ANTIOCH
You have your little Judea, your better Syria, but ahhhhhhhh Antioch. You've arrived. This is the Place. Beautiful Antioch. Twenty-one times, the New Testament says 'Antiahhhhhhoch'.
Who was here?
1. Barnabas, Cousin to John Mark, Mark's gospel, with Peter to the end. Barnabas took some of the oldest Scriptures to India.
2. Simeon, who was called Niger, This is the Gospel. This is the first Civil Rights Movement. This man took the Gospel to Alexandria.
3. Lucius of Cyrene, Simeon, probably traveled with Mr Libya. They are taking the Gospel to the Next Continent.
4. Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the Tetrarch You are "Absolutely" in trouble for running around with Christian infidels if you are a pal of Herod. This Herod is Herod Antipas. A lesser known Herod? Oh, noooo. This Herod is put on the throne by the census taking Emperor Augustus. Nephew of Caesar. King since 4 B.C. Married to his sister-in-law Herodias, this Herod is rather Touchy. One is in Danger, traveling with the Christ Disciples
Giving a whole new meaning to - "Men the Roman Empire is upset who are running around Proclaiming Jesus as God."
5. Saul. Believe me, they were not grubbing around in Antioch. Paul was one of the best educated at the Temple by Gamaliel - himself. Paul had the best credentials.
Later...
6. John - This is the first man adopted by the incredible Sacrifice of Jesus. He is now the son of Mary, Mother of God. Plenty of courage. John stayed to the last breath of Jesus Christ.
These tile Mosaics - are they found in Judea - yes, thanks for thinking of this - yes, they are found in Caiaphas - High Priest Home. "Worship no 'Image'".
Antioch tells us - Living was not just hand to mouth. Not desperate times and desperate measures to worship "Something". Telling us just like Paul's superior education. Peter's superior style of living and gracious house. Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch - not just the men who could squeak under the prosecution wire. Not just the outsiders. The Light of Jesus Christ was reaching across Impossible Borders and Boundaries. Not just Susanna, wife to Herod's Steward.
Antioch, northern Syria, near the Turkish border. 300 B.C., Antioch was a very important political and cultural center of the Hellenistic East and one of the great metropolises of the Roman Empire.
Howard Crosby Butler, Princeton professor of Art and Archaeology and the founder of the School of Architecture, led a series of archaeological expeditions to Syria (1899-1900, 1904-5, and 1909). The collective aim was to record the remains of ancient buildings and settlements. The results of those expeditions were published in several volumes that remain standard research tools for the study of late antique architecture in Syria. Some of the buildings are from 200 A.D. He discovered a city blended from 200 A.D. to 500 A.D.
Although Antioch was mentioned in many literary sources, very little was known about the physical city until 1932, when a consortium of institutions led by Princeton University conducted the first of seven seasons of excavations that would eventually uncover a remarkable wealth of finds, expanding our knowledge of the metropolis and its culture. Despite the challenges posed by the fact that much of the ancient city had been buried by up to 10 meters of soil washed down from the slopes of Mount Silpios, which towers above the town at the east, the excavations there
and in the surrounding area we're able to uncover the remains of more than
80 buildings,
including two theaters,
six public baths,
a hippodrome,
and two major churches.
In addition to these public buildings, some of the porticoed streets for which Antioch was famous in antiquity, were unearthed, along with numerous residential structures.
Butler deemed this suburban residence a villa of a well-to-do family from nearby Bostra. The huge residence, measuring ca. 80 x 60 meters in plan, was later transformed into a village. Symmetrically organized around a central courtyard, the entire complex, including the residential wing, was enclosed by a high stone wall. The focus of the residential wing was a large (10 x 10 meters) two-story room, internally divided by a large arch resting on massive engaged piers. Probably introduced for structural reasons, internal transversal arches of this type became ubiquitous features of residential buildings in Syria.
These walls were called
The Iron Tower
Curved Roman era
Aqueduct
4th Century Church
St Pierre
Encompasses the whole mountain
Acts 11:16-27
16 And I remembered the Word of the Lord, how He said,
‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
17 If then God gave the same gift to them as He gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying,
“Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the Word to no one except Jews.
20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus.
21 And the Hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch.
For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
Edward has a saying, "When in trouble, simply say, 'I must go to Antioch.'" Generally he is saying, don't stir up a fuss when a fuss isn't needed. Usually correct.
My great-uncle Carey used to say, "Speaking of Napoleon." Same, same. My father adored Carey, I was a toddler and used to be put on his dog, King of The Yukons to ride the dog through the yard.
Today, we deal with strong weather.
Creating Disasters, Tragedies and Strong Conviction to Overcome.
A repeat of the weather during the formation of the Church in the end of the first century to the second century. Roman armies have miraculous memories of wars won by signs in the sky during horrible weather. It was a turning point in Emperor Constantine's faith life. Seen by 2 Legions. Constantine prayed during murderous weather, and a huge cross with beams shone in the sky. Terrifying the enemy and winning an impossible battle.
The Tiber ran dry. No one remembered that in history. This was a food source for Rome.
People walked a great deal, and Europe began to see people often killed by lightning. Tornadoes were unknown and then known.
Jesus said, In this life you will have trouble.
Acts 11 continues
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
28 And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of
Barnabas and Saul.
The February 6, 2023, 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Turkey, which devastated the city of Antioch (modern-day Antakya), resulted in over 20,000 deaths in Hatay province alone. The total death toll in Turkey exceeded 53,500, with thousands more dying in Syria. The disaster destroyed 90% of buildings in Antakya.
With a magnitude of 7.8, the quake flattened thousands of buildings, including homes, schools, hospitals, and historical landmarks.
In April 2024, a magazine writer arrived in Antakya after dark. Because of the lack of streetlights, signs, and functioning GoogleMaps, the Waxwing Hotel sent out a man on a motor scooter to guide us to the hotel through rubble-lined streets.
The Waxwing Hotel, April 2024
The Waxwing Hotel was the only functioning hotel when we visited Antakya in April 2024 (in October, the writers stayed in the newly opened “Museum Hotel”—more in a future post). The reason the Waxwing survived is that it had been “retrofitted” about three months before the earthquake in February 2023 and thus was not reduced to rubble. Notice that the surrounding buildings had collapsed and much of the debris had been trucked off.
Earthquakes of Antioch
A SIMILAR HISTORY OF REPEAT EARTHQUAKES
TO RIVAL POMPEII
An earthquake in 115 A.D.
In the 2nd century, Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, who came from a relatively humble family in the city,
Married the daughter of the emperor Marcus Aurelius.
A famous general, Pompeianus served as the main inspiration for the fictional Maximus, Russell Crowe’s character in the film Gladiator. Hollywood being Hollywood, though, in the film version, Maximus is not from the Middle East, but from Spain, in western Europe.Pompeianus was offered the imperial throne three times, turning it down on every occasion. In 182, Lucilla, Pompeianus' wife, organised a failed attempt on the life of her brother, Commodus (immortalised by Joaquin Phoenix in Gladiator), who had succeeded his father Marcus Aurelius.
Commodus had his sister executed but Pompeianus, who had not been involved in the plot, was spared.
526 A.D.
When it came to describing the devastation wrought on Antioch by the earthquake of 526, the Byzantine chronicler John Malalas told a tale of fire and brimstone not unlike that of February 2023:
“The surface of the earth boiled and foundations of buildings were struck by thunderbolts thrown up by the earthquakes and were burned to ashes by fire, so that even those who fled were met by flames,” he wrote.
“As a result, Antioch became desolate, for nothing remained apart from some buildings beside the mountain. No holy chapel nor monastery nor any other holy place remained which had not been torn apart. Everything had been utterly destroyed.”
In this terror,” the native of the Levantine city said, “up to 250,000 people perished.”
The buildings that weren’t destroyed by the earthquake were consumed by the fires that burned afterward.“
Few traces of the once great Roman city are visible today aside from the massive fortification walls that snake up the mountains to the east of the modern city, several aqueducts, and the Church of St Peter (St Peter's Cave Church, Cave-Church of St. Peter), said to be a meeting place of an early Christian community.
The majority of the Roman city lies buried beneath deep sediments from the Orontes River, or has been obscured by recent construction.
Between 1932 and 1939, archaeological excavations of Antioch were undertaken under the direction of the "Committee for the Excavation of Antioch and Its Vicinity", which was made up of representatives from:
The Louvre Museum,
The Baltimore Museum of Art,
The Worcester Art Museum,
Princeton University,
Wellesley College,
and later (1936) also
The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and its affiliate
Dumbarton Oaks.
The excavation team failed to find the major buildings they hoped to unearth, including Constantine's Great Octagonal Church or the imperial palace. However, a great accomplishment of the expedition was the discovery of high-quality Roman mosaics from villas and baths in Antioch, Daphne and Seleucia Pieria.
The principal excavations by Princeton University in March 1932 recovered nearly 300 mosaics.
12th Century
Antioch’s reworkings can also be seen during times of invasion.
As reported by Procopius, Justinian’s court historian, we see that the emperor rebuilt the city by adding a new cardo, porticoes, churches and fortifications, as well as a new course of the Orontes River.
In the aftermath of the earthquakes that took place in the 12th century,
sometimes only the religious and defensive buildings such as churches and city walls were rebuilt, while the rest was left in a damaged state, due to a lack of available funds. After the siege of the city in 1268 by the Mamluks, there was not much interest in reviving its glorious past. Instead, the city was rebuilt internally, keeping its urban core contracted, a feature that remained constant for the next five centuries. We see that Antioch kept growing and revived after every injury — earthquakes, fires, sieges and lootings — and never became a Pompeii.
Yet has the layers of a very interesting and beautiful histories.
As one of the leading historians working on Antioch in the past decade said, the city officials and its inhabitants kept the city alive by not turning “a flourishing city into a failed one almost overnight.”
TODAY
Besides the physical city, there is also another Antioch based on texts. The Roman, Christian and Crusader Antiochs can be considered conceptual cities because we have no standing remains to speak for these periods.
Given that the amount of rubble is estimated to be about 1.6 million tons
It will require an enormous effort just to safely clear it as part of a sustainable reconstruction plan.
Natives of the city are concerned that the reconstruction plans should be laid out carefully and only after hearing the opinion of all involved. Many people from Antakya, both natives and those from other cities, all underscored that the reconstruction plan discussions have not been inclusive and have involved only a limited number of stakeholders.
Relief Efforts
To find these overwhelming parts of History
will only reestablish a city overcoming incredible loss
and bringing a History to the world.
A discussion on rebuilding Antakya has begun.
Some have claimed this will expedite the healing process. But what will the healing process look like?
After running an initial damage assessment, the government has acted swiftly to push ahead with a reconstruction plan. Several teams of archaeologists, art historians and restoration architects have examined the state of the historic buildings and evaluated what they would require to be preserved and rebuilt.
This will be followed by meetings with national and international teams of scholars working on different periods of the city as well as specialists on cultural preservation.
The priority will be the public monuments;
privately owned areas will be reconstructed and managed to a lesser extent.
Yet scholars have shared concerns over how the municipalities and local authorities hand out most restoration projects to construction companies, who may not be well-versed in historic preservation. In addition, just like any city in Turkey, Antakya has pro-government and pro-opposition districts. There is considerable concern that this could affect which districts will get the lion’s share of the restoration funding.
How could this not be the same as Notre Dame?
We pray!
Abba, Father,
Very much a work of the Lord.
When the
Events of
Easter
coincide
The Posts are picked
before knowing how
these Scriptures
fit together
We remember
John Wesley said, “The Work of God
continues
His workers go home”
Coinciding
John Wesley never left the Anglican Church
and The Anglican Church
never left
The Roman Catholic Church.
One God,
One Plan
As we think of the Sacrifice
of Jesus Christ
His Love
as He Forgave
We realize
a Thousand Years
are a Day to You.
And Give You Thanks
for
our
Salvation.
God of Light
You are in all things
You are Light of the world
Light of mankind
Light of Heaven
In all Things, You Create
You have given us Jesus Christ
Holy is
the Highest Name
Above
all others
Your Kingdom come
Your Good Will be done
we pray for more
on earth
just as it is in Heaven.
Give us This Day
Our Daily Bread.
Jesus the Living Bread.
Forgive us our Trespasses
as
we forgive those
who Trespass
Against us.
Lead us not into temptation
Deliver us from Evil.
For Thine
is the
Kingdom
and
the Power
and
the Glory.
Amen in Jesus Christ
John 21
Thank you, Jesus our Lord Christ
♔ Lord Jesus Saves †
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