Map of Western Anatolia showing the "Seven Churches of Asia" and the Greek island of Patmos
As one of the principal cities of Roman Asia,[1] Smyrna vied with Ephesus and Pergamum for the title "First City of Asia."
A Christian church and a bishopric existed here from earliest times, probably originating in the considerable Jewish colony. It was one of the seven churches addressed in the Book of Revelation.[2] Saint Ignatius of Antioch visited Smyrna and later wrote letters to its bishop, Polycarp. A mob of Jews and pagans abetted the martyrdom of Polycarp in AD 153.[1] Saint Irenaeus, who heard Polycarp as a boy, was probably a native of Smyrna.[1] Another famous resident of the same period was Aelius Aristides.[3]
After a destructive earthquake in 178 AD, Smyrna was rebuilt in the Roman period (2nd century AD) under the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aelius Aristides wrote a letter to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus, inviting them to become the new founders of the city.[3] The bust of the emperor's wife Faustina on the second arch of the western stoa confirms this fact.
Polycrates reports a succession of bishops including Polycarp of Smyrna, as well as others in nearby cities such as Melito of Sardis. Related to that time the German historian W. Bauer wrote:
Asian Jewish Christianity received in turn the knowledge that henceforth the "church" would be open without hesitation to the Jewish influence mediated by Christians, coming not only from the apocalyptic traditions, but also from the synagogue with its practices concerning worship, which led to the appropriation of the Jewish passover observance. Even the observance of the sabbath by Christians appears to have found some favor in Asia...we find that in post-apostolic times, in the period of the formation of ecclesiastical structure, the Jewish Christians in these regions come into prominence.[4]
In the late second century, Irenaeus also 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.[5]
Tertullian wrote c. 208 AD:
Anyhow the heresies are at best novelties, and have no continuity with the teaching of Christ. Perhaps some heretics may claim Apostolic antiquity: we reply: Let them publish the origins of their churches and unroll the catalogue of their bishops till now from the Apostles or from some bishop appointed by the Apostles, as the Smyrnaeans count from Polycarp and John, and the Romans from Clement and Peter; let heretics invent something to match this.[6]
Hence, apparently the church in Smyrna was one of the churches that Tertullian felt had real apostolic succession.
During the mid-3rd century, most became affiliated with the Greco-Roman churches.
When Constantinople became the seat of government, the trade between Anatolia and the West diminished in importance, and Smyrna declined.
The Seljuq commander Tzachas seized Smyrna in 1084 and used it as a base for naval raids, but the city was recovered by the general John Doukas.
The city was several times ravaged by the Turks, and had become quite ruinous when the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes rebuilt it about 1222.
References[]
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- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cross, F. L., ed. (2005). "Smyrna". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press.
- ↑ Revelation 1:11 and Revelation 2:8–11
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Saavedra Monroy, Mauricio (2015). pp. 41–42. Peter Lang Edition.
- ↑ pp. 87–89. Sigler Press (1996).
- ↑ Irenaeus. Adversus Haeres. Book III, Chapter 4, Verse 3 and Chapter 3, Verse 4
- ↑ Tertullian. Liber de praescriptione haereticorum, circa 208 A.D.
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