In the footsteps of St Paul

 Time is passing quickly. My last blog was ten days ago; so since then, we have had two full days off. Each time we repeated things we have done before – we find it difficult to travel to new places, as it’s not always easy or comfortable (we’re not great fans of bus journeys, especially in crowded minibuses!)

 Last week, we went to Foça – ancient Phocaia. It was the base for many sea journeys around the Mediterranean; Phocaians are credited with establishing colonies at Marseilles, and in Spain. It’s still an active port, with numerous small fishing boats, and many tourist boats. It retains many of its 19^th century ‘Greek-style’ houses, and it’s always pleasant to walk beside the sea. There are ruins of a  classical Temple, to which there is no public access; remains of a Genoese fort and an old mosque. All the Orthodox churches were destroyed in a massacre of Greeks at the start of the Great War. But despite its painful history, it is a calm and pleasant place.

This week, we enjoyed our annual pilgrimage to Ephesus; it takes a couple of hours to Selçuk by Izban trains, with a further taxi or minibus journey. But it is a remarkable place – extensive, with some splendid ruins, notably the two theatres, the Agoras and the famous Library of Celsus. A large ruined basilica, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was the site of the third Ecumenical Council in 431. And of course, one remembers St Paul’s visits and sojourn in the city. The first time we went, in July 2016, its almost deserted, as there had been terrorist attacks and an attempted coup in Türkiye shortly before, and tourists were obviously discouraged. This time it was crowded, with tour parties from cruise ships and elsewhere. But it’s good so many people want to come to this special place.

 We are here to minister, of course, and we have continued with the Sunday Eucharists; attendance is around 30 – some different people each week, and a number of regulars have been away. The fact that many of the congregation do not have good English can be a little inhibiting, as far as preaching is concerned; but there are a number of young university students and others who are eager to learn more. Most people stay in the church hall for an hour afterwards, and some then adjourn to a local restaurant for lunch together. The weekly Bible Study is usually challenging and interesting. There is an enthusiasm, and desire to learn, that one does not always experience in England.

 This area of Izmir, Alsancak, attracts many young people, especially in the evenings; they come to walk and talk,  to go to the bars and cafés. There seems to have been a proliferation of the latter, offering a wide range of ‘Western’ coffees, as well as the Turkish coffee (which we like.) There are often some rather delicious cakes! On the whole, behaviour seems calm and sensible, with little of the rowdiness that can be seen sometimes in British cities. In the same way, there are usually groups of people – often young people – sitting and talking on the Kordon. We always feel perfectly safe. People are friendly and welcoming.

 Izmir has its downsides. Litter is a problem – every morning we see cigarette ends, plastic bags and bottles and empty beer cans all along the Kordon – and in the sea. There is no clearly organised recycling. Domestic refuse has to be taken and thrown into large open wheeled bins in the back streets – where each day it gets sorted by hand by obviously underpaid and under-nourished men, and children. One often sees them dragging loads of rubbish in large sacks on barrows. Traffic in the narrow streets is rather a nightmare. It’s sometimes hard to see what the rules are, cars park wherever they can, and motorbikes go everywhere, including along pedestrianised streets in both directions. Often the bikes are electric, and there are many electric scooters. So no pollution – but more chance of one coming up behind us without warning!

 We’ve also visited a newly opened carpet museum, in Bornova, set in a beautifully refurbished Levantine mansion, I hadn’t realised how many different varieties of carpet Turkey could boast of. It would be interesting to compare designs and methods with those of the famous Axminster carpet weavers.

 Only two more Sundays, and then we pack up and return (though our journey home will be rather complicated, thanks to the train drivers strike!)

 

Getting Settled by the Aegean

 We are settling more into Izmir ways – including starting most days (after Morning Prayer) with a walk along the Kordon by the Aegean Sea before breakfast. We’ve eaten out a couple of evenings – including one strange experience, when I ordered two different dishes, chicken for Jo and köfte for me, only for the waiter to bring two plates of each, claiming that was what I had ordered. How we were supposed to eat two meals is a mystery, but fortunately the manager told him to remove the superfluous plates!

 For our day off last week, we took the tram to Űçkuyular, where there is lovely recreation area around a lagoon. We walked along by the beach, among a variety of semi-tropical trees, with different sea-birds around (including one flamingo). Lots of families go there for picnics and bathing.

 Other leisure activities included our regular Sunday afternoon ‘voyage’ across to Bostanlı by vapur (the water-buses which criss-cross the gulf to and from different areas of Izmir.) We usually treat ourselves to an ice-cream, but this time came across a lovely little café that served excellent Turkish coffee and delicious cheesecake. And we had another coffee one afternoon after spending two or three hours at the really good new Museum of Art and Culture opposite the church. A big improvement on the old one; it was encouraging that it recognised the multi-culturalism of Smyrna’s history, with a number of references and displays of Christian artefacts. (And the tourist leaflet includes a downloadable walk around Izmir’s churches, as well as one around its mosques.)

 We’ve continued with the weekly pattern of Sunday Eucharist, Tuesday Zoom Evening Prayer and Wednesday Bible Study (today we had 8 in the office and 5 on line!) I mentioned last week that Jo and I are older than most of the congregation – but it doesn’t seem to matter, and the younger members (several students at one of Izmir’s universities) are comfortable talking to and sharing with us. Indeed, we had two of the students with us on Saturday afternoon, when we opened the church for visitors – not as many as sometimes, because there were activities around the Kordon (for the 101^st anniversary of Ataturk’s victory over the Greek forces defending Smyrna – after which most Armenians and Greeks were driven out of the city.) 

There are certainly some restrictions on freedoms in Türkiye – the media is inhibited, if not censored, and most institutions have been purged of any critics of the government. But it is a relaxed and friendly country, and always feels safe and comfortable. There are many police in evidence in the streets and on the Kordon – but their presence seems pretty benign. There is no obvious feeling of there being surveillance of the population (there seem to be no more CCTV cameras than in the UK.) Churches are free to gather; some discretion is called for – but that is also true in France. The only change since our first visit is that non-Turks leading Turkish churches have been refused continuing visas.

 Residency permission is certainly getting more difficult: several church members have been unable to gain permanent resident permission, and so have to move between Türkiye and another country on 3-monthly intervals. And in general there has been a strong clampdown on refugees and others without full papers, many of whom have been deported, especially back to Iran. Others have been deprived of any medical care. So it is not all good news. But one church member is finding it absurdly difficult to get a green card to move to the States, where his wife is living. 

 To finish on a lighter note, the church cat, Cleopatra, waylaid us on our way to church on our first morning in Izmir. She welcomes stroking and expects to be fed on a daily basis, something she shares with her ‘understudy’ Henrietta. But we certainly had the impression that she remembered us from last year. So we have had a good ‘welcome back to Izmir’, all round.

Izmir 2023

 

It’s a week since we left Axminster, to travel to London and Izmir, via Stansted airport. So we are now reasonably acclimatised, to being 2 hours ahead of British time, and expecting a normal daytime temperature around 32°C.

Izmir has not changed much in the past 12 months, except that we now look over to a new Museum of History and Culture, in renovated buildings that were formerly a tobacco factory, and the view of the hills to the east is largely obscured by more new tower blocks; so we don’t get such a good view of the rising sun while we say Morning Prayer together.

St John’s has changed a bit. The interior has been re-decorated, and the electrical system replaced, with good new lights. The congregation at the Eucharist on Sunday was about 30, of whom only 4 or 5 were around in our first visit in 2016. There is still a good mixture of nationalities, with native English-speakers a definite minority. Most of the others have quite good English, but some are attracted more by the atmosphere and ‘style’ of the worship. Most people gather for refreshments in the church hall afterwards, and the discussions and conversations continue for up to an hour.

We’ve also shared in one on-line Evening Service, with a congregation of 5, one of whom was in a car in the States; and at the Bible Study 7 gathered in the chaplain’s office and 3 were on-line. How church life has changed since the pandemic (before which hardly any of us had heard of Zoom)!

The mixture of the congregation is always attractive – a foretaste of the eternal gathering of that ‘great multitude that no-one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb’ (Revelation 7:9). It’s also challenging, as is the fact that Jo and I are clearly older than most of the church members. It also probably creates some problems in achieving a strong sense of solidarity and belonging; but it’s moving in the right direction, and gives some hope that this is a church with a future.

It's too early to make any real comments on Turkish society. Economically, the last few years have been difficult: inflation is over 30% this year, but the lira has been so devalued against the euro that the price rises make little impact on us – food is still cheaper than in Britain. There are more empty shops than we remember from last year, but some new cafés have opened.

The annual ‘International Fair’ is taking place at the moment, in Kulturpark. There are plenty of food-stalls and market stalls, plus various displays and exhibitions. There are evening concerts. But it’s hard for foreigners like us to navigate, as the only maps are exclusively in Turkish, as are most of the displays – so it doesn’t feel terribly ‘international’.  But perhaps that’s a rebuke to our assumption that everybody ought to speak English!

It is right for us to be here, though we are perhaps more aware of our being older than when we first visited Izmir. Please continue to think of us – and pray for us, if you are inclined to. 

Blessings to all our readers.