Did You Know?
- That the ark of Noah, widely accepted as the second founder of mankind, came to rest on Mount Agrı (Ararat) when the floodwaters withdrew. Later Noah and his descendants first settled on the Igdir plains in the cast of Turkey before spreading out over the whole world.
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That the Prophet Abraham, from whose lineage Moses and Jesus Christ sprung and who is accepted as the father of the great religions, is believed to have been born in a cave in SanlıUrfa, located in the southeast of Turkey, and spent a large part of his life there.
- That the first seven churches of Christianity as named in the New Testament are all in Turkey and that messages that St. John the Evangelist gave were to these churches. These churches in the order of importance they are accorded in the Holy Bible were at: Selcuk (Ephesus), Izmir (Symrna), Bergama (Pergamon), Akhisar (Thyateira), Salihli (Sardes), Alasehir (Philadelphia) and Goncalı (Laodicea).
- That what is believed to be the oldest church in the world, is in Antakya and that this church is where the term "Christian" was first used.
- That for centuries the largest church in Christendom was Haghia Sophia in Istanbul.
That the two of the five patriarchates that the Christian world was divided into in the 7th century were in Turkey at Istanbul and Antakya.
