People
Religious Figures
Photo: Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Person · Aegean
Saint Paul in Anatolia
Saint Paul in Anatolia: the apostle born in Tarsus who preached at Pisidian Antioch, lived three years in Ephesus and changed ships…
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Person · Central Anatolia
Rumi (Mevlana)
Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi poet of Konya: his life, Shams of Tabriz, the Masnavi, the whirling dervishes and where to visit his…
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Person · Antalya
Saint Nicholas of Myra
Saint Nicholas, the bishop of Myra born in Patara, whose secret gifts became the legend of Santa Claus: his life, his places…
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Person · Cappadocia
Haji Bektash Veli
Haji Bektash Veli, the 13th-century mystic from Khorasan revered by Alevis and Bektashis, whose lodge in Hacıbektaş is a museum on UNESCO's…
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Person · Konya
Shams Tabrizi
Shams Tabrizi, the wandering dervish who met Rumi in Konya in 1244 and turned him into a poet: his life, the legend…
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Person · Cappadocia
The Cappadocian Fathers
The Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great of Kayseri, his brother Gregory of Nyssa and their friend Gregory of Nazianzus: 4th-century bishops who…
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Person · Central Anatolia
Yunus Emre
Yunus Emre, the 13th-century dervish poet who wrote of divine love in the everyday Turkish of Anatolia, and whose tomb at least…
About this section
Religious Figures
The religious figures of Turkey include apostles, bishops, saints and Sufi poets, and their stories are tied to real places. In Cappadocia, UNESCO links the first monks to the teachings of Basil the Great, Bishop of Kayseri, in the 4th century. Our page on the Cappadocian Fathers tells his story, and the rock sites of Cappadocia show where those communities lived.
On the Aegean, our pages on Saint Paul in Anatolia and the Seven Churches follow early Christianity. In Konya, Rumi and his friend Shams Tabrizi lead you to the Mevlana Museum. Then go farther, to Haji Bektash Veli and the poet Yunus Emre.
