But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood self-condemned, for until certain people came from James, he used to eat with the gentiles. But after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the gentiles to live like Jews?
Galatians 2: 11-14 NRSVue
This passage from the apostle Paul's letter to the congregations in the region of Galatia, now part of Turkey, gives us a taste of the kerfuffle he had with the disciple Peter (Cephas) over who was accepted into the emerging Christian faith and who wasn't. The passage names the city of Antioch as the location for their showdown. Antioch has been called the "cradle of Christianity" because of its central role in the emergence of the faith.
Ancient Antioch, the third largest in the Roman Empire, is the modern-day city of Antakya which has been devastated by the earthquakes which recently struck the region. The centre of the city is in ruins with 1,200 buildings destroyed and an untold number of people have died or are displaced. Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country but there are churches in Antakya and I saw a photo of destitute people camped out below the cave church of St. Peter, which survived the quake. Word is that the church built in memory of St. Paul was destroyed, along with mosques and a synagogue.
There are so many jarring reminders of loss in Syria and Turkey as the death toll exceeds 40,000 and millions are displaced. We are also becoming aware of the loss of cultural landmarks in a land which has signficance to our faith, even though we may not have been aware.
The Cave Church of St. Peter, Antakya, Turkey
Emily Garthwaite for The New York Times
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