenical Councils and the discussions involved in them, between AD 325 and AD 787, played fundamental roles in shaping the beliefs and practices of both Catholic and Orthodox churches. In fact, after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, the land assumed a central place for the development of Christianity.

#Bible discovery turkey series

SAT-7 TÜRK series One Bike Seven Churches explores the sites of the churches in the Book of Revelation It’s significant that the very first distinct Christian church and the first time the word “Christian” was used was in the ancient city of Antioch, or Antakya in present-day Turkey. The seven churches of Revelation were all located here: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

The Apostle Paul was born in Tarsus and much of his ministry was in lands we call Turkey today. Ephesus, Colossae and Galatia are towns and regions in Turkey. In the New Testament, we first start reading about parts of today’s Turkey in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Letters to the Christian communities emerging there. And ancient civilisations mentioned in the Old Testaments, like the Hittites, lived and disappeared there. Ezekiel’s prophecy against Gog of the land of Magog is directed at this land. Abraham lived in Haran, whose ruins are in Turkey today, and it was there that he received his call from the Lord to leave his native land.

The story of the land of Turkey goes all the way back to the Old Testament, with Mount Ararat, where Noah landed on dry land, remaining as a mysterious reminder of the land’s ancient links.

Most of its visitors and even its citizens, could be forgiven for not realising how central its land has been in the emergence and development of Christianity. Today’s Turkey is the host of some 2000 years of biblical and Church history. Mount Ararat on the border of Turkey and Armenia (Muratart/Shutterstock)Ī Turkish believer spotlights Turkey’s rich biblical history, the challenges faced by its present-day Church, and the fight for the soul of this influential country.