Megiddo Excavation

✦ In 2005 during the excavation for the expansion of an Israeli prison in Megiddo, a very early Christian church was discovered.

✦ Following are excerpts from an article entitled “Foundations of Christianity Unearthed” from the February 2006 issue of Discover magazine:

Mosaic fish symbols and references to a table donated for “the God Jesus Christ” firmly identify the building, located near Megiddo, Israel, as a place of Christian worship. ...the phrasing and the lettering style of the inscriptions support the idea that the church predates Roman approval. Moreover, the use of a fish motif rather than a cross, which became the dominant Christian symbol under Constantine, also suggests the building is older... The most puzzling aspect of the find is an inscription identifying a Roman military man named Gaianos as the donor who paid for the mosaics.

✦ This find hints at Roman support of the early Christian movement.

✦ Prior to Emperor Constantine there were periods of Christian persecution in Rome.

✦ In an interview with MSNBC Stephen Pfann, a biblical scholar and professor at the Holy Land University, states:

This was a time of persectuion and in this way it is quite surprising that there would be such a blatant expression of Christ in a mosaic.

✦ National Geographic states:

The experts add that it likely predates the Council of Nicaea in A.D. 325, when Roman Emperor Constantine I legalized Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.