Megiddo church is an

archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...

near

Tel Megiddo Tel Megiddo (from ) is the site of the ancient city of Megiddo (; ), the remains of which form a tell or archaeological mound, situated in northern Israel at the western edge of the Jezreel Valley about southeast of Haifa near the depopulate ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

that preserves the foundations of one of the oldest Christian church buildings ever discovered by archaeologists. The ruins contain one of the oldest inscriptions referring to the divinity of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. The church was dated to circa 230 AD on the basis of pottery, coins, and the inscriptional style.Tepper, Yotam and Di Segni, Leah. 2006. A Christian Prayer Hall of the Third Century CE at Kefar ‘Othnay. Legio: Excavations at the Megiddo Prison 2005. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority.Adams, Edward. 2008. ‘The Ancient Church at Megiddo: The Discovery and an Assessment of its Significance’. The Expository Times 120: 62–9.Adams, Edward. 2013. The Earliest Christian Meeting Places: Almost Exclusively Houses? London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark. pp. 96–9. The site's abandonment, circa 305 AD, is evident in the purposeful covering of the mosaic, which may correlate to the Diocletianic Persecution. Joan E. Taylor and Ilaria L. E. Ramelli. (2021). Patterns of Women's Leadership in Early Christianity. Oxford Scholarship Online. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780198867067.001.0001. pp. 295-6.

Location

The remains were found near Megiddo Prison, which is located a few hundred meters south of the tell and adjacent to

Megiddo Junction The Megiddo Junction () is an intersection of Highways 65 and 66 in northern Israel, at the exit from the mountain pass coming up through Wadi Ara into the Jezreel Valley. It is named for the nearby ruins of the biblical city of Megiddo, als ...

in northern Israel. The area belonged to the ancient Roman town of

Legio Legio was a Roman military camp south of Tel Megiddo in the Roman province of Galilee. History Following the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 CE), Legio VI Ferrata was stationed at Legio near Caparcotna. The approximate location of the camp of the L ...

, known previously by its

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

name, Kefar ‘Otnay.

Discovery and description

In 2005, Israeli archaeologist Yotam Tepper of

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

discovered the remains of a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, believed to be from the third century, a time when

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

were still persecuted by the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Among the finds is an approx. large

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

with a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

inscription stating that "The God-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial."Yotam Tepper, Leah Di Segni, ''A Christian Prayer Hall of the Third Century CE at Kefar 'Othnay (Legio): Excavations at the Megiddo Prison 2005''. Israel Antiquities Authority, 2006, Jerusalem, Israel. Quote: "The Akeptous lnscription. The inscription is set within a rectangle (67 x 80 cm) in the western side of the southern mosaic panel. Its frame and letters are traced in black tesserae; the characters are 7.5-9.0 cm high."Andrew Lawler, ''First Churches of the Jesus Cult''. Archaeology, 2007. Quote: "... Others are more intrigued. "I'm open to Megiddo as a third-century site," says Taylor. "It's idiosyncratic," she adds, since it does not fit the model of Christian churches during and after the time of Constantine. Those structures are easily recognizable by their basilica shape....""
Abstract of the article
/ref>Andrew Lawle
Full article
The mosaic is very well preserved and features geometrical figures and images of

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

, an early Christian symbol. An inscription in the Megiddo church mentions a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

officer, "Gaianus," who donated "his own money" to have a mosaic made.

Dating

The church was dated to circa 230 AD on the basis of pottery, coins, and the inscriptional style. The site's abandonment, circa 305 AD, is evident in the purposeful covering of the mosaic, and relates well to the crisis of 303 AD, when the Christian communities of Judea experienced the Diocletianic Persecution. The anthropologist Joe Zias, former curator for the

Israel Antiquities Authority The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA, ; , before 1990, the Israel Department of Antiquities) is an independent Israeli governmental authority responsible for enforcing the 1978 Law of Antiquities. The IAA regulates excavation and conservatio ...

, said "My gut feeling is that we are looking at a Roman building that may have been converted to a church at a later date." The archaeological evidence may point to a later date, placing the church in the last quarter of the 3rd or first quarter of the 4th century.

Exhibition at the Museum of the Bible

In September 2024, the Washington D.C.-based

Museum of the Bible The Museum of the Bible is a museum in Washington, D.C., United States, owned by Museum of the Bible, Inc., a non-profit organization established in 2010 by the David Green (entrepreneur), Green family. The museum documents the narrative, histo ...

, in partnership with the

(IAA), opened the special exhibition,
The Megiddo Mosaic: Foundations of Faith
'. The exhibition features the 3rd century A.D. mosaic floor.

In culture

In March 2024,

Angel Studios Angel Studios, Inc. is an American independent Christian media company and Film distributor, film distribution studio based in Provo, Utah. It operates the Over-the-top media service, over-the-top video on demand, video on-demand service Angel. ...

released the documentary film ''The Mosaic Church'' that describes the history of Megiddo church.

References