We left Istanbul on Sunday morning on a flight to Izmir, a coastal city a one hour flight from Turkey’s second largest city. The Izmir airport is actually located closer to our first destination for that day than to the city itself where we would be spending the night.
Our first destination was the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus (known locally as Efes). These ruins stretch over nearly half a mile, and sidle down what was the main street of Ephesus and include a stadium shaped bowl where the city’s governing council met, a public restroom with still visible toilets, and the façade of what had been perhaps the second largest library in the world in the centuries before and immediately after the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. And of course most of us know the name of this city because of a biblical letter written to the citizens of that city who practiced a new religion we now know as Christianity.
The day was blazingly sunny and blazingly hot: by our conversion from degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit, we figured the temp topped out at just under 108 degrees.
Our next stop was an extra-Biblical legendary site, the home of the Virgin Mary. This small hut is located on a high hilltop, not easily accessible even by minivan. When we arrived after a half-hour drive from Ephesus, what I found was so obliquely plain that it struck me that this might really be the spot to which the Beloved Apostle, John ferried Mary after the crucifixion of her son. I was deeply moved by the fact that this place was swarming with people, not just Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians, but an equal number of Muslims, and many of them women.
The fact that by Catholic tradition Mary never died but rather fell asleep (in an act called the Dormition) came as a surprise to several members of our group. They were just as surprised to learn that as a matter of Catholic dogma, she was assumed body and soul into heaven. The Assumption was made an official item of Catholic dogma in the early 1950s. The great psychologist Carl Jung called this proclamation perhaps the greatest religious event of the Twentieth Century. Why? Because, in a sense, the Assumption of Mary into heaven restored the feminine to the Godhead.
Whether Mary actually died or was assumed into heaven was a matter of conversation at an outdoor dinner held for us later that night in a wooded locale about an hour and a half drive from our hotel in Izmir.
When I mentioned to one of our host’s the idea that Mary never died, he assured me that Fetullah Gulen could tell me where she was buried. I smiled and said I would write Gulen and ask him.
Our hosts included more than a half dozen men who support the Gulen movement, their wives and a good number of children. We had lots of barbequed food to eat. We munched on for a couple of hours until finally the men pulled their chairs into a half moon at one end of the table where we sat. Then we introduced ourselves and we began to talk about issues related to interfaith cooperation. At some point I became aware that our women hosts were gathered as a group in chairs behind the men, and very obviously were there as observers, not participants in our dialogue.
This bothered me. I felt they should be part of our interaction, but I also wanted to make sure I didn’t offend our male hosts.
So I grabbed a napkin and scrawled on it the words, “Is there some way we can RESPECTFULLY include our women friends in the conversation?” I passed the napkin to Kenan (one of our leaders) who read it and without pausing passed it back across the table to one of our male hosts who seemed to be in charge. He read what I had written, and immediately turned to the women and invited them to join the conversation circle. The men pushed their chairs apart and the women pulled their chairs forward. We asked them questions and they answered and asked us questions of their own. Especially about America and why the lone remaining superpower was not focusing on helping the world instead of engaging in wars.
But these women, who had seemed to be sad and silent, came to life and beamed. The men too seemed to relax and the conversation became both more animated and humorous. It certainly was friendly.
We concluded the evening with shared gifts and hugs.
As our group drove back to the hotel I felt we had made a powerful interfaith breakthrough, but I also was reminded later, that we need to think about why such a small change would be seen as a breakthrough. Why aren’t women full participants in the spirituality of most religions, including Christianity (in many forms), Judaism and Islam. And let’s throw in Buddhism and Hinduism to boot.
Ultimately this evening encounter made me think about all the things I take for granted in my own spirituality and religious practice. I need to be challenged, too.
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