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Posted on 08/14/2025 7:34:07 PM PDT by Jonty30
“One of the most important discoveries made in Israel this century.” —Ariel David and Ruth Schuster, reporters for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.1
“A stunning trio of early Christian (3rd century) inscriptions.” —Christopher Rollston, Professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures and chairman of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the George Washington University.2
What is it that has these reporters and a linguistic expert so excited? It is the discovery and further study of three mosaic texts in pristine condition that were excavated in 2005 by Yotam Tepper3 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority and that I focused on in my prayer letter from the spring of 2022. Rollston has now provided a detailed analysis of the inscriptions. They were found in a 16.4 × 32.8–foot (5 × 10–m) room in a building used by officers of the Roman Legio VI Ferrata (“Sixth Ironclad Legion”) in the Jewish-Samaritan village of Kefar ‘Othnay, on the grounds of the Megiddo Prison 1.8 miles (2.9 km) south of Tel Megiddo in northern Israel. Coins and the typology of the script of the texts indicate that the room was constructed in about AD 230. This was a time when Christianity was considered an illegal religion. It was not until the reign of Constantine (306–337) that Christianity was legalized. The building was abandoned in the later part of the third century, probably during the reign of Diocletian (284–305), who carried out extensive reforms of the Roman Empire and its army. When the building was dismantled, someone intentionally protected its mosaic floor by covering it with pottery sherds and large sections of wall plaster. Thus it was preserved in its condition in the late third century until it was excavated in our own times.
In the center of the floor was the base of a communion table with inscribed mosaic panels just to the north and south of it. The excavators called the room a “Christian Prayer Hall,” but, because of the presence of the communion table, Rollston prefers the broader term “Christian Worship Hall,” which is more appropriate.4 The three texts were the “Gaianus Inscription” in the north panel, which names Gaianus the centurion as the benefactor of the mosaic floor; the “Akeptous Inscription” on the west side of the south panel; and the “Women Inscription” on the east side of the south panel. All three texts provide important insight into a remarkable early Christian enclave active within the Roman army.
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Otherwise known as an altar.
The edict of Milan wasn’t issued until 313. 306 is an erroneous date.
CC
Assuming you are correct, you are what makes FR great.
I wrote a paper on Constantine Magnus in college. It’s correct.
CC
In the first century itself, we have texts from Clement etc that show that even by that time the universal view was that Jesus the Christ was Gid. They didn’t quite know how snd they knew that there was one God onky and that the Father and the Holy Spirit were Gid simultaneously as well.
Though the Edict of Toleration by Galerius was in 311
True, but that was only in the eastern empire.
CC
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