Letter 1 to Ephesus - The 7 Churches of Apocalypse

The Life and Church of St. John

According to the Christian belief that emerged at the beginning of the 2nd century, the Bible Writer Saint John Theologos is also the youngest apostle of Jesus, the author of the Bible and Apokalypse. Based on the Ephesus Consultant documents in 431, St. John together with the Virgin Mary. It is accepted that he came to Ephesus between 37-48 years and lived and died here. Jesus entrusted his mother to his beloved and youngest apostle John and “after that the apostle housed him in his own home”. Believers in this view then acknowledge that the two are not separated from each other and that Virgin Mary was with him when Saint John came to Ephesus.

In the period when Christianity began to spread, a Martyrion (Monument Tomb) was built on the grave of Saint John. Later, this monumental tomb was enclosed in a basilica with a wooden roof. Instead of the basilica, which became unusable in the earthquakes in the beginning of the 6th century, Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora, who provided the world's most popular building in Hagia Sophia, was built by Justinianus with a cross-shaped, domed basilica. When the people of Ephesus moved to Ayasuluk Hill after the 7th century. St Jean Church replaced the old Episcopal Church in Ephesus.

St. Jean Church has a special place in Eastern Roman Architecture with its 130x40 m size, cross-shaped plan and covered with 6 domes. The walled structure, which was partially preserved in part today, had many doors and windows. Especially the south facade higher than 20 meters added a monumental appearance to the religious building. The monolithic columns between the piers, which were specially brought from the marble quarries on the Marmara Island, both separate the nave and carry the upper floor galleries and columns. Monograms of Emperor Justinianus and his wife Theodora were engraved on the Ionic regular and imposted headings of the columns. These show that all or at least the nave part of the church was built between 527-565 at the request of the Emperor.

In the middle nave, there is an elevated path of ambon in front of the bema part. The burial area covered with colored marble belongs to Kiborion, four burma grooved small columns in the central part of the brain. Three tomb structures were discovered in the Krypta below this during the excavations in 1920. The tomb in the middle is considered to belong to St. John. However, no remains were found in the grave during excavations. It is already known that the tombs were empty from the 12th century and the holy ruins were previously moved to the Havariyun (Saints) Church in Istanbul.

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