Fiatira , Fiatira , Fiatira ( Greek Θυάτειρα , “ The Gate of Sacrifice ” ) - an ancient city in the west of Asia Minor , today its ruins are located in the Turkish city of Akhisar . In ancient times, was one of the most important cities in the historical region of Lydia .
| Ancient city | |
| Fiatira | |
|---|---|
| Greek Θυάτειρα | |
 Basilica | |
| Founded | III millennium BC e. |
| Causes of destruction | abandoned |
| Composition of the population | Greeks |
| Modern location | Turkey , Akhisar city |
Twice mentioned in the New Testament , in particular, the early Christian church of Fiatira appears in the Revelation of John the Theologian as one of the seven churches of the Apocalypse .
Content
- 1 History
- 2 In the New Testament
- 2.1 Lydia from Fiatir
- 2.2 The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse
- 3 Current status
- 4 Dioceses of Fiatira
- 5 See also
- 6 notes
- 7 Literature
- 8 References
History
Archaeological excavations show that the settlement on this site was still in the III millennium BC. e [1] . Thyatira was located north of Sardis and 60 kilometers east of Pergamum on the territory of Lydia near the border with Misia [2] .
According to Stefan of Byzantium, the name was given to the city by Seleucus I Nikator , but it is more likely that it is of more ancient Lydian origin [3] . Under the Seleucids , a colony was founded here, the city was rebuilt and inhabited by soldiers [1] . Then Fiatira belonged to the kingdom of Pergamon , in 133 BC. e. was transferred to Attalus III together with the entire kingdom of the Roman Republic [1] . In the Roman period, large works in the city were carried out under Vespasian . Thyatira was visited by the emperors Adrian (123) and Caracalla (215) [3] . In 266, at Thyatira, a battle was fought between the armies of Emperor Valent II and the usurper Procopius , which ended in the defeat of the usurper [4] .
After the fall of the Roman Empire in 395, Fiatira was under the rule of Byzantium . In the XII century , the influx of Ottoman tribes into Asia Minor began , and Fiatira for two centuries passed from the Ottomans to Byzantium and vice versa. In the XIV century, Fiatira became part of the Ottoman Empire and was then renamed Akhisar (Turkish. "White Castle").
Fiatira was located at the crossroads of important roads, which contributed to its transformation into an important trade and craft center. Of particular importance for the city was the production of wool, fabrics and purple [5] . The fact that purple was produced at Fiatira is epigraphically attested. Purple fabrics were stained in Thyatira not with the help of purple mollusks , as in Tire , but with the help of the madder root [5] . This production existed in this region until the second half of the 19th century, when it was replaced by aniline dyes [5] . Avraam Norov , who visited Fiatira in the 30s of the XIX century, writes that dyeing is still the main occupation of the inhabitants of Akhisar, with most of the production going to Russia [6] .
In Fiatira, as in other cities of Asia Minor, there was an ancient Christian church; according to Epiphanius , at the beginning of the III century almost all of Thyatira was Christian [3] . The church of Fiatira belongs to one of the Seven Churches of the Apocalypse [7] [3] . Among the ancient Christian bishops, Thyatira is known by the names Ser (325), Fusk (431, took part in the Ephesus Cathedral ), Diamoni (458), Basil (878). The Diocese of Fiatira was a suffragan one in relation to the Diocese of Sard [3] . After the conquest of Fiatira by the Turks in 1313 , the diocese was liquidated.
At the beginning of the XX century, the population of Akhisar was 22 thousand people, of which 14 thousand were Muslims , 7 thousand were Orthodox Greeks , 1 thousand were Armenians and Jews [3] . As a result of the Greek-Turkish exchange of population, the Greek population left the city, which has since become homogeneous Turkish.
New Testament
Fiatira is twice mentioned in the New Testament .
Lydia of Fiatir
The Acts of the Apostles says that during his second missionary journey, the Apostle Paul, along with his companion Sila, sailed from Troas by ship and arrived in Macedonia , first entering Europe . The city of Philippa thus became the first European city where Christianity was preached, and a woman from Fiatira named Lydia became the first European to convert to Christianity [8] [9] .
| So, starting from Troas, we arrived directly at Samothrace, and the next day to Naples, from there to Philippi: this is the first city in that part of Macedonia, a colony. We stayed in this city for several days. On the Sabbath day, we went out of town to the river, where, as usual, there was a house of worship, and sat down and talked with the women gathered there. And one woman from the city of Fiatir, by the name of Lydia, who was selling scarlet, who honored God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to heed what Paul said. When she and her family were baptized, she asked us, saying: if you recognized me as faithful to the Lord, then enter my house and live [at] [me]. And she convinced us ( Acts 16: 11-15 ). |
It is characteristic that, having moved from Fiatira to Philippi, Lydia continued to engage in the usual and traditional business for her homeland - trading in purple (in the Synodal translation - “crimson”) [5] .
Acts reports that before sailing to Macedonia, Paul and Silas visited Mysiah (Mysiah) ( Acts 16: 8 ). Since Thyatira stood on the border of Lydia and Mysia, it is possible that the apostle Paul visited Thyatira, but this remains only an assumption, since Acts does not list the cities visited in Mysia.
Seven Churches of the Apocalypse
Thyatira is one of seven cities in Asia Minor, to the Christian churches of which the author of the Revelation of John the Theologian (Apocalypse) addresses in the second chapter of the book. In a figurative manner characteristic of Revelation, the author addresses the “angels” of the seven churches with praise and censure. The longest appeal is addressed to the Thyatira Church, where the author praises “works, love, service, faith and patience”, but condemns the Thyatira Church for indifference to the false teaching of a certain “wife of Jezebel”:
| And write to the Angel of the Thyatira Church: this is the saying of the Son of God, whose eyes are like a flame of fire, and his feet are like a halkolivan: I know your deeds and love, and ministry, and faith, and your patience, and that your last deeds are more than the first. But I have a little against you, because you let Jezebel’s wife, who calls herself a prophetess, teach and mislead My servants, fornicating is idolatrous . I gave her time to repent of her fornication, but she did not repent. Behold, I cast her on her bed and those who commit adultery with her in great tribulation, if they do not repent of their deeds. And I will smite her children with death, and all churches will understand that I am the one who tests hearts and insides; and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. But to you and others who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this doctrine and who do not know the so-called depths of Satanic, I say that I will not impose another burden on you; hold only that which you have until I come ( Rev. 2: 18-25 ). |
Outside the city of Thyatira there was a pagan temple dedicated to Sibyl Sambafe, perhaps this temple is meant in Revelation under the “Jezebel” [7] . By "depths of Satanic", probably referring to Gnostic teachings [10] .
Current status
Archaeological excavations are difficult due to the fact that most of the ruins of Fiatira are hidden under the modern residential areas of Akhisar. However, archaeological work carried out since the 1960s partially opened the ruins of ancient Thyatira, which today are a tourist attraction. Acropolis of the city is located on a hill. The Christian church, built on the foundation of a pagan temple, was turned into a mosque in the 15th century [11] .
Dioceses of
Since the Diocese of Fiatira was one of the oldest and most important dioceses of the early Christian Church, even after the Turks liquidated the Christian diocese in Fiatira itself, the name Fiatir remains in the name of the two Christian dioceses - Orthodox and Catholic, despite the fact that both of them belong to the modern Turkish Akhisar have nothing to do.
The Orthodox Thyatira Archbishopric is the archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople with its center in London [12] . It includes the UK , Ireland and Malta . In addition, the Thyatira Archbishop is the exarch of Western Europe [13] .
The Catholic titular diocese of Thyatira is currently vacant. The last titular bishop of Fiatira was the Ukrainian Greek Catholic bishop Miron Datsyuk during the period when he served as the vicar bishop of Winnipeg (1982-1991) [14] .
See also
- Akhisar
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Richard S. Ascough. Lydia: Paul's Cosmopolitan Hostess
- ↑ Rineker F. , Meyer G. Fiatira // Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia . - Christliche Verlagsbuchhandlung Paderborn, 1999 .-- 1226 p.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 6 Catholic Encyclopedia> T> Thyatira
- ↑ E. Gibbon . The history of the decline and destruction of the Roman Empire . Ch. XXV
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 I. Levinskaya. Acts of the Apostles: Historical and Philological Commentary. Chapters 9–28. - SPb. : Faculty of Philology and Arts, St. Petersburg State University, Nestor-Istoriya, 2008. - S. 277-279. - 664 p. - ISBN 978-5-8465-0800-2 .
- ↑ Norov A.S. Journey to the seven churches mentioned in the Apocalypse. - SPb. : Type of. III Branch Own E.I.V. Chancellery, 1847. - S. 176. - 298 p.
- ↑ 1 2 Archimandrite Nicephorus - Biblical Encyclopedia from A to Z. Moscow, 1891.
- ↑ ST. LYDIA OF THYATIRA. Orthodox Church in America
- ↑ Lydia, the First European Convert (link not available) . Date of treatment January 27, 2015. Archived March 11, 2015.
- ↑ Alexander Men . Reading the Apocalypse
- ↑ "Seven Churches of the Apocalypse" // Orthodox pilgrim
- ↑ Site of the Thyatira Archbishopric
- ↑ Constantinople Orthodox Church
- ↑ Thyatira (Titular See)
Literature
- Richard S. Ascough. Lydia: Paul's Cosmopolitan Hostess
- I. Levinskaya . Acts of the Apostles: Historical and Philological Commentary. Chapters 9–28. - SPb. : Faculty of Philology and Arts, St. Petersburg State University, Nestor-Istoriya, 2008. - S. 277-279. - 664 p. - ISBN 978-5-8465-0800-2 .
- Norov A.S. Journey to the seven churches mentioned in the Apocalypse. - SPb. : Type of. III Branch Own E.I.V. Chancellery, 1847. - S. 176. - 298 p.
Links
- "Thyatira" // Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
- Rineker F. , Mayer G. Fiatira // Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia . - Christliche Verlagsbuchhandlung Paderborn, 1999 .-- 1226 p.
- Fiatira // Archimandrite Nicephorus - Biblical Encyclopedia from A to Z. Moscow, 1891