Rich Yet Lukewarm: Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley

Rich yet Lukewarm: Early Christianity in the Lycus Valley Mark Wilson Published in Uluslarası Denizli ve Çevresi Tarih ve Kültür Sempozyumu Bildiriler ed. Ayfer Özçelik, M. Yaşar Ertaş, Yusuf Kılıç, Yasemin Avcı, Süleyman İnan, and Selim Parlaz (Denizli: Pamukkale Üniversitesi Fen-Edibiyat Fakültesi Tarih Bölümü, 2007), 2:68–72. Introduction Two thousand years ago the area around Denizli was inhabited by native Phrygians, Greeks, Romans, and even some Jews. These groups resided in the three major cities of the Lycus Valley–Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae. A prosopographical inquiry can even reveal the names of a few of its residents–Epaphras, Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, Onesimus, Nympha, and Philip. Each of these places and names is mentioned in the New Testament (İncil), indicating that this region became a center of Christianity in the first century. This paper will discuss the historical background of Christianity’s arrival and development in the Lycus valley as well as some of the personalities involved. Jews in the Lycus Valley Any discussion of Christianity must first address the subject of the Jews. For it was from the Jewish community that the first believers in Jesus the Messiah were drawn. Josephus (Ant. 12.149) mentions that Antiochus III relocated two thousand Jewish families from Mesopotamia to Phrygia and Lydia shortly after 213 B.C. The rich archaeological evidence attesting the presence of Jews in the nearby cities of Sardis and Aphrodisias likewise suggests that the Lycus valley became home for some of these families.1 Josephus (Ant. 14.235) later cites a letter of the propraetor Lucius Antonius, in which he 1 J. B. Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and Philemon (1875; repr. Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1993), 19–20, considered Laodicea and Apamea, the two leading cities of Phyrgia, as the likely destinations of these Jews. guarantees their rights as citizens to maintain an association and keep their native laws. Josephus (Ant. 14.241) also records a letter from the magistrates of Laodicea to the proconsul Gaius Rabirius acknowledging the receipt of his letter from the envoy of the high priest Hyrcanus (ca. 105 B.C.).2 Augustus later upheld the right of the Jews to collect monies for Jerusalem, a right being challenged by the Asian city administrations (Josephus Ant. 16.171). 3 Cicero (Flac. 26.68) records that the proconsul Flaccus confiscated twenty pounds of gold bound for Jerusalem at Laodicea (62 B.C.). T. Reinach estimated that this amount indicates an adult Jewish population of 7500, to which must be added women and children.4 The menorah on a sarcophagus lid in the northern necropolis of Hierapolis and the recent discovery of a menorah on a column fragment during the excavations at Laodicea validate this literary evidence of Jews in the Lycus valley.5 Paul and the Coming of Christianity to the Lycus Valley Whether the apostle Paul ever visited the Lycus valley is debated. On his third journey he possibly passed through on his way to Ephesus from Antioch on the Orontes (Acts 18:23). The Lycus valley was strategically positioned at a critical junction on the southern Anatolian highway. Even Laodicea’s city plan was oriented to this main east- west thoroughfare with its Syrian and Ephesian city gates. In Acts 19:1 Luke states that, 2 See the discussion in Claude Eilers, “Josephus’ Caesarian Acta: History of a Dossier,” Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers (2003), 7–13. 3 Although epigraphical evidence validating this Jewish presence is lacking, C. H. Hemer says “this may testify only to the Hellenization of the Jewish community” (The Letters to the Seven Churches in their Local Setting [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1986],183). 4 Cited by W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches (ed. Mark Wilson; 1904; repr. Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 1994), 309–10. 5 For a picture of the menorah, see Fatih Cimok, Journeys of Paul (İstanbul: A Turizm Yayınları, 2004), 232. Prof. Dr. Celal Şimşek, the director of the Laodicea excavations, is publishing an article on the menorah in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Roman Studies. after departing Pisidian Antioch, Paul traveled via the “interior” (or “upper”6; ta anōterika) regions to Ephesus. The easiest and quickest route was via Apamea and Laodicea, and then down the Meander valley. However, an interior road passing through Eumenea (Işıklı) and then down the Cayster (Küçük Menderes) valley was another possible route. In his later letter to the Colossians Paul states that he had not met the believers there personally (Col 2:1).7 This statement need not preclude an earlier visit through Colossae on his third journey. Paul was only a traveler then and probably would not have stopped in the city to preach at that time.8 Paul ministered for nearly three years in Ephesus during A.D. 52–55 (Acts 20:31), and it was during this period that Christianity came to the Lycus valley.9 In Ephesus Paul spoke publicly for two years in a hall rented from someone named Tyrannus. During this period Luke states that “all the Jews and Greeks who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord” (Acts 19:9–10). Is this simply a case of hyperbole, or did Paul’s ministry have such a widespread impact? Paul himself had little time to travel out to Asia’s cities to evangelize them. So what might have happened? As Asia’s largest city and the fourth largest in the Roman Empire, Ephesus was a significant commercial, religious, and political center. For Paul it was an ideal place to reach people with the gospel message. 6 “Interior” is used in the English translations of the New International and New Revised Standard versions; “upper” in the New American Standard and New King James versions. The Turkish translation has “iç.” 7 See W. M. Ramsay, The Church in the Roman Empire Before A.D. 70 (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1904), 93–94. Ramsay attempts to explain anōterika as “upper” by appealing to a distinction between High and Low Phrygia. He routes Paul through Acmonia (Ahat) for his interpretation; however, there is no need to take him that far north since a route ran west from Eumenea down the upper Meander (Menderes) valley toward Philadelphia. This route, shown on Calder and Bean’s A Classical Map of Asia Minor, is absent in Richard J. A. Talbert, Barrington Atlas of the Greek and Roman World (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), 62. 8 Contra Eckhard Schnabel, Early Christian Mission (Downer Grove, Ind.: InterVarsity, 2004), 2:1200. Schnabel also plots a route through Acmonia (pp. 1201–3). 9 Schnabel, Early Christian Mission, 2:1236, likewise concurs. One such man was Epaphras, who is identified by Paul as the Colossian who introduced Christianity to the Lycus valley (Col 1:7; 4:12). Why had Epaphras gone to Ephesus? Perhaps he was one of the thousands of visitors who made a pilgrimage to participate in a festival related to the temple of Artemis.10 Or perhaps, like Flavius Zeuxis of Hierapolis, he was a merchant carrying his goods to Rome.11 Or maybe he was part of a civic delegation that was visiting the oracle at Claros?12 Whatever the reason, Epaphras had heard Paul, became a believer in his message, and then introduced it to his friends in the Lycus valley. Paul and his Letters to the Lycus Valley The book of Acts ends with Paul under house arrest in Rome around A.D. 61–62. During this time Paul wrote two letters to the churches in the Lycus valley–Colossians and B) ofא ,Philemon. Because the destination is missing in several early manuscripts (P46 Ephesians (Eph 1:1), many commentators starting with Marcion (ca. A.D. 144) have suggested that the letter to the Laodiceans mentioned in Colossians 4:16 is actually the 13 book of Ephesians.12F Other scholars have suggested that Ephesians is a circular letter to 14 churches in Asia.13F In either case, this letter would also have been read by the Lycus valley churches. The occasion for these letters was the recent arrival in Rome of Epaphras. His presence in the imperial city suggests that he was a merchant like Zeuxis. 10 As described, for example, Xenophon of Ephesus’ novel Ephesiaka (1.2). 11 Francesco D’Andria, Hierapolis of Phyrgia (Pamukkale) (İstanbul: Ege Yayınları, 2003), 68. 12 T. L. Robinson, “Theological Oracles and the Sanctuaries of Claros and Didyma” (Ph.D. thesis, Harvard University, 1981), 20. 13 That the book of Ephesians was actually written to the church in Ephesus seems unlikely since Paul repeatedly states that he does not know his audience personally (cf. Eph 1:15; 3:2; 4:21). One-third of Colossians is paralleled in Ephesians often with exact language; e.g. Colossians 4:7– 8 and Ephesians 6:21–22 using twenty-nine consecutive words. 14 For a summary of the issues in this debate, see Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity), 528–35. After his arrival, Epaphras found Paul and brought him news of the spiritual condition of the churches in the Lycus valley (Col 1:7–8). Epaphras’ return to Colossae appears to have been impeded by his arrest. Apparently his association with the imprisoned apostle brought him under suspicion and he became Paul’s “fellow prisoner” (Philem 1:23). For this reason an Asian named Tychicus (Acts 20:4) is designated to carry these letters from Rome back to the Lycus valley (Eph 6:21; Col 4:7).15 Tychicus’s companion is a man named Onesimus. Apparently Onesimus was a runaway slave who had made his way to Rome.

Load more