Sabbatical Reflection 6: Thessaloniki, Vergina, Berea, and Philippi.

This may be our last Sabbatical update- we'll see how I feel about writing another one of these a couple of weeks from now, because by then our return will be just around the corner. It’s crazy that our time in Europe is coming to a close and that in a few weeks we’ll be back with all of you!

After my last update, we spent one more week in Italy, mainly in a small little town called Chioggia. It’s across the lagoon from Venice and is nicknamed “little Venice” because of a few canals that run through the town, abounding with little pedestrian bridges. We really enjoyed our days there, including a day trip to Venice. I had heard some very divided opinions about that city, but our family is definitely on the “pro” side of the debate. It’s an incredible place and we felt we could have spent many more days there. After Chioggia, we had three straight travel days- one to get to a hotel near the airport in Milan, the next to fly to Athens and drive a short distance to an Airbnb we had booked, and then a third to drive the 5 hours or so up to Thessaloniki. We’ve spent the last week or so here in this beautiful city.

There’s a lot to say, but the short of it is that this is the part of our trip where the Bible has become most alive. In the heart of modern Thessaloniki (an extremely vibrant city, the second biggest city in Greek, and a cultural capital of Europe as a whole) is the ancient Roman Forum, right along the Via Egnatia (an ancient street that Paul traveled on and is now a modern thoroughfare running through Thessaloniki). You can walk around the outside of the forum and see the ruins in broad daylight. The first day our family did this, we read the story from Acts 17:1-9 where Paul’s preaching incites a riot in the marketplace, resulting in Jason being dragged from his home before the authorities. We imagined it all taking place in front of us, which was powerful. Zachary even decided which nearby home would have been Jason’s. Who says it wasn’t?

A couple of days later, we did a little road trip out to two nearby sights: Vergina and Berea (modern Veria). The Royal Tombs of Vergina is an amazing little museum that plays host to a groundbreaking discovery made within the last century. The tombs of Philip II of Macedonia (the father of Alexander the Great) as well as Alexander’s son were found there. You can walk down in the ground and see the tombs themselves- massive structures and ornately decorated. You can also see all the loot that was discovered within the tombs- crowns, swords, armor, gold, and so on. We then walked up to the remains of the ancient Macedonian palace. It was incredible to think about how this little village in northern Greece was where Alexander the Great grew up and was crowned king, and thus the place Greek civilization reached the world from. Our New Testament was originally written in Greek because Greek was the “lingua franca” language of the Roman Empire of the day- something that is true because of Alexander’s influence hundreds of years before.

From Vergina, it was a 15 minute drive to Berea. The main destination for us there was the Jewish synagogue, which purportedly stands in the same place as the one 2000 years ago when Paul visited the city (Acts 17:10-15). As we neared the site, a man standing outside a souvenir shop greeted us. That’s not uncommon at all, especially in Greece where people seem to be especially friendly. When asked where we were from, we said Canada, and he replied “I’m going to Canada next year! My family is going to be helping out at a Christian camp in New York, and we’ll be flying into Montreal!” It turns out that this man, Giannis, is a pastor at a small little Pentecostal church that meets about 50 meters away from the old Jewish synagogue. Their church is only about 15 people, but they own this little space right next to where Christianity first came to the city. They opened up the souvenir shop as an outreach, allowing them to give out little New Testaments (both English and Greek), each with a note about where to find the Berea story in Acts. Giannis told us that the synagogue itself has only functioned as a museum for years and that there’s only one Jewish family remaining in Berea (most were taken to Auschwitz in WWII). In terms of the Christian population, Giannis told us how almost nobody attends the many Greek Orthodox churches in the country besides at Christmas and Easter. The evangelical population in the country numbers between 5,000 and 10,000 (out of 10 million people in Greece) and are seen by many as a cult, in the same boat as Jehovah’s Witnesses. We thank God for their church’s presence, for their love for their city, and we pray that their many interactions would bear Gospel fruit despite the metaphorical hard ground!

The next day, Sunday, we were finally able to attend church in person again. There’s a small evangelical church called Zoe Church that meets about 100 meters from the Thessalonian forum (isn’t it incredible that these two little churches have been given spaces so close to where the Gospel was first preached in their cities?). It was a bilingual service, everything sung and spoken in both English and Greek. We had an amazing time with this incredibly warm and alive church and learned even more about Christian faith in Greece. For example, we learned that it is against the law to proselytize minors, presenting even more challenges for evangelical churches and their outreach. No Christian summer camps for these guys! However, Zoe Church has been able to purchase new space in Thessaloniki and are planning on moving into it in a couple of months, with more room to welcome visitors and preach the Gospel. We were so refreshed by our time with them.

The final update for this post is that yesterday (Monday) we did the 2 hour drive to ancient Philippi. On the way there, we took the general route that Paul would have traveled. That took us through Apollonia, Amphipolis, and Neapolis (modern day Kavala), described in Acts 16:11 and 17:1. Philippi was one of the kids’ highlights from the whole trip so far, especially since the story in Acts 16:16-40 is Zachary’s favorite in the Bible. In Philippi, you first walk through the well-preserved theatre and then into the old forum (the center of life for any ancient Roman city), including its marketplace. These are the places Paul and Silas would have rebuked the demonic presence in the slave girl and subsequently been dragged before the city magistrates and beaten. There’s also a little cell just off the forum that is labelled “Paul’s prison”. There’s a possibility this is where Paul and Silas would have been imprisoned. We read that part of the story in Acts 16 as we gathered near the cell and were in awe of Paul and Silas’ Spirit-given boldness in that place. We even sang the doxology to try to replicate their singing of praises (though in much easier circumstances). From there, we drove up the road a couple of minutes to the site by the Krenides River that many believe was the location of Lydia’s baptism. Once again, we read that story in its original location and imagined it happening before us. What a gift to be able to do that! There’s also a little Greek Orthodox baptistery nearby filled with depictions of Paul and Silas’ visit to Philippi. We tested out the acoustics of the place with another rendition of the doxology. It was an incredible day!

In terms of our travel plans, we’re in Thessaloniki for another couple of days and then will travel to Meteora for a day of climbing up to old monasteries (Google it if you’ve never heard of Meteora- wow!). After that it’s Corinth for Easter Weekend- even the evangelical churches here align with the Orthodox calendar, which will be celebrating Easter this weekend instead of last.

We were praying for our church lots last week and trust that it was a Spirit-filled week of prayer, worship, and sharing of the good news of Jesus. We praise God for His work among us all, whether in the ups or downs of life. He is good and He’s got us in His hands. We look forward to being with you again in less than a month!

In Christ,

Craig, Carolyn, Natalie and Zachary