Armstrong - Fifth and Sixth Century Church

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FIFTHANDSIXTH CENTURYCHURCH BUILDINGS

IN HOLY LAND

ByGREGORY T. ARMSTRONG

Inearlier articles I have hadoccasionto discuss churchesbuiltwith imperial patronage in the fourth century.

1 Here I wish to

pursue theseresearchesinto the following centuries down throughthereign of Justinian. This period saw continued interest in theHoly Land on the part of the imperial family culminating in the

truly massive building programs of Justinian himself. Asidefrom the great economic impact of this activity,2the very concept

of the Holy Land, the object of pilgrimage for all inhabitants ofthe empire and beyond, wasfirmlyimprinted upon themind ofChristendom.

I

At the opening of the fifth century, even after 180 years of

official recongition, Christianity was not everywhere the dominantreligion. The imperial interest in and support for church build-ings to displace pagan temples continued strong and may be il-lustrated by the city of Gaza.

8 At the beginning of the fifth cen-

tury Gaza had one church and eight pagan temples, including thecults of Aphrodite and of Marnas. About this time Bishop Por-phyry appealed for imperial help toclose the temples. The Em-pressEudoxia promised funds for a new church, and an imperial

commissioner was dispatched with troops to destroy the temples.The marneion, a circular temple, wasburnedand became the sitefor a new church. Some of the old marble was used as pavement,and Eudoxia sent 32 columns of emeraldtinted marble fromCarytus in Euboea. Theworktook about five years and was con-secratedat Easter,April 14, 407. The new building was knownastheEudoxianaand was cruciform in plan, at the empress's sug

1

"Imperial Church Building and ChurchState Relations, A.D.313363/' Church History, XXXVI (1967), 317; "Imperial Church Build-ings in theHolyLand in the Fourth Century/'TheBiblicalArchaeologist,XXX (1967), 90102.

2M. AviYonah, "The Economics of ByzantinePalestine," Israel Ex-

ploration Journal, VIII (1958), 3951.8

GlanvilleDowney,Gazain theEarly Sixth Century (Norman, Okla.,1963).

17


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18 THE GREEK ORTHODOX THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

gestion. Quite possibly the idea for the plan of a cross was derived from the Apostles' Church in Constantinople, and it may

have influenced in turn the Church of the Prophets in Gerasa,built about A.D. 465. The Chuxch of St. Sergius, built a centurylater at Gaza, was also cruciform in plan.

On the other hand, the building of churches did not proceedwithout its critics. Jerome, writing about the turn of the century,noted the attention lavished on church buildings while the selection of clergy was being neglected. He exhorted the Roman ladyDemetrias togive her wealth for the poor, sick, and hungry.

Others may build churches, may adorn their walls when builtwith marbles, may procure massive columns, may deck theunconscious capitals with gold and precious ornaments, maycover church doors with silver and adom the altars with goldand gems. I do not blame those who do these things; I donot repudiate them. Everyone must follow his own judgment. And it is better to spend one's money thus than to

hoard it up and btiood over it However, your duty is of adifferent land.

We may speculate that he avoided any stronger comment for fearof offending the imperial family and other wealthy patrons ofchurches.

Eudocia, the wife of Emperor Theodosius II, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in A.D. 438, the year after her daughter's

marriage to Valentinian III, Emperor in the West. She returnedto Constantinople in 439 with relics of the first Christian martyr,Stephen, but in the next year she was divorced by the Emperorand settled permanently in Jerusalem. We cannot elaborate hereon the politics of the situation or on her rivalry with the Emperor's sister, Pulcheria, but the result of her stay in the HolyLand was a number of new churches. The earliest of these wasthe Church of the Stoning of St. Stephen in Jerusalem, a basilicawith colonnaded nave and narthex and with an atrium.4 It waslocated beyond the north wall of the city on the road to Sebaste,or the Nablus road where the modern St. Stephen's Church and

4Still of great value for this and other churches of Jerusalem is:Hughes Vincent and F. M. Able, Jerusalem: Recherchesde topographie,

d'archologie et d'histoire, Tome 2: Jrusalem nouvelle m four parts

one and two were issued together(Paris, 1914, 1922, 1926).


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FIFTH AND SIX1H CENTURY BUILDINGS IN HOLY LAND 19

Convent stand; the gate was known for a time as St. Stephen'sand is now familiar as the Damascus Gate. The basilica's dimensions, according to Vincent, were 33 by 19-30 m. (108 by 63 f t ) .The work was carried out in cooperation with Bishop Juvenal,and it is considered likely that the Empress was primarily responsible for the magnificent decoration of the building. She wasburied in the church at her death inA.D.460.

In addition Juvenal seems to have suggested to her the building of the Church at the Pool of Siloam, completed by 451 andincorporated within the city by an extension of the city walls also

sponsored by Eudocia. This church was a small domed basilica,oriented normally, but with the narthex along the north ratherthan the west wall, preceded by a small atrium (Fig. 1). This

FIGURE 1 :The Church of the Pool of Siloam* Jerusalem, ca. A.D. 450.Drawing by Constance D. Goodrich after L. H. Vincent.

arrangement was dictated by the topography, and one descendedby steps into the church and from it into the courtyard on thesouth around the pool itself. Eudocia was also remembered forbuilding monasteries in Jerusalem.

A contemporary building, the work of Bishop Juvenal in the


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name and probably with the support of Emperor Marcian (A.D.450457),the successor of Theodosius II, was the Church of theTomb of theVirgin. It was located very closeto the GethsemaneChurch at the Mount of Olives, in the valley of Joshaphat as thepilgrim accounts regularly identified it. A proposed reconstruc-tion of the plan of the building by Vincent has suggested anoctagon,about 15 m. (49 ft.) in diameter, with an extended apseover the tomb itself on theeast face (Fig. 2). The similarity of

2 4 6 8 Om.

FIGURE2: The Church oftheTomb oftheVirgin,Jerusalem, ca. A.D.455.Drawing byConstanceD.Goodrich afterL.H.Vincent.

this centralized structure to the rotunda of the Ascension orImbomon Church, to the octagon of the Church of the Nativity,and even to the Anastasis rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre, is selfevident. It is a martyrium over a sacred shrine, the object of pil-

grimage probably even before the church was built. In thiscase,however, there was a competing tradition that located the deathand tomb of theVirgin in Ephesus. The Council of Ephesus in431, meeting in the great Church of the Virgin Mary, with itsdecision in favor of the doctrine of theTheotokos (Maryas the

bearer or mother of God) no doubt secured favorable attentionfor that branch of the tradition, but Bishop Juvenal was able tocapitalizeon the reaction to the socalled Robber Synod at Ephe


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FIFTH AND SIXTHCTNTURYBUILDINGSIN HOLY LAND 21

sus in449 and on the heavypilgrim traffic in theHolyLand with

his new martyrium and ultimately helped the Jerusalem tradition

to prevail. The ambitious Juvenal also secured recognition of the

see of Jerusalem as a patriarchate at the Council of Chalcedonin 451.

The story of the Christian Church onMt. Garizim in Samaria

is told by the historianProcopius,a member of the court of Jus-tinian, in hisBuildings* InA.D. 484 the Samaritans attacked the

Christians of Neapolis (Nablus) during the Pentecost festival,

killing many and cutting off the fingers of the bishop, Terebin

thius. He fled to Constantinople and appealed to the Emperor

Zeno for retribution. Zeno responded by driving the Samaritansfrom Mt. Garizim, which was of course sacred to them, and by

buildinga church dedicated to the Mother of God {Theotokos)

or Mary. He alsobuilta wall of stone about the church, creatingacourtyard not unlike the arrangement atMamre. Although the

church and the city below were garrisoned, abandof Samaritans

soughtto seize the church in the reign of Anastasius I (A.D.491518), but were unsuccessful. The Samaritans began a fullscale

revolt in 529which saw the slaughter of many Christians and the

destruction of at least five of their churches in the region ofNeapolis. Procopius does not specify which five, but Justinian isreported to havebuilta new wall around the enclosure and church

on Mt. Garizim, making it "absolutely impregnable."

The remains of the fortifications and of the church have been

excavatedand reveal an enclosure of 73.35by 62 m. (241 by 203

ft.)presumably the wall of Justinian6

(Fig. 3). The plan of thechurch was octagonal with an apse at the eastend, entrances on

north and south, and main entrance with a porch or narthex ef-

fect at the west end. An interesting feature was the use of sidechapelsaround the central octagon which, together with the sideentranceporches, balanced the narthex and, in part, the apse ex-tension so that the exterior form remained essentially octagonal.Moreover, the end walls of the chapels and porches buttressed

the thrust of the dome which was supported by an inner octagon

5Buildings,trans. H. B.Dewing andGlanville Downey, in Works,

VII, Loeb Classical Library (London andCambridge, Mass., 1940), V.vii; pp. 348355.

A. M. Schneider, "Rmische und byzantinische Bautenaufdem Ga

rizim,"Zeitschrift desdeutschenPalstinapereins, LXVIII (1949-51),211-234.


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1 0 8 6 4 2 0 y>mg r y m i '

FIGURE 3: The Church of the Theotokos, Mt. Garizim, ca. A.D.484,with enclosing wall from the reign of Justinian. Drawing by CharlesJohnson, Jr., after A. M. Schneider.

of columns and pillars. The exterior dimensions were 37 by 30 m.(121 by 98 f t ) ; the interior, 21.40 m. (70 ft.) across; the dome,about 13 m. (4iy2 ft.) in diameter. The narthex was paved withslabs of marble, and fragjments of mosaic pavement were foundin the side chapels. Colored and golden glass cubes indicate thatthe walls, at least of the apses, were decorated with mosaics, andone would expect these to have included biblical scenes. This

church has been described by Krautheimer as "a new variant onthe type of the martyria erected since Constantinos day in theHoly Land."7 Besides the other centralized churches in the HolyLand which we mentioned, this one may be compared with SantaCostanza and San Stefano Rotondo in Rome, fourth and fifth

7Richard Krautheimer, EarlyChristian andByzantine Architecture

(Harmondsworth, Middlesex, and Baltimore, 1965), p. 117.


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FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURY BUILDINGS IN HOLY LAND 23

century buildings respectively. The Theotokos Church on Mt.Garizim is an example of a centralized church which was not amartyrium in the strict sense, for there was no specific sacred

place or object here, i.e. no cave or footprint or well, simply thewhole mountain.

II

The last of the great church builders in the Holy Land untilthe age of the crusaders was the Emperor Justinian (A.D. 527-565). Dedicated to the reestablishment of the Roman Empire toits Constantinian extent, he erected countless fortresses andchurches along the frontiers. The typical fortification was similarto the enclosure on Mt. Garizim only somewhat larger. A church,as often as not dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was essential forthe defense of the empire against the barbarians, for sacramentsand relics represented a power greater than human armies.Whether the monastic enclosures of Egypt and Syria were thecontrolling precedent for such frontier settlements, may be left

an open question. In any case we find many examples.Procopius speaks in general terms about these fortified out

posts, and we detect the missionary fervor that seems to have accompanied their building and the extension of the empire to itsold limits. The Monastery of St. Catherine at Mt. Sinai is oneimportant instance which still stands, with walls, monastic buildings, church, and barracks. It was a great fortress in the wilderness, defending in part against the Arab nomads but primarily

a monument to the sacred site of thegivingof the Law to Moses.The church seems to have been dedicated to the Virgin from thebeginning, although there is a magnificent mosaic of the Transfiguration in the apse, and it still contains the beams with the inscriptions acknowledging the patrons, Justinian, Theodora, andthe local governor. The plan is basilican with the site of the burning bush located within a sort of open martyrium behind the apse.The recent work of Professors George Forsyth and Kurt Weitz-mann at Mt. Sinai has given us a fresh appreciation of the treasures of the monastery and the beauty of the church.8

Besides the five churches among the Samaritans mentioned

8GeorgeH. Forsyth, "Island of Faith in the Sinai Wilderness," andKurt Weitzmann, "Mount Sinai's Holy Treasures,"National Geographic,CXXV, 1 (January, 1964), 82-106, 107-127.


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above, Procopius also lists several monasteries in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and their environs, wells at some other monasteries, and achurch dedicated to the Virgin at Jericho, all of which Justinian

restored or built. It is possible that this last church is to be identified with the early Byzantine basilica found at Tell Hassan inJericho and reported upon by D. C Baramki.9 At least the mosaicpavements resemble those of fourth or fifth century date foundin the Church of the Nativity, which Justinian also restored.

Procopius* failure to include the Church of the Nativity amongJustinian's building projects remains a puzzle, although a late

date might account for this. Still there can be no question that thechurch was completely rebuilt in the sixth century, even if thedating of the work ranges from earlypre-Justinianto lateafter 560. It is this building which still stands, one of a very fewchurches in the Holy Land to survive basically unchanged throughthe Middle Ages. Tradition has it that the Persian warriors ofthe early seventh century saw the Persian dress of the wise menon the narthex faade and spared the building as one of their

own. The Arabs also respected the church, and it has been chieflyearthquake, fire, and neglect which have brought about the present deteriorated structure.10

A tenth-century Alexandrian chronicle of the Patriarch Euty-chius attributes the new building to a complaint from St. Sabas,a Jerusalem monastic leader, about the small and dimly lit churchwhile on a mission to Constantinople. Justinian responded bysending a legate to raze the old church and build a new one

grander than any in Jerusalem. When the legate returned, theemperor was not satisfied with his report, accused him of pocketing most of the funds and erecting an inadequate basilica, andfinally ordered him beheaded. This report would put the date ofthe work around A.D. 530, but it has no basis or support in thewell-authenticated Ufe of St. Sabas. More likely disrepair andhasty original construction, damage from earthquake or firetheroof was timberand the need for a more spacious choir areaoccasioned by developments in the liturgy are to be considered

9"An Early Byzantine Basilica at Tell Hassan, Jericho," Quarterly ofthe Department of Antiquities inPalestine, V (1936), 82-88.

10For a general historical and descriptive guide see: R. W. Hamilton,The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem (Jerusalem, 1947); also J. W.Crowfoot, EarlyChurches inPalestine(London, 1941), pp. 77-85, for anexcellent discussion of the sixth-century building.


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FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURY BUILDINGSIN HOLY LAND 25

among the reasons for undertaking a complete rebuilding.

Infact, Justinian's church retained the basic basilican plan oftheoriginal but expanded greatly the choir area into a large tre-

foil transept and chancel, well suited to accommodate crowds ofpilgrims (Fig. 4). The effect is almost a Latincross. In addition,

"

FIGURE 4: The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, sixth century.Drawing by CharlesJohnson,Jr., after . T. Richmond.

two new staircasesinto the grotto of the Nativity were introduced,and the grotto was roofed overassuming that it had been open

before. A narthex wasadded and the westwallextended about3 m. or one set of columns at the same time. The length of the

basilica from narthex to apse became an imposing 64 m. (210ft.), yet still only a little more than half the length of the in-terior of old St.Peter'sin Rome (112m., 367 f t ) and much less

than HagiaSophia's 100m. (328 ft.) fromnarthex to apse. Theatrium wasrebuiltalong the traditional colonnaded pattern, per-haps more rectangular than square this time. There were alsonew marble pavements and mosaics, although most of theexist-ing interiorwallmosaics are of much later date. The columns andcapitals follow so closely fourth century models that they werelong thought to be Constantinian, but there are too many of themtohave been takenfrom Constantinos basilica. One other inter-estingdiscovery made in the 1930'swas the indication of anotheruncompleted trefoil arrangement for the choir that appears tohave preceded the present one; the fragments market "M" onFig.4 are the basis for this hypothesis.

11 Overall the new church

11L. H. Vincent,"Bethlem,leSanctuairede laNativit,d'aprs les

fouilles rcentes,"Revue Biblique, XLVI (1937), 112-113.


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was more spacious, but it broke no new ground architecturally.

The special favor of Justinian was manifested on the HolyCity, Jerusalem, in several waysreduction of taxes, privileges,hospitals, monasteries, and a great church dedicated to theTheo-tokos or Virgin Mary. An architect, Theodore, was sent to Jerusalem from the capital, and Archbishop Peter was made generaladministrator over the project. The immediate direction of thework was placed in the hands of Bishop Barachos of Bakatha, atown located in the vicinity of Philadelphia. His appointmentillustrates the necessity of making church biddings meet the pre

vailing liturgical and theological requirements. It was also thecase that architects then occupied more the status of craftsmenthan of trained professional persons. The Nea or New Church,as it was commonly called, was to surpass all the wonders of theancient worldapparently a standard requirement for Justinianicbuildings.

Procopius reports that Justinian called for it to be set on thehighest hill of the city, and specified the length and breadth,

although this necessitated the erection of an elaborate substructureof unusually large stone blocks to create an adequate foundationand site. New roads even had to be cut for the wagons bringingthe blocks, and cedar timbers had to be imported for the roof.The procurement of suitable columns was another problem, because the site was not on the seacost; Procopius credits the solution to divine intervention. "But when the impossibility of thistask was causing the Emperor to become impatient, God revealed

a natural supply of stone perfectly suited to this purpose in thenearby hills, one which had either lain there in concealment previously, or was created at that moment."12 Colonnades or stoassurrounded the church except on the east, and there were twoimmense columns at the main portal. The narthex and atriumwere also laid out with columns. The whole complex was enteredby a gateway or propylaeum which faced on another courtyardenclosed at the ends by two semicircular structures, probably colonnades. The effect of this last court may have been similar tothe present St. Peter's square in Rome, although much smaller.

Other evidence indicates that this church was begun as earlyas A.D. 513 by Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem, was called to Justinian's attention by St. Sabas around 530, and was dedicated on

Procopius*Buildings,V,vi.l9; p. 347.


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November 20, 542 or 543. Although the building has not survived, it appears prominently near the center of the city in theJewish Quarter on the Madaba mosaic map, and Vincent has pro

posed a site southwest of el-Aksa mosque and the Maram at theHret el-Moghrbeh that would seem to fit the requirements of ahigh hill and terracing for the substructure.13 This location alsofits the pilgrim accounts of the period. The church, second onlyto the Holy Sepulchre, well illustrates the place that Mary hadattained in popular devotion next to Christ. Whereas virtuallyevery early Christian church was dedicated to Christ, by the sixth

century preference was given to the Virgin or to local saints.The age of Justinian was the greatest single period of building

activity in Palestine. At Gerasa, for example, no fewer thaneight entire churches are dated between A.D. 526 and 565, pluswhatever improvements were made in the same period on existing buildings.14 The variety of forms was also greater and thedecoration more elaborate than previously. The Persian occupation from 614 to 628 and the subsequent rise of Islam brought

a speedy end to this magnificent age. In this regard the Madabamosaic map is of special interest, for it gives a unique documentation for most of the churches discussed in this and my earlierarticle.15 Among them are the Holy Sepulchre, St. Sion, Gethse-mane, the Pool of Siloam, and the Nea at Jerusalem; the Eleonaand Ascension may have been on the map originally. Threechurches are shown at Jericho; one at the Well of Jacob nearShechem; the Church of the Oak and Spring at Mamre; the Eu-doxiana at Gaza; and a church of John the Baptist at Bethabaraattributed to the Emperor Anastasius I, which we have not discussed. At Bethlehem the map seems to show the new wall ofJustinian around the atrium of the Church of the Nativity but notthe new churchanother argument for the late date, since themap is dated about A.D. 560. AH indications are that the map set

13Vincent,Jrusalem, s.v.14

CarlH. Kraeling, ed.,Gerasa, City of theDecapolis (New Haven,1938).For Justinian's building activity of hospitals, old age homes, andother philanthropic institutions, see now Demetrios J. Constantelos,Byzan-

tinePhilanthropy andSocial Welfare,Rutgers Byzantine Series (NewBrunswick, N.J., 1968), pp. 159-162,et al

15Victor Roland Gold, "The Mosaic Map of Madeba,"The BiblicalArchaeologist, XXI (1958), 50-71; Michael Avi-Yonah, The MadabaMosaic Map(Jerusalem, 1954).


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forth the familiar pilgrimage sites and routes of the fifth andsixth centuries. The church in which it is located was itselfprobably one of the many built during the age of Justinian.

Ill

What may one say concerning the larger significance of thisbuilding activity? Surely it is amazing that, despite the assaultson the empire from the barbarians and the Persians and the resultant economic and military strains, and despite the internaldoctrinal struggles in the church of the fifth and sixth centuries,

church building went on. Indeed, it continued on a scale which,in the sixth century, exceeded the age of Constantine and probablyequalled the public building programs of Hadrian. Clearly thebuilding of churches was important to the emperors. By traditionthe emperor was the source of all public building operations, butespecially the Christian Byzantine emperor was conceived as thevicegerent of God and thus the creator of material things. Gian-ville Downey has studied this concept of imperial "creating" and

noted the special importance of building activities in Byzantinepanegyrics and imperial biographies.16 The intervention and assistance of divine providence in Justinian's building of the NewChurch of the Tbeotokos in Jerusalem has already been cited.

The involvement of the emperor in church building is, ofcourse, indicative of the relationship of church and state. Therewas no clear distinction between these two entities; the empire

was a Christian commonwealth reflecting the heavenly kingdom,and the emperor was in partnership with God. Justinian in particular represented what is often called Caesaropapism.17 He sawhimself commissioned by God to impose the orthodox faith on theempire and its citizens, and church buildings became a publicsymbol of the one true faith and of the emperor's own faithfulness. The churches were a form of propaganda, just as everyreligious ceremony in which the emperor participated was also a

16"Imperial Building Records in Malalas," Byzantinische Zeitschrift,XXXVIII (1938), 1-15, 299-311.

17Deno J. Geanakoplos, "Church and State in the Byzantine Empire:A Reconsideration of the Problem of Caesaropapism," Church History,XXXIV (1965), 381-403;idem,"Church Building and 'Caesaropapism,'A.D. 312-565," Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies, VII (1966), 167-186.


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political demonstration.18 Thus to found a church was a religiousact of personal piety but at the same time an act of state. To builda church, particularly to demolish a pagan temple and build a

church, was to honor God and to show one's faithfulness to Godand before the realm. Thereby one acquired Christ or the Virginor a martyr saint as a protector and intercessor. But beyond thispersonal value the religious act set forth the true faith andbrought a blessing for the empire.

For the Byzantine empire the foundation of society was theChristian faith. No citizen should be allowed to forget it; no

public acknowledgment of it should be omitted; no emperordared neglect it. In time of crisis, religious power was as important as military. Church building was but the outward manifestation of a larger policy of state and church.

A particular obligation of the Emperor was to care for thewell-being of the Christian Church, for it was in the harmonious cooperation of the Church that the Empire would

find a firm civilising bond to hold it together. This principle,handed down from the time of Constantine the Great, wasalways one of the chief objects of imperial policy. Organising the Church so as to make it a prop of the state wasthus not only an essential task, but also a traditional rightwhich devolved on the Emperor.19

Any reason why the Holy Land? The holy places, hal

lowed by Scripture and the martyrs, held a special attraction. Insome instances they were even sites held sacred by pagan as wellas Jew and Christian and about which hovered the presence ofthe divine from some ancestral experience. Such places gave con-creteness and tangibility to the divine and to the faith, especiallyunderlining the historical character of Christianity and its forerunner, Judaism. Thus they were admirably suited to the expression of that religious unity on which rested the commonwealth.

Moreover, the Holy Land stood apart from the centers of politicalpower. Jerusalem was no rival or political threat to Constantinople, Rome, Alexandria, or Antioch, and it was hardly even an

18BertholdRubin,Das Zeitalterlustinians,I (Berlin, I960), 141-142.19W. Ensslin, "The Government and Administration of the Byzantine

Empire,"TheCambridge Medieval History, IV, 2nd ed., Part II (Cam

bridge, 1967), 10.


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ecclesiastical rival, having been under Caesarea which was in turnunder Antioch until receiving independence as a patriarchatein 451.

Jerusalem on earth was rather the prototype of the heavenlyJerusalem. To honor it with magnificent churches was simplyanother piece of the emperor'smimesisof God. Jerusalem couldand did function as a center of spiritual unity, for, according tothe concept of the heavenly Jerusalem, it was the center of thewhole universe, the omphalosor navel of the world.20 The Divine Liturgy of James, the Holy Apostle, includes among the in

tercessions the paragraph:We present them to Thee also, O Lord, for the holy places,which thou hast glorified by the divine appearing of ThyChrist, and by the visitation of Thy all-holy Spirit; especiallyfor the glorious Zion, the mother of all the churches; andfor Thy Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church throughoutthe world: even now, O Lord, bestow upon her the rich gifts

of Thy all-holy Spirit.

21

Here again is the reverence for the holy places and the focus onZion and Jerusalem. It is well-known too that the Jerusalem liturgy and calendar were models for other churches. The emperorsshared fully in the natural veneration of all Christians for theHoly Land and also felt a special duty toward it as the vicegerentsof God. Even Charlemagne manifested this concern, not to mention his crusading successors. The way of pilgrimage was a wayof salvation for all, individual and society alike.

SWEETBRIAR COLLEGE

20AndrPiganiol, "L'Hmisphairion et lOmphalos des Lieux Saints,"CahiersArchologiques, I (1945), 7-14; Andr Grabar, Martyrium; Re

cherches sur lacultedesreliquesetl'art chrtien antique, I: Architecture(Paris, 1946), 235-239.

21The Ante-NiceneFathers,VII (Grand Rapids, 1951), 545.

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Armstrong - Fifth and Sixth Century Church

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