ANTIOCH

The old city Antioch was founded in about 300 or 280 B.C. by Seleucus I Nicator who was one of the generals of Alexander the Great. It was called after his father Antiochus and it became the capital of the Seleucid kings of Syria. The city acquired a great wealth from the caravan trade to India and grew into a center of Greek culture. From its foundation, Antioch was a cosmopolitan city. It is situated in Syria, on the river Orontes, about 16 miles from the Mediterranean, and about 300 miles north of Jerusalem. Many other cities were also known by this name in Seleucid kingdom. Pisidian Antioch was located 1 km north of Yalvaç in the province of Isparta in southern Turkey.

In 25 BC Antioch became a Roman military colony. Emperor Augustos selected city of Antioch as the second capital of Roman Empire and arund three thousand Roman veterans migrated to Antioch and settled there. Many of the districts of Antioch were named after those of Rome. Emperor Augustus built the Augustus Temple dedicated to the mother goddess Cybele. This remarkable building was later used as an open air church around 400 AD. For several centuries Antioch was an important city in the Roman Empire especially as the capital of the Roman provinces in Asia. Latin continued to be the official language of Antioch, from its foundation as a Roman colony until the later part of the 2nd century AD. The emperor Constantans II erected an octagonal cathedral, which was destroyed in the earthquake of AD 526. With all its pomp the ancient Antioch was known as the queen of the East, the third city, after Rome and Alexandria, of the Roman world. A great importance attached to Pisidian Antioch as a sister city of Rome.

After suffering from many severe earthquakes, the Persians captured the city in 540. Though Byzantines recovered Antioch, Muslims conquered again in 636. The city was razed by the Arabs in the year 713 and remained with Arabs until 969. The city of Antioch was lost again, to the Seljuk Turks, in 1085. After thirteen years it was captured by the Crusaders, and became the capital of an independent Principality of Antioch. Little remains of the old city except a few ruins of great aqueducts and parts of the walls. The modern town, called Antakya, is a small trading center in the southern part of Syria, about 20 miles from the Mediterranean Sea coast.

Antioch in Syria and Antioch in Pisidia were very important places in the history of Christianity. In its early history Antioch occupies a distinguished place as it was second only to Jerusalem. Antioch was a gentile city with a large Jewish community. When the early church was persecuted in Jerusalem, many left and went as far as Antioch. The large flourished Jewish colonies and cosmopolitanism of the city gave a fertile ground to seed Christianity. It was in Antioch where Paul made his first Christian mission sermon in a synagogue. Followers of Jesus Christ were first called as Christians in Antioch. It was the first city of east where Christianity was early introduced. With the ministry of Barnabas and Paul - and perhaps Peter - eventually converted half the population of Antioch to Christianity. Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch, was chosen as one of the first deacons along with Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, and Parmenas. Stephen traveled to Antioch to preach word of God to the Jews who scattered abroad upon the persecution.

It was the great central point where evangelists went for ministry to the Gentiles and hence it was the cradle of Gentile Christianity. It was at the instance of the issues in Antiochian Church, the Council of Jerusalem decided to relieve Gentile Christians from the Jewish laws.

Pisidian Antioch was visited by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey. They could do a very successful ministry here, but the Jews stirred up a violent opposition against them, and they were obliged to leave the place. On his return journey, Paul again visited Antioch for the purpose of confirming the disciples.

Even in sub-apostolic era also Antioch had its importance. It was the birth-place of the famous Christian father John Chrysostom, who died A.D. 407. St. Ignatius of Antioch was the third Bishop of Antioch and the immediate successor of Evodius. It was a legend among the early Christians that Ignatius was the child whom the Savior took up in His arms, as described in Mark 9:35. It is also believed, and with great probability, that, with his friend Polycarp, he was among the auditors of the Apostle St. John. As Christianity spread, Antioch became the seat of one of the four original patriarchates, along with Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Rome. Today it remains the seat of a patriarchate of the Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches. One of the canonical Eastern Orthodox churches is still called the Antiochian Orthodox Church although it moved its headquarters from Antioch to Damascus, Syria, several centuries ago.