The Seven Churches of Revelation are all located in Anatolia; Ephesus (Efes), Smyrna (Izmir), Laodiceia ad Lycum (Goncali), Sardis (Sart), Pergamum (Bergama), Philadelphia (Alasehir) and Thyatira (Akhisar).          These churches are associated both with Saint Paul and with Revelations (the Apocalypse); letters written in c.95 AD to the Seven Churches by John.  For some people John is a visionary who lived on the island Patmos.  But some people say he is the Apostle John.          There should have been more than seven cities with major Christian congregations in Anatolia at the time that John wrote and it is unknown why he addressed only these seven.  These were possibly the most important ones at that time or letters to other churches were lost.          These churches were not church buildings as such but congregations.  These early congregations had their meetings in private homes as there had been no original church buildings until the 3rd Century AD.  St. Paul possibly founded some of the Seven Churches on his missionary journeys between 47-57 AD, as he was thought to have visited all seven cities. Ephesus