Being a Full Account of the Seven Letters Sent by Our Lord
to the Seven Congregations of the Province of Asia Minor
Revelation II:I — III:XXII · c. AD XCVI · The Island of Patmos
No. VI · Revelation III:VII–XIII
The Faithful Church
The Letter in Full
7And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.Revelation 3:7–13 · King James Version Also available in the NRSVue, an ecumenical modern translation
"He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth."
"Thou hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name," despite having "a little strength" — and Christ Himself has "set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it."
None given — the second of the two churches to receive none.
"Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown"; because they kept His word, they would be kept "from the hour of temptation."
To be made "a pillar in the temple of my God," inscribed with the name of God, the New Jerusalem, and Christ's own new name.
History & Ruins
Philadelphia was founded as something of a missionary city, planted to carry Greek language and culture into the frontier of Lydia and Phrygia — its location a literal "open door" east along the trade routes. The region was also prone to devastating earthquakes, including one that leveled much of the area not long before this letter, which may explain the church's "little strength."
Perhaps fittingly for "the faithful church," Philadelphia outlasted every one of its six neighbors as a center of Christian life, remaining the last Byzantine outpost in Asia Minor to fall to the Ottomans — some three centuries after the others had been overrun.
Remains near modern Alaşehir include a ruined basilica traditionally linked to St. John.