Efeze in de Bijbel
As is known Turkey and Ancient Ephesus City had an important role for the early Christianity. Both St. Paul and St. John spent the Apostle years in Ephesus. Also we see in Act 18:15 that St John the Baptist disciples came to Ephesus after the Jesus Christ’s ascension. St. Paul wrote letters to Ephesians and to Corinthians. He wrote letters to Corinthians during his stay in Ephesus in the first Epistle.
There are 20 occurrences about Ephesus in Acts of Apostles and Book of Revelation. In the Bible, Ephesus name is seen in the Acts 18:19, 18:21, 18:24, 19:1, 19:17, 19:26, 19:28, 19:34, 19:35, 20:16, 20:17, 21:29 and also in 1 Corinthians 15:32, 16:18 and Ephesians 1:1 and 1 Timothy 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:18 and 4:12 and Revelation 1:11 and 2:1.
Act 19:28 tells us about the protest of Silversmith Demetrius against St Paul which happened in the Great Theatre in Ephesus. As known Ephesus was a kind of a pilgrimage city, since the biggest ancient temple dedicated to goddess Artemis which was near Ephesus. People were making Idols of Artemis and selling them. The temple and goddess Artemis were very important for the economy. St. Paul was against the goddess and her cult which made people angry. During the demonstration in the Great Theater of Ephesus the crowd shouted ' Great is goddess Artemis of Ephesus ' ...St. Paul was in danger and to keep him safe from the angry crowd in the Theater, the major of Ephesus got the crowd calm down and put St. Paul into the prison in order to keep himself safe.
In the Book of Revelation, St. John the Apostle (Evangelist) mentions about the 7 Churches (Ephesus, Laodicea, Pergamum, Thyatira, Smyrna, Philadelphia, Sardis) established in Anatolia.
St. Paul saw Aquila and Priscilla in Corinth and invited them to Ephesus.
Both companions Trophimus and Tychicusdu were in Ephesus and they were native.
St. Paul’s the most important helper was Timothy and he was born in Ephesus. He sent many letters to Timothy and advised him to stay in Ephesus in 1 Timothy 1:3.
“Ephesians” word is seen in four places in the Bible (Acts 19:28, 19:34, 19:35 and 21:29) and it refers to the people live in Ephesus or born in Ephesus.
St John wrote the Gospel in during his stay in Ephesus.
St. John died and buried in Ephesus. His tomb is in Ayasuluk Hill (Hagios Theologos) in Ephesus,Selcuk. Byzantium Emperor Justinian got a big Basilica built on his tomb in the 6th Centruy AD.
In the Gospel, St John writes that The Virgin Mary was entrusted to him by the Jesus Christ and this is the most important evidence for Virgin Mary’s coming to Ephesus together with St. John.
St Paul was born in Tarsus (Turkey) as Jewish and Roman citizen. He was known as Saul of Tarsus. He traveled 16 years and stayed in Ephesus about 3 years.
It is believed that St Luka and Maria Magdalene’s tombs are also in Ephesus.