There are many types of pilgrimages. Some are walking, some are inner journeys of the soul. Throughout human history, people have embarked on these journeys, whether outer or inner. A pilgrim is one who seeks to listen, to follow where they may not have normally gone. In some ways, to be a pilgrim is to be an explorer, with a willingness to face risks and new adventures.

In the past almost four weeks I had the privilege of being with a small team on a pilgrimage across parts of the ancient Silk Road in East and Central Asia. In this blog post and more to come in the weeks ahead, I will describe some of the sights and discoveries we encountered. Due to security issues in some of the places we visited, I will need to be vague where needed, especially about people we met. But hopefully those reading will get a sense of the gift this time was, and be encouraged to take pilgrimages themselves.

The vision for this pilgrimage came from a close friend and colleague of mine, and when she shared it almost three years ago my soul immediately resonated. We had often talked about the history of the Silk Roads, both the land and sea versions. As many of you know, for many years I have been researching, writing, and teaching on the Church of the East and their spread across Asia in the first one thousand years after Christ. This pilgrimage was not meant to be a history learning trip, but would have aspects of that.

Ancient trade routes across Asia from China to the Middle East existed from as early as the 6th century B.C. Though often being by land, trade would also go by sea especially connecting the Roman Empire with the Han Empire of China in the 1st century A.D and including India. Only in the 19th century would these routes be called the ‘Silk Road’, a term coined by the German geographer Baron Von Richthofen. (and actually the proper name would be ‘Silk Roads’, reflecting the various off-shoots linking areas of Asia). (See my other posts on the Silk Roads: A Richness of History and Culture Along the Silk Road, Hats Along the Silk Road).

Our team would travel from Luoyang and Xi’an (formerly Chang’an) in eastern China into Central Asia, a trip of several thousand miles. Unlike those traveling in great hardship by camel and foot in earlier centuries, we would take trains, buses, cars, and flights. Still a lot of distance covered in a few short weeks!

As it turned out, I was able to share in some very interesting places about the history of the Church and its relevance to today. One of the highlights was a round table discussion with local followers of Christ in an important city in East Asia for the history of both the Silk Road and the Church of the East. After I presented a 40 minute talk on the history, there were almost 90 minutes of questions and comments. It was a vigorous discussion by the 25 people in attendance. Several of those in attendance even have a regular zoom meeting to discuss aspects of their nation’s Christian history. I had given university lectures in the same city on history on two separate occasions in the past, and it was so encouraging to see a new generation so interested.

But this pilgrimage was most of all about listening in five primary areas: 1) to God 2) to our inner person 3) to one another 4) to the people of the land, and 5) to the land itself. As we listened, we had opportunity to share each day and reflect on what we were hearing. Several on the team, including myself, also were writing in journals along the way. We also had opportunities on the pilgrimage to interact with the ‘living Church’, learning more of the present realities in these nations.

Some of my own ‘take-aways’ from these weeks include:

1) I appreciated again the vast expanse of the lands involved in the ‘Silk Roads‘. In traveling such great distances, I saw again the sheer power of the land. And especially the vast deserts of the Gobi and Takmalakan that we traveled through, mostly by car. One of those days, from Dunhuang to Hami, we saw virtually no towns in a trip of 5 hours, only desert.

2) Along with the vast expanse of land, there is also the vastness of the time span of history. The Silk Roads have existed for thousands of years, and seen so much history. Empires have come and gone. So many travelers from so many places. As we consider this long stretch of history, sometimes the problems in our nations today take on a much smaller perspective.

3) For me, seeing some key places and excavations of Church of the East churches and monasteries was a special treat. I will be sharing more about that in the next part in a few weeks. It made me realize again how strong the spread of the Church was to the East in the first few centuries after Christ. Some of the places I had seen before, but others were new and carried special significance in terms of their importance in training through the monasteries of missionaries to farther Asia.

4) Traveling the Silk Road and learning more firsthand emphasized to me how strong the trade traffic connections really were across Asia for many centuries. This trade connected regions from the Roman Empire all the way to India and China via Central Asia. And it was a vigorous trade, much more than often thought. A key group involved in that trade that is often forgotten in history both East and West is the Sogdians (see my blog post Peter Frankopan and the Sogdians).

5) Having the great privilege of seeing partial excavations of Church of the East locations but also long lost cities made me realize again how much is still buried under the ground. There are so many discoveries still to be made. We can only hope and pray that governments along the Silk Roads will allow excavations to go on, or be started in the first place. That leads into my last point (for now).

6) There is always an attempt by present governments or institutions to carefully control or re-write the stories of the past. History is never neutral-it is charged with power as it is key to a peoples’ or nation’s identity. We saw all along our pilgrimage how history has been either altered or covered up completely for ideological or religious reasons. And ultimately for the advantage of the ruling power or empire at the time. We felt a great need to keep telling these untold stories, wherever and however we can. Telling the story is actually a way to resist power and re-claim identity.

So much more to write. But I’ll leave it there and pick it up in part 2. That will not be for a few weeks, as I am off for a pilgrimage of another kind: a 40 day Jesuit Spiritual Exercises retreat in Eastern Canada.

Until then…..Keep telling the stories…