wfn.org | Sixth-century Byzantine Church Discovered in Gaza Strip

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18-March-1999 
99110 
 
    Sixth-century Byzantine Church 
    Discovered in Gaza Strip 
 
    by Ross Dunn 
    Ecumenical News International 
 
JERUSALEM - Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a sixth-century 
Byzantine church dedicated to John the Baptist at an Israeli military 
installation in the Gaza Strip. 
 
    The church, which measures 13 by 25 meters and is well-preserved, has 
extensive marble floor tiles and multi-colored mosaics of geometric shapes 
and floral motifs, as well as several Greek inscriptions. 
 
    As translated by Prof. Vassilios Tzaperis of the Israel Antiquities 
Authority, the inscriptions read: (from Psalm 95:1) "O come, let us sing 
unto the Lord," mistakenly rendered as "O come, let us become sanctified 
unto the Lord"; and (from Deuteronomy 28:6) "Blessed will you be when you 
come in, and blessed will you be when you go out." 
 
    At the entrance to the church is a multi-colored mosaic of a medallion 
containing 11 lines which state that the church was founded in 544 and 
dedicated to John the Baptist and that the building was completed in 550. 
The medallion also contains words of praise for the church's benefactors, 
Victor and John. 
 
    Archaeologist Ya'akov Huster, who is in charge of the excavations, told 
ENI that the ruins provide important information about the early Christian 
community in the area. 
 
    "These discoveries show that this was a major church in a successful 
community in the mid-sixth century, during the reign of Justinian," he 
said. "It puts one more piece in the puzzle. We have historical sources 
telling us about Christianity in the Gaza region, but in fact (we have 
found) few Christian places between Gaza and Ashkelon (a city in Israel) - 
so we have one place more." 
 
    Huster thinks this church probably served a small village, because the 
medallion included no mention of an abbot. He said he believes that the 
church was abandoned during an Arab conquest of the area in 634. There are 
no signs of destruction by war or fire, and only the ornamental mantles 
decorated with crosses were defaced by the conquerors, he said. The floor 
and foundation were buried under three meters of sand when the 
archaeologists discovered them. 
 
    The main obstacle to finding more such sites is that most of the area 
is covered by high dunes. "It is only by chance, when a dune is removed for 
some reason, that you can reach those sites,"Huster said. 
 
    The latest discovery raises another problem - the site is on an Israeli 
military installation, at Tel a-Shakef in the north-west edge of the Gaza 
Strip, a patchwork of Palestinian self-rule areas, Jewish settlements and 
Israeli army bases. 
 
    A previous excavation at the site revealed a magnificent bathhouse and 
fish pond in almost perfect condition, next to the church site. But the 
existence of the church itself was not known before now. 
 
    "I believe the army will remove the installation so I can complete the 
exposure of all the church," Huster said. 
 
    Israel's Employment Service has provided 24 people to work at the site 
as a part of a public-works project for the unemployed. 

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