Sunday, November 8, 2015

Last Turkey Trip Post

 
Cappadocia
 
we were in the middle of a town called Derinkuyu
 
had no idea what we were looking at
we went down
 
Apparently there was a whole city underneath the city
carved out in the volcanic tuff rock
 
 
long narrow hall ways
 
opening up in larger rooms
 
what we'd seen outside had been an air / water shaft

 
the narrow passage ways were for defensive purposes
 
we saw 3 stones 
that could be used to close off a passageway
this is where people went to hide
 
 
we went down to a deep level where there had been a church
 
On the wall were several crosses
a connection with our persecuted brothers and sisters
as to say "don't forget us"
 
 
we came up again,
amazed to hear that they'd found 23 such places in this city alone
 
next we went to an area where people hid in plain sight
 
 
it is a surreal landscape
(used in movies)

 
we visited some cave churches
The later the date, the more elaborate the decorations
 
 
More doctrine, less scriptural
worship more individualistic, loss of community
the church seemed to have lost it's roots
 
 
but there was hope, a soup kitchen
build in the time of Gregory, Gregory and Basil
we are the church and we have to reach out in community
 
 
we had a group picture taken
 
and the 2 of us
 
 
with difficulty we climbed in another cave
 
 
this had been a very early church
 
 
Anchor cross in the ceiling

 we had communion
 
 
and our Rabbi put dirt on our shoes with the challenge to:
STAY DUSTY!!!
 
meaning, following the Rabbi so close
that you are covered with the dust of his feet
 

3 comments:

Olga Shaffer said...

Did you have people on your trip who were claustrophobic? We did on ours. I don't think they would have been able to go to that underground city.

Anja said...

One girl was hyper ventilating, but she managed to go all the way. That was impressive

Olga Shaffer said...

That is very impressive. When we went through Herod's sewer system in Jerusalem, we had several people who had difficulty with the closed in space, but one girl had extreme difficulty. She made it too though.