GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF EPHESUS
The Greek Orthodox Church of Ephesus, also known as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Ephesus and All Asiana, and the Smyrnaean Orthodox Church (Greek: Πατριαρχεῖον της Εφέσου Patriarcheíon ti̱s Efésou ; Arabic: بطريركية الروم الأرثوذكس في أفسس وجميع آسيانا), is an autocephalous Greek Orthodox Church. Headed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Ephesus.
The Church of Ephesus is one of the ancient patriarchates (i.e., Apostolic Holy Sees) that constituted the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church before the schism between Rome and the Orthodox patriarchates in 1098. Today it is one of the autocephalous Orthodox churches. In English translations of official documents, the Church of Ephesus refers to itself as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Ephesus, and All Asiana. The literal translation into English of the Arabic name is "Roman" (in Arabic, Rüm) Orthodox Patriarchate of Ephesus and All Asiana." However, the literal name "Rüm" does not actually mean Roman but Greek. The Arabs and the Turks refer to the Christians who belong to the Greek Orthodox Church (both Arabs and Greeks) as Rüm because the Byzantine Greek-speaking Orthodox have historically referred to themselves as Romioi. The Arabic word "Rum" derives from the Greek word "Romioi". This is one of the reasons why the Church of Ephesus refers to itself as Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Ephesus and All Asiana. The other reason is because it belongs to the family of the Greek Orthodox Churches which are: the Church of Constantinople (patriarchate), the Church of Antioch (patriarchate), the Church of Jerusalem (patriarchate), the Church of Alexandria (patriarchate), the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Sinai, the Church of Greece, and the Church of Albania.
The Church of Ephesus is the continuation of the Christian community founded in Ephesus by the Apostles John and Paul, who are its patron saints. In terms of hierarchical order of precedence, it currently ranks third after the Churches of Rome and Jerusalem. The Church of Ephesus is in full communion with Christopher II, Patriarch of Rome and Irenaios I, Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The seat of the patriarchate was formerly Ephesus (Efes), in what is now Turkey. Now it is in California, USA, located on the City of Lancaster. The current patriarch is His Beatitude Patriarch Avel I of Ephesus and All Asiana.
WHO WE ARE
The Orthodox Church is the oldest of the churches that call themselves Christian. After Roman Catholicism, it is the second largest Christian body in the world with over 225 million members.
On the other hand, this church is new to most people in North America and South America, because immigrants from traditionally Orthodox countries (mainly in eastern Europe and the Middle East) did not arrive in this country in large numbers until relatively late in American history. Consequently, in the U.S. and Canada we Orthodox Christians are fewer than six million. Also, unlike most of the European immigrants who arrived here from across the Atlantic, the earliest Orthodox Christians in America crossed in the opposite direction—from Russia to Alaska by way of the Baring Straits.
In the twentieth century alone, an estimated 40 million Orthodox Christians gave their lives for their faith, primarily under communism. So high is the commitment of many Orthodox Christians to Christ and His Church, she has often been called “the Church of the Martyrs.” She is the Church of all the great Christian theologians, scholars, and writers of antiquity (like Athanasius, Ambrose, Basil, and Chrysostom).
The Orthodox Church is the original Christian Church, the Church founded by the Lord Jesus Christ and described in the pages of the New Testament. Her history can be traced in unbroken continuity all the way back to Christ and His Twelve Apostles. For over twenty centuries she has continued in her undiminished and unaltered faith and practice. Today her apostolic doctrine, worship, and structure remain intact. The Orthodox Church maintains that the Church is the living Body of Jesus Christ.
Throughout the world the Orthodox Christian church is organized into various dioceses and jurisdictions, following the customs derived from ancient times. However, the Orthodox Church is one church – one faith and communion. This Church is based in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who has come in to the world as a man for the sake of our salvation. This is the foundational belief of every true Christian. “Orthodox” means right teaching or right worship, and we understand our Orthodox Christian faith to be the full and right revelation of God’s desire for us to believe in Him, know Him, abide in Him and receive eternal life from Him.
The clearest and most concise explanation of the Orthodox faith can be found in the ancient Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, formally drawn up at the first ecumenical council in Nicea (325) and at the second ecumenical council in Constantinople (381).
The word creed comes from the Latin word credo, which means “I believe.” In the Orthodox Church the creed is usually called The Symbol of Faith, which means literally the “bringing together”, and the “expression” or “confession” of the faith. This Creed, always recited at Baptism and the Holy Eucharist, is the official expression of the common and inherited faith that joins the Orthodox Christian congregations throughout the world and throughout history.
OUR HISTORY
The Church at Ephesus was founded in 52 AD. It was through the Jews that Christianity was first introduced into Ephesus. The original community was under the leadership of Apostle Apollo (I Corinthians 1:12). They were disciples of St. John the Baptist, and were converted by Aquila and Priscilla. Then (54-56 AD) come St. Paul, who lived three years at Ephesus to establish and organize the new Church, he was wont to teach in the schola or lectures hall of the rhetorica Tyrannus (Acts 19:9) and performed there many miracles. Eventually he was obliged to depart, in consequence of a sedition stirred up by the goldsmith Demetrius and other makers of ex-votoes for the temple of Diana (Acts 18:24; 19:1). Later in 57 AD, on his way to Jerusalem, he sent for the elders (Bishops) of the community of Ephesus to come to Miletos and bade them there a touching farewell (Acts 20:17-35). By 65 AD the Church of Ephesus was committed to his disciple St. Timothy, a native of the city (I Timothy 1,3; 2 Timothy 1,18; 4:12) In 66 AD a few years later, in all probability very soon after the beginning of the Jewish war, the city became the home of the Apostle John. During the reign of Domitian (81-96 AD) that the Apostle John was banish to Patmos. He was released and return to Ephesus, during the reign of Trajan. The Apostle John name St. Polycarp of Smyrna as his successor. In 100 AD the Holy Apostle John reposed in a miraculous manner.
Polycarp was a correspondent of St. Ignatius of Antioch, one of the other Apostolic Fathers. Ignatius addressed a letter to him, and mentions him in the letters to the Ephesians and to the Magnesians. Polycarp visited Rome during the time of Pope Anicetus, and found their customs for observing Pascha differed. They agreed to peaceably disagree on this matter. Polycarp was offered the opportunity of celebrating the Eucharist in the Pope's church. St. Irenaeus of Lyons, a disciple of Polycarp, relates how and when he became a Christian and in his letter to Florinus stated that he saw and heard him personally in lower Asia; in particular he heard the account of Polycarp's intercourse with John the Evangelist and with others who had seen Jesus Christ. Irenaeus also reports that Polycarp was converted to Christianity by apostles, was consecrated a bishop, and communicated with many who had seen Jesus. He repeatedly emphasizes the very old age of Polycarp. The Martyrdom has Polycarp himself give his age on the day of his death as 86 years.
Irenaeus noted: Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna…always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic Churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp.
During the first three centuries, the Holy See of St. John was, next to Antioch in rank of honor, for the Ephesian Church was the chief centre of Christianity in Asia Minor. In the year 190, during the time that Victor was Bishop of Rome, he disputed Polycrates of Ephesus concerning the date of the feast of Pascha that the Asians celebrated on the fourteenth of Nisan and the following night and while the Romans and the West celebrated on the Sunday after the fourteenth of Nisan. Victor showed great concern about the practice of the Asians, who were called ‘’Quartodecimans’’ by the Romans, to the point that he severed ties with the Asian bishops who opposed the Roman practice that he supported. St. Polycrates wrote a Epistle to Victor that the Church in Asia Minor will follow the Tradition that was given to them by the Apostle John and his successor.
It is certain that the 6 canon of the Council of NIcaea (325), confirmed for the See of Ephesus its Ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the whole Diocese or civil territory of Asia, also its rank of honor after Antioch, Alexandria and Rome. The 2 canon of the Council of Constantinople (381) formally recognized this authority. Later in years, the Patriarchs Memnon of Ephesus and Cyril of Alexandria presided the Third Ecumenical Council held at Ephesus in 431 In condemnation of Nestorianism. Years later, Stephen of Ephesus supported Dioscorus at the so-called Robber Council of 449, which approved the heresy of Eutyches. Stephen and another bishop in Ephesus were disposed and a new bishop was enthroned by the Council of Chalcedon (451), whose famous 28 canon placed the 28 ecclesiastical providence of Asia, Pontus, and Thrace under the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople, but this Apostolic Sees did accepted this canon without putting a fight.
A Council (Third Council of Ephesus) was held in the Anatolian city of Ephesus in 475. It was presided over by Pope Timothy II of Alexandria, and also attended by Peter the Fuller, then Patriarch of Antioch, Paul of Ephesus and Anastasius I of Jerusalem. There were reportedly 500-700 bishops present at the council. It ratified a recent encyclical of Emperor Basiliscus which condemned the Council of Chalcedon and particularly the Tome of Leo. This council thus constitutes one the most significant synodical condemnations of Chalcedon for the Oriental Orthodox. In response to the accusations of certain Chalcedonians that they, the Non-Chalcedonians, had adopted the erroneous teachings of Eutyches, the attendees of Ephesus III summarily anathematized Eutyches and those of his teachings which compromised the humanity of Christ. Additionally, the council restored the complete autocephaly and ancient rights of the Patriarchate of Ephesus, which had been compromised at Chalcedon by ascribing authority to the Patriarch of Constantinople over Thrace, Pontus, and Asia.
Ephesus was taken in 655 and 717 by the Arabs. Later it became the capital of the theme of the Thracesians. During the Iconoclastic period two bishops of Ephesus suffered martyrdom, Hypatius in 735 and Theophilus in the ninth century. In the same city the fierce general Lachanodracon put to death thirty-eight monks from the monastery of Pelecete in Bithynia and other partisans of the holy images. In 899 Leo the Wise transferred the relics of St. Mary Magdalen to Constantinople. The city was captured in 1090 and destroyed by the Seljuk Turks, but the Byzantines succeeded in retaking it and rebuilt it on the neighboring hills around the church of St. John. Henceforth it was commonly called Hagios Theologos (the holy theologian, i.e. St. John the Divine), At the beginning of the thirteenth century Patriarch Nicholas of Ephesus, had an important role at the conferences between the Greeks and the Latins. The city was again plundered by the Turks in the first years of the fourteenth century, then by the Catalonian mercenaries in the pay of the Byzantines, and once more by the Turks. The church of St. John was transformed into a mosque, and the city was ruled by a Turkish ameer, who carried on a little trade with the West. A series of Latin bishops try to governed the see from 1318 to 1411. The ruin of Ephesus was completed by Timur-Leng in 1403 and by nearly a half-century of civil wars among its Turkish masters. When at the council of Florence in 1439 St. Mark II of Ephesus defends the Church from the false union and from the heresy of Rome.
Many Christians from Asia Minor took refuge in Venice, Italy during the 15 century. The Patriarchate of Ephesus was obligated to move to Venice and there the Patriarch Gabriel of Ephesus change his title to Metropolitan of Philadelphia in Venice, and Supreme Patriarch of all Lydia (Asia Minor). During the episcopate of Patriarch Meletios of Philadelphia in Venice (18 century), the Pope of Rome demanded obedience, and Meletios submitted to the authority of the heretical Pope of Rome. Meletios was deposed by the Holy Synod of Philadelphia (Ephesus), Since then the Pope of Rome ordains a Latin Patriarch of Venice. And since the 1500s the Patriarch of Constantinople has total authority of Asia Minor.
Many Christians including the clergy returned to Smyrna in Asia Minor. There Patriarch Dionysios change the name of the Patriarchate to the Patriarchate of Smyrna. He was martyred by the Arabs, and the Church of Smyrna returned again to Venice. In 1789 the Patriarchate of Smyrna was without bishops and without a Patriarch. The Church in Venice asked to the Patriarch of Constantinople to give them a bishop, but at first the Patriarch of Constantinople refused. The See of Constantinople granted the request, and a Patriarch of Smyrna was enthrone by the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Dalmatian Church. And the name of the Patriarchate of Smyrna was change to Patriarchate of Ephesus.
The Pope of Rome ordered the holy inquisition to persecuted the Orthodox Church of Ephesus in the 19 century. The Church of Ephesus took refuge in Spain. There is Spain the Ephesian Church was persecuted by the King of Spain, for not submitting to the Pope of Rome. After the end of the Spanish inquisition, the bishops of the Church of Ephesus migrated to the Americas in 1890s. Where the See of Ephesus is now, the Holy Synod decided that the American Continent shall be the new home and jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Ephesus. The Synod named the American Continent, New Asia.