Science Features
In photos: 'Jordan Archeology - 'oldest' Christian church in the world'
By James Wray Jun 10, 2008, 17:15 GMT
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Older Talkback
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This is exciting news and I would like to share it with the internet community through Suite 101 in the form of a short article. Would you please give me permission to utilise your photograph for this. Whom would I acknowledge for the photograph?
Do you have any more information about this church. Who was using the church. Were they in hiding from the Roman authorities? Any historical background would be great.
Thank you
Christine Fadley
yogachris@googlemail.com
thats realy cool in that part of the world
you never know what you might find. just
don't fight over it, it belongs to the planet.
people should care for about the past.
Why are they arc welding in that cave without dark glasses or a mask?
I am a bit annoyed with the title of the article.
They say that they 'Discovered a Cave that was a Church', but that is not accurate. What they did was they IDENTIFIED a cave that was ALREADY part of an old broken down church as having been a Church previous to the time that they had known.
But this cave they supposedly 'discovered' was a place with a modern door on it and evidently used as a basement. So not a discovery... but rather a re-identification.
They have absolutely no evidence to suggest this cave was a Christian church in the 1st Century. However, they might have evidence to suggest that it was Nazorean community like the one at Qumran as mentioned in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Even the pottery they found in the cave dates from the 3rd Century. This is another case of orthodoxy seeking validation at time when the truth is finally reaching the general public.
So how old do they think the church is? Second Century? Third?
I'd prefer photos of the inscription, pottery, coins. Clearly it is a church building built over a sacred site, standard Byzantine Orthodox practice. The inscription may well refer to the seventy whom Jesus sent on a mission or anothe. If so, that would be reason enough for the building. However, the 'seventy' may have been a later group sent in immitation of the original seventy, just like the Spanish 'Twelve,' the first missionaries to 16th-century Mexico. The inscription may have been rediscovered, but obviously the site has been known since Byzantine times or the church would not have been built over the cave. Perhaps it is also important to identify St. Georgeous and any relationship he had with the 'seventy'.
AT first it appears as an old Byzantine underground 'church' or meeting place. Pagan persecution prevailed during the day. I would say
that added evidence is required to make any other conclusions.
Early Christians usually left some visual sign of their faith,
such as a mosiac or some other inscription, like the old Ichtus
found in old Roman catacombs or in Jerusalem. Scripture revelas
that early Christians went throughout the whole region preaching
the Kingdom of God and spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is just another one of many evidences of biblical
Christianity, but isnīt absolutely necessary for proof of any
kind. Amen.
I Felt very excited to read this article including the photos for this proved that the original Christian church had that typical altar ( for Eucharistic celebration) and the cross hence,the early Christians were not cross-hater. The One Holy Apostolic Catholic Roman Church proved her continuity even up to now.
most importantly radio carbon dating should be done on reliable items to determined its actual age and whether it was during the apostelic church...
pottery rocks
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