The magnificent and spectacularly important early-sixth-century church \u2014 the minarets were added a millennium later \u2014 of Hagia Sophia, or Holy Wisdom, in Istanbul, the great city formerly known as Constantinople \u00a0\u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some notes for The Book:<\/p>\n
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Christianity arrived in what is today known as Turkey very early. \u00a0The apostle Paul was born within the borders of modern Turkey, as was Timothy, his traveling companion and the recipient of some of his canonized epistles. \u00a0Later, Paul made the port city of Ephesus his missionary headquarters for a number of years. \u00a0St. Polycarp of Smyrna (modern Izmir), one of the so-called \u201capostolic fathers,\u201d lived out his long life in Turkey, serving as bishop of the Christians in his city until his tenure was ended by his martyrdom on 23 February AD 155. \u00a0All of the seven ancient ecumenical councils of Christendom were convened in Turkey \u2014 including the vastly important Council of Nicea in AD 325, where St. Athanasius of Alexandria and his opponent Arius clashed over the nature of Christ and his status within the Trinity (and where St. Nicholas of Myra, the prototype of today\u2019s Santa Claus or jolly old St. Nick, played a somewhat less kindly role than modern versions of him might lead one to expect). \u00a0Tradition says that the apostle John brought the Virgin Mary to Ephesus, where she lived out her last days, proselyting for Christianity among the locals. \u00a0Eventually, the powerful and powerfully Christian Byzantine Empire (or Eastern Roman Empire) ruled from the still-fascinating city of Constantinople (known today as Istanbul).<\/span><\/p>\nThe Byzantines ruled from Constantinople with only brief interruptions until the fall of the city to the Ottoman Turks in AD 1453, although their territory was severely reduced by the Arab conquests of the seventh century and then, during the long period of their decline, by continual attrition.<\/span><\/p>\nNeglected and ignored by many Western historians, the Byzantines can still be recognized in the medievalist J. R. R. Tolkien\u2019s creation of Minas Tirith, the heavily-walled capital city of Gondor. \u00a0Both Gondor and the Byzantines were late survivals of earlier, \u201cclassical\u2019 empires (respectively the fictional\u00a0N\u00famenor\u00a0and the very historical Rome), and both served as the principal and sadly unappreciated first lines of defense against hostile forces from \u201cthe East.\u201d \u00a0(In Tolkien, those eastern warriors arrive in ships equipped with lateen sails, much like the sails still used on the feluccas of the Nile, wearing turbans and with \u201cswarthy\u201d complexions.)<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Las Vegas, Nevada<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Some notes for The Book: \u00a0 Christianity arrived in what is today known as Turkey very early. \u00a0The apostle Paul was born within the borders of modern Turkey, as was Timothy, his traveling companion and the recipient of some of his canonized epistles. \u00a0Later, Paul made the port city of Ephesus his missionary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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