Turkey: ‘Unknown Christian Pilgrimage Destination”

Seventy-five percent of the events in the early Christianity described in the New Testament take place in Turkey but most Christians are unaware of that, says Ya’lla Tour’s founder and president Ronen Paldi, who will present the seminar on “Turkey, Europe’s Unknown Pilgrimage Destination” at the ASTA International Destination Expo in Istanbul, April 20-21, 2010.

The seminar will highlight many of the Turkish sites and itineraries that are key to Christian pilgrimages.

“Known as Asia Minor in Classical times, Turkey was at the very heart of both the Greek and the Roman empires, and Greco-Roman antiquities are scattered throughout the country,” Paldi noted.

“The exceptionally well preserved and sprawling remains of some of the most powerful cities of the Hellenistic world can be found along the Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.”

Many settlements in Asia Minor were very receptive to the earliest Christian missionaries. Tarsus the home city of St. Paul is in Turkey and pilgrimages follow the route between Tarsus and Ephesus, a city of 250,000 people in Roman days that was the largest port in the eastern Mediterranean.

Antioch, near Turkey’s border with Syria, was the site of the first church to be erected, St. Peter’s Church, dedicated to Peter who converted some of the earliest Christians here.

Paul and St. Barnabas were among the early evangelicals in Antioch, which would become the center from which Paul spread the Christian faith. In Antioch, the first gentiles were accepted into the Church and the Romans first called the followers of Jesus “Christians.”

For Fundamentalist Christians, Paldi said, Turkey is home to five of the Seven Churches of the Revelation.

Another pilgrimage site in Turkey, the Cappadocia region, was a large refuge for Christians persecuted by Rome. Churches and entire cities were carved underground.

Present-day Iznik, Turkey, is where the Council of Nicea met in 325 AD under the order of the Emperor Constantine. The council settled Christian doctrine and the Nicean Creed, recited by most all Christians, was set forth at Nicea.

Constantine also established Constantinople, now Istanbul, as the capital of the Roman Empire and a seat of the Christian church.

For more information, contact Ya’lla Tours, tel: (800) 644-1595, email information@yallatours.com, or visit www.yallatours.com/agents.shtml or the Turkish Culture & Tourist Office, (212) 687-2194, www.tourismturkey.org