When was the church of smyrna founded

There was a considerable number of Jews in the city from pre-New Testament times through the Ottoman period. Even today, various synagogues are located throughout the modern city. When John said that some will be thrown into prison, he knew that Roman imprisonment was frequently a prelude to execution. He encouraged the believers to be faithful even unto death. See also Pergamum , Sardis , and Laodicea.

Ancient Smyrna Drive Thru History. Smyrna Pilgrim Tours. A collection of entries on Smyrna from various Bible dictionaries. Izmir All About Turkey. It also has many links to related pages. Smyrna Livius. An article with a timeline of the site and many interesting photos. Izmir Turizm. Describes the history and legends associated with Smyrna, accompanied by a few small pictures.

Offers a brief cultural and historical glance at the city where Homer is believed to have lived. Internal links direct the reader to articles on related subjects. Smyrna had also a long history of loyalty to Rome, having dedicated a temple to the goddess Roma as early as B.

Tacitus Annals 4. There is no record of how Christianity came to Smyrna. Like the other Asian cities, Smyrna was probably reached as a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus compare Acts The message to Smyrna accents the contrast between the Roman city and the congregation of Christians who lived there. If the city was rich as Apollonius implies , the Christian community was poor, yet had its own kind of riches v. If the city was crowned "with porticoes and pictures, or even with gold in excess of what they needed," the angel of the church in Smyrna was promised the crown of life v.

By the early second century a decade or two after John's visions , the congregation at Smyrna had a pastor or bishop named Polycarp. Ignatius of Antioch wrote letters, which still exist, to both Polycarp and his congregation. Polycarp himself wrote a letter to the Philippian Christians in Macedonia and according to an account in the Martyrdom of Polycarp was martyred in Smyrna in the year Nowhere were the words be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life, more aptly fulfilled than in the life and death of Polycarp.

Another interesting fact is that the city received its name from one of its principle products, a sweet perfume called myrrh. This was a gum resin taken from a shrub-like tree.

Though it had a bitter taste, the resin of the tree was used in making perfume Ps. Smyrna is Greek for myrrh, a fragrant perfume used in burial. Its association with death perfectly pictures the suffering church at Smyrna.

Like myrrh, a fragrance released only when crushed, the church at Smyrna, crushed by persecution, gave off a fragrant aroma of faithfulness to God. Many believe this church represents the martyrs of all time and the sweet smelling fragrance of their devotion until death cf.

As you all remember, at His birth, Jesus was presented with gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Gold was for kings, frankincense for priests, but myrrh was a burial spice. This was a message meant to encourage them in light of what they were facing presently and were about to face in the future. The church at Smyrna was to undergo some intense persecution and tribulation. Jesus wanted to encourage them to stand strong, even if it meant physical death. Be encouraged as you study the message sent to this church.

Ask God to strengthen your faith so that you can endure the suffering in your own life more victoriously. Revelation "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, "These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life The identity of the first and the last and the resurrected one could only be Jesus Christ see Revelation The first verse of the address to the Church at Smyrna give us a clue as to what the issue in this Church is about.

Jesus Christ was crucified for the sins of the World, died on the cross and after three days, arose from the dead. The author and finisher of our faith. He is the first and last, the eternal God who became man, died and rose again 1 Pet. It describes what we might call an experience, an episode, a passing phase He went through for us, death. He passed into death, through death and out of death, and came to life in a triumphant event, the resurrection. From the message to Smyrna, we note several important points.

First, God knew their works. Similarly, He knows our works. Additionally, God told the members of the church at Smyrna that He knew the tribulation and poverty they had suffered. And He also knew there were Jewish pretenders. Regarding this reference to those falsely claiming to be Jews, it appears that these people were the cause of much hardship for the members of the church of Smyrna.

In spite of the trials the members of church of Smyrna would face, Christ urged them to remain faithful to death in the face of tribulation and poverty. History shows that there were people such as Polycarp who followed this admonition. In the flesh, this church is not rich with a lot of material blessings. This statement is in contrast to the church at Laodicea and churches of today who preach that a believer is entitled to material blessings because they are a child of God.

Romans And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Application: Our Lord, so faithful to know and observe our lives and needs, first assures them He knows and cares for their condition and the great suffering on His behalf, and then commends them for their spiritual wealth in the midst of their physical poverty and suffering, much of which was brought about by the religious Jews of Smyrna.

So, while poor, they were rich. They were rich positionally in Christ Eph. They were also rich in that God had counted them worthy to suffer for Him 1 Pet. Finally, it appears they were rich in their spiritual lives because they were living close to God by faith. Ephesians 1 is a good reminder of how rich we are in Christ. The answer is definitely — Yes! Not only does this Church exist, but it is the easiest and most readily identifiable Church among the seven Churches listed in Revelation.

This has been true not only throughout Church history, but also at this present time as we shall see. No other Church in the world today displays the character, description, and doctrine to which both the parable and the Revelation letter point. The relationship between the Parable of the Wheat and Tares in Matthew 13 and this message to the Church at Smyrna is that they are a direct correlation.

How then does it have tares? The idea of this parable is that there are Saved and Unsaved members within the Kingdom, the Church. While the apostles and members of the Church of God in the first century came in contact with many Jews, we do not know why these people claiming to be Jews at Smyrna were identified by Christ as having blasphemed and as being a synagogue of Satan.

In the following century, however, we see what might be a continuation of this hostility directed toward the Christians at Smyrna. Eusebius Eccl. Although many look at this condemnation of people claiming to be Jewish from a literal perspective, meaning these people were descendants of the tribe of Judah, there is another way to understand this point. In this sense, all Christians regardless of their ethnic background are considered Jews, spiritually speaking.

People claiming to be Christians were beginning to abandon the foundational tenets upon which the Church of God was founded. One such foundational tenet was the observance of the Passover. Jesus dealt with many such religious leaders, as did the apostle Paul Matthew 23; Acts It is also known that Laodicea had suffered an earthquake in A. While it was wealthy enough to finance its rebuilding, it would have taken a while to recover.

For John to write about a church having grown lukewarm and rich in just a few years after Paul talked about it in glowing terms doesn't seem likely. The case for Ephesus is similar. At John's writing it had left its first love Revelation That certainly wasn't true when Paul worked in Ephesus in the late fifties for 18 months, nor is it indicated when he wrote the letter to the Ephesians, at the same time Colossians and Philemon were written, around A.

If the the church was hardening you would think there would have been some signs of it before Paul died if John wrote prior to A.

In each case one could postulate that it might have happened, though very unlikely, but when you find a set of unlikely events all taking place together then it is a harder position to argue. I have read Polycarp's letter, but did just a cursory reading of it. A closer reading would have paid dividends in this question. I greatly appreciate your response! Page Menu.