Lalibela, Ethiopia While the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum may be Ethiopia’s holiest site, the Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela are by far the more amazing and interesting. This collection of eleven churches was carved from the living rock near the city of Lalibela by the orders of the Ethiopian King of the same name. While these spectacular shrines are not unique to … [Read more...]
ECHMIATSEN CATHEDRAL
Echmiatsen, Armenia The small nation of Armenia, wedged between the Slavic nations to the north and Turkey and Iran to the south, has the honor of being the world’s oldest Christian state, with a population that has somehow managed to remain largely outside of the Muslim sphere for the better part of fourteen centuries. The Bishopric of Armenia was the first major Christian … [Read more...]
XI’AN BEILIN MUSEUM
Xi’an, China Because of the complete triumph Islam in the Middle East in the early Middle Ages, it is easy to forget that in its early centuries, Christianity had spread throughout much of Asia. By the 5th century it was a major, if not the predominant, religion of Mesopotamia and Persia, and Christian missionaries had penetrated into India and China even before the Prophet … [Read more...]
BASILICA OF ST. SIMEON STYLITES
Aleppo, Syria After Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, die-hard Christians began to seek increasingly extreme ways to outdo each other in their public displays of humility towards God. At first they expressed themselves by founding or entering monasteries, or seeking seclusion as hermits. But as the 5th century dawned, more and more devotees … [Read more...]
MONASTARIES OF ST. ANTHONY AND ST. PAUL
Zafarana, Egypt When the pious Anthony arrived on the shores of the Gulf of Suez in the 4th century in his quest for solitude and a more Godly life, little did he know that he would be initiating what would become one of Christianity’s favorite pastimes: monasticism. A small, and by some accounts completely unwanted, following of the famous hermit later emulated his example … [Read more...]
COPTIC ORTHODOX PATRIARCHATE
Alexandria, Egypt For almost two thousand years, Alexandria has been home to one of Christianity’s five great Patriarchal seats. It was once considered, and still is by the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Papal See of Africa, and according to tradition the Patriarch is still technically the senior bishop of that continent. However, that tradition is obscured by the fact that … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE
Jerusalem, Israel Jerusalem was the heart of Judaism for more than a thousand years before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth and the arrival of Christianity. It was perhaps inevitable that when he challenged the authority of the Jewish priests and the Roman governor, the central battleground would be in Jerusalem. It was here that Jesus spoke against the commercialization of … [Read more...]
CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
Bethlehem, Palestine The Church of the Nativity stands on the traditional site of the birthplace of Jesus Christ, and is the second holiest site in Christendom after the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The current structure dates in part to the 6th century AD and is one of the oldest Christian churches still in use in the Holy Land. The Church of the Nativity is part of a … [Read more...]
ASSYRIAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCHATE
Chicago, Illinois The Assyrian Church of the East is one of the oldest Christian churches, and also one of the least known and most mysterious. Known throughout the Middle Ages as the Nestorian Church, it broke away from the rest of the Church in the 5th century, and is not in communion with Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Oriental Orthodoxy. Nevertheless the … [Read more...]
ARMENIAN ORTHODOX HERITAGE SITES
Fresno, California The Armenian Orthodox Church, one of the ancient Middle Eastern Churches not in communion with either the Eastern Orthodox or Roman Catholic churches, was largely founded by refugees fleeing brutal persecution in Asia. Those who arrived in Southern and Central California discovered a new land reminiscent of their homes and established one of the most … [Read more...]
