The Trace of Christianity in Turkey

A History of Evangelism

Turkey, at this moment, is a secular Islamic republic, but in its history this country once became a part of the Roman Empire (4^th century),  Byzantine (4^th – 13^th century), and Latin  Empire (13^th century) before fell for  the Ottoman Dynasty (1453-1922)whose King began spreading Islam in this region.  

Despite today’s reality, Turkey keeps many historical trails in Christian evangelism (the New Testament).  Some of the facts worth knowing  about Christianity trails are  :

1.   Turkey was the birthplace of several saint/ martyrs. Saint Paul was born in  Tarsus, a region on Southern Turkey, while St.Pauls’s  evangelism covered some areas in Turkey, and also Greece and Cyprus which are  neighbors.  Saint Timothy, Nicholas and  Polycarpus also came from Turkey. 
 

2.   Paul and Barnabas as apostles spread  the Bible in Anthiochia region for about one year. At that time, Anthiochia was a part of Syria . Now the area is in Turkey’s  region called Antakya. This has been the place where followers of Jesus Christ were called ‘Christians’ for the first time(Acts  11:25-27). From  Anthiochia, Paul and Barnabas conducted the first missionary journey  to Cyprus.

St.Paul's Missionary Map (source:www.ccel.org)