On the evening of September 23, Gospel Church in Pudong New Area, Shanghai, hosted a special lecture titled "Analysis of Christian Historical Sites in Turkey." Rev. Guo Feng, deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai CC&TSPM, served as the keynote speaker. Rev. Guo, who has long taught Biblical Geography at East China Theological Seminary, brings extensive expertise in the study of early Christian sites.
Opening his lecture, Rev. Guo emphasized Turkey's pivotal role in the early years of Christianity. He noted that the region, historically known as Asia, was the focal point of Paul's three missionary journeys as recorded in the Book of Acts and the site of the seven churches referenced in the Book of Revelation. With the adoption of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) became the first global center of the Christian faith.
Drawing on biblical accounts and church tradition, Rev. Guo traced the journeys of the Apostle John and Mary, the mother of Jesus, in Asia. Tradition holds that before the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, John, entrusted by Jesus, brought Mary to the region. Following the martyrdom of Peter and Paul, John assumed sole responsibility for shepherding the churches in Ephesus and beyond. Rev. Guo also recounted John's witness of faith: during his ministry, he endured persecution, miraculously survived being cast into a cauldron of boiling oil under Emperor Domitian, and was later exiled to the island of Patmos. He was eventually released and returned to Ephesus after a new emperor took the throne.
The lecture then turned to Ephesus, a major historical site. Rev. Guo explained that Ephesus, the capital of the Roman province of Asia, was once both a commercial hub and a religious center on the eastern Mediterranean, renowned as the location of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. With the aid of clear diagrams, he systematically presented the commendations, rebukes, and promises addressed to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, including Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamum. He also shared images of the ruins of the Church of St. John in Ephesus, offering the audience a vivid glimpse into the heritage of the early church.
In his discussion of Smyrna (present-day Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city), Rev. Guo highlighted the martyrdom of Polycarp, a Church Father and disciple of the Apostle John. At 86 years old, Polycarp was burned at the stake on the Sabbath for refusing to renounce Christ. Before his death, he declared, "Fourscore and six years have I served Him, and He has never done me injury; how then can I now blaspheme my King and savior?" Rev. Guo noted that Roman persecution only strengthened the unity of the church, with the martyrs' courage serving as a powerful testimony to the truth of the faith and drawing even more Gentile converts.
Rev. Guo then gave an in-depth introduction to Cappadocia, describing it as a "sanctuary of faith." He explained that the region's distinctive "fairy chimneys," formed by volcanic tuff erosion, provided natural shelter for early Christians. Believers carved vast underground cities reaching depths of up to 85 meters, capable of housing tens of thousands, and complemented them with cave churches and monasteries. Using visual materials, Rev. Guo guided the audience through hidden sites such as the "Apple Church" and the "Dark Church." The latter, regarded as one of the most beautiful churches of the 13th century, is lit by only a single small window. This dimness, which gave the church its name, also preserved its vivid murals, whose colors remain striking to this day. Rev. Guo further shared his own experiences visiting these subterranean spaces, where stairways and passages are so narrow that only one person can pass through, offering the audience a tangible sense of the secluded and challenging environment in which early Christians practiced their faith.
The lecture went on to review key milestones in the history of Christianity. Rev. Guo noted that following the conversion of Emperor Constantine the Great in the early fourth century, the church experienced a dramatic shift from persecution to legitimacy. He highlighted that four major ecumenical councils, beginning with the Council of Nicaea in 325, were all convened in what is now Turkey.
The lecture concluded with the thousand-year evolution of Hagia Sophia. Completed in 537, the cathedral was lauded by Emperor Justinian the Great as "O, Solomon, I have surpassed thee!" Rev. Guo recounted that in the late 10th century, envoys from Kiev who attended a liturgy there exclaimed, "We did not know where we were, heaven or Earth," a moment that indirectly influenced the baptism of Kievan Rus in 988 and advanced the Christianization of Russia.
Rev. Guo observed that Hagia Sophia's long transformation illustrates the complex interplay of faith, culture, and politics: from its conversion into a mosque after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, to its designation as a museum under Atatürk's secular reforms in 1935, and finally its restoration to a mosque in 2020.
Concluding his lecture, Rev. Guo expressed the hope that exploring Turkey's Christian heritage would deepen understanding of the broader historical development of Christianity.
The Gospel Church in Shanghai's Pudong New Area traces its origins to the "Jesus Church," established in 1922 by an American missionary of the Apostolic Faith Mission. Serving as the Christian center of Pudong at the time, the church was later destroyed during the war. In 1949, local believers rebuilt it on the original site and renamed it "Gospel Church." Worship services resumed in 1981 after the Cultural Revolution. With the redevelopment of Lujiazui, the old church was demolished in 1997, and a new building was completed in 2004 on Pudian Road. The current church has a floor area of 1,710 square meters, with a main hall seating 800 and a side hall seating 400. By 2018, it held three Sunday services each week, drawing about 2,000 worshippers, and offered services in Cantonese and Korean, along with English simultaneous interpretation.
Originally published by the Gospel Times
- Edited and translated by Poppy Chan
