Ephesus
Port city of the Roman province of Asia, known for its temple of Artemis. Paul worked here for more than two years. It is the first of the seven churches addressed in Revelation, and a general council met here in 431.
Ephesus was a port on the west coast of Asia Minor, in the Roman province of Asia. Paul called there briefly at the end of his second journey and left Priscilla and Aquila in the city (Acts 18:19–21). He came back and stayed more than two years, teaching first in the synagogue and then in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, so that, Acts says, all Asia heard the word (Acts 19:1, 8–10). The silversmiths who made shrines of Artemis raised a riot against him, and the crowd shouted for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” (Acts 19:23–34). He wrote 1 Corinthians from Ephesus (1 Corinthians 16:8) and later took leave of its elders at Miletus (Acts 20:17). See Paul in Ephesus and the Collection for Jerusalem.
A letter in Paul’s name is addressed to the saints at Ephesus, 1 Timothy places Timothy there, and the first of the seven messages in Revelation is to its church (Ephesians 1:1) (1 Timothy 1:3) (Revelation 2:1). In 431 the third general council met in the city; see the Council of Ephesus.
What happened here
- about AD 50 to AD 60, estimated dateThe Letters of Paul
In the course of his missions Paul writes letters to the churches he has founded and to others. On the usual dating they are older than the Gospels. They came to be collected and read alongside the Scriptures.
- about AD 53 to AD 57, estimated datePaul in Ephesus and the Collection for Jerusalem
Paul works for some three years at Ephesus, then travels through Macedonia and Greece gathering money from his Gentile churches for the poor of Jerusalem, and sets out to deliver it in spite of warnings.
- about AD 65 to AD 100, estimated dateThe Four Gospels Are Written
Four accounts of the words, deeds, death and resurrection of Jesus are written, on the usual dating, in the later first century. None names its author; the names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John come from second-century testimony.
- about AD 95, estimated dateJohn’s Revelation on Patmos
A Christian prophet named John, on the island of Patmos, writes down visions addressed to seven churches of Asia. They show Christ in glory, the fall of the city the book calls Babylon and a new Jerusalem, and become the last book of the New Testament.
- June AD 431, firm dateThe Council of Ephesus
A council led by Cyril of Alexandria deposes Nestorius of Constantinople and upholds the title Theotokos, God-bearer, for Mary. The bishops of Antioch dissent until 433. The council long divides the Church of the East, beyond the Roman frontier, from the churches that receive it.
- August AD 449, firm dateThe Second Council of Ephesus
A council under Dioscorus of Alexandria restores the monk Eutyches and deposes Flavian of Constantinople and other bishops as followers of Nestorius. The emperor confirms it; Leo of Rome rejects it as a meeting of robbers. Chalcedon overturns it two years later.