Fourth-century church excavated in Armenia

ARMENIAN WATCH: 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, Times of Israel).

“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.”

For information on surviving Armenian artwork and architecture in Israel, see here.

Note that the Armenian alphabet was invented only half a century or so after the time of this church. See here and links. For still more on Armenian literature, including Armenian translations of otherwise lost works of Philo of Alexandria, see here and links and here.

As I noted earlier, MOTP2 will reprint Michael Stone's translation of the idiosyncratic Armenian translation of 4 Ezra.

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