The house where Mary spent her last years

MERYEMANA — Steeped in Marian lore, Filipino Catholics in Turkey invariably visit this village believed to be the last home of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Yet not only Catholics but also Muslims, who venerate the Mother of Jesus Christ as symbol of submission to God, come on pilgrimage. In Marian revival, Protestants too trek to this fringe of the ancient city of Ephesus.

Meryem’ana means House of Mary, Meryem in the local tongue. An inscription at the shrine entrance prefaces the story. St. John in his Gospel tells us that Jesus before dying on the Cross entrusted to him the care of Mary, saying, “Here is your Mother.” From then on John took her as his own. The Acts of the Apostles relate how, after Christ’s death, His followers were persecuted in Jerusalem. St. Stephen was stoned in 37 AD; St. James was beheaded in 42 AD. The rest divided the world among them to preach the Word, and apostle John was given Asia Minor. Amidst the persecutions, John probably brought Mary with him to Ephesus, capital of the Roman province.

Religious historians point to two pieces of evidence of the relocation. One is John’s entombment in Ephesus. The other is the erection of the first ever basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In the early days of the Christian church, places of worship were only consecrated to persons who had lived or died in the locality.

The Ecumenical Council of 431 was held in the basilica in Ephesus to define the dogma of the Divine Motherhood of Mary. Nestorius, a council father, wrote then: “…after arriving in Ephesus, where John the Theologian and the holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God….” Oral tradition of Kirkindje villagers, Christian descendants of Ephesus, further confirm the journey. Passed from generation to generation is the belief of Mary’s “death” in the area. To this day they observe Mary’s Assumption into Heaven every 15th of August.

Anna Catherine Emmerich, a stigmatized nun, made some startling revelations in the 19th century. As narrated in the book Life of the Blessed Virgin, the invalid who never left Germany saw visions of Mary spending her last years in a small stone house in the hills of Ephesus. Accordingly, two scientific expeditions were organized, and they found the place exactly as she had described. Experts determined that what is now a multi-faith chapel was built between the first and fourth centuries. Part of the building is of the seventh century, and the last restoration took place in 1951.

The Filipinos I came with were mostly Catholics, with two Baptists, and a Tausog, a Maranao and a Maguindanao from Muslim Mindanao. We prayed separately but to one God, and for Mary the Virgin Mother to intercede for our families. Also in the dimly lit room were a Turkish couple, the wife in traditional Muslim veil, a Caucasian nun in gray, and a monk in brown.

Muslims regard Jesus as one of the greatest prophets of Islam, and Mary as the most chaste and virtuous woman. No other woman is accorded more attention than the Virgin Mother. The entire 19th sura (chapter), out of 114 in all, recounts her life of piety and obedience to God’s wish. Mary is one of only eight persons who have a sura named after them. The 19th includes the miraculous births of God’s Elects: Yahya (John the Baptist) to an aged woman Elizabeth, and Isa (Jesus) to her virgin cousin Mary.

Of late, Evangelical Christian and mainstream Protestant leaders have been drawing from the story of Mary inspiration in faith and good works. The Marian regeneration is growing, with more and more denominations joining Catholics in common veneration of the Blessed Mother as a path to ecumenism. More striking, Anglican and Vatican theologians agreed in 2005 that Marian dogmas are in consonance with Scripture, and so must be spread with each other’s help. Their differences were brought about by 16th-century politics, when Rome excommunicated Henry VIII, whose followers in turn ransacked churches and smashed statues of Mary.

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