While there are many wonderful places associated with the events in the old and new testaments of the Bible, some of the most intriguing places came after the time of Jesus and during the growth of the Christian faith in Israel. The oldest known Christian churches in the world are often in Israel.
While the nation of Israel is primarily Jewish, followed by Muslim, the Christian faith of course started in Israel as a sect of the Jewish faith. It took some time for their own churches to be formed.
Some of the more well-known churches were established by Helena, the mother of Constantine. She took a pilgrimage to the Holy Land and was shown locations attached to biblical stories. Some of these churches were formed by local adherents to the faith.
Megiddo Prison Church
No, this church was not a prison, however it was discovered within the fences of a modern day prison built next to the very famous site known as Tel Megiddo and the Valley of Armageddon. The church is dated to early in the 3rd century and showcases a well-preserved mosaic floor with images of fish, the early Christian symbol.
In addition, there is an inscription that shows that the church was largely funded by a Roman soldier named Gaianus, showing the spread of the faith into the Gentile population.
If you’ve been on one of our tours before, you may wonder why you didn’t see this church while in the area. That is because it’s been “in prison” the whole time. However, it has now been decided to actually move the prison so the archeological wonder can be seen. Be looking for this stop on a future tour soon!
Church of the Nativity
The Church of the Nativity is one of the churches that Helena helped establish. This church was built upon the location believed to be where Jesus was born. It was long believed to be the location, even by the Romans who built a shrine to Adonis on the site to keep followers of Jesus from visiting the site.
Helena then built the Church of the Nativity in the early 4th century. The church was destroyed in a Samaritan revolt in the late 6th century. Then it was rebuilt by Justinian in the 7th century. Today’s church has been changed and repaired and expanded, but there are portions of the church that are from the Justinian church!
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was another church that was built in response to the pilgrimage of Helena. It was first built in the 4th century but then damaged and nearly totally destroyed repeatedly. The church is currently controlled by multiple churches who all contribute to, and sometimes fight about, care and integrity of the building.
Banaias
The Banaias Church was only more recently discovered during the covid pandemic while visitors weren’t attending and it was possible to do more extensive excavations in locations usually very busy with tourists.
The temple was then repurposed and changed to a Christian church during the Byzantine era, around 400 AD. Crosses are found all around, including a spot that appears to be the same as saying “I was here”, as many crosses are randomly sketched into a stone. This indicates this was not a local church, but instead a place of pilgrimage, this leads credence to the fact that Jesus and Peter did in fact ave this conversation at this site! Next time you are in Israel, this will be part of your experience when at Banaias! Just proves that you never know what will be discovered in Israel and just because you’ve been to a site, doesn’t mean you’ve seen it all!
We can’t wait to welcome you to Israel once again!
