Holiday! Part Three: The Church Service

Mass at Saint Peter of Antioch’s

Antakya, formerly known as the biblical city of Antioch, is the historical center of the now sizable urban area of Hatay. Twoish hours south of Gaziantep, Antakya/Hatay makes up the southern panhandle that juts between Syria and the Mediterranean. The area changed hands a few times around the turn of the century as the Turks fought the Allies (particularly the Syria-occupying French) for sovereignty and territory.

We ended up in Antakya this Christmas Eve for mass in the cave church of Saint Peter, est. AD 40-50. Some biblical scholarship credits the ancient grotto in a mountainside outside modern-day Antakya as the oldest Christian church ever, as Antioch was an important Christian missionary organizing place where Saints Peter and Paul began preaching around AD 50. The local Catholic diocese has services at Saint Peter’s cave church only twice a year--once in June for the Feast of Saint Peter and on Christmas Eve. Sort of a once in a lifetime kind of thing for most of us. So after an afternoon of food touring the south of Turkey, our crew ended up in attendance at an exquisitely quaint service with the local congregation, a handful of Germans, and a quirky Korean bunch who seemed to be affiliated with a local Protestant group. Mustn’t forget the adorable Italian priest who gave a beautiful talk on the importance of love and compassion for all beliefs. A pleasantly surprising peek into the lives of a Christian minority in this diversely sacred place.

Antep Eats! Christmas Eve (the real one) luncheon at the excellent local's favorite Çulcuoğlu Et Lokantası. I'm, like, ninety-nine percent sure Çulcuoğlu is in an old mechanic's garage, but it's a fitting location for the absurd amount of people that pile in on the weekends for the best meat Gaziantep has to offer. Meat is kind of what we do in here--seriously, the cardiovascular disease rates for Gaziantep are impressive--so we made sure our guests got their mouths' worth of our town.

Künefe=cheesy shredded wheat goodness. Served here with creamy kaymak.

Specialty of Antakya/Hatay.

Sütlu Nescafe, instant coffee with milk is startin' to grow on me.

Drank the aforepictured Nescafe at this mountainside cafe overlooking Antakya. We made a pitstop for some warm beverages before church. 

Children's pageant. Some things are the same everywhere.

   

Guitars at Christmas. An excellent choice.

Whadda holiday gang!
BACK l-r: me; Utah; Rebecca, Kentucky; Mali, Kilis TR; Taylor, Texas; Ryan, Iowa; Julia, Virginia; Max, Chicago
FRONT l-r: Carla, Texas; Devon, Louisiana/Texas; Didem, New York; Celeste, Chicago; Kathleen, Kansas; Wally, Vermont; Jaime, Ohio; Kelsey, Cincinnati ("I've never even been anywhere else in Ohio.")

A rainy Antakya eve. Someday I might even see it in the daylight.