Church of Antioch
The Church of Antioch (Arabic: كنيسة أنطاكية, romanized: kánīsa ʾanṭākiya; Arabic pronunciation: [ka.niː.sa ʔan.tˤaː.ki.ja]) was the first of the five major churches of the early pentarchy in Christianity, with its primary seat in the ancient Greek city of Antioch (present-day Antakya, Turkey).
For other uses, see Church of Antioch (disambiguation).The earliest record of the church of Antioch is given in Acts 11, stating that some "men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Grecians, preaching the Lord Jesus [...] and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord."[1] Later, at the start of their missionary journeys, Paul the Apostle (also called Saul) and Barnabas preached in Antioch for a year, and followers of the church were called "Christians" for the first time.[2]
History[edit]
Followers of Jesus as the messiah trace the origin of the term Christian to the church established at Antioch, which was founded at Pentecost in Jerusalem. According to verses 19–26 of Acts 11, Barnabas went to Tarsus in search of Saul and brought him to Antioch. They met with the church and taught for a year. The disciples, who had been scattered because of persecution in Jerusalem, were first called Christians in Antioch. This name was later recognised by the Apostles in Jerusalem.[3] One of the leading members of this group was Barnabas, who was sent to organize the new church. The group later became the Patriarchate of Antioch, part of the pentarchy as one of the five great patriarchates.
Saul, also known as Paul the Apostle, began his missionary journeys in Antioch.[2] According to Acts, Judaizers from Jerusalem caused a disturbance in the church.[4] Paul started his first missionary journey from Antioch and returned there.[5][6] After the Jerusalem decree to the gentile converts in Antioch, Paul began his second missionary journey from Antioch.[7] His third journey also began there. Ignatius then served as bishop there for forty years until his martyrdom in 107 AD.[8]
Antioch served as a central point for sending missionaries to the gentiles, probably after the Great Commission. Nicolas, one of the Seven Deacons, was a missionary from Antioch. According to the Alexandrine manuscript of Acts 11:20–26, the Christians dispersed by the martyrdom of Stephen preached to the idolatrous Greeks of Antioch, not to "Grecians" or Greek-speaking Jews.
Antioch was also the birthplace of John Chrysostom, a prominent Christian father who died in 407 AD.[9]
The seat of the Patriarchate was originally in Antioch (in present-day Turkey). In response to the Ottoman invasion in the 15th century, it was moved to Syria.
Some ancient synagogue priestly rites and hymns of Greek origin have partially survived to the modern day, particularly in the unique worship of the Melkite and Greek Orthodox communities in the Turkish Hatay province, Syria, Lebanon and northern Israel. Members of these communities still refer to themselves as Rūm, which literally means "Eastern Romans" or "Byzantines" in Turkish, Persian and Arabic. The term Rūm is preferred to Yūnāniyyūn, which means "Greek" or "Ionian".