Opulent 1,500-year-old church to mystery ‘glorious martyr’ found at Beit Shemesh

[Disir]

Fifteen hundred years ago, Christian pilgrims flocked to an opulent basilica church near Beit Shemesh built with donations from the Byzantine emperor himself in honor of a mysterious “glorious martyr,” the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

“The martyr’s identity is not known, but the exceptional opulence of the structure and its inscriptions indicate that this person was an important figure,” said excavation director Benjamin Storchan in the IAA press release.


The church compound, 1.5 dunam or just over a third of an acre in size, has a rare intact underground crypt that once presumably contained the relics of the anonymous martyr immortalized in a Greek inscription at the site.
Opulent 1,500-year-old church to mystery ‘glorious martyr’ found at Beit Shemesh

And there are some awesome pictures.

 

[mdk]

Super neat find. Those mosaics are stunning.

 

[Disir]

I agree. They are pretty awesome.

 

[pismoe]

THANKS Disir !!

 

[Compost]

Wow. Awesome find!

 

[beautress]

Those are beautiful mosaics and pictures, Desir.

All I could think of when reading about the "glorious martyr" was how St. Peter died. He was a man who Christ predicted would deny him thrice, and he did. But in one of the greatest turnarounds in Christian history, St. Peter doubled down to make up for his denials by carrying the message of Jesus far and wide, and he died on a cross with the last request granted to even the worst criminals, but he asked only to be hung on the cross upside down, since he felt himself unworthy to be hung upright like the way Christ died. That has to be one of the most glorious martyrs in history, and the Emperor Constantine could have moved mountains to have his remains secreted over to be the most glorious martyr for the way he lived out the remainder of his life, bringing people to Jesus Christ's teachings of what the Jewish laws really meant.

This is all pure speculation. I have no other insight than that I tried to get into the head of one of the most powerful persons in the world who may have simply buried someone he personally knew and decided his life lived in the Christian traditional way was the most glorious martyr of his generation. The coulda-woulda-shoulda method of wishful thinking is not always a reality. *sigh*

Thanks, Desir for a great thread. I think my afternoon study will include a little dvd I have on the life of Constantine. You are an inspiration.