Anyone for Hide 'n Seek?

Cappadocia would have to be one of the most interesting landscapes that I have ever visited. Volcanic deposits from ancient volcanoes are now homes to people, restaurants, churches and early Christian underground cities. St Paul did travelled here and established its first Christian community. However, it was quite dangerous practicing Christianity openly and today we were able to visit one of these underground hideouts. At times we had to reduce ourselves to the size of a 6 year old to fit through the small tunnels that connected various rooms. We all agreed that we knew Early Christians had to gather in secret but didn't truly have a sense for what these people really went through. It must have been so hard and scary for them. It made me reflect on something that a lovely priest said to us at the 'House of Mother Mary' a few days ago. He was a priest who had recently lost his Bishop in an assassination by his driver. He explained to us how lucky we were that we could openly worship and share our faith and that it is something that we should never take for granted. He said that he would pray that this would never change for us. I think it's easy for us to be believers in our Australian context and find it hard to imagine what it would have been like for those who today are still tested with their lives and for those who lived in hiding in early AD times.
Our day today also involved a visit to Goreme, an open air museum holding the earliest churches that were in huge volcanic rocks and filled with amazing Byzantine frescos. I felt my high school Art History lessons coming to life.
The highlight however, would have been the mass that we celebrated in a small chapel that was built into the mountains by the early Christians in Avanos. It was just big enough to fit the 40 of us and reminded us of our origins - very special and very beautiful.