Gospel Stories in Stone
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and other Constantinian churches
Aedicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Photo by Nathan Steinmeyer, BAS.
During the fourth century, when Christianity went from a persecuted minority to a state-sponsored religion, several monumental churches were built across Roman Palestine to commemorate major events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Starting with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, these commemorative churches became material representations of the central gospel events and contributed to constructing the identity and beliefs of early Christians. But because they were founded by Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) and his successors using the resources of the Roman imperial state, they also became monuments to imperial power and patronage.
In his article “The Life of Jesus Written in Stone,” published in the Winter 2024 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Jordan J. Ryan looks at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and other monumental churches across Roman Palestine that Constantine the Great had built to commemorate the crucial gospel narratives. For Emperor Constantine, the Church became a unifying force of his vast empire. And although his true religious beliefs remain the subject of scholarly discussion, commemorative churches, which embodied the gospel events tied to human salvation as brought by Jesus of Nazareth, bolstered Constantine’s secular authority and were as much a testament to the emperor’s greatness as to the power of the resurrected Jesus.
Reconstruction of the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
A professor of New Testament at Wheaton College in Illinois and a specialist on ancient synagogues and churches, Ryan explores how gospel events from the annunciation to ascension found their material expression in monumental buildings of Christian worship. “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, commemorating the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, was the first to be built. It was soon joined by two more monumental churches, the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem and the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives,” the latter of which commemorated Jesus’s teaching and ascension, writes Ryan.
These monumental churches also draw from the stylistic repertoire of Roman imperial architecture. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, for example, consisted of a double-colonnaded basilica, an inner courtyard, and an aedicule with the tomb of Jesus over which arose the grand rotunda called the Anastasis. Significantly, all three components are traditional features of Roman imperial architecture. “The use of [rotunda] for the Holy Sepulchre conveyed the idea of the kingship of Jesus,” remarks Ryan. The same general plan followed also the Church of Nativity at Bethlehem and the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives.
Cave shrine in the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth. Photo by Megan Sauter, BAS.
A number of smaller commemorative churches built by the order of Constantine the Great emerged also in the Galilee. Literary sources mention such sites as Tiberias, Sepphoris, Nazareth, Tabgha, and Capernaum. Although only a few of these have been identified in the archaeological record, they would have filled out the gospel story of Jesus’s life with events connected to his healing and teaching ministry around the Sea of Galilee. In Nazareth, for example, the cave shrine (see photo above) marks the traditional site of the archangels Gabriel’s annunciation to the Virgin Mary.
To delve into the architectural and doctrinal intricacies of Constantinian commemorative churches, read Jordan J. Ryan’s article “The Life of Jesus Written in Stone,” published in the Winter 2024 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
Subscribers: Read the full article “The Life of Jesus Written in Stone” by Jordan J. Ryan in the Winter 2024 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review.
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