After a solid Turkish breakfast of yoghurt, muesli, jam, olives, beyaz peynir cheese, eggs, sucuk sausage, cucumber and tomato at the fishing town of Eğirdir I set off to climb Sivri Dağı. The peak towers over Lake Eğirdir, which is crossed by St Pauls trail running from Perge to Yalvaç in Turkey. The trail is a glimpse of the land Saint Paul travelled on his first journey through Anatolia with Barnabas, preaching in synagogues and defending Gentile converts against a faction promoting Gentile circumcision in the lead up to the Council of Jerusalem.
Saint Paul (Saul of Tarsus) is one of the most influential early Christian missionaries. On the road to Syrian Damascus from Jerusalem, with the intent to persecute and arrest followers of Jesus, he experienced blinding light from a divine revelation and afterwards lost vision for three days (sun-stroke?!). The message: Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah and the Son of God. He took this message to the Jewish diaspora, the pagans, who were worshipping Greek and Roman gods, and burned the books of magicians at Ephesus. In the process he changed the religion of Christianity (as documented in the Epistles attributed to him), partly by adding many instructions about forms of worship, partly by changing the message.
Leo Tolstoy, a fervent Christian anarchist, weighed in on Paul’s contribution to Christianity in Church and State by labelling him a lover of authoritarian teaching. He holds Paul partly responsible for the departure of early gospel doctrine which condemns idolatry and authoritarianism.
Why are [God-ordained pastors] so anxious to teach their faith to other people? If they had the true faith, they would know that faith is the meaning of life, the relation to God established by every man, and that, therefore, it is impossible to teach a faith, but only the deception of faith. But they want to teach. For what? The simplest answer would be that the pope needs cakes and eggs, and the bishop needs a palace, fish pie, and silk vestments.
