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TELL MAR ELIAS Tell Mar Elias excavation near Ajlun identifies large Church of Saint Elijah by Rami
G. Khouri The cruciform church with its cross-shaped structure (quite rare in Jordan) stands on the summit of a large hill that overlooks the green mountains of Gilead and the rolling hills and plains that lead down towards the Jordan Valley and Lake Tiberias. This hill, long known locally as Tell Mar Elias, has always been revered as a holy site. Local inhabitants and pilgrims from the surrounding countries have regularly visited the site to pray, especially on Elijah's annual commemoration day of July 21. The discovery of this large church adds to the spiritual importance of the site, which is one of the five sites designated by the Catholic church authorities in the Middle East as pilgrimage sites for the year 2000. The church is now known as Kneeset Mar Elias in Arabic, or the Church of Saint Elijah. The church measures 33 x 32 meters, and has three apses in its east, south, and north walls. The body of the church is divided by columns into three aisles, with some column bases and drums still in their original place. The floor of the church was completely covered in multi-colored mosaics, all showing floral or geometric motifs (flowers, leaves, scrolls, braided patterns, amphorae) without any representations of animals or humans. Other elements of the church that were excavated include remains of the baptistry, and parts of the marble chancel screen, including part of an inscription in Greek that is too short to be read. One large mosaic floor inscription in white letters on a red background says that the presbyter Saba and his wife offered the church to God as an expression of their faith, in the year 622 AD. The inscription was read by Mr. Abu Abila and Yarmouk University epigraphist Dr Nabil Atalla. The church at that time would have come under the jurisdiction of the bishop at Pella (modern Tabaqat Fahl, whose hills are visible north of the site, about 40 minutes away by car). The 622 date of the church is interesting because of the turbulent nature of that period a time when the Byzantine Christian Empire was retreating from this area, just after the Persian invasion of Jordan, and just before the arrival of the Islamic armies from the south. The floor inscription is facing one of the doors on the west side, which seems to have been the main entrance. The church had two doors on the west side, two on the north, and one on the south side. The main approach to the church seems to have been from the west. The external west wall of the church was approached through a barrel-vaulted riwaq, or porch, and immediately west of that was a large, semicircular wall forming a sort of atrium. The plastered walls of the atrium may have served a water-collecting function, for a deep well or cistern is still well preserved inside the atrium, next to a handsome oak tree. Several plastered, stone-build water channels have been excavated around the church, and a total of seven wells and cisterns have been identified to date. The trees in the area have many strips of cloth tied to their branches, representing token left behind by pilgrims who came here to ask for assistance from God and Elijah. The sacred nature of this area is one of the principles guiding the excavation and development of the site, for local people (Christian and Muslim alike) regularly visit it, and more foreign pilgrims are expected to visit as of the year 2000. Prophet Elijah Prophet Elijah ('my God is Jehovah') was a native of Gilead in Transjordan whose mission lasted about a quarter of a century during the reigns of Kings Ahab and Ahaziah, around the first half of the 9th Century BC He called people to repent and to prepare for the arrival of the Messiah. One of his primary tasks was to end the practice of Baal worship. The Prophets Elijah and Elisha stopped at the Jordan River where Elijah rolled up his cloak and struck the water, causing the water to divide miraculously "to the right and left", upon which "they crossed over on dry ground" to the east bank of the river (2 Kings 2:5-14). "The hand of the Lord was on Elijah," we are told in 1 Kings 18:46. In 1 Kings 17:18-24 Elijah is referred to as "a man of God", and the widow of Zarephthah whose son he brings back to life states, "I know that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true." The Sirach 48:1 states that Elijah "arose like of fire, and his word burned like a torch." Elijah's enduring power partly reflects his sheer humanity; James 5:17 calls him a man "just like us", for he experiences a wide range of normal human emotions, including fear, depression, loneliness, doubt about the Lord, and even wanted to die at one point: "I have had enough. Take my life," he said to the Lord in 1 Kings 19:5. He prayed hard for all that he asked of God, and had his prayers answered, perhaps because he was both ordinary and righteous. His prayers resulted in the rains stopping and starting, fire falling on Mount Carmel, and the widow's son coming back to life. The fact that the dead boy he brought back to life was the son of a non-Israelite woman suggests that God has a role for all people in salvation (Luke 4:25-26), a message perhaps also reflected in Elijah's successor Elisha's cleansing of Na'aman the Syrian of leprosy in the Jordan River. The Quran calls Elijah "an honorable man" and "a messenger" (6:86; 37:123), and says that "we left mention of him among later men" (37:130), a reference to Elijah's association with John the Baptist and Jesus. Elijah is frequently associated in Islam with the Prophet Khidr (whose traditional association with the land of Jordan is reflected in four shrines to him at Mahis, Karak, Ajlun and Beit Ras). In the Islamic tradition, Khidr, like Elijah, never died, but was taken to heaven by God, and in the account of chapter 18 of the Quran Khidr is believed to have met with Moses. Islamic tradition also believes that the Prophets Khidr and Elijah meet every year at the annual Muslim pilgrimage season at the holy city of Mecca. 7th Century church The Church of Saint Elijah seems to have been built in 622, and was used for perhaps two centuries, before falling into disrepair, probably due to an earthquake. Repairs within the mosaics indicate that the church underwent some repairs or modifications during its lifetime. The pottery, coins, glass fragments, and other cultural remains that have been found in the excavation date from two main periods, the 2nd-3rd Century AD Roman era, and the 6th-7th Century AD Byzantine era, Mr Abu Abila said in a recent interview at the site. Some wall fragments were added to the site in later Islamic periods, especially during the Ayyubid-Mamluke era. (A mosque from the Ayybid-Mamluke period stands at the edge of the mostly Roman-Byzantine settlement of Listib, a few hundred meters to the west.) One square room immediately south of the central apse of the Church of Saint Elijah seems to be from an earlier phase of the site's use, though the room is now linked with the church. Its mosaic floor is made of large, white stone cubes that are very different from the mosaic floor within the main body of the church. Roman pottery was associated with this room, which probably predates the church. Two graves were excavated just outside the church, towards the south-west. The cyst graves, cut out from the bedrock and covered with stone slabs, contained the bodies of a man and a woman. Their feet faced east and their heads west, but their heads were turned slightly so that their eyes looked towards the east, Mr Abu Abila explained. Among items found buried with the two people were a Byzantine oil lamp and bronze bracelets. The main church building was surrounded by other structures, other than the cisterns, graves, and atrium. Wall remains identified north and south of the church probably belong to structures associated with the church, perhaps even a monastery. Local lore has always identified an area around the church as the residence of "the nuns" even before the church was identified and excavated. The sacred nature of the site to the residents of the area is well attested by local traditions, Mr Abu Abila and other local residents said. They recalled that when goats and sheep were struck by a virus called rajah in Arabic, which restricted the animals' ability to walk properly, the local shepherds always brought their flocks to the site; they walked the animals around the hill of Tell Mar Elias, shot guns into the air, prayed to God and Elijah -- calling Elijah "father of candles and prayers" --, and asked them for rain and healing of the animals. A week later, the animals were always cured. Another example of the sacred nature of the site relates to tribal justice practices in the Ajloun and Wahadneh area. Local residents say that if two people have a dispute, the aggrieved party would take the accused party to the site of Tell Mar Elias and ask him or her to swear by the Prophet Elijah that they did not commit the crime of which they were accused. If the accused person swore to Elijah that he was innocent, that was taken as sufficient proof of his innocence. People also always visit the site to pray, light candles, sacrifice animals, and tie ribbons to the trees. These and other rituals have always been performed here by both Muslims and Christians, Mr. Abu Abila notes. The excavations will finish in the coming few weeks, and further work at the site will landscape the area with terracing and field walls, build protective walls, conserve the mosaics and architecture of the church, and build stairs for visitors and pilgrims. The Department of Antiquities team will also put a simple stone paving on the dirt track that leads to the summit of the hill, allowing cars to reach the top, where a small parking area has been cleared. Buses have to park at the base of the hill, along the paved road that reaches the site from Ajlun and Ishtifeina. The Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has provided the funds for the excavation and site development. Along with Mr. Abu Abila, the two assistant supervisors at the site are Bassam Otoum and Ali Annab. [Editor's note: This article first appeared in the Jordan Times in November, 1999. We are grateful to Mr. Khouri for granting us permission to present it here.]
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