by emad » Sun Nov 06, 2005 1:48 pm
<br>Israeli officials say they have discovered what may be the oldest Christian Church in the Holy Land - on the site of a maximum security prison. <br><br>Israel's Antiquities Authority said the church at the Megiddo jail dated back to the third or fourth century AD and was "a once in a lifetime find". <br><br>It contained a mosaic bearing the name of Jesus Christ in ancient Greek, fish murals and an altar, officials said. <br><br>The dig took place near the biblical site of Armageddon in northern Israel. <br><br>'Great discovery' <br><br>"This is a once in a lifetime find and the inscriptions are very rare," excavation supervisor Jotham Tefer told Israel's Channel Two television. <br><br>"This is a very ancient structure, maybe the oldest in our area," he said. <br><br>Mr Tefer added that the discovery could help shed new light on an important period of Christianity, which was banned by the Romans until the fourth century. <br><br>"Normally we have from this period in our region historical evidence from literature, not archaeological evidence," he said. <br><br>"There is no structure you can compare it to, it is a very unique find." <br><br>The Vatican's ambassador to Israel, Pietro Sambi, described the find as a "great discovery". <br><br>Megiddo is Hebrew for Armageddon, the site which Christian teachings say will herald the final battle before the coming of the messiah. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4411286.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world...411286.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br> <br> <p></p><i></i>
