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The road to Mary’s house slopes steeply towards Ephesus and is surrounded by Cyprus trees and mountains the landscape of Turkey lies before you in incredible vistas. Apparently, Mary preferred this remote, peaceful area and was brought here by the Disciple John where she stayed until her Assumption into heaven. The House of the Virgin Mary in Selçuk has been visited by three previous popes – Pope Paul VI in 1967, Pope John Paul II in 1976 and Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. The House of the Virgin Mary is located on the top of Mount Koressos near Ephesus in Turkey. Our cruise ship docked at Selcuk in Turkey and from there we arranged to be picked up by a local tour guide.
I'm no longer Catholic, but I still carry a statue of the Virgin Mary - The Washington Post
I'm no longer Catholic, but I still carry a statue of the Virgin Mary.
Posted: Fri, 18 Aug 2017 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Port of Ephesus
As Foundress of Mary’s House, a position given to her by the Church, she took up the task of restoring and preserving the site. We poured out of the bus and followed Dilek, our tour guide, along the stone path that led to the ancient house. As we stood there before the house, each with an earpiece so that Dilek wouldn’t need to raise her voice, she told us the very strange tale of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich and the finding of the house. Years after Emmerich's visions, a French clergyman named Gouyet read Brentano's account and traveled to Ephesus to find the House of the Virgin. He found a house matching the nun's description and sent word to the bishops of Paris and Rome, but didn't receive much of a response.
Visiting the House of Mary in Ephesus Turkey
These ancient cults of female deities were later echoed in the worship of St. Mary, mother of Jesus, that supposedly spent the last years of her life in Ephesus. According to this tradition, Mary arrived at Ephesus together with St. John and lived there until her Assumption (according to the Catholic doctrine) or Dormition (according to the Orthodox beliefs). The House of the Virgin Mary (Meryem Ana Evi in Turkish) which can be still visited today, is a place where, according to the beliefs of many people, Mary, the mother of Jesus, spent the last years of her life. However, similarly to the history of St. John, there are many questions and uncertainties regarding this location.
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In 2006 a fire destroyed nearly 3,000 acres of forest in the surrounding area. It continued to spread, until three sides of the Meryemana Evi were surrounded, and a burning tree had fallen on the roof. The flames had gotten to within a meter of the house, and then somehow ceased to go any nearer, as if being barred by Providence.
Holy Well of St. John the Baptist
The house of the Virgin Mary near Selcuk is close to Ephesus ancient city ruins in Turkey’s Izmir province. Yet despite immense popularity, many people do not take a detour to visit the suspected mountain house where Mother Mary lived and died. Although the Catholic Church never confirmed the Virgin Mary’s house to be the place of her assumption, three popes have visited. The Catholic Church takes responsibility for running the house through donations and funding. The drive up the mountain is absolutely stunning and the site is beautifully peaceful and serene. I do not believe in either, but the Virgin Mary’s house is a quiet serene place and lends weight to the story that Mary lived part of her life in the ancient city of Ephesus, with Saint Paul and John.
This statue was gifted to the area in 1867 by a religious community from Izmir. As you go to the church, you’ll find some small souvenir shops before reaching a spacious garden. In the center of this garden is a baptismal pool designed in the shape of a key.
Original church
He did not find any indication of an earlier structure, from before the Byzantine era. The suggestions were also made that there are older foundations below the building, possibly from the first century CE, but at that time no material evidence to support this theory was available. Moreover, the bodies in the clay pits discovered to the west of the church were buried with their heads towards the building and held Byzantine coins from the 7th and the 8th centuries CE in their hands. Their pilgrimage to this site was made every year on the 15th of August, the day when the Christians around the world commemorated the Dormition/Assumption of St. Mary. These findings seem to confirm that when Brentano prepared the books for the publication, he inserted the information widely known around Ayasuluk and Şirince.
The water from the fountains is from the springs nearby and it is believed to have healing powers therefore visitors not only drink from those fountains but also fill their bottles to take home. Teams were sent to the location to start excavations and the foundations of a house that belonged to 1st century AD were unearthed. The restoration work was done in the 50’s and Vatican proclaimed the house as a holy place. In 1967, Pope VI Paul, in 1979 Pope II Jean Paul and recently Pope XVI benedict made their pilgrimage to the Virgin Mary House.
The strange case of Catherine Emmerich and Clemens Brentano
While some believe she spent her final years in Ephesus, Turkey, no concrete evidence supports this claim. The House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus is considered a possible location but lacks conclusive archaeological or historical evidence. On the other hand, Jerusalem also claims her burial place, with the Church of the Dormition on Mount Zion being a significant pilgrimage site. The Roman Catholic Church hasn’t officially confirmed either location’s authenticity, leaving it a matter of faith and tradition.
Thus, whether Mary is buried in Turkey or Jerusalem remains a matter of belief and interpretation for different Christian denominations. In 19th century, a German nun named Catherine Emmerich, who had never been to Ephesus before, got sick and bedridden. She kept mumbling about Virgin Mary’s House in her delirious state, she gave such details about people, places and events that people got curious as she hadn’t ever been to those places or known those people. Clemens Brentano, a German poet of the romantic movement, acted as a secretary to Emmerich and wrote a book named “The Life of Virgin Mary” in 1818 based on the nun’s descriptions. The book created a big buzz in those years and religious clerks started discovery tours to the area mentioned in the book. According to the story, during one of those trips, the house sitting on the side of Mount Bulbul, 7 km to the city of Ephesus was discovered.
The common Christian belief is that Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, came to Ephesus with St. John after the Crucifixion of Christ and the two lived the rest of their lives near the city. The shrine has merited several papal Apostolic Blessings and visits from several popes including Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI. After adaptation and renovation, it was reopened as an opera house in 2011. A resident professional contemporary ballet company, Marigny Opera Ballet, was founded there in 2014. Naturally, as a place of worship, silence is expected and a conservative dress code is in place. The parking lot leads up to the house and you will see a cafe, souvenir shops and then the first landmark is the baptism pool and a seating area for monthly services.
Neither Brentano nor Emmerich had ever been to Ephesus, and the city had not yet been excavated at that time. On the one hand, he might have told Emmerich about the Nightingale's Hill that had been considered a sacred location since the times unknown. The local Greek population made pilgrimages to this hill annually, and its holiness was widely accepted. On the other hand, Brentano may have simply added the necessary details to her visions later, when he prepared the notes for publication.
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