Mosques, Whirling Dervishes, and Conversions

I'm writing this from Thessaloniki, Greece! Our internet in Turkey was pretty bad, so I was unable to post an update. I've included in this post pictures from both Turkey and our first day in Greece. The trip is going great - I thought it was going to be hard to top Israel, but this is pretty awesome!


The Haghia Sofia, a huge church in Istanbul. It was originally a Christian church and was the "jewel of Christendom" in Constantinople (old name of Istanbul) until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to the Ottomon Turks. At that point, the Muslim Turks took over the building and converted it to a mosque. (They also changed the name of the city to "Istanbul," or "City of Islam") It is now used as a museum. It contains beautiful frescoes and mosaics, and you can fit the Statue of Liberty under the center dome! There exists a strange dichotomy in the place - Christian works of art all over, with huge circular wooden panels surrounding the church, on which are written things like "Allah" in Arabic script. Again, we see these contrasts.


Istanbul is full of mosques. The Blue Mosque, in this picture, is the foremost mosque in Istanbul. In Turkish, the words "six" and "gold" sound similar. When the sultan requested gold minarets on his mosque, the architect thought he said "six," and so we are left with the unmistakable six-minaret mosque in Istanbul! You can't see all six in this picture, unfortunately.


The inside of the Blue Mosque - named so because the predominant color of the tiles lining the walls is blue!


A HUGE cistern under the city of Istanbul


At Ephesus - the library (2nd biggest in its day, behind Alexandria) is in the background! The road you see in the picture is slanted downwards so horse chariots could enter the city. Ephesus was a very influential city in the 1st century AD.


To get to Ephesus on Monday, we took the earliest flight out from Istanbul and the latest flight back, all in one day. On our flight back, we got to see the sunset from the plane over the sea on the western side of Turkey - wow!


"Whirling dervishes" the last night in Istanbul. The whilring dervishes are an Islamic tradition where men spin around for an extended period of time in hopes of reaching "Nirvana." It's a spiritual act, and I was just amazed they didn't fall over from dizziness! Frankly, it was absolutely entrancing. They had their right hand facing up to Heaven and left hand facing down to earth to symbolize their connection by means of this ceremony.


We had an 8-hr. drive from Istanbul to Kavala, Greece, where we stayed a night before going to Philippi yesterday. Kavala is where Paul crossed to Europe after seeing the vision of the Macedonian man in Acts 16 - "Come and help us." Philippi was also a very meaningful place, and we reflected on the story of Acts 16 and the conversion of the jailer. Here you see our group in one of the churches on what is now an archaeological site. Philippi was on the Egnatia Road, a main highway of sorts that Paul used in his journeys.


Nearby Philippi is the place where Paul converted Lydia, also in Acts 16. Our group went to the church that commemorates this event, the first European convert to Christianity. Right by the church is a stream, where our group sang worship songs and prayed, praising God for our salvation in the place where the Gospel was first spread to the West! What an honor.

Tonight we're going to a hotel right on the Aegean at the base of Mt. Olympus - very exciting! I appreciate your continued prayers!

Peace.