Remains of one of the oldest churches in the world discovered in Armenia
Octagonal-shaped structure dates from the mid-4th century CE, not long after the Kingdom of Armenia is thought to have become the first Christian kingdom
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
An academic team working in Armenia has discovered the remains of a church from the 4th century CE, making the structure one of the oldest churches in the world. It is the oldest yet found in ancient Armenia, considered the first kingdom to officially embrace Christianity.
The remains of the octagonal-shaped church were unearthed in Artaxata, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Armenia, by a joint team of archaeologists from the University of Münster and Armenia’s National Academy of Sciences, who have been working at the site since September, the University of Münster said in an October 11 press release.
The discovery “consists of an octagonal building with cruciform extensions” that “corresponds to early Christian memorial buildings,” the release said. The structure was “around 30 meters in diameter” and had “a simple mortar floor and terracotta tiles.” The researchers also found marble fragments indicating the structure was “lavishly decorated” with imported marble.
“In the cross-shaped extensions, the researchers discovered the remains of wooden platforms, which were radiocarbon dated to the mid-4th century CE,” the statement said.
This dating enabled the researchers to determine that the structure “is the oldest archaeologically documented church in the country — sensational evidence for early Christianity in Armenia,” Professor Achim Lichtenberger of the University of Münster said.
The now-ruined city of Artaxata, located on a hilltop in southern Armenia along the border with Turkey, was founded in 176 BCE and “developed into an important metropolis,” especially during the Hellenistic period, and ultimately served as “the capital of the Kingdom of Armenia for almost six centuries,” the researchers said.
The same hilltop, which boasts a spectacular view of Mt. Ararat just across the Turkish border, houses Khor Virap, an ancient and still active monastery that is also a pilgrimage site.
“This does appear to be a significant discovery and credible claim by well-qualified archaeologists,” said Prof. Jodi Magness, a classical and biblical archaeologist and religious historian who teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in an email exchange with The Times of Israel.
“The discovery of this church makes sense since the Kingdom of Armenia was the first state to adopt Christianity as its official religion in the early fourth century,” she said, and noted that at around the same time, “Armenians established a presence in Jerusalem, which they have maintained until today.”
Although rare elsewhere, ancient “octagonal churches are not uncommon in the eastern Mediterranean, including the Church of the Kathisma [the Church of the Seat of Mary, 5th century CE], located between Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which was excavated by Rina Avner of the Israel Antiquities Authority,” Magness said.
There is another octagonal church, dating from around 500 CE, in Caesarea, and at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, commissioned by Constantine in the early 4th century, “the grotto originally was enclosed within an octagon,” she said.
“In addition, the Dome of the Rock [7th century CE] is octagonal,” she noted, as is the chapel “at the heart of Charlemagne’s palace [9th century CE], at Aix-la-Chapelle [Aachen, Germany]” which “is an inner octagon surrounded by a sixteen-sided ambulatory, and still stands today.”
“I could not tell you what happened to this building type later in history,” Magness said. “There may well have been other, earlier Christian places of worship but they have not been identified in the archaeological record. Remember that Christianity was outlawed [in the Roman world] before 313 CE, so Christians had to worship in secret, for example in private houses.”
The Kingdom of Armenia, at the time a client-state of the Romans, formally became Christian in 301 CE, when, “according to legend, Gregory the Illuminator converted the Armenian king Tiridates III to Christianity in Artaxata,” the researchers noted in their press release.
This was before the Council of Nicea in 325 CE, which codified and streamlined what had been diverse Christian tenets, and also before the Roman Emperor Constantine’s 313 CE Edict of Milan, which outlawed the prosecution of Christians and made Christianity a recognized religion in the empire.
Therefore Armenia is considered the first Christian kingdom, and the Armenian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest Christian denominations. (There is also a significant number of Armenian Catholics, who have distinct traditions but owe allegiance to the Holy See in Rome.)
Armenia already boasts what some consider the world’s oldest cathedral: the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, built in 301 CE in the city of Vagharshapat, around the time of King Tiridates III’s conversion, but it is unclear which structure holds the title of the earliest church, and many locations predate the newly discovered Artaxata building.
Ancient Christian houses of prayer include the Dura-Europos house church in Syria, which is thought to have been a private home converted to a Christian house of worship in the mid-3rd century CE. The Meggido Church in Israel, also dating from the early 3rd century and thought to have been similarly repurposed, is another early contender, as is the Aqaba Church in Jordan from the late 3rd century, thought to be the earliest purpose-built Christian house of worship yet discovered.
The German-Armenian team, which has been working at Artaxata since 2018, said they “will continue their excavations and hope to make new discoveries, including the question as to whom the church was dedicated.”
