Ephesus always has been very important for the Christian world since Virgin Mary and many early church leaders such as Saint John the Evangelist and Apostle Paul lived in here.
Three ecumenical councils were held in Ephesus on the years 431, 449, and 475. Christian bishops convened in Ephesus to decide some fundamentals of Christianity.
Pope Benedict XVI, Paul VI, and John Paul II visited Ephesus Ancient City and House of Virgin Mary in Ephesus for these reasons. Today you can visit the House of Virgin Mary nearby Ephesus to see gifts brought by Popes to the Virgin Mary’s House.
Pope John VI, the Pope From Ephesus
Pope John VI was a Greek who is believed to have been born in Ephesus, and he led the church of Rome from October 30, 701 till his death on January 11, 705. He lived in the time of the Greek popes: of the 13 popes between 678 and 752, only two were born in Rome. So the story of popes in Ephesus starts long before the modern visits.
His papacy was short but busy. When the exarch Theophylactus, the governor of the emperor in Italy, came to Rome, the soldiers of Italy marched to the city against him. John sent priests to calm them down, and he saved the exarch. Later the Lombard duke Gisulf of Benevento plundered the countryside around Rome and took many captives. Pope John sent priests with money to his camp, they bought the freedom of all the captives and persuaded the duke to go back home.
In 704 the old English bishop Wilfrid of York came to Rome and asked the Pope for help. John VI called a synod, cleared Wilfrid and sent him home with letters for King Ethelred. When John died, he was buried in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica. By his time Ephesus was much smaller than in the days of the councils, but the church of Ephesus still had its metropolitan, and it gave Rome a pope.
Pope Benedict XVI at the House of Virgin Mary
Pope Benedict XVI came to the House of Virgin Mary nearby Ephesus on November 29, 2006, during his four-day visit to Turkey, and he said an open-air Mass there.
