In Turkey, I'm still not clear on what places our pilgrimage is going to take us. Take, for instance, these caves at Goreme. The Goreme Open-Air Museum has caves that served as early Christian “churches.” Well, more likely they were Christian caves for hermits. The earliest form of religious life appears to have been hermits, like Antony of Egypt, who fled the busy world to retire in solitude. As his reputation for holiness grew, pilgrims flocked to him. So there went his solitude. Athanasius describes the scene when the pilgrims one day broke down the door to his cave. Antony emerged. First time he'd been seen by anyone in twenty years.

"Antony came forth as though from some shrine, having been led into divine mysteries and inspired by God. This was the first time he appeared from the fortress for those who came out to him. And when they beheld him, they were amazed to see that his body had maintained its former condition, neither fat from lack of exercise, nor emaciated from fasting and combat with demons, but was just as they had known him prior to his withdrawal.
"The state of his soul was one of purity, for it was not constricted by grief, nor relaxed by pleasure, nor affected by either laughter or dejection. Moreover, when he saw the crowd, he was not annoyed any more than he was elated at being embraced by so many people. He maintained utter equilibrium, like one guided by reason and steadfast in that which accords with nature."

We will definitely go to Ephesus. This is the facade of the old Celsus library in Ephesus. It was originally built in Roman times, and was one of the largest libraries of its day, housing thousands of scrolls. The place in Ephesus we can be sure Paul visited is the theater, for he caused a riot by preaching there against the sale of silver figurines of the Greek goddess Artemis. The city's importance was reflected in the temple there to Artemis. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world and almost four times as large as the parthenon in Athens. Not much is left of it today.

I am leading a pilgrimage to places Saint Paul visited to commemorate the pope’s Year of St Paul. We fly out of Houston to Athens on Tuesday April 21^st. Paul preached what was perhaps his most creative, but least successful sermon in the shadow of the acropolis in Athens. The acropolis has been called the “greatest of all archeological sites.” The Parthenon is the main building on the acropolis. This temple was built in the 5^th century B.C. to Athena. Lord Elgin in 1806 took the ancient marble sculptures which decorated the Parthenon to the British Museum where they have been preserved from the constant sand-blasting of the fierce winds which bombard this lofty site. Most of the figures had been defaced, broken and esp. decapitated by antiquity dealers and weapons of war by the time Lord Elgin found them. This figure from the East Pediment is remarkably lacking only a forearm, a foot and a hand. Most of the figures were destroyed by a Venetian shell that hit the Parthenon in 1687 where the Turks stored their gunpowder. The shell blew the building apart and shattered the remaining statutes.

The Metopes are rectangular slabs that went around the Parthenon with mythological scenes carved in high relief. These marbles taken from the South side show the battle between the Lapiths and the Centaurs.

One cannot view the four Maidens that hold up the porch of the Erechtheum without holding some sympathy for Lord Elgin who is roundly criticized by the Greeks as stealing their art. The three faces are all but indistinguishable from the wear and tear of the 200 years since Lord Elgin took one to London. The English finally made a copy and sent this back to Athens.

From Athens we go to Corinth, and embark on a three day cruise of the Greek islands including Patmos and Rhodes. Ephesus is an important site for Paul. We end up at one of the most sacred churches in Christendom: Santa Sophia in Istanbul. It was last used as a Mosque and is presently surrounded by four Moslem parapets, but the secular government of Turkey has declared it a museum. We fly back to Houston from Istanbul on Monday May 4^th.