Posted on 12/04/2006 6:07:52 AM PST by NYer
Archaeologists claimed yesterday to have uncovered one of the world's first churches, built on a site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.
The site, emerging from the soil in a few acres in the hills of the Israeli occupied West Bank, is richly decorated with brightly coloured mosaics and inscriptions referring to Jesus Christ.
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According to the team, led by Yitzhak Magen and Yevgeny Aharonovitch, the church dates to the late 4th century, making it one of Christianity's first formal places of worship.
"I can't say for sure at the moment that it's the very first church," said Mr Aharonovitch, 38, as he oversaw a team carrying out the final excavations before winter yesterday. "But it's certainly one of the first." He said the site contained an extremely unusual inscription which referred to itself, Shiloh, by name.
"That is very rare and shows early Christians treated this as an ancient, holy place," said Mr Aharonovitch. According to the Old Testament, the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, was kept by the Israelites at Shiloh for several hundred years.
It was eventually moved to the Holy of Holies in the Jerusalem temple that the Bible says was built by King Solomon around 1000 BC. When the temple was sacked by the Babylonians 400 years later, the Ark was lost, sparking theories about whether it had been hidden or destroyed.
The team at Shiloh is considering whether to dig under the beautiful mosaics that they have uncovered, in order to find traces of the Ark. "We have to decide whether to fix the mosaics here or take them to a museum," said Mr Aharonovitch.
Jewish residents in the modern settlement of Shiloh, which sits on a hill amidst Palestinian villages, want the team to keep digging.
David Rubin, a former mayor of Shiloh, said: "We believe that if they continue to dig they'll reach back to the time of the Tabernacle," referring to the portable place of worship where the Israelites housed the Ark.
Thanks for that. A friend of ours went there last year for work and said the same thing. As a Christian, I think it would be so powerful to go there and walk around.
It dates to the late fourth century and they are calling it the first church? That's decades after even Emperor Constantine dedicated the Church of the Holy Apostles (AD 330), even if one takes the unusual position that ancient houses of worship were not "churches."
Sorry, Alouette, I meant to give you this link, too:
http://www.crisismagazine.com/julaug2002/feature2.htm
Not sure if you've seen this before, because I posted it in the forum when it came out, but it's a very interesting read.
Mad Mo formed his "religion" by mixing Christianity, Arianism (a Christian heresy), Arab paganism, and Jewish ritual practice. It's almost as much of a mess asn Scientology.
Indy Jones, my first thought, too!
Joooos, is that pronounced the same way the liberal commentators pronouce Boooosh?
Cool.
Some did, but not all. I understand that Saudi propaganda claims there were no Christians living there before Mohammed. My sister and her husband lived in Saudi Arabia for four years and spent a lot of time exploring in the hinterlands. Out in the middle of nowhere, they found the remnants of an ancient church that had recently been uncovered by blowing sands. Christian symbols carved into the structure left no doubt what it was. There is a lot of history that remains to be discovered beneath the mountains shifting sands.
"I would love to visit Israel someday and see the sights."
I visited Israel 20 years ago, and you will love it!
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
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High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel, WOT
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site believed to have once housed the Ark of the Covenant.
UN to vote on condemning Jews for occupied the West Bank to house the Ark of the Covenant.
Asked for comment, Jimmy Carter says Jews have every right to house the Ark of the Covenant but they should have kept it within the 1967 borders -maybe in Tel Aviv.
Looks very Byzantine to me. Goes to show the very close ties the Christian faith has to the land of Isreal.
Not suprising as you have said, because both Islam and Sceientology often in respect for religions are often ranked next to last and last.
The Christian faith.
Discoveries like these are proving once and for all that the Holy Bible is for real.
Take 'em to a museum. Otherwise the Palies will piss on 'em.
Before Islam, the Saudi area was conquered by the Sind, a polythist pagan group from southern Pakistan. Islam was a "Third way" between Christian Faith, Jewish holiness, and pagan pilgrimage.
The Quran and Hadith were written under later caliphs to provide Arab rulers enough "wiggle room" to justify their conquest, and permit them to enjoy the fruits of conquest.
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