This fall, I went on an exploratory trip in Turkey. I have grown increasingly interested in Paul’s first two missionary journeys, the ones that remained in Turkey. Paul’s launching point was Antioch. I really wanted to go to Antioch where it all began.
I contacted tour groups, I looked at online trips, but could not find many that went to Antioch. It is out of the way. It’s hard to get to and it’s near the Syrian border, which makes some people nervous. Eventually, I got my trip scheduled and we met our guide on our flight from Istanbul to Antioch (now called Antakya or Hatay. Many of the worst pictures we have of the earthquake damage are from this area). I had spent several months preparing for the journey.
I had learned that Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire behind Rome and Alexandria. It was the most diverse city in the Empire and a real melting pot of cultures. Anthony and Cleopatra got married in the city as a grand gesture linking the Mediterranean powers. It was an important Jewish population center. When the children of Israel came out of the exile, many were not allowed to return to Jerusalem. Instead, over 250,000 were relocated to southern Turkey. It is why Saul was from Tarsus and why he was such a strict follower of the Law. His ancestors were some of those displaced people trying to hang on to their values in a multi-cultural area.
I also learned about a number of terrible earthquakes that had transformed the area. Antioch has been ravaged by the shaking of the earth numerous times. In 115 AD it was leveled. The Emperor Trajan and his successor, Hadrian, were in the city for the winter. They were both injured, but recovered. It triggered a tsunami that damaged Caesarea by the Sea in Israel. The Roman historian Cassius Dio recounted, The whole earth was upheaved, and buildings leaped into the air; some were carried aloft only to collapse and be broken in pieces, while others were tossed this way and that as if by the surge of the sea, and overturned, and the wreckage spread out over a great extent even of the open country. As many as 260,000 people died. Trajan helped rebuild the city and they covered the place with mosaics.
The hotel we stayed in is built above the largest mosaic floor in the world which was part of that rebuilding campaign. That floor, however, is undulating because of another earthquake that happened in 526 AD (see the picture). What the earthquake did not destroy, the ensuing fires did. Again there was rebuilding, but in 528 AD it happened again. Then the reduced city settled into a long but slow rebuilding phase. It was much smaller and had reduced access to the ocean due to changes in the harbor caused by the quakes. A nearby earthquake in 1114 did more damage. As Matthew of Edessa wrote at the time, all creation shook and trembled like a churning sea, . . . all creation produced cries and groans as, with great dread, they were expecting their destruction.
There are scant ruins left telling the story of the beginning of the church, but it happened in Antioch. It’s where we got our name, Christians. It’s where the mission movement began. It’s where organized giving for relief efforts began. It’s where our Bible study methods began. It’s where the Gospel first met a multi-culture arena. In so many ways, we are Antioch Christians. And it’s a good reminder that what matters, what remains, what is lasting is the individuals who find Christ and eternity, because nothing else lasts. As it says in Hebrews, At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:26–29, TNIV)