St. John's Church (Ephesus)
The St. John's Church (Greek Ἅγίος Ἰωάννης Θεολόγος Hagios Ioannēs Theologos or Ἅγίος Θεολόγος Hagios Theologos ) in the city of Ephesus in Asia Minor was one of the largest sacred buildings of the Byzantine Empire .
It was an early Christian basilica dedicated to the Apostle John and was donated by Emperor Justinian . Their remains are on the slope of Ayasoluk Hill, near the center of Selçuk , just below the Byzantine- Seljuk fortress . Since the 7th century, the center of Byzantine Ephesus had shifted to the hill, which is around 3.5 km from ancient Ephesus. The name Ayasoluk is a Turkish corruption of the Greek church name Hagios Theologos .
Johann tradition in Ephesus
Since the middle of the 2nd century there is evidence that the apostle John , who is equated with Jesus' favorite disciple ( Joh 21.20 EU ), moves with Mary to Ephesus, where he is said to have written the fourth Gospel. According to modern scientific knowledge, however , the Gospel of John was written much later.
The post-biblical tradition ties in with Acts 12 : 1-2 EU . After the beheading of James , brother of John, reported there, John saw a great danger and left Jerusalem with Mary. They migrated through Syria to Anatolia to Ephesus. However, Epiphanios von Salamis already denied that Maria was accompanying him . At that time Ephesus was an important center of missionary activity ( Gal 2.9 EU ). After Paul was executed (around 62 AD), John is said to have taken over his office.
According to tradition, John was arrested by Emperor Domitian (81–96) during the persecution of Christians . A legend from the life of the apostle is particularly well known: Since the priests of the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus feared that they would lose too many followers to John, the high priest asked him to choose either to sacrifice in the temple or to empty a cup of poison who had previously died two criminals. When John made the sign of the cross over the cup, the poison escaped in the form of a snake. John then spread his cloak over the two dead and brought them back to life. Deeply affected by this, the high priest himself is said to have converted to Christianity. The news of this miracle spread quickly and Domitian was so filled with fear that he released John and banished him to the Greek island of Patmos .
After Domitian's death, John is said to have returned to Ephesus and wrote the Gospel of John .
According to Irenaeus of Lyon, John died of natural causes in the first years of the reign of Emperor Trajan (101 AD). He was, Eusebius of Caesarea , buried in a cemetery on the city, according to. A mausoleum in the form of a cross vault supported by four columns was built over the site of the grave. His feast day is December 27th.
Johanneskirche
After Christianity became the state religion in the later 4th century, a church was built over John's grave. The stones and marble from the destroyed temple were used for the construction. Emperor Justinian (527-565) replaced this church with a three-aisled basilica over the plan of a Latin cross , the central nave of which was vaulted with six domes, which were visible from the outside and covered with lead. Because of this vault, St. John's Church is one of the immediate successors to the Justinian Apostle Church in Constantinople (consecration 550), which was demolished in 1461.
The basilica is 130 m long and 40 m wide and was one of the seven great churches in Asia Minor. Together with the Hagia Sophia, it was one of the largest late antique and early Byzantine churches and was a place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages. Many pilgrims and the sick hoped to be healed by the dust that seeped from the burial chamber.
After the conquest by the Seljuks in 1330, St. John's Church was temporarily used as a mosque. The remains of the minaret at the entrance to the narthex are also from this period. In 1375 the Isabey Mosque was built. So the basilica lost its importance as a mosque. An earthquake in the 14th century damaged the building, and in 1402 Timur's horse troops completely destroyed the church. During the excavations in 1920–1921, the Greek archaeologist Sotiriu removed a skeleton from the grave. Under the direction of Ekrem Akurgal and with the financial support of George B. Quatman, the complex was restored from 1955.
Not far from the church in the center of Selçuk is the Ephesus Museum , where finds from the church are also on display.
Fortress wall
When the Arabs in the 7th / 8th Attacked Ephesus in the 17th century, a defensive wall was built around the church. The wall had 20 towers and three gates. Sarcophagi were built into the wall above the archway .
On one of these sarcophagi, which is now in England, the pursuit of Hector by Achilles was depicted. That is why this gate has been called the Gate of Persecution . The other two gates are to the west and east of the basilica. Marble from the ruins of the city of Ephesus was used to build the towers and walls.
architecture
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The church is in the shape of a Latin cross with atrium and narthex and a semicircular apse and was vaulted with six domes.
Atrium
The atrium is a rectangular forecourt measuring 47 × 34 m. As the terrain slopes steeply here, a mighty substructure was built. It consisted of barrel vaults and retaining walls. The largest of these barrels was lined with waterproof plaster during the Ottoman period and used as a cistern. The square atrium is surrounded on three sides by halls, the columns of which were connected by arches. The outside of the parapet is clad with panels and designed as a promenade.
Narthex
In the east of the atrium there was a narthex , a rectangular vestibule for unbaptized and penitentiaries who were not allowed to enter the actual church space. The narthex was covered with five small domes. From the narthex one entered the main part of the church through eight doors. Three of these doors served as access to the central nave.
Nave and burial chamber
A mausoleum in the form of a cross vault supported by four columns was built over the site of the grave . It had six domes in total. The burial chamber is under the central dome. The ceiling of the burial chamber is higher than the floor and is covered with colorful mosaics. These mosaics were removed individually by the orthodox and replaced with new ones according to the excavation sketches. The entrance to the burial chamber is via a narrow staircase on the side of the apse . The capitals of the columns have an early Byzantine shape. These capitals - like others in the church - bear the monograms of Emperor Justinian I and his wife Theodora .
Chapel and treasury
The chapel was built in the 10th century. In the middle of the apse are frescoes : Christ in the middle, St. John on the right and a saint on the left. A door led from the apse into the treasury. Six small chambers with wall cupboards that were lined with marble open up from the central room. In the wall niches the church utensils made of precious metal and the treasure of the church were kept. The dome of this two-story building has been destroyed.
Baptistery
The act of baptism was performed in the baptistery : it is an octagonal room dedicated to John the Baptist . The dome of the room was decorated with glass mosaics. The person to be baptized climbed up three steps into a round baptismal font set in the floor, coming from the west to receive the baptism. Then he left the basin, again up three steps, to the east. In the “east the sun rises”, from there Christ will appear to his own people when he comes again, and with Christ the baptized person should also rise to a new life.
literature
- Winfried Elliger : Ephesus. History of an ancient cosmopolitan city . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1985, ISBN 3-17-009020-8 , pp. 155-160, 195-204.
- Andreas Thiel: The Johanneskirche in Ephesus . Reichert, Wiesbaden 2005, ISBN 3-89500-354-9 .
Web links
- John's Basilica in Ephesus (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Justin the Martyr: Dialogue with Tryphon ; Cape. 81
- ↑ On the origin of this tradition cf. Jürgen Becker : Johannine Christianity: an overview of its history and theology . Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen 2004, pp. 47–56: Johannes, the seer in exile on the island of Patmos, obviously has his actual residence in Ephesus. Now the seer is identified with the apostle because they have the same name. The result is an "artifact" John with old age residence and grave in Ephesus, and from John 19.26f. is then further combined that Mary stayed with John and therefore also in Ephesus, whereupon a Marian tomb tradition for Ephesus is attested since Irenaeus. "But Mary was never in Ephesus in the historical sense, just as little as the apostle." (Ibid., P. 55)
- ^ A b Irenaeus of Lyons: Adv. Haer. ; III, i, 1
- ↑ Haer. 78, 11, 1b-2, cf. Hans Förster (Ed.): Transitus Mariae. Walter de Gruyter, 2006, p. 164
- ^ Irenaeus of Lyons: Adv. Haer. ; II, xxii, 5
- ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea: Church history III, 31.2-6
Coordinates: 37 ° 57 ′ 9 ″ N , 27 ° 22 ′ 4 ″ E