Church of the Seat of Mary
31°44′21″N 35°12′46″E / 31.7392°N 35.2128°E
The Church of the Seat of Mary (
Discovery
Its remains were discovered accidentally during construction work of
History
Archaeological excavations revealed possible remains of a small shrine from the first half of the 5th century, but mainly a large and lavish
The southern doorway was turned into a Mihrab in the first half of the 8th century, while the rest of the structure continued to be used as a church. Other structural changes include the blocking of the eastern apse and a remodelling of the mosaic floors.[2] Scholars hold that the church was abandoned during the tenth century and slowly carried off for its building materials.[3]
Significance: novelties
New Marian cult
The Kathisma was the earliest church strictly dedicated to
The church is connected to the introduction of the earliest strictly Marian feast, the celebration of the Theotokos, which was inaugurated by Juvenal at the Kathisma.[1] At first it was set on 15 August, but had to be moved backward by two days, to 13 August, to make place for another Marian feast, the Assumption.[1] The church was built in 456, five years after the Council of Chalcedon, which reaffirmed the decisions from Ephesus and finally granted Juvenal, as the bishop of Jerusalem, ecclesiastical independence,[1] on the same footing with Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch.
Candle procession
Ikelia introduced at Kathisma a new custom: a candle procession to mark the
As an architectural model
The Old Kathisma was built as an octagonal martyrium. It has been noticed that the significant 5th-century octagonal churches built on Mount Gerizim and at Capernaum, as well as the late-7th-century Muslim Dome of the Rock, are all based on the same architectural pattern as the earlier Kathisma church, which might indicate that it served as the model for those buildings.
Description
The building had an octagonal floor plan measuring 43 m x 52 m, comparable to that of the 4th-century Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and other Byzantine churches, imitated in the construction of the Muslim Dome of the Rock in the late 7th century,[4] with the Kathisma rock in the center.[5] Most of the rooms of the church were paved in coloured mosaics of floral and geometric designs, some of them added in the 8th century.
Ancient sources
De Situ Terrae Sanctae (6th c.)
The 6th-century
Vita of St Theodosius (6th c.)
The church is mentioned in a 6th-century hagiography of Theodosius the Cenobiarch, Vita Theodosii by Cyril of Scythopolis (c. 525 – c. 559). According to this text, both the church and the monastery of Kathisma were built by a wealthy widow called Ikelia (Iqilia, Hicelia) during the reign of bishop Juvenal of Jerusalem (r. 422–458). Theodosius is said to have lived in the monastery as a young monk.
See also
- Ramat Rachel, nearby kibbutz, site of a related Byzantine monastery
References
- ^ )
- ISBN 9780199684335. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
- ISBN 965-406-754-4. Retrieved 2024-01-29.
- JSTOR 25769691.
- OCLC 898674852.
- ^ Johann Gildemeister, ed. (1882). Theodosius: De situ Terrae Sanctae im ächten Text und der Breviarius de Hierosolyma vervollständigt. Bonn: Adolph Markus. p. 28. Retrieved 2020-01-04.
Further reading
- Rina Avner, The Kathisma - a Christian and Muslim pilgrimage site, ARAM 18-19 (2007), pp. 541–57
- Avner, Rina; Ariel, Donald T.; Berman, Ariel; Di Segni, L.; Finkielsztejn, Gérald; Gorin-Rosen, Yael; Winter, Tamar (2022). The Kathisma church and monastery of Mary Theotokos on the Jerusalem-Bethlehem road : final report of the 1992, 1997, 1999 and 2000 excavation seasons. Jerusalem. OCLC 1331773739.)
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External links
- The Church of the Seat of Mary (Kathisma), Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1999).
- Kathisma (biblewalks.com)
- Beata Adonia, Kathisma – A place of rest on the way to Bethlehem, The Jerusalem Post 31 January 2013.
- Photos of the church site at the Manar al-Athar photo archive