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House of The Virgin Mary & St. John Basilica – Ephesus – Kusadasi

If you would like to add a visit to The Virgin Mary’s House/Church, near Selçuk (Seljuk) – Ephesus, to your tour program, please let us know at the time of booking. There is no additional charge, and this optional addition also includes St. John’s Basilica.

The House of the Virgin Mary is in the vicinity of Ephesus and Selçuk. The house was discovered in the 19th century after following the descriptions in the reported visions of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774–1824), a Roman Catholic nun who was later Beatified by Pope John Paul II.

Catholic pilgrims visit the house based on the belief that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was taken to this stone house by Saint John and lived there until her Assumption.

The shrine has merited several papal Apostolic Blessings and visits from several popes, the earliest pilgrimage coming from Pope Leo XIII in 1896, and most recently by Pope Paul VI, Pope Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

There were eight church Universal Councils, and one took place in Ephesus on 431 AD at The Virgin Mary’s church in Ephesus, a converted Synagogue. This Universal Council was named “Councilium Ephesinum,” and was held during the reign of Emperor Theodosius. It focused on “Christological controversies” and had a major declaration summarized as follows: “According to the Council, Nestorianism overemphasized the human nature of Jesus at the expense of the divine. The Council denounced Patriarch Nestorius’ teaching as erroneous. Nestorius taught that the Virgin Mary gave birth to a man, Jesus Christ, not God, the “Logos” (“The Word”, Son of God). The Logos only dwelled in Christ, as in a Temple (Christ, therefore, was only Theophoros: The “Bearer of God”.) Consequently, Virgin Mary should be called “Christotokos,” Mother of Christ and not “Theotokos, “Mother of God.” Hence, the name, “Christological controversies”. The Council decreed that Jesus was one person, not two separate “people”: complete God and complete man, with a rational soul and body. The Virgin Mary is “Theotokos” because she gave birth not to man but to God as a man. The union of the two natures of Christ took place in such a fashion that one did not disturb the other.