#Malta

The author recounts his visit to Malta in April 1990 – his first trip to the West following the fall of communism – as part of the ‘Voices from the East’ seminar organised by AZAD. He describes the sites associated with the shipwreck of the Apostle Paul, the island of Gozo, the port of Marsaxlokk and Caravaggio’s painting The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in the Cathedral of the Order of Saint John.

The article retraces a journey through Malta, Asia Minor and Constantinople, following the sites where the first Christian communities were established and where ecumenical councils were held: Ephesus, site of the Third Ecumenical Council; Myra in Lycia, home of Saint Nicholas; and Tarsus, home of Saint Paul. The geographical landscape and historical remains provide an opportunity for reflections on the connection between space and the understanding of faith, in the spirit of Nicolae Iorga’s method.