Missionary Journeys Of St. Paul

Missionary Journeys of St. Paul

During one of his missionary journeys St. Paul visited Ephesus in Turkey.
He stays in the city about three years (Acts 19:1-20). In Ephesus Paul discovers twelve believers who were baptized but who did'nt as yet have God's spirit. Paul baptizes them in His name and they receive God's Holy Spirit (Acts 19:1-7).

Seven Churches of Revelation

Seven Churches of Revelation

In looking at the letters to the 7 Churches, we see the Lord speaking directly to the 7 Churches
that existed in the Holy land at the time John lived. We also see the Lord's opinion of those Churches, and what they were doing
at the time: Ephesus, Pergamon, Laodicea, Sardis, Thyatira, Smyrna, Philadelphia churches.

Biblical Sites in Turkey

Biblical sites in Turkey

Turkey is called the Other Holy Land as it has more biblical sites than any other country in the Middle East.
Antioch - the place where the followers of Jesus were first called Christians; Tarsus - where Apostle Paul was born and many others..

 

Biblical Sites in Greece

Monastery of St. John - Patmos
The Monastery of St. John the Divine, also known as the Monastery of St. John the Theologian, is a fortress-like Orthodox monastery on the island of Patmos in Greece. The monastery consists of interconnecting courtyards, chapels, stairways, arcades, galleries and roof terraces. About halfway up the cobbled path that leads here is the Cave of the Apocalypse, the very place where St. John is believed to have received his revelations.

Panagia Ekatontapyliani Church -Paros
The 4th-century Panagia Ekatontapyliani (Our Lady of a Hundred Doors) is the oldest remaining Byzantine church in Greece. According to legend, 99 doors have been found in the church and the 100th will be discovered only after Constantinople is Greek again.

Philippi - Macedonia
Philippi is a city in eastern Macedonia, founded by Philip II in 356 BC. According to the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Philippi is "the most important archaeological site of eastern Macedonia." Because it was visited by St. Paul during his missionary journeys and later the recipient of one of Paul's letters (Philippians), Philippi is an important site for Christians and a main stop on pilgrimage tours of Greece. In 49 or 50 AD, the city was visited by the apostle Paul during his second missionary journey. According to the book of Acts, he was guided there by a vision of "a man of Macedonia" (Acts 16:9). Accompanied by Silas, Timotheus, and Luke, Paul preached in Philippi. The Jewish community there seems to have been small, but Paul and his friends found Jewish women gathered at a river to the west of the city on the Sabbath. There Paul baptized Lydia, a purple dye merchant, who invited the missionaries to stay at her home (Acts 16:14-15). In another account recorded in Acts, Paul drove out an evil spirit from a slave girl who worked as a fortune teller. Her owners became angry and dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace and complained about them before the magistrates. A crowd joined in the condemnation, and the missionaries were stripped and flogged, then thrown into prison. At midnight, however, a great earthquake came and the prison doors flew open. The jailer nearly killed himself over it, but Paul talked him out of it and converted him. The next morning, the magistrates released Paul and Silas and asked them to leave the city. (Acts 16:16-40). Paul visited the city on two other occasions, in 56 and 57 AD. The Epistle to the Philippians dates from around 54-55 and shows the immediate impact of Paul's preaching. The subsequent development of Christianity in Philippi is well-attested, notably by a letter from Polycarp of Smyrna addressed to the community in Philippi around 160, and by funerary inscriptions.
Roussanou Monastery - Meteora
Rousannou Monastery was founded around 1545 by Maximos and Ioasaph of Ioannina. The reason for the monastery's name is not known - it is actually dedicated to St. Barbara - but may reflect the name of a hermit who occupied the rock. It soon declined and became subject to Varlaam Monastery by 1614.

Sanctuary of Apollo - Delphi
Located in central Greece, the Sanctuary of Apollo at Ancient Delphi was the most important sacred site in the Greek world. Revered as early as 1500 BC, the sacred precinct was home to the famous Oracle, in which the god himself counseled his people through the mouth of an intoxicated priestess. As the center of the world and the dwelling place of Apollo, Delphi was thronged with pilgrims from across the ancient world. Generals, kings, and individuals of all ranks came to the Oracle of Delphi to ask Apollo's advice on the best course to take in war, politics, love and family.

Temple of Olympian Zeus - Athens
The Temple of Olympian Zeus, also known as the Olympieion, is an Greco-Roman temple in the center of Athens, southeast of the Acropolis. Begun in the 6th century BC, it was not completed until the reign of the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD. In was at that time the largest temple in Greece.

Temple of Poseidon - Sounio
Sounio has been a sacred site since very ancient times. The "sanctuary of Sounion" is first mentioned in the Odyssey, as the place where Menelaus stopped during his return from Troy to bury his helmsman, Phrontes Onetorides. The Temple of Poseidon that now stands at Sounion was built in 444 BC atop the older temple ruins. The sanctuaries began to decline from the 1st century BC onwards. Pausanias, who sailed along the coast around 150 AD, wrongly believed the prominent temple on the hill was the Temple of Athena. Modern travelers visited Sounion long before excavations started on the site, including Lord Byron in 1810. Systematic excavations began on the site in 1897 and continue today.

Varlaam Monastery - Meteora
Varlaam Monastery (or Barlaam Monastery) in the Meteora is named for the monk who first built a tiny chapel on this rocky promontory in the 14th century. It has an elegant church with 16th-century frescoes by a well-known iconographer and other notable buildings.

.