ヨーロッパの教会から

It is written that Paulo preached the Gospel to Greek on Areopagus Hill in Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament. The monument remembering Paulo's traces is put up by the starting point for the ascent of Areopagus Hill. Athens city can be seen far from the top on the hill. The acropolis area was once a political center in Greece in these days. It is said that there was a council on Areopagus Hill. However, only a hill with the hard rock surface remains now. On the side cliff, the Parthenon shows the dignified appearance after the lapse of many years, and it reminds us the prosperity of bygone days.

Corinth was the trace where Paulo was directly engaged in the mission work and Corinth church was also built. Corinth in those days was described in the New Testament as a prosperous and sexually disordered city where shrine prostitutes and adultery overran. The ruins still leave the trace of the eternal history in Corinth. Corinth Canal is flowing nearby. In the distant view, ships come and go comfortably just like slow motion on the emerald green surface of the water.

Epheso was the biggest city in Asian state (the present Turkey) when St.Paulo preached the Gospel. There was a shrine of goddess Artemis in Epheso in those days, whose name resounds throughout the whole Asian state and the Roman empire. The present Epheso (Kusadasi) is a harbor city which faced the Mediterranean Sea and is located in the tip of Turkish peninsula. The ruins of the shrine of goddess Artemis and the huge library remain there. We can travel into Kusadasi by land from Istanbul, but I made land by cruise ship from Greece through Aegean Sea.

Izmir is the 3rd largest city in population of Turkey following Istanbul and Ankara. Present Izmir is a port town facing Aegean Sea and the climate is warm. Izmir has prospered as a important position of tradein the Mediterranean Sea. It is called Smyrna in the era of the New Testament, and there was one of seven churches in the Revelation. Smyrna ruins still remain at a corner in a residential area on a hill, going up a sloping street from the center in Smyrna.The scale of the basement palace buried in the ground is very vast, and reminds us of the ancient prosperity.There appear strong concrete buildings in the background of the ruins consisted of limestone debris in the ancient rows of stores and houses. It produces a wonderful contrast between the present and the past.

Perugama is located in the Turkish peninsula facing Aegean Sea, where there used to be the Pergamon church which is one of 7 churches in Revelation. The climate was very warm like the spring, though I visited there in January. But the wind pushing my skin blew hard, during walking around the ruins. Perugama is famous for the place where the strong wind from the sea always blows, and the name seems to come from such a climate. Therefore, many wind power generators stood close together turning their propellers on the shore.

St.Paulo continued his mission work late in life in a house arrest condition at this jail, until the trial appealed to the emperor. It is said that then he was put in the jail and wrote down the letters of the New Testaments which are the so-called letters in the prison such as the letter to Ephesians. The jail where St.Paulo was imprison is now located at a corner of the Roman ruins called "Foro Romano".