THE BIBLICAL
JORDAN
Early Churches
Some of the world's earliest known churches have been recently
discovered in Jordan. These include a 4 th century church at
Umm Qays, a possible 2 nd or 3 rd century AD “prayer hall” at
Bethany beyond the Jordan, and the remains of a mud brick building
at Aqaba that may be the world's oldest known purpose built church.
The Aqaba building dates from the late 3 rd or early 4 th century
AD. The American archaeologists who excavated it believe it was
a church because of its unusually layout, its many decorative
glass lamps, its association with an adjacent Byzantine cemetery,
and its parallels with similar early mud brick churches in Egypt.
Another powerful manifestation of the faith and art of the first
Christian centuries may be enjoyed today in Madaba city and its
surrounding region in central Jordan. Between the 4 th and 7
th centuries AD, the prosperous ecclesiastical centre of Madaba
produces one of the worlds' finest collections of Byzantine mosaic
art, many fine examples of which are well preserved today. Several
church floor mosaics may be seen in their original locations,
while other have been preserved and moved for protection and
display in the Madaba Archaeological Museum and the Madaba Archaeological
Park. The park house has Jordan's oldest mosaic floor. Madaba's
masterpiece, in the Orthodox Church of St. George, is the 6 th
century AD mosaic map of Jerusalem and the Holy Land-he earliest
original map of the Holy Land in any form to survive from antiquity.
Madaba and its hinterland also were repeatedly mentioned in
the Old Testament, then called Medaba and featured in narratives
related to Moses and the Exodus, David's war against the Moabites,
Isaiah's oracle against Moab, and King Mesha of Moab's rebellion
against Israel (Numbers 21:30; Chronicles 19:7; Isaiah 15:2).
Mephaath, a Moabite city known for its pasture lands, is firmly
identified at modern Umm er-Rasas, southeast of Madaba (Joshua
13:18;1; Chronicles 6:66; Jeremiah 48:21). Excavations here uncovered
some of the finest Byzantine church mosaics in the Middle East,
including a large carpet depicting cities in Palestine and Jordan.
The unbroken legacy of the birth and development of faith in the
land of Jordan, including key episodes in the history of Christianity,
continues today in the witness of Jordanian Christians who form
a vital part of the country's population. Many Christian churches
and communities in Jordan trace their heritage directly to the
days of Jesus and John the Baptist. They often pray in churches
first built in the Byzantine era on the same sites where Abraham,
Moses, Jacob, Elijah, Jesus, John, Mary and other leading biblical
figures lived or passed through. Jordanian Christians include Orthodox,
Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical denominations, and make-up
about five percent of Jordan's population.
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