Ephesus holds significant connections to St. Paul, who lived and preached there for over two years, establishing a strong Christian community that he later addressed in his letters to the Ephesians.
While the list of former residents of Ephesus reads like a Who’s Who of the ancient world, there’s one name that stands above them all: the Apostle Paul, who made the city his base for more than two years while traveling in Asia Minor on missionary work.
When Paul came to this cosmopolitan city around the year 53, it was already home to a small Christian community. It was in Ephesus that Paul wrote his First Letter to the Corinthians, one of the best-loved of all the books of the Bible. While in Ephesus Paul tended to new converts and tried tirelessly to make more. Most in the city likely saw him as just another itinerant crank peddling his version of yet another deity.
In time, however, Paul’s passionate preaching began to make waves in Ephesus, particularly among the artisans who crafted miniature versions of Artemis and her temple for sale to pilgrims and tourists.
When the silversmith Demetrius heard there was a man in the city saying that gods made by humans were not gods at all and should not be worshipped, he realized that his livelihood was at stake. Demetrius and his fellow artisans marched to the amphitheater shouting, “Great is Artemis of Ephesus!”
They found some of Paul’s followers and hustled them along with them, creating a scene that threatened to turn violent. City officials intervened and Paul was forced to leave Ephesus.
An Important Center for the Early Church
After Paul’s departure, Ephesus played a crucial role in the spread and consolidation of Christianity in Asia Minor. The strong Christian community he had established continued to thrive, and the city became a hub for theological and ecclesiastical development. According to tradition, John the Apostle lived in Ephesus after Paul, caring for the Virgin Mary, who was believed to have spent her final days there.
Ephesus gained further significance in 431 CE as the site of the Third Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church. This council affirmed the title of Theotokos (“God-bearer”) for the Virgin Mary, resolving the Nestorian controversy and solidifying key theological doctrines. The city’s bishops played important roles in addressing heresies and establishing orthodoxy, cementing Ephesus as a center of early church leadership.
The city’s prominence is also reflected in the Book of Revelation, where Ephesus is one of the Seven Churches of Revelation mentioned. The letter to the Ephesian church commends their perseverance and rejection of false teachings but warns them to renew their love and faithfulness. Over time, Ephesus became a major pilgrimage site due to landmarks such as the Basilica of St. John and the House of the Virgin Mary, which continue to draw visitors today.
I can imagine Paul walking on the harbor road at right, struggling to form the words he will write to the community of Christians at Corinth. Returning to his modest home at the end of a long and tiring day, he picks up his pen and creates this passage, words that still vibrate with power long after the mighty Temple of Artemis has crumbled to dust and Ephesus itself has sunk into slumber:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing…
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Lori Erickson is one of America’s top travel writers specializing in spiritual journeys. She’s the author of books that include Holy Rover, Near the Exit, The Soul of the Family Tree, and Every Step Is Home. Her website Spiritual Travels features holy sites around the world.
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