Saint Paulus

The Church of St. Paul

The church which is located in the south of the city, about 200 meters south of Ulu Mosque is thought to be built in 11th or 12th Century B.C. and dedicated to St. Paul. In recent years, the building underwent restoration work. In the interior, the nave is separated from the aisles by rows of four columns each and covered with vaults. At the center of the ceiling there are frescos depicting Jesus Christ, St. John, St. Matthews, St. Mark and St.Luke, the four Holy Apostles who wrote the four accepted versions of the Holy Bible. The church also has a belfry.

There are figures depicting angels and a landscape next to the window opening to the nave. There is also a wooden mezzanine above the entrance to the building supported by two columns.

Today, the church is serving as a museum. But pious Christians come here frequently for pilgrimage.


The Well of St. Paul

The remnants of a house uncovered at a courtyard in a neighborhood of old Tarsus houses about 250 meters north of the Republic Square (Cumhuriyet Meydani) is believed to belong To St. Paul. There is a well in the courtyard, which is called St. Paul’s Well. During an excavation parts of house walls were discovered in the courtyard believed to belong to St. Paul’s house. The remnants of the house could be seen through a glass covering the excavated walls.

The mouth of the well is cylindrical and has a diameter of 1.15 meters. The well itself is rectangular and made out of rectangularly hewn rocks. It is 38 meters deep and has water the year round.

Christians passing through here on their way to pilgrimage in Jerusalem drink the water of this well, which they consider holy.




St. Paul (Paulus)
St. Paul (born Saul) was born during the time of Jesus Christ in Tarsus to a well to do Jewish family. His father was a Roman citizen and a maker of tents. He was sent to Jerusalem as a young by for education. As a young man he was a militant anti-Christian Pharisee. He even took part in the stoning of St. Stephen who was the first Christian martyr.
But during a trip to Damascus he met with Jesus Christ and adopted Christian teachings. After his baptism he took Paul as his name. He dedicated himself to spreading Christianity and traveled far and wide. His long travels during the 1st Century A.D. were the first and the most effective missionary work in the name of Christianity.


These journeys described in the Holy Bible took St. Paul to the lands around the Mediterranean, Aegean and the Greek islands. St. Paul by giving his powerful sermons, founded the first Christian communities in all these lands.

First Missionary Journey
St. Paul’s first missionary journey started at Antiocheia, (today’s Antakya). St. Barnabas accompanied him on this journey at sea. They arrived at Attalia (today’s Antalya) sailing through Cyprus. From Attalia they went to Pisidia Antiocheia (today’s Isparta, Yalvaç) via Perge. St. Paul gave his first sermon at a synagogue in Pisidia Antiocheia in the year 46 A.D. On the location of this synagogue, a church consecrated to St. Paul was built in later years. St. Paul and St. Barnabas traveled to Iconium (today’s Konya), Listra and Derbe (Karaman area near Konya) and then returned to Perge to take a ship from the port of Attalia that took them back to Antiocheia of Cilicia. After this first missionary journey, the doctrine of Christianity began spreading throughout Anatolia within a very short period of time. The fact that hundreds of churches were built only in Derbe is indicative of the vigor Christianity took roots in these lands. The area around Derbe is still called by the name “Binbir Kilise“ meaning “A thousand and one churches” in Turkish. 
 
The second and third missionary journeys take St. Paul again from Antioceia of Cilicia to Anatolia and then as far as Macedonia. During this period that covered years 48 to 56 A.D. St. Paul stayed in Ephesus twice; in the year 51 and then in 54 He probably wrote his Epistles here in Ephesus. However, the Ephesians considered this new faith to be dangerous and they did not allow St. Paul to stay in their city. Christian missionaries were beginning to disturb the Roman rulers too.
 
St. Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and taken to Rome. During this last journey St. Paul passes through Caesarea (today’s Kayseri), Sidon (Side), Myra (Demre), Knidos (Datca), Crete and Malta. In Rome St. Paul’s mission that began in the year 46 and went on for years braving so many dangers and difficulties was going to end at a trial that condemned him to death in the year 65 A.D. It was St. Paul who set up the first Christian communities and churches in Asia Minor and Eastern Mediterranean. That is why his house in Tarsus and the well in its courtyard are always visited by pious Christians. The Vatican also considers this place as one the holy shrine worthy of pilgrimage.