Our journey here went very smoothly. It was easier to get through passport control to enter Türkiye (as the country wishes to be called), than it was getting back into the UK after our pilgrimage in May! And the pre-booked taxi got us to our overnight hotel in good time. Now we are in the chaplain’s flat, on the sixth floor of an older building, with its view of St John’s church, and beyond, to Mount Pagus (though that has been largely obscured now by newly constructed tower blocks.) It’s been hot – up to 35° during the day, and around 25° at night.) We’ve done some basic shopping, walked by the Aegean on the Kordon, in the morning and in the evening, and our body-clocks have adjusted to the 2-hour difference.
What has changed since our last visit, three years ago? New blocks being constructed, and some older buildings being demolished; a few empty shops, but there seem to be a number of new coffee houses, which are popular. There has been marked price inflation – but the exchange rate means that nothing is more expensive for us, and some things seem absurdly cheap. I have forgotten much of the little Turkish I learned, but we’ve managed to get SIM cards, so we can keep in touch with locals, and have got a broken pump on the water container fixed (mains water isn’t recommended for drinking, so water is delivered in 17 litre ‘carboys’.) People are still very friendly and helpful. The city is still full of young people and students, and the roads are full of cars!
Izmir is a fairly tolerant and secular city. There are numerous mosques, and some large new ones have been built in the past decade. But it doesn’t appear, or feel, strongly Moslem. Relatively few women wear hijabs, and hardly any veil their faces. It’s good to see young women together, with a variety of clothing, including some with head scarves. And there are probably more Christian churches per head of population than in many Turkish cities: St John’s is very visible, and the building is shared by the Turkish/English language Lighthouse (Işık) Church; there are 7 or 8 Catholic churches, and a number of evangelical churches, some meeting in adapted shops.
Our first Sunday Eucharist went smoothly. The congregation was about 25, of whom we knew about 10, either from our previous visits, or through ‘meeting’ on the Zoom Bible Study. In many ways, it’s a typical Anglican service, taken straight from Common Worship, with hymns from BBC Songs of Praise. The only things that distinguish it are the Turkish parallel translations of the text, and the reading of the Gospel in English and Turkish. But more than half the congregation are Turkish or Iranian; the server is from Lebanon. Some live very precarious lives, with uncertain futures. It’s probably more like the mixture that prevailed in the early Christian house-churches, than what prevails in most of our comfortable Anglican churches today.
We are once more reminded how blessed we are, as Christians and Anglicans, to belong to a truly world-wide community of believers. Jo and I are fortunate to be able to move around the Diocese in Europe, offering ministry in many different countries. (Our waitress at the hotel in Stansted was quite envious of us!) We look forward to getting more involved in the life of the St John’s community, and learning from, as well as contributing something to, them.
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