Seven Churches of Asia

Seven churches of Asia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the seven churches mentioned in the Book of Revelation. For other uses of see Seven Churches (disambiguation).

[pic]

[pic]

Map of Western Anatoliashowing the island Patmos and the locations of the cities housing the seven churches.

The Seven Churches of Revelation, also known as The Seven Churches of the Apocalypse andThe Seven Churches of Asia (referring to the Roman province of Asia, not the entire continent), are seven major churches of Early Christianity, as mentioned in the New Testament Book of Revelation and written to by Ignatius of Antioch. All seven sites are in modern-day Turkey and no longer have significant Christian populations since they were emptied of Christians under the Treaty of Lausanne. In Revelation, on the Greek island of Patmos, Jesus Christ instructs his servant John to: "Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis, and to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."[1]

"Churches" in this context refers to the community of Christians living in each city, and not merely to the building or buildings in which they gathered for worship.[2][3]

The seven churches are located in:

▪ Ephesus (also see Church of Mary)

▪ Smyrna

▪ Pergamon

▪ Thyatira

▪ Sardis (the See of Sardis)

▪ Philadelphia

▪ and Laodicea, near Denizli (see Laodicean Church)

Character of the churches

1. Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7) - the church that had forsaken its first love (2:4).

2. Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11) - the church that would suffer persecution (2:10).

3. Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17) - the church that needed to repent (2:16).

4. Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29) - the church that had a false prophetess (2:20).

5. Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6) - the church that had fallen asleep (3:2).

6....