polis. The homonymy, however, does not imply synonymy: the church functions in many respects very differently from political meetings. But in order to define the meaning of this word in Jerusalem, the ecclesiologist needs to recognize the existence of the concept of ekklēsia in Athens. In the Pastoral Epistles, the interaction between Jerusalem and Athens becomes more complex. The gospel narratives and the major Pauline epistles are taken for granted. They provide the essence of Jerusalem in the