Iconium

Iconium was a leading city of Phrygia in Asia Minor, today Konya in Turkey. On Paul’s first missionary journey he and Barnabas came here from Pisidian Antioch, spoke boldly in the synagogue, and won many Jewish and Greek believers. After fierce opposition they withdrew to Lystra and Derbe. Years later Paul recalled the persecutions he suffered at Iconium in his second letter to Timothy.

Iconium lay on a fertile plateau in central Asia Minor and was the transport and commercial hub of ancient Phrygia, straddling the great east–west royal road. Its rich soil and abundant water made it densely populated from early times. Renamed in the Hellenistic period, it became part of the Roman province of Galatia and is today Konya in Turkey.After their ministry in Pisidian Antioch, where they were driven out by the Jews, Paul and Barnabas “shook the dust off their feet” and made their way to Iconium. (Acts 13:51,52) As usual they entered the Jewish synagogue and spoke so effectively that “a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers.” (14:1) But unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers (14:2). Far from retreating, the pair “spoke with boldness by the authority of Jehovah,” who backed the word of his undeserved kindness with signs and wonders (14:3). The city became divided, some siding with the Jews and some with the apostles (14:4). When a mob of Gentiles and Jews together with their rulers tried to mistreat and stone them, they learned of it and fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe, where they kept preaching (14:5,6).On the return leg of that journey, Paul and Barnabas went back “to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch,” strengthening the disciples, encouraging them to remain in the faith, and appointing elders in each congregation. (14:21-23) At the start of the second journey the young Timothy lived at Lystra and was “well reported on by the brothers in Lystra and Iconium,” so Paul took him along. (16:1,2) Late in life, writing to Timothy, Paul vividly recalled “my persecutions and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra,” confident that “out of them all the Lord delivered me.” (2 Timothy 3:11) Iconium thus left a deep mark on Paul’s ministry.The city later became an important early Christian bishopric and was linked in Christian tradition with notable saints and church councils. Today Konya is a major Turkish city, its plateau still as populous and prosperous as it was two millennia ago.