A fascinating archeological discovery has been made. They are calling it “the world’s first church”, and it actually may be. According to the BBC News report, a cave was uncovered underneath St. Georgeous (one of the oldest known churches until now). They are dating the site back to AD33-70 and saying it was used as a home and place of worship to over 70 Christians fleeing Jerusalem due to persecution.
Here are some nice images of the site.
According to Dr Abdul Qader Al-Hassan, the director of the Rihab Centre for Archaeological studies, the cave site shows clear evidence of early Christian rituals that predate the church.
Dr Al-Hassan says that steps lead down into the chapel which is approximately 12m long and seven metres wide.
There is a circular area of worship with stone seats separated from living quarters. This circular element, called an apse, is important says Dr Al-Hassan because there is only one other example of a cave with a similar feature, which was also used for Christian worship.
Dr Al-Hassan said: “We found beautiful things. I found the cemetery of this church; we found pottery shards and lamps with the inscription ‘Georgeous’”.
In the cave there is also a tunnel that leads to a cistern which supplied water to the dwellers. An inscription in the floor of the church above refers to the “70 beloved by God and the divine” whom the archaeologist believes were refugees from religious persecution in Jerusalem.
Man, I can’t wait to talk to some of those 70 Christians when I get to heaven.
[tags]St. georgeous cave, archaeology, christianity, jordan[/tags]
