The Church of Mary ( tr, Meryem Kilisesi) was an ancient

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

dedicated to the

Theotokos ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations are " ...

("Birth-Giver of God", ''i.e.'', the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

), located in

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

(near present-day

Selçuk Selçuk is a town in İzmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. It is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its previous Greek name, Ag ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

). It is also known as the Church of the Councils because two councils of importance to the history of

Early Christianity Early Christianity (up to the First Council of Nicaea in 325) spread from the Levant, across the Roman Empire, and beyond. Originally, this progression was closely connected to already established Jewish centers in the Holy Land and the Jewish ...

are assumed to have been held within. The church is located in the south stoa of the Olympieion (Temple of Hadrian Olympios) next to the harbor of Ephesus.

History

The church is dated to the early 5th century, coinciding with the

Council of Ephesus The Council of Ephesus was a council of Christian bishops convened in Ephesus (near present-day Selçuk in Turkey) in AD 431 by the Roman Emperor Theodosius II. This third ecumenical council, an effort to attain consensus in the church th ...

, the third Ecumenical council in 431, suggesting that it may have been built specifically for that Third

Ecumenical Council An ecumenical council, also called general council, is a meeting of bishops and other church authorities to consider and rule on questions of Christian doctrine, administration, discipline, and other matters in which those entitled to vote are ...

, during which the title of

for the Mother of God was declared orthodox. The latest archaeological evidence suggests that the church was built on the ruins of an earlier

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...

-like building abandoned around the 3rd century, known as the "Hall of the Muses"."Church of Mary", Ephesus Ancient City
/ref> Around 500, the church was expanded into a monumental cathedral, whose apse and pillars partially still stand today on the site. The church served as a

and was the seat of the Bishop of Ephesus throughout

Late Antiquity Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...

. An inscription in the Church of Mary indicates there was an even more ancient Synagogue in Ephesus.

References

Resources

*Stefan Karweise, ''The Church of Mary and the Temple of Hadrian Olympios.'' Helmut Koester, ed., Ephesos: Metropolis of Asia (Harvard University Press, 1995), 311–20.

External links

Detailed description of the Church of Mary in Ephesus with many photographs
{{coord, 37, 56, 41.78, N, 27, 20, 21.13, E, type:landmark, display=title Ephesus Shrines to the Virgin Mary Ruined churches in Turkey 5th-century churches Byzantine church buildings in Turkey

History

See also

References

Resources

External links