Israel Finds a Christian Place at Armageddon
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| Nothing says Christianity at Armageddon like fish |
Israel has found what may be the oldest surviving place of Christian worship in the world. Its location: the spot the Bible calls Armageddon, now the northern Israeli town of Megiddo.
For months, the Israel Antiquities Authority has excavated a site inside, of all places, Megiddo Prison, trying to make sure that archaeologists got their scientific peek under the ground before prison authorities got their new high-security cellblocks on top of it. You never know what you'll find when you sink your spade in so ancient a land.
Young prisoner Ramil Razilo, doing time for repeated traffic violations, found an ancient Christian mosaic, the floor of a building where converts to the new religion gathered to worship--a building apparently made even before Christians built churches as we think of them today, before Constantine legalized Christianity in 313.
One Greek inscription in the mosaic reads, "Gaianos, also called Porphyrio, centurion, our brother, having sought honor with his own money, has made this mosaic. Brouti has carried out the work." Another, perhaps referring to a sort of proto-altar, reads, "The God-loving Aketous has offered this table to the God Jesus Christ, as a memorial."
At the center of the mosaic are two fish--symbols of Christ. The letters in the Greek word for fish, ichthys, actually make a clever Christian acrostic, a simple profession of faith: Iesous Christos Theou Yios Soter, or in English "Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior." There is no cross at the site. The cross didn't become a widespread symbol of Christianity until after Constantine abolished crucifixion.
See pictures of the ongoing excavation in Israel
Michael Himick and Steve SampsonNovember 11, 2005 From: KnowledgeNews
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