Convicts unearth Israel’s ‘oldest church’

PRISONERS excavating a site near the biblical Armageddon uncovered what archaeologists said yesterday may be the Holy Land’s oldest church.

Digging where the Prisons’ Authority wants to build new wards for 1,200 Palestinian security prisoners, the Israeli criminals uncovered mosaics experts said were the floor of a church from the third century, decades before Constantine legalised Christianity across the Byzantine Empire.

Head archaeologist Yotam Tepper said: “What’s clear today is that it’s the oldest archaeological remains of a church in Israel, maybe even in the entire region, whether in the entire world, it’s still too early to say.”

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called the church “an amazing story.”

Vatican officials also hailed the find.

Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Vatican’s envoy to Jerusalem, said: “A discovery of this kind will make Israel more interesting to all Christians, for the Church all over the world.”

Two mosaics inside the church - one covered with fish, an ancient Christian symbol that predates the cross - tell the story of a Roman officer and a woman named Aketous who donated money to build the church in the memory “of the god, Jesus Christ.”

Mr Tepper said the evidence pointed to the church no longer being used by the fourth century.

Israel would like to make the site into a tourist attraction, but won’t be able to do so without uprooting the mosaic or the prison.

Archaeologists will continue excavations of the building and its surroundings, including what is believed to be a baptismal site.