After lingering many days in Istanbul, it’s time for us to travel to Ephesus. In doing so, we follow in the footsteps of countless pilgrims, for this site south of Istanbul (50 km south of the modern city of Izmir) has been a holy site for millennia. One of the Seven Wonders of the World once stood at Ephesus—the Great Temple of Artemis, a massive marble structure three times larger than the Parthenon. Artemis was the Greek goddess of hunting,... Read more
When the theologian, philosopher, and statesman Theodore Metochites commissioned the interior decoration of the Church of St. Savior in Chora in the early fourteenth century, he described it as “a work of noble love for things good and beautiful.” Thanks to his patronage, nearly every square inch of the building’s interior was covered by mosaics and frescoes, glittering with gold and sparkling with color. After 700 years, the church still radiates that love for goodness and beauty. For Christians, the... Read more
Following up on yesterday’s post on the Whirling Dervishes, I want to tell you about a lovely novel about the famed mystic poet who inspired the sect. In The Forty Rules of Love: A Novel of Rumi Turkish author Elif Shafaka spins two intertwined tales. The first concerns Ella, a woman in Seattle who reads manuscripts for a literary agency. She is sent a book by a mysterious author named Aziz, a book that tells of the poet Rumi and his... Read more
From John L. Stoddard’s travel lecture on Istanbul: An old man [stands] motionless, surrounded by a score or more of younger men, who have saluted him and patiently await a signal from his hand. When it is given, one of the dervishes begins to spin around like a top, resting on the heel of his right foot, while propelling himself with the left. Another quickly follows his example, then another and another, until the entire company is in motion. The... Read more
There are few words in Turkish history that carry more evocative weight than harem. In popular imagination, the word symbolizes the exoticism, intrigue, and sexuality of what used to be known, back in the days before political correctness, as the Orient. So it was fascinating to visit the Sultan’s harem within the Topkapi Palace, which, along with Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, dominates Istanbul’s Seraglio Point. The modest door shown above marks the entrance to the harem—my first indication that... Read more
As if Hagia Sophia isn’t enough splendor for one city, Seraglio Point in Istanbul contains yet another masterpiece of religious architecture: the Sultan Ahmet Mosque, also known as the Blue Mosque. The two buildings are siblings of a sort, for in the early-seventeenth century Sultan Ahmet I wanted to construct a building that would rival Hagia Sophia in beauty. Ever since the two structures have faced each other across a central square, mirror visions of grandeur. The Blue Mosque... Read more
Today, let me take a break from blogging about Turkey to say a few words about the situation in Egypt. I am both fascinated and very worried by the news from Cairo, as are many around the world. Having traveled there just two years ago, I recognize some of the places pictured in the news and am heartsick at the violence as well as completely supportive of the right of the Egyptian people to revolt against a harsh and corrupt... Read more
I wrote yesterday that my memory of Hagia Sophia is suffused with the glow of burnished gold. Looking back, there were two spots where that luminescence seemed brightest. The first is the mosaic pictured above. I have become fascinated by these Byzantine mosaics, which are made of tiny pieces of colored glass, pottery, or stone. They have a rippling, alive quality, one that changes the mosaic’s mood and character as the light shifts across their surface. I can only imagine how they must have appeared... Read more
Imagine that you are an ordinary person in the sixth century, someone who lives in a modest dwelling and who has never been in a building taller than a couple of stories. Then one day you enter a new church constructed by the emperor, a place so resplendent, so opulent, and so huge that you can hardly believe it is real. As you walk through its massive doors, you enter into an interior that glitters with mosaics, icons, holy relics,... Read more
I know I had promised you that we would return to Turkey today, but I can’t resist a follow-up to my essay about Thomas Merton. After it was posted, I received a most interesting link from a reader, Randy De Trinis, who in the late 1950s lived as a monk at Our Lady of Gethsemani in Kentucky. While there he was fortunate to know Thomas Merton, and his recollections of his spiritual journey and his interactions with Merton are moving and fascinating (see... Read more
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