Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - Gethsemane (Church of Agony)

Vertical tabs

Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Jerusalem (Mount of Olives)

Identification:

Memorial church at the place of Agony of Christ. It commemorates the prayer of Christ in Gethsemane (Matt. 26: 36-56; Mark 14: 32-52; Luke 22: 39-54; John 18: 1-12; Origen, Comm. ad Matt., PG 13, 1740; In the time of Eusebius (On. 74.16), it was a site of prayers, In the days of Hieronymus (ad loc. 75.19), a church was already been built there. Likewise according to Egeria, It. 36 (a graceful church has been built there); Eutychius, Annales 1. 215).

Church name:

Gethsemane (Church of Agony)

Functional Type:

Memorial

Church type:

Basilical - Free standing basilica

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

222.82

631.84

Coordinates, ICS system:

172.81

1,131.80

Location:

Para-urban

Geographical region:

Jerusalem Mount of Olives

Topographical location:

Mount of Olives

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Jerusalem

Source of knowledge

HideLiterary sources

Text number	Summary
1	Entry for Gethsemane in Eusebius's Onomasticon, mentioning prayers at the place of Agony, ca. AD 300.
2	Entry for Gethsemane from Jerome's translation of Eusebius's Onomasticon, adding a mention of the newly built church, AD 389-391.
3	Holy Thursday at the church where Christ prayed, from an itinerary of AD 381-384.
4	Mention of the place of Agony, presumably from a passage lost in the MS of It. Eg., as recorded in a guidebook for pilgrims compiled AD 1137.
5	Inventory of monks "at the top of the steps" in Gethsemane, from an official report ordered in AD 808.
6	Mention of the place of Agony on the lower slopes of Mount Olivet, from an itinerary of ca. AD 867-870.
7	Mention of the place of betrayal near the church of St Mary in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, from an itinerary of ca. AD 518-530.
8	Description of the rock on which the Lord prayed situated in the lower rotund church of St Mary, from an itinerary of ca. AD 681-684, composed ca. 698.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Greek Church	1891
Frs. L. Thonessen, B, Meistermann	1909
A. Barluzzi	1919-20
Bagatti	1958
Orfali	1906

History:

Since tri-apsidal churches started to be built only in the 5th c., the Gethsemane Church mentioned by Egeria and Hieronimus in the late 4th c. might be an earlier church that did not survived, or was not discovered yet. The adjacent St. Leontius church dated to the 7th c., should be excluded.

Bibliograpy:

Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1914
Vincent, L. H., 1919
Vincent, L. H., 1920
Vincent, L. H. and Abel, F. M., 1922	1007-1013, Pl. LXXXVIII
Orfali, G., 1924
Abel, F. M., 1934‎
Bagatti, B., 1938
Schneider, A. M., 1938
Kopp, C., 1939
Bagatti, B., 1962
Corbo, V. C., 1965	1-91
Bagatti, B., 1968
Ovadiah, A., 1970
Avi-Yonah, M., 1970
Storme, A., 1972	13-74
Ovadiah, A. and de Silva, C. G., 1982
Michel, A., 2019	165

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

A tri-apsidal church (25.5x16.35) with a central salient apse. Mosaic paved. It was preceded by an atrium. Three tombs were oncovered in the northern internal apse. Only the foundations were uncovered, partly overlaid by the Crusaders church. Its remains can be seen at the present Church of All Nations.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Figures

Atrium:

The atrium to the west of the church was poorly preserved. It appears to be surrounded by porticoes and annexed rooms and a rectangular water cistern beneath. Five tombs were discovered under the floor of the atrium.

Narthex:

Extended to the west; partially exposed. A water cistern underneath.

Façade and entries:

The church’s façade was poorly preserved. It is unclear whether the church had only one entrance or it was flanked by two lateral doorways.

Lateral walls:

The thickness of the walls was 0.6 – 0.7 m and they were covered with painted plaster. The foundations of the eastern part of the church were hewn into the rock.

Nave:

The church (23.30 X 15.16 m; internal dimensions) was divided by two rows of seven columns to a nave (7.82 m) and two aisles (3.67 m each). The columns (0.51m in their lower diameter), of pink limestone, stood on square bases decorated with crosses and bore Corinthian capitals also with cross in their abacus.

Aisles:

Each 3.67m wide.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The central apse (4.2 m deep; 7 m chord) was salient; the two flanking apses, semi-rounded as well, were internal (1.4 m deep; 2.8 m chord). In the area of the apse and the bema an isolated block of rock projected 0.35 m above the floor level of the nave marking the rock of Agony according to the local tradition. The bema, U-shaped, was protruding two intercolumniations into the nave.

Lateral spaces:

Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern apse.

Small finds

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Atrium:

Yes

Water cistern:

Yes

Aisles:

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total
7

Capital types:

Corinthian

East end:

External apse, round

Church Head/Chevet:

tri-apsidal (central external, lateral internal)

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

U shaped without lateral openings

Bema type text:

In the area of the apse and the bema an isolated block of rock projected 0.35 m above the floor level of the nave. This rock probably corresponds to the Christian tradition as the very spot where the Agony took place.

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Lateral Apses Function

Location:

N & S

Northern apse description and function:

Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern lateral apse. Cult of the relics?

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

N apse

Burial loci

Burials loci:

Three Byzantine tombs were discovered in the northern lateral apse. Five more tombs were discovered under the floor of the atrium.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Abandonment

General outline:

The memorial church was a tri-apsidal basilica, with semi-rounded external central apse and two semi-rounded internal lateral apses.

Dating material:

According to literary sources (Egeria and Hieronimus, On. 75. 19), a church was already standing at the site during the reign of Theodosius I (Eutychius, Annales 1. 215), at the last quarter of 4th century. But since tri-apsidal churches started to be built only in the 5th c., the Gethsemane Church mentioned by Egeria and Hieronimus in the late 4th c. might have been an erlier church that desappeared due to the construction of the later one, or it might have been a church that was not discovered yet. The adjacent St. Leontius church uncovered in 2020 and dated to the 7th c. should be excluded.

Vincent and Abel opined that the capitals resemble more those of the Nativity church, assumed to be Constantinian, than Theodosian capitals. But recent work at the Nativity church concluded that the entire church, including its normal Chrinthian capitals and the wodden architravs are Justinianic.

Phase date

Century:

5th c.

General outline:

The original church was destroyed by a heavy fire, seemingly during the Persian conquest of 614. It is unclear whether the Byzantine church was rebuilt or not. In 12th century a Crusader church was erected at the same place in a slightly different orientation.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Early

Effects of the Persian Invasion:

Destroyed

Post Arab conquest history:

Built anew