Day 6 – Saturday, June 13: Seleucia Pieria, Titus Tunnel, Antioch-St. Peter’s Church, Adana
Today we continued our drive south, passing by higher mountain passes and scenic views. Our destination would be Antioch and its port, Selucia. Today took us to where Paul began his 1st missionary journey. The weather was included mixed clouds and even a light shower as we drove in the morning (odd for this time of year), but partly sunny and highs in the low 80s in the afternoon. We summarized Paul and his ministry as we left the hotel after breakfast at 8 a.m (Paul, the Jewish Talmid / Disciple, the Persecutor, the Preacher, the Representative, the Ambassador, the Discipler, the Prisoner, the Shipwrecked, the Prisoner, the Encourager, once again the Prisoner, and finally the Martyr).
Selucia/Harbor
Our drive took us past more mountains as headed east first and then as we “turned the bend” and headed due south along the coastline due. We arrived in Samandagi, the modern Turkish location for the port/harbor of Selucia. Located along the Mediterranean Sea, this harbor was founded by one of the generals of Alexander the Great in 301 BCE. It also was the seaport through which Paul and Barnabas left with John and Mark for their first missionary journey sometime in the mid 40s AD (some suggest the 1st journey of Paul began as early as in AD 45 while others suggest a few years later, i.e. 46 or 47). Paul would have been in his early 40s by now. Some sections of the port can still be seen today. We read the narratives about the port and the events that took place on the island of Cyprus (Acts 13). Mentioned in that text is someone named Sergius Paulus. Three specific inscriptions were found with his name on them! He became a believer of Christ as responded to Paul’s kingdom message. Apparently he was from Antioch Pisidia, perhaps promoting Paul to visit this site after Cyprus, even though it was “out of the way.”
Titus Tunnel
From the port we climbed the hill above the coastline to see what is called the “Titus Tunnel.” (who reigned 69–79 AD) This massive tunnel was manually hewed out of bedrock in order to divert the floodwaters from running down the mountain and threatening the harbor. The construction began under Vespasian (who reigned from AD 69-79) and continued under his son Titus (AD 79–81) and his successors. On our walk back to the bus, it was fun to enjoy some of the locals and their stands of fruit, spices, and lemon ice.
“We enjoyed connecting with the context of Paul’s first mission journey as we visited the harbor where it all began! The port at Selucia was where Paul and Barnabas embarked to Cyprus. We read the early part of Acts 13 where it all happened.”
Antioch / St. Peter’s Church
To end the day, we drove back up the mountain range to Hatay, the Turkish name for the city of Antioch. The city was built from around 300 BC. In 63 BC, the Romans took the city from the Greeks, and it became the third largest city in the Roman Empire (after Rome and Alexandria). It had a population of nearly 500,000 people! During the time of the New Testament, Antioch was a center of commerce and an important political power in the Roman Empire. In the 1st century, the earliest church outside Jerusalem was established in Antioch. Paul both returned to and set out from Antioch a number other times during the course of his mission activity. It was a sending church! Embedded and carved out from the rocky cliff area high above the city is the “traditional” St. Peter’s Church (Peter was here, see Galatians 2). We visited this church before starting our long drive back to Adana.
Back at our hotel we enjoyed dinner at 7 pm. Followed by another overnight. Tomorrow we begin out drive west to see sites visited by Paul on his 1st mission journey.
Day 7 – Sunday, June 14: Adana, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Konya
