wfn.org | Mary's "Resting Place" Rediscovered by Archaeologists

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

14-November-1997 
97436 
 
    Mary's "Resting Place" Rediscovered by Archaeologists 
 
    by Ross Dunn 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
JERUSALEM--Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered the site where, 
according to Christian tradition, Mary stopped to rest on her way from 
Jerusalem to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus. 
 
    Digging at the site -- halfway between the Old City of Jerusalem and 
Bethlehem --  began in 1992 but resumed in earnest only in the last month, 
when extra funds became available. 
 
    The recent excavations fully exposed the ruins of an ancient, large 
Byzantine church with richly designed mosaic floors built around a rock 
known as the Kathisma, Greek for "the seat," the place where Mary is 
supposed to have rested.  The craggy limestone rock, measuring about two by 
four meters, had been lying beneath an olive grove, close to the modern 
road connecting Jerusalem to Bethlehem. 
 
    "During the last week we succeeded in exposing a major part of the 
church, including the `holy rock' in the center of it," said Gideon Avni, 
chief archaeologist for the Jerusalem region. "This site was developed as a 
religious site, as a focus of pilgrimage starting from the fourth century." 
While part of the rock was exposed during the original excavations, he said 
it was only during the recent work that archaeologists had been able to 
confirm that it was the site which, according to early Christian tradition, 
was Mary's resting place. 
 
    The rock itself is not mentioned in the New Testament, but is known 
from other Christian documents dating from as early as the second century. 
The church was built in the 5th century A.D., and Christian pilgrims 
stopped to worship there on their way to Bethlehem from Jerusalem.  The 
church is the largest of its type ever discovered in Israel, but the mosaic 
floors date only from the 17th century and were built over the original 
coverings. 
 
    Avni believes that the identification of Mother Mary's "stone seat" 
will make the site a major attraction for many Christian visitors to the 
Holy Land. 
 
    The Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Diodoros I, whose church 
owns the land, thanked the Israeli archaeologists for their work and said 
he would cooperate in making the site accessible to visitors.  "This great 
discovery has historical, religious and ethnic significance," he said at a 
news conference at the site on Nov. 9, before joining other Greek priests 
in singing a hymn alongside the venerated rock. 
 
    The current excavations came about through the discovery of illegal 
construction work in the area, which prompted an investigation by Israel's 
Antiquities Authority. Water pipes had been laid through the area by a 
private security firm guarding the machinery at the nearby Har Homa 
project, a controversial new Jewish neighborhood in Arab east Jerusalem. 
 
    In order to check for damage, the Ministry of Housing agreed to fund 
three weeks of digging.   This work showed that the site had not been 
harmed by the illegal construction work, but also led to confirmation that 
the ruins were indeed those of the old "Kathisma Church." 
 
    Rina Avner, an archaeologist directing the excavation on behalf of the 
Israel Antiquities Authority, said the stone was situated exactly in the 
center of the church. She said, "It is one of the earliest, largest and 
major churches dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus."  Avner said that the 
church and a nearby monastery were built with a donation from a rich widow 
named Iqilia in the middle of the fifth century. 
 
    Surrounding the stone where Mary is said to have rested is an octagonal 
ring which served as a walkway from which worshipers could view the "holy 
seat."  There was also an outer ring, which was divided into four rooms 
with four chapels between them. 
 
    Avner said the octagonal shape had influenced the design of the Dome of 
the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City, one of the most important shrines 
in the Islamic world. 

------------
For more information contact Presbyterian News Service
  phone 502-569-5504             fax 502-569-8073  
  E-mail PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org   Web page: http://www.pcusa.org 
  mailed from World Faith News <wfn-news@wfn.org>  

--