Virgin Mary
In the
closing years of the nineteenth century, the Aegean coast of Turkey witnessed
three of the greatest archaeological finds of all time. Two of these – the
discoveries of the ruins of Ephesus
and Troy, made international headlines overnight. The third, however, in 1881,
was immediately enveloped in secrecy.
It was kept a secret because nobody in the Vatican believed that an obscure French priest, following the visions of an equally obscure German nun and mystic, could possibly have found the actual house where the Virgin Mary spent her last years. Yet by the end of the century the evidence had become so compelling that scholars had pronounced the discovery authentic and Pope Leo XIII had declared the site a place of pilgrimage.
It was kept a secret because nobody in the Vatican believed that an obscure French priest, following the visions of an equally obscure German nun and mystic, could possibly have found the actual house where the Virgin Mary spent her last years. Yet by the end of the century the evidence had become so compelling that scholars had pronounced the discovery authentic and Pope Leo XIII had declared the site a place of pilgrimage.
Located on the top of "Nightingale" mountain, The House of the Virgin Mary (Meryemana in Turkish), is located in a nature park between Ephesus and Seljuk, and is believed to be the last residence of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The peaceful site is sacred to both Christians and Muslims, and is visited by many tourists and pilgrims.
It is the
place where Mary may have spent her last days. Indeed, she may have
come to the area together with the Apostle John, who spent several years in Ephesus to spread Christianity. For
three years, Apostle Paul preached Christianity in Ephesus after 53 AD. When he died, Apostle John replaced him. The
legend says that Virgin Mary came
with him and lived in Ephesus until
her death. (AD 37-45)
According to
predominant Christian tradition, Mary was brought to Ephesus by the Apostle John after the Resurrection of Christ and
lived out her days there. This is based mainly on the traditional belief that
John came to Ephesus combined with
the biblical statement that Jesus consigned her to John's care (John 19:26-27).
The house is
a typical Roman architectural example, entirely made of stones. Archaeologists
who have examined the home believe most of the building dates from the 6th or
7th century. But its foundations are much older and may well date from the 1st
century AD, the time of Mary.
Pope Paul VI
visited in the 1960's. Later, in the 1980's, during his visit, Pope John-Paul
II declared the Shrine of Virgin Mary
as a pilgrimage place for Christians. It is also visited by Muslims who
recognize Mary as the mother of one of their prophets. Every year, on August
15th, a ceremony is organized to commemorate Mary's Assumption. On November 29,
2006, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated mass here.
The mystery
of this site started with a German nun called Catherine Emmerich who was born
in 1772. She documented a story called, "The Life of the Holy Virgin Mary", where she describes
in great detail the exact description locating the house where Mary lived, on a
mountain in Ephesus.
Sister
Emmerich, an invalid confined to bed, awoke in a trance with the stigmata and
visions that included the Virgin Mary
and Apostle John traveling from Jerusalem to Ephesus. She described Mary’s house in detail, which was recorded
at her bedside. Emmerich described a rectangular stone house, which John had
built for Mary. It had a fireplace and an apse and a round back wall. The room
next to the apse was Mary’s bedroom, which had a spring running into it. The
spring that runs under the Virgin’s House is believed to have healing properties,
and many miracles have been reported. Inside the house are crutches and canes
said to be left behind by those who were healed by the sacred spring.
Sister
Emmerich also described Mary's death and bodily resurrection from this place as
well as a cave next to it, the stations of the Cross, a Basilica John built for
Mary, the cave of John’s death and his Basilica - all in Ephesus.
In the late
1890’s two priests were fascinated by her writings and decided to research what
she wrote. The priests were amazed with what they found, by an invalid nun who
had never left Germany. They found a site with holes in the ground for a
cistern and a well, along with a destroyed chapel whose foundations likely
dated from the first century. In the minds of many, Mary’s house had been
found. In 1951, the site was carefully restored to reflect the way the home was
when Mary lived there over 2,000 years ago.
This house and the story, are still circumstantial. It's no different from any other improvable story in religion. It requires a leap of faith.
The supporters of the belief that the Virgin Mary lived her last years and died in Ephesus base their theory on two main points:
-- The presence of the Tomb of St. John and St. John's Basilica in Ephesus. Jesus Christ, before dying on the cross, entrusted to St. John his mother (19:26-27). It is believed that after the crucifixion of Jesus, St. John left Jerusalem and came to Ephesus, one of the biggest and safest cities of its time (capital of the Asia Minor province of the Roman Empire), and built a small hut for Virgin Mary just outside Ephesus in order to protect her from the non-Christian community of Ephesus.
-- The presence of the Church of Mary, the first basilica in the world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, in Ephesus. In the early centuries of Christianity, places of worship were dedicated only to persons who lived or died in the locality.
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