Ancient Corinth

Yesterday we arrived in Corinth and there are ruins everywhere, even right across the street from the place where we are staying.  After boarding the ferry on Patmos at midnight, John and I went to sleep in our cabin around 1 AM.  The slow rocking motion of the ship at sea combined with the low-frequency thrum of the engines wiped us both out.  We awoke to the announcement that the ship was docking in Athens.  

From Athens we rented a car (which has had many dents in it) and drove to Ancient Corinth,.  The car is a stick-shift and luckily there are no new dent's in it.  The Greeks don't seem to have any rules about what is a road (they drive everywhere) and what is a parking place (they also park anywhere - including in the main traffic lane).  Anyway, we arrived safely.  We spent the day quietly, primarily doing laundry so we have clothes for this week, and we read St. Paul's First letter to the Corinthians.  It has been a while since I have read his letter cover to cover - so it was good to understand the Church that was started here in sometime between 50 and 52 AD. 

Today we explored the ancient ruins of Corinth.  Most of Corinth is buried, as the city has been destroyed on two occasions (146 BC when the Romans conquered it, and 1858 in a major earthquake).  After the earthquake the Greeks decided to relocate the city to where modern Corinth is.  The ruins of ancient Corinth (where we are staying) is actually only a small areas of the entire city as it was the ancient center of Corinth (where the temples and markets were).  The whole ancient city of Corinth stretches from the Acrocorinth (an Acropolis on an 1800 foot  mountain) all the way to the sea.  The  area we toured was the ancient forum, including the place described in Acts Chapter 18 where Paul was put on trial before Gallo.  

The Corinthians had tried to dig a canal - but ran into difficulties, and so they built a road with grooved tracks on it that they could use to drag ships across the isthmus.  Corinth had 2 seaports (Lechaion by which one could sail into the Adriatic and then on to Italy, and Cenchreae from which it was possible to sail to Athens, Turkey and the Holy Land)

After reading Paul's 2nd letter to the Corinthians I am struck by the way that St. Paul strives to live his life as an authentic witness to Christ.  He encourages the Corinthians to pay attention to the example that he left them.  (1 Cor 11:1)   St. Paul 's witness is rooted in Christ's triumph over death.  When he says that he only boasts of his weaknesses - he is imitating Christ, whom the Jews viewed as weak (because he died on the cross) and the Greeks viewed as foolishness (because in their eyes it was a senseless death).  Yet the crucifixion is the gateway to the the resurrection - which is the undoing of death and the witness of God's love for us.  St. Paul is firmly rooted in this conviction and has oriented his entire life around this premise.  

St. Paul lives this out with his own approach to weakness.  St. Paul sees failure and weakness as an opportunity to enter into the resurrection.  I have seen that in my own life - when I look at suffering I realize that when I enter into suffering with a willingness to follow God, then I begin to understand the love that Christ had when he hung upon the cross- it gives a whole new perspective to life.