ヨーロッパの教会から

The ancient city, Istanbul which is located in the boundary in Asia and Europe name and reality together. Going up the slope road of stone pavement from the terminal of Orient Express, where the tram runs, the splendid and magnificent Agio Sophias' appearance comes into view. The four steeples prick the blue sky. The beautiful front garden is a park with playing fountain, that is a heaven of rest for tourists visiting there. When this city once was called Constantinople in times of the Byzantine imperial capital, the cathedral prosperous as the Bishop of the Eastern Church.

After the Roman Empire was divided into the east and the west, Constantinople (present Istanbul) was set as the capital of the Byzantine Empire by the Constantinus great emperor. Since then, Constantinople had prospered more than 1,000 years as the capital in the Byzantine Empire, until Constantinople was conquered by Ottoman Turkey. It remains us "Christ's millennium" written in the Revelation.

After that, Constantinople has cultivated a unique culture as the center of the Eastern Church (Orthodox). Even now, the Ecumenical Patriarchate of the Greek Orthodox Church is located in this place. The Ecumenical Patriarchate shows the presence silently in present Islamized Turkey, surrounded by the tight security guard.

It takes about 20minutes by car from the center of Istanbul to the Karie museum. This building which had been a cathedral in the Byzantine Empire era has been opened to the public as the Karie museum,since a lot of frescos with the primary colors were found out by the excavational group.

There is a house in Epheso (now in Kusadashi) where Jesus Christ's mother Mary lived allegedly. It is said that John, one of the twelve disciples, took custody of Mary and lived in this place, after Jesus Christ had been hung on the cross. The location of Mary's house was told to one nun by a illusion of the Lord. After a search based on the telling, the ruin of the house was excavated in accrdance with the illusion of the Lord. Since then Mary's house is respected by the Catholic believer as the place where Virgin Mary spent in her later years, and the line of the pilgrims doesn't break off.