The
church of St. John the Baptist in Siracusa is the oldest church in the West, second
in age only to its Eastern counterpart located in Antioch, Turkey. In its crypt, which
offered me a delicious, cool respite from the stifling summer heat, the Apostles Paul and
Luke were said to have preached to the Christian community of 60 CE.. Standing in front of the
ancient, underground pulpit was a very moving experience for me.
In the ruins of the church apse built later on the same site, the photo above shows where wedding ceremonies are regularly conducted today.
The facade of the church of St. John the Baptist - nearby, in the
catacombs of the same name, over two kilometers of tunneling guide the modern visitor
through thousands of tombs of the early Christian community.
Dionysius' Ear, is an "artificial grotto in the form of an earlobe . . . so named in 1608 by the painter Caravaggio as a reminder of the legend recounting how the exceptional echo enabled the tyrant Dionysius the Elder to overhear the talk of prisoners he confined in a room below."
"Dionysius the Elder (405-367 BCE) . . . lived in constant fear. This was symbolized by the sword which he had suspended by a horsehair above the head of Damocles, a jealous courtier.