Biblical Sites of Ephesus

The Grand Theater is named in the riot of Acts 19. The commercial agora is where the silversmiths worked. The hall of Tyrannus, where Paul taught daily for two years, is named in Acts 19:9. The Temple of Artemis stands behind the whole conflict. The harbour and the road to Miletus carry Paul's arrivals and departures. Everything else on this page — Mary's house, St John's basilica, the Church of Mary — belongs to the Christian centuries that followed.

Three sets of ruins survive. The Church of Mary beside the harbour, where the Council of Ephesus met in AD 431 and which may be the first church in the world dedicated to the Virgin. The great Basilica of Saint John on Ayasuluk Hill, built by Justinian over the Evangelist's tomb. And the cave-church known as the Grotto of Saint Paul on the mountainside. The "church of Ephesus" of Revelation 2, however, means the congregation, not a building.

Not in the ancient city, which has been uninhabited for centuries. But the House of Virgin Mary on Bulbul Mountain is a living shrine with daily Mass and a resident chaplaincy, visited by three popes, and open to pilgrims of every faith.

Ephesus Ancient City, the House of Virgin Mary and the Basilica of Saint John form a triangle roughly 8 kilometers across. Mary's house is about 7 km up the mountain from the Ephesus lower gate; the basilica is 3 km the other way, above Selcuk. There is no walking route between them and no useful public transport, which is why most independent visitors see only one.

It is a tradition, not a documented fact, and we say so on the tour. It rests on Jesus entrusting Mary to John from the cross (John 19:26–27), on John's strong association with Ephesus, and on the visions of Anne Catherine Emmerich, which led searchers to the house in 1891. The Vatican has never ruled on it, though three popes have visited. Jerusalem holds a rival tradition. What is not in doubt is that people have prayed on that hillside for a very long time.