When did Christianity begin to spread? The cross-shaped marble baptistery is one of the new archaeology discoveries at the fourth-century church in Laodicea that shows just how old is Christianity in Turkey. There was already a well-established Christian community here for hundreds of years by the time this magnificent church was built.
How old is Christianity? When did it stop being a Jewish sect and become its own religion? As reported in “Crossing the Holy Land” in the September/October 2011 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, new archaeology discoveries of churches are crucial Biblical archaeology findings that help answer those questions. But when did Christianity begin to build these churches? Early Christian gathering places are difficult to identify because at first Christians met together mostly in private homes. Even as Christian populations grew, distrust and persecution by their Roman rulers forced the early church to stay out of the public eye.
The situation changed in 313 A.D. when the emperor Constantine made Christianity a licit religion of the Roman Empire. With this acceptance came the construction of large public buildings, or churches, to serve the worship needs of Christians. Remains of these churches are now turning up in Biblical archaeology findings around the world, helping to answer the questions: How old is Christianity in places like Turkey and Egypt? And when did Christianity begin to spread beyond Israel throughout the Roman Empire?
In early February 2011 the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced some Biblical archaeology findings, including a large Byzantine Church at Horvat Midras southwest of Jerusalem. The structure, which was used as a church in the fifth–seventh centuries, was among many new archaeology discoveries at the site and was located inside an earlier Jewish compound. The highlight of the basilica is the mosaic carpeting. The colorful geometric patterns and images of fish, peacocks, lions and foxes are rare in both the level of craftsmanship and the state of preservation.
But then disaster struck. Someone attacked these mosaics with a hammer. In the wake of the vandalism, the IAA covered the Biblical archaeology findings, stating that they hoped the mosaics could be mostly preserved, although it will now require significantly more time and money.
But how old is Christianity’s presence in Turkey? Given the importance of Asia Minor to the apostle Paul and other early followers of Jesus, it should come as no surprise that a church from the fourth century was among the new archaeology discoveries there. Turkey announced at the end of January 2011 that a large, well-preserved church had been found at Laodicea using ground-penetrating radar. According to the excavation director the church was built during the reign of Constantine (306–337 A.D.) and destroyed by an earthquake in the early seventh century.
Laodicea is mentioned several times in the New Testament, in both Paul’s letter to the Colossians and the Book of Revelation. Paul’s letter suggests that Laodicea had a very early Christian community. A bishop’s seat was located at Laodicea very early on, and it remains a titular see of the Roman Catholic Church today, although the city is uninhabited and the bishop’s seat has been vacant since 1968. In 363–364 A.D., clergy from all over Asia Minor convened at the regional Council of Laodicea. It is possible that the newly discovered church is the very same building where Asia Minor’s clergy met to hold the influential Council of Laodicea.
For more about these and other recent church discoveries, read Dorothy D. Resig’s “Crossing the Holy Land,” Biblical Archaeology Review, September/October 2011.
How did Christianity become a religion distinct from its Jewish origins? Read The Origin of Christianity in Bible History Daily.
Permalink: http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-sites/when-did-christianity-begin-to-spread/
Previous
I think it would be more appropriate to use the designation Asia Minor and not Turkey. Nomenclature is not always interchangeable and is by no means unimportant.
It is erroneous to suggest or imply, as this article does, that the age of Christianity is according to the age of the oldest known places where they met to worship. Moreover, the Lord’s “church” is NOT the place where Christians lived, nor the structure in which they worshiped. Rather, CHRISTIANS THEMSELVES are the church. And “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), and the practice of that faith, constitutes Christianity.
This insidius practice of linking the age of Christianity to the oldest known place or structure where they worshiped, is FALSE to the core.
Christianity began in the 1st century in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, ca. 30-33 C.E. (A.D.), and has existed continually ever since. Perhaps not always visibly in the eyes of the world because of times of extreme persecution, but wherever, and at whatever point of time, on this earth a disciple of Jesus Christ has lived and worshiped the Lord Christ, Christianity has existed.
Christianity did not start in the 3rd or 4th century in Turkey or Greece or any other place. It began as stated above, and the divinely inspired and historic account of it is found in Acts 2.
The line of thinking that “the people are the church” is correct but having said that it’s only part of the equation of what it means to be a Christian. The Apostle Paul set up churches “of people” that met in house churches, worshipped in a liturgical fashion (as we see in 1Corinthians) and told them to hold on to their traditions. So we have many things going on here: people, church, worship, and traditions.
Even before the New Testament Bible was written and put together, Christians used the Old Testament and the traditions that the Apostles left behind. These buildings are important in that they are a physical manifestation of those traditions. The other Apostolic traditions mentioned above can be found in the Orthodox Church today.
It is not a coincidence that this church had Greek inscriptions in it. The early church or the church of the first thousand years spoke Greek and was largely a phenomenon of Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East and not Western Europe. This is very important in understanding the early church and the mindset of early Christians.
One very incorrect item in the article is that Laodicea (in Asia Minor) was never part of the Church of Rome. It was part of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople, which as we see in the Book of Acts is a church of councils in the Apostolic tradition.
wata ya at
what the fuck is this