THE ASSUMPTION

JOHN AND THE VIRGIN MARY MOVE TO EPHESUS

About one year after the crucifixion of Our Lord, Stephen was stoned though no further persecution of the Apostles took place at that time. The rising settlement of new converts around Jerusalem however was dissolved, the Christians dispersed, and some were murdered. A few years later, a new storm arose against them. Then it was that the Blessed Virgin who until that time had dwelt in the small house near the Crenaculum and in Bethania, allowed herself to be conducted by John to the region of Ephesus, where the Christians had already made settlements. This happened a short time after the imprisonment of Lazarus and his sisters by the Jews and their setting out over the sea. John returned again to Jerusalem where the other Apostles still were. James the Greater was one of the first of the Apostles who, after the division of the different countries had been made, left Jerusalem and started for Spain. On his departure in Bethlehem he concealed himself in the Crib Cave and then with his companions secretly wandering through the country, for there were spies in search of them with orders to prevent their leaving Palestine. But James had friends in Joppa, and he succeeded in embarking. He sailed first to Ephesus in order to visit Mary, and thence to Spain. Shortly before his death, he visited Mary and John a second time in their home at Ephesus.

HOUSE OF MARY IN EPHESUS

The Blessed Virgin's dwelling was not in Ephesus itself, but from three to four hours distant. It stood on a height and between this height and Ephesus was a little river.. From the southeast side you could see the city at the foot of a mountain.

From the top of this elevated plain which was nearer to the sea than Ephesus, you could see both the city itself and the sea with its numerous islands. Not very far from a Christian settlement was a castle of a deposed king who John converted. At a later period, this place became a bishopric. Among the Christians settled here were women, children, and some men.

The people of Ephesus did not trouble themselves about the little colony, and so they lived as if forgotten. The soil was fruitful, and the settlers owned some gardens and orchards. The only animals in this place were wild goats.

Before John brought the Blessed Virgin to this settlement, he had built for her a dwelling of stone very similar to her own at Nazareth. It stood among trees, and was divided into two apartments by the fireplace in the center. The fire was on the earth

opposite the entrance, in a kind of furnace formed by the wall, which rose up on either side like steps to the roof of the house. In it was cut the flue, from which the smoke escaped through a tube that protruded above the flat roof.

The front room of the house was separated from the back by wicker screens placed on either side of the fireplace. Similar screens rested against the walls right and left the whole length of the house, They were used to form little apartments when needed, and could be easily put aside when the room was to be used as one. Mary's maidservant used one of them as a sleeping apartment, and the others were occupied by the holy women of the settlement when they happened to come on a visit of some length.

To the right and left on either side of the fireplace, light doors opened through the wicker partition into the two back rooms whose end walls were rounded and very pleasing to the eye, covered as they were with neatly wrought wood-work. The roof was rounded on the sides, and the beams above it were bound with wainscoting and twisted work, and ornamented with some simple imitation of foliage. In the most remote space of the rounded end, Mary had her oratory, before which hung a curtain.

Here in a niche in the wall was a kind of closet which, like a certain kind of tabernacle, could be made to open and close by revolving. In it was a Crucifix about the length of one's arm. The arms were set into the trunk in an obliquely raised direction like that of Christ. This most simply carved Crucifix was made by the Blessed Virgin and John. It was constructed of three different kinds of wood: the whitish trunk was cypress wood, one arm of a brownish color was cedar, the other, which was yellowish, was made from wood of the palm tree. The top piece that supported the inscription was of polished yellow olive wood. The foot of the Crucifix was set firmly in a stone like Christ's in the rock of Calvary. At its foot lay a strip of parchment on which were inscribed some words of the Saviour. The figure representing the Lord was formed simply of dark-colored lines cut into the cross. On either side of the Crucifix, stood a pot of flowers. Lying near the cross was a little linen that was used by the Blessed Virgin to cleanse the wounds from blood.

Mary kept near her many of the garments of her Divine Son, among them His woven tunic. From that recess to the alcove extended a curtain by which the oratory could be concealed. When at work, Mary used to sit before this curtain and just between the recess and the alcove. In this most silent and solitary little dwelling, from which the abodes of the other settlers were distant about a quarter of an hour, lived the Blessed Virgin alone with her maid, who procured for her the little that she needed for her support. There was no man in the house, and only at times was Mary visited by John or some other traveling Apostle and disciple.

Mary's whole life after her Son's ascension into heaven was stamped by an ever increasing longing to be freed from earth. Whenever John visited her, She retired with John to her oratory, pulled a band, or strap, upon which the tabernacle in the niche revolved and disclosed the Crucifix. After Mary and John prayed long on their knees before the Crucifix, the latter arose and took from a metal box a roll of fine woolen stuff. Opening this, he took out a small piece of white bread, in shape four cornered, that was carefully folded in 'white linen cloths. It was the Most Blessed Sacrament, which with some words he gave to Mary. He presented to her no cup.

FIRST STATIONS OF THE CROSS

In the neighborhood of her dwelling the Blessed Virgin had Herself erected the Stations of the Holy Way of the Cross, at first going alone and measuring off all the special points of the bitter Passion according to the number of steps which, after the death of her Son, she had so often counted. At the end of each definite number, She raised a memorial stone in remembrance of the special suffering there endured by Her Divine Son. With a sharp instrument, a stylus, She recorded what there had taken place and how many steps it was to it. If a tree happened to be standing on that particular spot, She marked it as one of the Stations, of which there were twelve. The way led to a grove, and there was the Holy Sepulcher resurrected by a cave in the side of a hill. After all the Stations were definitively marked. the Blessed Virgin walked the Holy Way with Her maid in silent meditation. When they reached a Station, they sat down; meditated upon the mystery and its signification and prayed.

By degrees, the whole route was improved and more beautifully arranged. John gave orders for regular monuments to be set up and the cave representing the Sepulcher cleared out and made more suitable for prayer. The memorial stones lay in hollows of greater or less depth, which were covered with grass and flowers and surrounded by a hedge. They were of polished white marble. The thickness of the underlying surface could not be seen, on account of the grass.

The Faithful when performing this devotion, carried a cross about a foot in length with a support which they placed in the little hollow on the upper surface of the stone while they were meditating, either kneeling or prostrate on their face. The path that ran in a hollow around the stone was wide enough for two persons to walk side by side. There were twelve such stones. When the devotion was ended, each was covered with a mat. The sides and base of all bore similar inscriptions in Hebrew characters, but the hollow places in which they rested differed, some being- larger, others smaller.

The First Station. or that of the Mount of Olives, was in a little vale. There was a small cave in it, in which several could kneel together. The Mount Calvary Station was the only one not in a hollow. It was on a hill. For that of the Holy Sepulcher, one had to cross another hill on whose opposite side stood the memorial stone in a hollow. Thence one descended to the foot of the hill and into the tomb itself, in which later on Mary's remains rested from Friday to Sunday.

NOT JERUSALEM

When the Blessed Virgin was very advanced in years she had in her appearance no other mark of age then that of a great longing, which at length effectuated her glorification. She was inexpressibly grave. She never laughed. The older she grew, the whiter and more transparent became her face. She was thin, but with no wrinkle, and no sign of decay in her. She was like a spirit.

After Mary had lived three years in the settlement near Ephesus she visited Jerusalem wth John and Peter. Several Apostles were there assembled. It was the first Council, and Mary assisted the Apostles with her advice. On her arrival She visited the Mount of Olives, Mount Calvary, the Holy Sepulcher, and all the Holy Places around Jerusalem.

A year and a half before her death, she made one more journey from Ephesus to Jerusalem, and She again visited the Holy Places. She was unspeakably sorrowful, and Her companions thought her dying. For several days she appeared to be so weak and so near death that her friends began to think of preparing her a tomb. She Herself made choice of a cave on Mount Olivet, and the Apostles had a beautiful tomb built there by a Christian stone cutter. Many were of the opinion that She would die so that reports of Her death spread abroad.

When She recovered sufficient strength, She journeyed back to Ephesus where, a year and a half later, She did indeed die. The tomb prepared for her on Mount Olivet was ever after held in reverence, and at a later period a church was built over it. John Damascene wrote from hearsay that the Blessed Virgin died in Jerusalem and was buried there. Her death, her assumption into heaven, and the site of her tomb, as 1 believe, God has allowed to be subjects of uncertain tradition that the pagan sentiments of the time might not penetrate Christianity, for the Blessed Virgin might otherwise have been adored as a goddess.

OUR LADY CALLS THE APOSTLES

Here on the last days before her death in Ephesus, the Blessed Virgin laid entirely enveloped in a white sleeping-sheet, even her arms were wound up in it. The veil over her head was thrown up in cross-folds, but when conversing with men, she lowered it. Even her hands were uncovered only when she was alone. During those last days, She took no food except the juice of a grape-like fruit with yellow berries, which the maid pressed out for her into a little cup.

As the Blessed Virgin felt Her end approaching, in accordance with the directions of her Divine Son, she called the Apostles to her by prayer. She was now in her sixty-third year (63). At the time of Christ's birth she was in her fifteenth.

At the prayer of the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles received through angels an admonition to repair to Her at Ephesus. The journeys of the Apostles, so distant, so exceedingly remote, were not made without divine assistance. Although they themselves were perhaps unconscious of it at the time, yet they passed through many dangers in a supernatural manner. They walked unnoticed through the midst of a crowd.

When called to Mary, Peter was in the region of Antioch with Andrew. Jude, Thaddeus and Simon were in Persia when they received their summons. Thomas, was the farthest off. He arrived only after Mary's death. Thomas was in India when he received the warning.

John had shortly before been in Jericho, for he often journeyed to Palestine. He usually stayed in Ephesus however and the country around. Bartholome was in Asia east of the Red Sea. Paul was not summoned.

Peter, Andrew, and John were the first to reach the Blessed Virgin's house. She was already near death. She was lying calmly on her couch in her sleeping-place. When the Apostles went all together into Mary's little sleeping-chamber in order to take leave of her, they wore their long white albs and broad mantles. The screens that separated the front from the back of the house had been removed. The disciples and holy women remained standing in the front room.

Mary sat upright as the Apostles knelt in turn at the side of her bed so that She could pray over each of them and blessed them with Her hands laid upon them crosswise. She did the same to the disciples and to the women. One of the latter, who stood quite bent in two before Mary, received an embrace from her. When Peter stepped up to the bed. He had a roll of Scriptures in his hand.

Mary then addressed them in a body, and did all that Jesus had in Bethania directed her to do. She told John what was to be done with Her property and that he should see that her clothes were divided between her own maidservant and a maiden of the neighborhood who came sometimes to render her service. As she spoke, she pointed to the items.

Peter here celebrated the Holy Mass. During this Holy Mass, Philip arrived from Egypt. Weeping bitterly he received the benediction of the Blessed Virgin, and after the others the Blessed Sacrament. Peter bore the Blessed Sacrament to Mary in the cross hanging on his breast, and John carried on a shallow dish the chalice containing the Most Sacred Blood. This chalice was white, small as if for pouring, and of the same shape as that used at the Last Supper. Its stem was so short that it could be held with two fingers only.

Thaddeus brought forward a little incense basin. Peter gave the Blessed Virgin the last anointing, just as it administered at the present day. Next he gave Her Holy Communion, which She received sitting up without support. She sank back again on her pillow and, after the Apostles had offered a short prayer, She received the chalice from John, but not now in so upright a posture. After Communion, Mary spoke no more.

Her countenance bloomed and smiled as in youth. A pathway of light arose from Mary up to the throne of the Most Holy Trinity. On either side of this pathway, clouds of light, out of which gazed angelic faces. Mary raised Her arms to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Her body with all its wrappings was floating so high above the bed that you could see under it. A figure of light, also with up raised arms, appeared to issue from Mary.

The two choirs of Angels united under this figure and soared up with it, as if separating it from the body, which now sank back upon the bed, the hands crossed upon the breast. Many holy souls, among whom was Joseph, Anne, Joachim, John the Baptist, Zachary, and Elizabeth, came to meet Her. Up she soared, followed by them, to her Son, whose Wounds were flashing light far more brilliant than that which surrounded Him. He received Her and placed in Her hand a scepter, pointing at the same time over the whole circumference of the earth. At last a multitude of souls were released from purgatory and soared up to heaven. Every year, on the feast of Mary's assumption, many of Her devout clients are freed from purgatory.

The hour of Mary's death was the same as Jesus on the cross. Peter and John saw the glory of Mary's blessed soul, but the other Apostles were kneeling bowed to the ground. The body of the Blessed Virgin lay radiant with light upon the bed, the eyes closed; the hands crossed upon the breast. All present knelt adoring God.

At last the women covered the blessed remains with a sheet. Then they veiled themselves and prayed together in a space in the front of the house. The Apostles too enveloped their head with the scarf they wore about their shoulders, and ranged in order for prayer. They took turns, two at a time, to kneel and pray at the head and feet of the blessed remains, exchanging places with one another four times in the day, and likewise making the Way of the Cross.

Andrew and Matthias prepared the place of burial, which was the little grotto that Mary and John had arranged at the end of the Way of the Cross, to represent the Holy Sepulcher of Christ. It was not as large as Jesus' tomb, being scarcely as high as a man, and was surrounded by a little garden hedged in by stakes. A pathway ran obliquely down into it, and the stone couch, which was like a narrow alter, was hollowed on top to the shape of a body enveloped in its winding-sheet, the head being a trifle higher than the foot. The Station of Mount Calvary (the Crucifixion) was on a hill near by. No cross was erected on it, but there was one cut out on the stone. Andrew was especially active in preparing the grotto, and setting up a door firmly in front of the tomb proper.

The blessed body was prepared by the women for burial. Among them Veronica and Mark's mother. The body of the Blessed Virgin was lifted in the linen of the deathbed and laid in a long basket, which had a lid and which was filled with covers, so that when lying on them, it rose above the edge. The body was of a dry, indescribable whiteness as if shining with light, and of so little weight that, like a mere husk, it could be raised quite easily

They placed on the head a wreath of flowers, white, red, and sky-blue, as a symbol of Mary's virginity, and over the face a transparent veil, through which it could be seen encircled by the wreath. The feet also, which were bound up in aromatic herbs, could be traced through the linens that enveloped them.

The arms and hands were wound crosswise on the breast. Thus prepared, the holy body was laid in a coffin of snow-white wood with a tightly fitting, arched cover, which was fastened down at the head, the foot, and in the middle, with gray straps.

When it was time to bear the coffin to the grotto, one half-hour distant, Peter and John raised it from the litter and carried it in their hands to the door of the house, outside of which it was again laid on the litter which Peter and John then raised upon their shoulders. Six of the Apostles thus carried it in turn. The coffin hung between the bearers as in a cradle, for the poles of the litter were run through leathern straps or matting. Some of the Apostles walked before the coffin praying, and after it came the women. Lamps, or lanterns on poles were carried.

Before reaching the grotto, the litter was set down. Four of the Apostles bore the coffin in, and placed it in the hollow of the tomb. All went, one by one, into the grotto where they knelt in prayer before the holy body, honoring it and taking leave of it. Then the tomb was shut in by a wicker screen that extended from the front edge of the tomb to the top of the vaulted wall above. Before the entrance of the grotto, they made a trench which they planted so thickly with blooming flowers and bushes covered with berries that one could gain access to it only from the side, and that only by squeezing his way through the under-wood.

On the night following the burial, took place the bodily assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven. On this night several of the Apostles and holy women were in the little garden praying and singing Psalms before the grotto. A broad pathway of light descended from heaven and rested upon the tomb. In it were circles of glory full of angels, in the midst of whom the resplendent soul of the Blessed Virgin came floating down. Before Her went her Divine Son, the marks of His Wounds flashing with light.

In the innermost circle. that which surrounded the holy soul of Mary, the angels appeared like the faces of very young children; in the second circle, they were like those of children from six to eight years old; and in the outermost, like the faces of youths but only the faces, the rest of the figure consisting of perfectly transparent light. Encircling the head of the Blessed Virgin like a crown, was a choir of blessed spirits. Some of the Apostles and women gazed up in amazement and adoration, while others cast themselves prostrate in fright upon the earth. These apparitions, become more and more distinct as they approached nearer, floated over the grotto, and another pathway of light issued from it and arose to the heavenly Jerusalem.

The blessed soul of Mary, floating before Jesus, penetrated through the rock and into the tomb, out of which She again arose radiant with light in Her glorified body and escorted by the entire multitude of celestial spirits, returned in triumph to the heavenly Jerusalem.

Next day when the Apostles were engaged in choir service, Thomas made his appearance with two companions. Thomas was greatly grieved when he heard that the Blessed Virgin was already buried. The Apostles gathered around him, raised him up, embraced him, and set before him and his companions bread, honey, and some beverage. After they accompanied him with lights to the tomb. They stood the lid of the coffin on one side and, to their intense astonishment, beheld only the empty winding-sheets lying like a husk, or shell, and in perfect order. Only over the face was it drawn apart, and over the breast slightly opened. The swathing-bands of the arms and hands lay separate, as if gently drawn off, but in perfect order. The Apostles gazed in amazement, their hands raised. John cried out: "She is no longer here." The others came in quickly, wept, prayed, looking upward with raised arms, and finally cast themselves on the ground.

Then rising they left the winding-sheet just as it was, but took the grave linens, and the coffin to keep as relics. Before the Apostles left Mary's house to journey again into distant parts, they rendered the grotto of the tomb wholly inaccessible by raising an embankment of earth before the entrance.

DISCOVERY OF MARY'S HOUSE IN EPHESUS

IN 1891 two Lazarist priests at Smyrna, Fathers Poulin and Yung, determined to check the authenticity of Sister Emmerick's description of Mary's house at Ephesus.

After five days' search in the mountains south of the ancient city they were led by some natives of the region on July 29th to a small ruined building near the summit of an isolated peak. The site and the plan of the house corresponded accurately to Sister Emmerick's description (See Vol. IV, pp. 451-455). The explorers learned that the place had been locally venerated since time immemorial by villagers descended from the early Christians of Ephesus, who called it Panaya Kapulu, "The House of the Holy Virgin", and who made annual pilgrimages there on the Feast of the Assumption.

The tradition that Our Lady lived and died at Ephesus has had many learned supporters in the Church and was well established before the discovery of Panaya KapuIu. Our Lord from the Cross gave His Mother into the charge of St. John "and from that hour the disciple took her unto his own" (John 19:27). The unanimous testimony of Tertullian, St. Polycarp, St. Ireneus, Origen, Eusebius and St. Jerome, as well as numerous inferences drawn from the Acts of the Apostles, affirms that St. John went soon after the Ascension to Ephesus, at a time when Mary must have been still living.

Ephesus became, in fact, the great Marian city of the primitive Church, the site of the earliest known basilica built in honor of the Mother of God. The building was erected at a period (probably 3rd Century) when churches were not allowed to be dedicated to Saints except in places made sacred by their lives or deaths. In this same church the Council of Ephesus (431) defined the first Marian dogma, that of the Theotokos or Divine Maternity. A letter written by the Fathers of the Council links the names of Mary and St. John together in a way indicating that both had lived in that city.

During centuries of scholarship the, "tradition of Ephesus" has steadily grown. The learned Pope Benedict XIV (Pont. 1749-1758) after studying the accumulated evidence accepted it and wrote on the Holy Mysteries that "St. John, departing for Ephesus, took Mary with him and it was there that the Blessed Mother took her flight to heaven".

On April 18, 1896, Pope Leo XIII in a special Brief discontinued Our Lady's House at Ephesus in perpetuum the indulgences formerly attached to the so-called Tomb of the Virgin in Jerusalem and blessed the first pilgrimage to Panaya Kapulu. Pope Pius X , now St. Pius X, blessed the pilgrimage of 1914 and promised to the new shrine the indulgences regularly attached to Holy Places. Recent pilgrimages have been blessed by our own Pius XII, the "Pope of the Assumption" and have steadily increased in numbers. The pilgrims include Catholics, Greek Orthodox and, significantly enough, many Moslems who also venerate Mary to whom an entire chapter in the Karan is dedicated.

During the 63 years since the discovery many archaeological investigations as well as several new discoveries in the neighborhood have confirmed the authenticity of Panaya Kapulu. The foundations of the original house (shown in black on the plan) date back to the 1st Century. In the 7th Century the building appears to have been enlarged and converted into a chapel in which Mary's Oratory became the main altar.

At that time the Entry was added and the fireplace wall removed. In 1898 the original hearthstones were discovered under the existing floor, still containing some ashes, petrified with age. The closet or storeroom to the left of the Oratory had been removed due to the action of an underground spring but its doorway still stands in place. Not far from the house the Christian cave-settlement and the ruins of the palace described by Sister Emmerick have also been found.

In 1951 the Turkish government built an auto road up to the Holy Hill and the Society of Panaya, founded by the Archbishop of Smyrna, Msgr. Josef Descuffi, C.M., completely restored the ruins in accordance with the description in Sister Emmerick's visions.

In 1954 the Little Brothers of Jesus accepted the post of serving at Panaya Kapulu, now known as the Shrine of Our Lady of the Assumption.

EPHESUS

At the time of Mary's move to Ephesus, it was the most pure democracy the world has ever known, because it was a direct democracy. This epoch was the most prosperous in the 3000 years of the history of Ephesus. New temples were built. A large university for all Sciences and Arts was given to the City, in addition to a wonderful library and many lecture halls and the most beautiful baths, called gymnasia. They not only were used for all athletic purposes, but served also as centers of the public, social, business and intellectual life of the City, with worship facilities, too.

Several theatres were built. The "Great Theatre" seated 24,500 spectators. On the mountain sides and green hills large private villas and palaces for wealthy inhabitants surrounded the town. Some of them had their private temples and later chapels. The harbor and the great Gulf of Ephesus were always full of ships coming from the entire world, and the City became cosmopolitan in the widest sense of the word, the financial center of the Roman Empire. Thus, the town was ready to serve Christianity and from there to all nations.

At that time, on the eve of its Christianization, Ephesus might have had at least five to six hundred thousand inhabitants. It had a long period of prosperity and peace, the so called Pax Romana, the Roman Peace, embracing the period of the rule of the Emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and Antonius Pius. But the pre-Christian Ephesus was also one of the greatest and most important centers of Hellenic cultural life, especially in connection with its hinterland i,e., the other cities around Ephesus. Indeed, a very long line of ancient famous men was thus given to Hellenic civilization.

We are sure that at least five of the Apostles lived and preached in Asia Minor giving to that country not only all of their heavenly inspired devotion, but also their whole divinely transmitted knowledge of the Gospel and the living God. "And I have made known to them Thy name" (John 17:26). St. Peter himself came to Antioch (the today's Turkish Antakya), to the south of Ephesus, where for the first time the flock of our Lord called themselves "Christians" It was the first Apostolic Church outside the Holy Land. St. Peter founded it. (Acts 11:26).

Fully in charge of the whole Universal Church in those troublesome times for him and all Christians, St. Peter dedicated his only two Epistles he ever had written, to the Christians of various churches and provinces of Asia Minor. In Antioch was also the first ministry of St. Paul, before he went for two years to Ephesus to assist St. John in forming a large Christian community there. As we know from the Acts of the Apostles and his Epistles, St. Paul visited and preached almost in all important centers of the southern and maritime parts of Asia Minor. He is also a native of Asia Minor, having been born in Tarsus in Cilicia. In Lystra, he had been stoned, but it was then still too early for him to lay down his life for our Lord. Divine Providence reserved for St. Paul another mission; i.e., to go to the West, and the Holy Spirit did not permit him to preach in Asia Minor again. This might have been a sign that our Lord reserved that mission, henceforth, exclusively to His beloved disciple, St. John, Apostle and Evangelist.

When the Christians were driven from Jerusalem, St. John came to Ephesus together with the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene. A large group of Christian people came with them. St. John settled in Ephesus. He did not move from there, except when he was forced to go in exile on the nearby island of Patmios.

The Divine Providence might have wanted the Revelation of Jesus Christ to be written in that particular environment at Patmos. St. Philip settled down in Hierapolis (the today's Turkish town Pamuk Kale) some 90 miles from Ephesus. He lived and preached there until his martyrdom. The remains of his cathedral are still there, containing the tomb the Apostle. With St. Philip came St. Bartholomew. He preached in Hierapolis lively before going to settle down in Armenia.

After having been expelled from Jerusalem, at least five Apostles of Our Lord, and numerous direct disciples of Jesus were in Asia Minor and Ephesus. Among the four Evangelists, three were there. Besides St. John, we have St. Luke accompanying St. Paul, and St. Mark accompanying St. Peter. St. Luke was born in Antioch and lived there until he joined St. Paul. Some modem writers suggest that St. Luke wrote his Gospel in Ephesus. If this is true, we would have two Gospels written in Ephesus: St. John and St. Luke.

These Apostles, Evangelists and disciples came there and gave to that prosperous and highly civilized country, inhabited by Gentiles with large Jewish colonies, their special stamp and mission. They prepared it for a particular task in the Christianization of the rest of the world of that time.

Thus, Ephesus and Asia Minor became the very place where the Apostles and the first Christians, after having left the Holy Land, reorganized their forces and prepared themselves for their apostolate to the West.

Later after several appellations, and since the glory of St. John as the servant of God became more renowned, the town changed its name of Ephesus to Ayasoluk, which is a popular deteriorated' abbreviation of the Greek expression "Haghios Theologos," meaning the Divine Theologian and it has proudly borne this name for some fourteen centuries in memory of the beloved Disciple of Jesus. The name of Ayasoluk was kept until the end of World War I. The Turkish Government then changed the name to Selcuk honoring the first Moslem conquerors who incorporated Ephesus into the Moslem world at the end of the 14th Century.

John lived in Ephesus permanently until his death, the only time he was not there was during his exile on the nearby Island of Patmos, where he received the last revelation of Jesus Christ and wrote the Apocalypse.

According to tradition, the Fourth Gospel by St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, beloved Disciple of Our Lord and adopted son of the Mother of God, was written in Ephesus, on the hill near the spot where he was buried. It is the most beautiful site of the whole area dominating the entire valley of Ephesus. The Apostle wrote it at the age of over 90 years.

St. Jerome tells us that St. John had been brought to Rome during the reign of Emperor Domitian. There he was immersed in a cauldron of boiling oil, but his life was miraculously preserved during this torture. A special liturgical feast, accepted by Roman Rite for May 6th, celebrates this martyrdom of St. John, who, as we know, later died a natural death at Ephesus.

FIRST EIGHT ECUMENICAL COUNCILS

The "Second Province of God" could do so because at the end of the life of St. John, Asia Minor had already become Christian. In addition to our own Christian sources, there was a great pagan, Roman writer, Pliny the Younger, a wise and serious statesman, orator and writer. At that time, he was Proconsul of the Province of Bithynia ( It was north of Ephesus at the Black Sea). Pliny wrote some years after the death of St. John a special important and confidential report to the Emperor Trajan, himself. After a careful and long inquiry Pliny found that the Christian faith and also manner of life became the dominating forces in the Province, bringing fundamental changes into the social and economic life of Asia. And Pliny for himself found nothing wrong in it. However, in such an important matter, he wanted to have nothing less than imperial instructions for his future policy. If, in the Province of Bithynia, the Christian Faith was at that time so strong, we can easily conceive that in the center and in Ephesus the great majority of the population became Christian.

We know from the Apocalypse that during the exile of St. John at Patmos Asia Minor had seven churches. At the end of his life however there were 20 Christian churches recorded in Ephesus and Asia Minor, while in the Holy Land there were only 10, Italy 2, Greece 4 and in Egypt 1. One hundred years later, there were 51 in Asia Minor, Holy Land and Syria 15, Italy 5, N. Africa 9, Greece and the Balkans 15, France 2, Germany 3 and in Dalmatia 1. At the time of the edict of Milan, early in the fourth century, there were in Asia Minor even 165, the Holy Land 24, Italy 77, Greece 25, Egypt 27, Dalmatia 11, Germany 6, France 28, Spain 48, N. Africa 90 recorded Christian churches. At the same time only Asia Minor, and a narrow littoral part of Tunisia, had a majority of Christian population. (Atlas of the Early Christian World, Nelson 1959)

St. Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna, a direct disciple of St. John and ordained by the Apostle, could send to the West his best disciples. They became the missionaries of many important - then still pagan - countries. In that line we have St. Pothinus, St. Iraeneus, and many others.

The First Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea in 325. The Second in Constantinople (Istanbul) in 381. Then came the Third Council in Ephesus was held in the "Church of Mary." The Fourth and Fifth Councils were held in Chalcedon in 451 located opposite of Constantinople, on the other shore of the Bosphorus. The Sixth Council in Constantinople in 680-701. The Seventh Council was again in Nicaea in 787. Finally, the Eighth Council, and the last in Asia Minor, was again in Constantinople (today's Istanbul) in 869.

ST. JOHN'S BASILICA

:

At that moment of St. John's death there was such a great and intense light that no one could any longer follow the Apostle's descent into a cave where he already had said he would die and lay down in a crypt. After the light became less radiant, the crypt was found filled with Manna. The body of St. John was not found. The Manna became since then the main characteristic of the Apostle's tomb. Every now and then, it was reported, the Manna came out from the tomb, especially if the main purpose of some important pilgrimages have been granted by the Saint. And the tomb itself was considered as miraculous. It was this extraordinary story about St. John's death and entering of his tomb, the "self-obsequies," as well as the fact that the body of the Apostle was not found, some two centuries later at the occasion of an official opening of the tomb during the reign of Constantine the Great, that gave rise to this legend and tradition about the Assumption of St. John into Heaven. Most likely the body was moved as was many others.

As far as Ephesus is concerned, we know that the body of Magdalene was moved, as well as the Seven Sleepers, and all Martyrs from the large necropolis around the Basilica of the Seven Sleepers. While the Seven Sleepers are today at Santa Maria del Popolo at Rome (St. Mary's Church), the body of St. Mary Magdalene was transferred from Ephesus to France.

All round the lengthened elliptical hill a system of strong walls and towers linked to the gate were built to protect the Basilica and the precious tomb of the Apostle. Thus, a new center in Ephesus had been created. Seen from the sea and from all sides of the great valley of Ephesus, St. John's Hill, being the only elevation on that part of the valley, seems to want to dominate in an indescribable, picturesque way the whole valley and gives the impression of a great, isolated island with something like a fairyland and a great acropolis of walls and towers; all this dominated and overshadowed by eleven high and huge cupolas of the white St. John's Basilica. But, if it could have been seen from the air, or when it was viewed from the mountains, including the one where the Blessed Virgin Mary lived, the whole of the St. John's Acropolis offers quite another picture.

The Basilica, in its full length of 428 feet, occupies the entire width of the hill at that place, and, like all oriental Churches have to be built, covers exactly the axis East-West making thus, with the length of the hill, a geometrically perfect right angle of 45 degrees.

On the other hand, the hill in its entire length of a lengthened ellipse of approximately 3,500 feet shaped in an astonishingly regular straight line, covers exactly the local Meridian, the axis North-South, as if the whole hill as such would have been purposely hand-made by God Himself exclusively to the only end; to form with the Basilica of St. John the shape of an immense Cross under the open sky to be seen by the inhabitants of Heaven. This picture, once seen, of an extraordinary Cross, built partly by God and partly by men, in such a miraculously precise, geometrical way, is something one can never forget anymore. One feels, over and over again, obliged to ponder deeply about this Cross, even if we admit that there might be no question whatsoever of some special plan of Divine Providence.

CHURCH OF MARY

St. Mary's Basilica at Ephesus is the first Marian Sanctuary, because we know that the Museion (the university of pre-Christian Ephesus) had been given to the Christian Community very soon after the edict of Milan (313). The building had been transformed into a Church before 350 A.D. The dedication of this Church, the Ephesian Cathedral to the Virgin Mary is due to the tradition that it was in Ephesus that the Blessed Virgin spent her last days on this earth and that the place of her Dormition was there.

It was built out of the ancient Museion, as we have already mentioned, i.e., the University of the pre-Christian Ephesus, the largest building in the town, some 857 feet long. The name Museion comes from the nine goddesses of the ancient Greek mythology, Muses, who protected all sciences, arts and literature. Therefore, the University in Ephesus was a complete university, since dedicated to all Muses. The greatest ( 471 feet) of the Museion was immediately transformed into a church and dedicated to St. Mary, and the rest into offices and the official residence of the bishop of Ephesus and his numerous prelates. A beautiful baptistry was added on the North side of the church, with a large, deep waterpool in white marble for baptism then by immersion. It is probably the most beautiful and also the best preserved baptistry of that kind from the early Church.

The Basilica itself had three longitudinal aisles: the central one, the nave, was very high. The remains of ornaments and mosaics on hand today give us full evidence of the beautiful interior decoration of the church. Experts and archaeologists are unanimous in asserting that the Basilica offered a fairy-like scenery of architecture, interior decoration, and incomparable harmony of lines and colors that the primitive Christians of Ephesus and Asia Minor offered to our Lord and His Mother.

THE SEVEN SLEEPERS

At the time when the Roman Emperors were still pagan, under the reign of Decius (249-251), seven young princes of his imperial court, being Christians, refused publicly to offer sacrifices to idols. Afraid of the consequences of their demonstrative refusal, they took refuge in the mountain nearby (which we know as Feast Mountain) and fell asleep in a deep cavern. In order To put them to death, the Emperor built a wall at the entrance of the cavern. Some 150 to 200 years later, the young men rose from sleep and feeling hungry, sent one of their own number to go cautiously into the town to buy something to eat. The wall had through age in the meantime collapsed.

The young prince found what he wanted and offered for payment the old pagan imperial gold coin. The city of Ephesus being at that time entirely Christian, found the story significant, inasmuch as at that time, the dispute whether the resurrection meant the resurrection both of the soul and body, or only of the immortal soul, had reached its most dramatic climax.

The story came to the Imperial Court, and the Bishops and the Emperor personally came to Ephesus to look into the matter. In the meantime, the young men really died, but their bodies remained incorrupt, as if they were only sleeping. So the Church and the Emperor offered special masses for the souls of these Seven Martyrs and built a special basilica over that cavern containing their bodies. The bodies are now resting at the Church at Santa Maria del Popolo in Rome.