Did Mother Mary ever live in Ephesus?
Did Mother Mary ever live in Ephesus?
In John 19:26–27, we read; ‘’When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, 'Woman, here is your son. ' Then he said to the disciple, 'Here is your mother. ' And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.’’ According to the tradition of Ephesus, John and Virgin Mary stayed together after the crucifixion as Jesus entrusted Mary to John the Evangelist. The Christian faithful take this passage from the Bible as a reference and assume that John took Virgin Mary under his protection and they came to Ephesus together. Polycrates, bishop of Ephesus in the 2nd century mentioned in one of his letters that John was buried in Ephesus. Also, the early church historian Eusebius records that the apostles scattered around the Mediterranean after the persecution started in Jerusalem, and John came to Ephesus. Ephesus was similar to Constantinople in terms of its strategic location between east and west, being a port city providing easy access to many important centers and being a multicultural and vibrant hub. This explains why John had decided to come to Ephesus as the city would be a crucial spot to spread Christianity among the pagan Romans.
Ephesus’ historical heritage includes St John the Evangelist’s Tomb at The Basilica of St. John which is a 6TH century-basilica near Ephesus and it stands over the believed burial site of John the Apostle. The basilica was constructed by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in the 6th and he is the same emperor who constructed Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, present-day Istanbul. One can easily see the remains of the Temple of Artemis from its courtyard. The presence of the basilica is another piece of evidence supporting the theory of St John’s arrival in Ephesus.
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