Abaton
Asklepius Temple
Healing Stones

The content on this website is maintained by Robert Myallis, pastor at Zion's Lutheran Church, of Jonestown, PA. 

The photos were taken by Emily Myallis, a diaconal minister in the ELCA who also serves at Zion's Lutheran.

This website and travel to Greece was made possible by a grant from the Fund for Theological Education, which provides grants to assist the education and formation of Christian  leaders from numerous denominations.

Bible quotes are taken from the New Revised Standard Version, unless cites otherwise.

The above photo of Greece comes from NASA; The icon of Saint Paul comes from George Mitrevski's website. 

 

 

Healing Stones

These stones list the healings attributed to the god Asklepius. Worship of Asklepius as the god of healing pervades Greece.  Even as the worship of other Greco-Roman deities waned, worship of Asklepius remained strong in the time of Jesus.

How is this significant for understanding the world of Paul?

First, people looked to gods for healing. Even as medicine advanced (the priests here became pseudo-doctors, treating so many people), people still looked to Asklepius for healing. It should come as no surprise that people went to Jesus for healing:

And wherever Jesus went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed. (Gospel of Mark, chapter 6:56)

People expected healing to come from a divine source.  

How is Jesus different than Asklepius?

Even if both the stories of Asklepius and the life of Jesus involve healings, significant differences remain.

First, Asklepius' priests charged for healings. Hence the enormous construction at the site! Jesus never charged for his healings.

Moreover, Jesus came to save a person's body for this life and the next.

Third, people procured Asklepius' help by offering him a meal (sacrificial animal). Jesus' help never did and never will come through animal sacrifice.

Fourth, people had to purify themselves before receiving the healing. Jesus lived and ate with those ritually unclean.

Lastly, Jesus actually was a human who walked among us and healed people while living; Asklepius never had a human life.

source:
info on Asklepius healings:  placards at archeological site, July 2006.