Antioch

Antioch (bearing against, opposing) (Acts 11:26). The city of this name was for a long time the capital of Syria and was founded three hundred years before Christ by Seleucus Nicator, who named it Antioch after his father Antiochus. Situated on the banks of the Orontes, nearly equidistant between Constantinople and Alexandria, it was once regarded as very wealthy and commercial. Its inhabitants enjoyed special civic privileges, and it ranked third among the cities of the Roman provinces. The beauty and excellent hygienic conditions of the city, amid flowing streams and groves of cypress, were unrivaled. Nearby was the famous laurel grove of Daphne with the temple of Diana and Apollo. Paul and Barnabas preached there, and it was here that the disciples of Christ were first given the name Christians, whether as a term of reproach or simply as a distinctive designation from other persons, is not known to us. The same name occurs also in Acts (Деян. XXVI, 28) and in the First Epistle of Peter (1 Peter 4:16). The Galileans, or Nazarenes, was a term of reproach, but the name Christian simply meant followers of Christ, or the Messiah. The holy Apostle Peter was also in the Church of Antioch (Galatians 2:11). In later times there were illustrious pastors and teachers of the Church here, such as St. Ignatius the God-bearer, St. Meletius the Archbishop, St. John Chrysostom, and others. Probably no city has suffered as much from various calamities as Antioch. It was besieged and sacked at least fifteen times; and on one occasion when it was taken by the enemy, 117,000 persons were killed or taken captive; three times it was visited by famine, twice by fire, once by pestilence, and four times by earthquake, from one of which, it is believed, 25,000 persons perished. These visitations of God's wrath for the sins and idolatry of the inhabitants of Antioch long before our time brought the city to its final decline and ruin. Its splendid buildings gave way to wretched hovels; a population that had reached 500,000 souls now numbers only 10,000. In 1822 an earthquake finally destroyed even the ruins of ancient Antioch, so that of it one may say with full literal truth that all that pertained to the once magnificent Antioch is now irrecoverably past, vanished like a shadow or a dream. Modern Antioch is now called Antakia and is situated 20 English miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the houses of Antioch, presenting a wretched and poor appearance, are built of clay and straw.