Marienkirche (Ephesus)

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View from the atrium to the entrance of the Marienkirche

The Marienkirche is an early Christian church building from the 5th century in Ephesus in the west of today's Turkey, which is now only in ruins . It was the meeting place of the Council of Ephesus in 431.

Origin of the Christian community

Only 20 years after the work of Jesus was his teaching by Apollo to Ephesus on the Asia Minor west coast passes ( Acts 18.24 to 28  EU ). The church of Ephesus was thus one of the oldest Christian churches at all. The apostle Paul was able to build on the preaching of Apollos , who had already made a short stop there on the way back from his second missionary journey (approx. 52 AD) ( Acts 18.19  EU ). About a year later he arrived again in Ephesus ( Acts 19  EU) and probably stayed for three years, some of which he had to spend in prison. During this imprisonment he wrote the letters to the Philippians and to Philemon . Other of his letters may also have been written in Ephesus (such as the letter to the Romans , the first and second letters to the Corinthians, and the letter to the Galatians ). An important letter was addressed to the Ephesians themselves.

Previous construction

At the site of the later St. Mary's Church there was a spacious temple complex. This was dedicated to Zeus Olympios ("Olympieion") and the deified Emperor Hadrian ("Hadrianeum"). The temple stood in a rectangular square surrounded by a portico of considerable dimensions. So far only the southern, presumably particularly monumental, entrance wing of this columned hall has been excavated; it was 263 meters long and 30 meters wide. The open to the outside, the inside by rows of columns in three ships in basilica form divided room had small rooms with semicircular exedrae at its ends, in which possibly were statues.

In addition to the consecration, the size of the building, its floor plan and individual architectural elements suggest that the complex can be dated to the time of Hadrian in the 2nd century.

Construction phases

Plan Marienkirche Ephesos.jpg

This particularly representative designed hall was suitable for conversion into a church in late antiquity. With its enormous length, however, it was too big for a church, so that it was limited to the western part.

The Council of Ephesus met in this church in 431 . It is unclear whether the reconstruction of the columned hall was carried out specifically for this council and the new building was only used as a bishop's church afterwards , or whether the reconstruction was carried out before 431 and the council used an existing church as a conference venue.

The church was the first to be consecrated to Mary .

Baptistery

The church was expanded several times or rebuilt after earthquakes. First a narthex , an atrium and a baptistery were built in the west. As usual, this baptistery was octagonal in shape and covered with marble . Parts of the wall cladding have been preserved to this day. In the middle is the baptismal font set into the floor, which has an east-west orientation.

After the church was destroyed (around 550), the western part was converted into a domed basilica. When this also fell apart, the eastern part of the old basilica was used as a church interior, with the pillars being replaced by brick pillars . In the 7th century at the latest, the episcopal see was moved from Ephesus to the St. John's basilica. As a burial church, the Marienkirche existed well into the Middle Ages.

The ruins of the church were discovered and uncovered during excavations by the Austrian Archaeological Institute in the 1920s and have been archaeologically examined again since 1986. It is believed that the ruins on the east side of the road are remnants of the episcopal palace.

gallery

  • View into the apse of the columned basilica

  • Outer wall of the apse

literature

  • The Marienkirche in Ephesos (= research in Ephesos. Vol. 4, 1). Austrian Archaeological Institute, Vienna 1932.
  • Stefan Karwiese: First preliminary general report on the resumption of the archaeological investigation of the Marienkirche in Ephesus (= memoranda. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class. Vol. 200). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-7001-1545-8 .
  • Stefan Karwiese: The Church of Mary in Ephesus . Research report (online publication, April 2008)
  • Eugenio Russo: Sulla cronologia del S. Giovanni e di altri monumenti paleocristiani di Efeso (= memoranda. Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-historical class. Vol. 400). Publishing house of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-7001-6558-3 , pp. 57–98.
  • Angelica Degasperi: The Marienkirche in Ephesus. The architectural sculpture from early Christian and Byzantine times (= supplementary books to the annual books of the Austrian Archaeological Institute. 14). Vienna 2013, ISBN 978-3-900305-66-6 .

Web links

Commons : Church of St. Mary of Ephesus  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. Introduction to Philemon's Letter. In: German Bishops' Conference (ed.): The Bible. Freiburg-Basel-Vienna 1980, p. 1350.
  2. ↑ Stefan Meißner: Paulus in Ephesus. In: christen-und-juden.de. Retrieved June 22, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Christopher P. Jones : The Olympieion and the Hadrianeion at Ephesos. In: Journal of Hellenic Studies . 113, 1993, pp. 149-152.
  4. ^ Georgia Aristodimou: Ephesus (Antiquity), Olympieion. In: asiaminor.ehw.gr. April 28, 2005, accessed June 22, 2021 .
  5. ↑ Friedemund Hueber: Ephesus. Built history (= ancient world / special issue; Zabern's illustrated books on archeology). Zabern, Mainz 1997, ISBN 3-8053-1814-6 , p. 53.
  6. ^ Stefan Karwiese : Ephesos 96: The campaign in 1996. In: Journal for classical archeology. 4 / VIII, 1997, accessed on June 22, 2021 (reproduced on univie.ac.at).
  7. ↑ If the church was only consecrated on the occasion of the council at which Marian theology was negotiated, the name is probably to be sought in this context. On the other hand, there is a local Marian tradition, which is partly related to the burial place of John, partly to visionary visions from the 19th century. For discussion: Mother Mary's house
  8. ^ Society of Friends of Ephesus: Excavation: Plan. In: ephesos.at. Archived from the original on July 8, 2019 ; accessed on June 22, 2021 .

Coordinates: 37 ° 56 ′ 42 "  N , 27 ° 20 ′ 21.7"  E