Tel Aviv - It's believed to be the oldest church in the world, and because of it, an Israeli prison may become a tourist site. The prison is located at Megiddo, close to the Armageddon of the New Testament book of Revelation. It houses both common criminals and prisoners labeled "security detainees.
The church was unearthed four years ago by Israeli archeologists, aided by prisoners, who, in accordance with Israeli law concerning building work at sites known for archeological pickings, were carrying out excavation work prior to the construction of a new wing at the prison.
Only a mosaic floor was uncovered. But an inscription dedicating the monument to the "Lord Jesus Christ", and decorations of a two fish, the symbol of early Christianity, were enough to convince the archeologists that they had found remnants of what could be the oldest church in the world, dating from the 3rd to the 4th centuries AD.
The mosaic naturally excited the archeologists,but also presented the authorities with a major headache. The prisons service, which even went so far as to describe the find as "problematic," wanted to go aheadwith upgrading the prison as planned.
The archeologists however wanted to preserve what they had found.
Now however the local regional council, the Israel Prisons Service, and the Israel Antiquities Authority are pressingfor the relocation of the high-security detention facility, so the church remains canbe opened to the public.
An agreement to that effect is now being worked out, the Israeli Ha'aretz daily said Monday, and plans forfunding the project have been submitted to the Finance Ministry.
"A tourism complex is to be built on this site, the central focus of which will be the ancient house of worship," Regional Council Head Hanan Eerez said.
Three inscriptions in Greek led archeologists to assume the mosaic was was a public Christian building, dating from the late third, early fourth century AD, and thought to be the earliest church in the world.
One described how an officer with the Roman name of "Galanus" donated money for the building. A second said it was built in memory of four women.
But the most import and explicit clue that the structure was a Christian public place of worship, was the final inscription, which said that the "God-loving Aketous has offered this table to the God Jesus Christ, as a memorial."
Yotam Tepper, of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said thatthe wording on the mosaic, the shape of the letters,and the names on the inscriptions,were fairly solid proof that the edifice dates from around the year 300, or from the time of late Roman rule over what is now Israel, and predated the recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
Christian ritualswere prohibited in the Roman Empire prior to the year 313 AD, and Christians were forcedto pray in secret in catacombs or in private homes.
But, Tepper said, the fact that the building was constructed with donated money and as a memorial, proved it was not a private place of worship.
The earliest churches in the Holy Landare the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, the Nativity in Bethlehem, and the Alonei Mamre near Hebron. But they contain only scants remains of the original structures, which were built by the Roman Emperor COnstantine I.