Day 04 - West Central Turkey: Hierapolis, Laodicea

Greetings all,

Well, its tour day four in the history rich country of Turkey. I wish I could say we soared, well floated, through the beautiful sky of the tour Turkish country side in a hot air balloon; but it was not to be. After waking up way too early for any sleep-respecting human, we were grounded due to high winds. Safety first as they say. Maybe next time.

So it was on to Hierapolis in West Central Turkey. Dating back to the 2nd century, the city of 70 thousand is situated near the modern town of Pamukkale, renowned for its hot springs and travertine terraces. Hierapolis, meaning "holy city," was known for its religious significance and was a center of pagan worship before the spread of Christianity.

As we approached the city we were surrounded by monumental sarcophagi that line both sides of the road. Sarcophagus means “flesh eating” and this city has 30 thousand of them from 800 years of burials.  A fun way to start a walk.

We learned that jews, Christians, and a host of pagan peoples lived, died, and worshipped here over the millennia. We marveled over ancient Roman arches, theatres, churches, amphitheaters, huge marble columns, fountains, and gateways. Roman, Byzantine, Doric styles are all here. Despite its pagan roots, Hierapolis became an important center for early Christianity. The Apostle Philip is traditionally believed to have been martyred in Hierapolis, and his tomb became a site of Christian pilgrimage. The Martyrium of St Philip is built on the site where it's believed that St. Philip was martyred.

On the sloped seats of an amphitheater, Jesse gave a moving message focusing on the unsung Christian hero Epaphras. He came to faith in Ephesus and Paul learned about the faith from him. He preached in his hometown of Colossae and was praised by Paul for being a tireless worker for the faith. Jesse challenged us with this: As we serve the Lord, remember that we have an audience of one, that being Jesus.

Next we headed over to the, yet to be excavated, church of Colossae. Here we climbed up to the church site where Mark gave an inspiring and challenging message.

We then headed to Laodicea, one of the Seven Churches mentioned in Revelation. This site dates back to the 3rd century BC and is undergoing a comprehensive restoration. The site of Laodicea is 2 square miles. It has the largest stadium in Turkey, two theaters, four baths, five agoras, five fountains, long colonnaded streets, impressive temples, and a myriad of churches and basilicas. This is barely scratching the surface of the incredible amount of features visible at this site. This city was famous for its healing eye powder and wool production. There were 13 churches found here. A highlight was learning about the fish symbol and the pizza design built into the architecture that told a believer where to find prayer.

In a beautifully restored house church we all gathered and Jesse read from Revelation, the letter to the Laodiceans. This is the famous “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” The Laodicean region is and was well known for its hot and cold springs which have healing properties. Water that is lukewarm was not really good for anything. They knew exactly what God was was trying  to tell them. Jesse challenged us to strive to be spiritually rich, not physically rich; to be “all in” in our faith, to be on fire for it.  We then sang a worship song in that amazing house church and capped off an amazing day.

- Rob Hargraves