Athens in Church History

Athens stands as a cornerstone of Western civilization, philosophy, and church history. Today, Stephen Nichols takes us to this ancient city, exploring its legacy as the home of democracy, Socratic thought, and Paul’s famous sermon on Mars Hill.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are visiting the ancient city of Athens. Athens has to be one of the richest cities when it comes to history. It is considered by many the birthplace of Western civilization. It’s certainly foundational to Greek mythology with the Acropolis and the Parthenon and the statue of Artemis. Don’t forget, down off the Acropolis and about a kilometer or so away, there was the great temple of Zeus. Construction first began on that temple in the sixth century BC and went all the way to the second century AD. That's eight hundred years in the making. It had 104 colossal columns. It was the largest temple in Greece, and there it was in the center of Athens. Athens is also clearly the capital city of philosophy. It was home to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Of course, it was the Athenian Council that would've sentenced Socrates to death in 399 BC.

Plato founded his Academy there, and that was the name that he gave it. And Aristotle, of course, founded the Lyceum. It’s also the birthplace of Stoicism. The philosopher Zeno would teach from the great Stoa, the porch in Agora. And so we have Stoicism. Epicurus also made Athens his home. So, it’s the home to Epicureanism. These two groups, the Stoics and the Epicureans are mentioned in Acts 17. And by the way, we have Athens in biblical history when in 51 AD the Apostle Paul made his way to Athens and stood there on Mars Hill, suspended between the Agora, the marketplace, and the Acropolis, and delivered his famous speech. Back in 507 BC Athens gave birth to democracy. Cleisthenes established a system of democratia, a rule by the people.

And Athens also plays a role in sports history. In 490 BC, a messenger, a runner took off from the battlefield at the town of Marathon, Greece and went all the way to Athens about 25 miles away. Legend has it that when he got to Athens, he delivered his message, “Nikomen!” We have victory. And then he died. In 1896 it was, again, a site in sports history. It was the site for the first modern Olympics, and yes, one of the sports was the marathon. The route was retraced from Marathon to Athens. Seventeen people finished, and I don’t think anyone died.

Of course, Athens played a role in church history. We’ve already mentioned Paul, and we know of at least two converts from Paul’s speech and Paul’s time there in Athens. We know of church fathers in Athens in the 200s, but it seems like one of the first churches was built in Athens on the site of the great central court of Hadrian’s Library. It was built in the 400s. The ruins indicate that several churches may have been built on top of each other over the following centuries. The ruins reveal a nave and an apse. The area also has mosaics that might've been part of a courtyard.

And there were other churches built in the medieval or the Byzantine era. One such Byzantine church is right in the middle of a busy pedestrian street of a shopping district, the Panagia Kapnikarea. It was built in 1050 AD. It was built right on the site of a small temple to Athena. In the Greek Orthodox tradition, the church has a number of icons painted on the inside walls, and an elaborately gilded icon over the main doorway. Near the Acropolis is a small chapel. It was built in the 1100s. To build that church, they used recycled material. They took stones from the old fortification wall, which were built in fourth century BC.

There is a church standing in the Agora of the marketplace surrounded by Roman ruins. That church, The Church of the Holy Apostles was built in the late 900s, and there it stands as a prime example of Byzantine architecture. And of course, there are many other churches. And at one time, even the Parthenon was taken over as a church. And rather than being the Parthenon for Athena, of course it was a church for Mary.

And so we have the church and the history of churches, especially in the Byzantine era and the great ancient city of Athens. And I’m Steve Nichols, and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.