Khirbet Beit Sila - St. Theodor

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Church Name, type, function

Site Name:

Khirbet Beit Sila

Identification:

Magen and Kagan (2012 I: 260-262, no. 127), suggested that the complex served as a monastery. A kitchen and possible refectory, and a second story over this annex seem to point in that direction. According to Di Segni (2016: 189*), the inscriptions indicate that the complex was privately built by a priest and his family. To this one may add that the tomb, holding three troughs, looks more like a family vault than a monastic burial ground.

Church name:

St. Theodor

Dedication:

St. Theodor

Functional Type:

Monastic?

Church type:

Basilical - Basilica with an annexed chapel

Location

Coordinates, ITM system:

214.90

642.88

Coordinates, ICS system:

164.90

1,142.90

Location:

Village/Town

Geographical region:

Southern and Western Samaria

Topographical location:

Kh. Beit Sila located on a hill slope, facing Nahal Modiim.

Provincial affiliation:

Palaestina I

Bishopric:

Diospolis

Source of knowledge

HideEpigraphy

Text number	Summary
1	Building mosaic inscription of Peter the priest within a tabula ansata, in front of the bema.
2	Unframed dedicatory monogrammed inscription of John, in the mosaic pavement in the central passage.
3	Commemoration of siblings or members of a village community or clan on an altar base.
4	Dedicatory inscription of Chrysippus(?) on two fragments of an altar table.
5	Dedicatory inscription of Peter the priest on the ambo.

Archaeological remains

Excavated site

Excavators:

Name	Date
Batz	1997

Bibliograpy:

Abbreviation for Journals and Series

General description

State of preservation/which parts were uncovered:

The church dimensions are 19.2 X 11.5 m. It is well preserved. The church comprises a stone paved atrium or narthex, a prayer hall and two aisles; two lockable pastophoria flanking the apse and a wide annexed hall on the south-east. The annexed hall was accessed by a doorway near the eastern end of the southern aisle. The northern pastophorium served in a later phase as a baptistery.

Description

Illustrative material:

Illustrative_material

Photos

The northern pastophorium - baptistery, view from west, Batz, JSP 15

Figures

Apse and bema mosaic floors, Batz, JSP 15

Atrium:

The open courtyard of a Second Temple period public building was incorporated into the church plan and served as an atrium.

Narthex:

9x4.1m in dimensions. It was paved in stone slabs. A doorway 1 m wide connected between the atrium and the narthex through a short corridor. A second opening in the northern wall led to a burial chamber. Three of the narthex walls belong to a building from the previous phase. Three entrances in the east led to the prayer hall. The main entrance is 1.2 m wide, the two lateral entrances are 0.9 m wide each. Benches were built between the three entrances, along the eastern wall of the narthex, and to the north of the opening next to the western wall.

Façade and entries:

Three openings led to the nave and aisles. Two benches were built against the facade wall on either side of the central opening.

Lateral walls:

An opening in the center of the southern wall led outside; a second one, nearer to its eastern end, to an annexed hall. A bench ran along this wall. A deep plastered niche (1 X 0.6 X 1.25 m in dimensions), was installed in the northern wall, near the NW corner of the northern aisle. Fragments of glass window pans were found inside. They might had belonged to a wooden and glass frame enclosing the niche. A limestone reliquary of two compartments was found in the niche in situ, under the glass fragment.

Nave:

The prayer hall (13.5 X 9 m in dimensions), was divided by two rows of three columns into a nave (4.5 X 9 m) and two aisles. The nave was paved with a mosaic of geometric design. Two benches were installed on either side of the entrance in the western wall.

Aisles:

The northern aisle (9 X 2.2) is paved with a mosaic of geometric pattern. A niche was installed in the eastern wall of the aisle, to the north of the entrance leading to the northern pastophorium. The niche (0.7 X 0.5 X 0.4 m), rounded at the top, was divided into two sections by a marble shelf - a piece of the first altar table (see below). A fragment of a deep marble bowl was found in the upper part and a paten, 26cm in diameter and 3.6cm high, in the lower section. A second, larger and deeper niche, was installed in the northern wall, near its western end.

The southern aisle (9 X 2.3) was asymmetrical since its southern wall formed a part of earlier structure. The aisle was paved with a mosaic of geometric patterns. There are two doorways in the southern wall of the aisle. The western entrance (0.5 m wide), in the middle of the wall, belonged to the structure that preceded the church. The eastern entrance (1.2 m wide) lead to a large hall attached to the church at the southeast. Two plastered benches along the southern wall of the aisle were constructed on top of the mosaic on either side of the central opening.

Bema, chancel screen and apse:

The bema was U-shaped, penetrated half a bay into the nave. In the first phase it was just one step above the nave. In the second phase, being enlarged towards the west, it was raised one more step. Also in the second phase an ambo added to the northwestern corner of the bema. The apse was internal, semicircular, 0.5m in diameter. The altar was located at the apse chord. A reliquary depression (loculus) was located slightly to the east of the altar base. Two marble altar plates and altar base plates were uncovered, one replacing the other. In the second phase the early altar plate seved a secondary altar table located at the SW corner of the bema, standing on two legs.

A metal hook was found in one of the columnetts flanking the entrance to the sanctuary, suggest that a chain baring free passage was hanging there. On the top of another a base of a metal cross was fixed.

Lateral spaces:

Two lockable pastophoria 2.30x4.10m in dimensions, flanked the apse. The niche mentioned above was located next and to the north of the entrance to the northern pastophorium, on the outside. Inside a masonry cubic block (1m wide) with a monolithic circular baptismal font in its center (0.6m deep) was abutted on all sides by the mosaic floor. No installations were encountered in the southern room.

Small finds

Small finds:

Category	Description
Coins	Only two coins were attributed to the Byzantine period. One, of Justine I, dated to 518 - 522 CE, was found under the narthex.
Metal objects
Pottery	The pottery assemblage is dated from the second half of the fifth to the beginning of the seventh century CE.
Glass	Fragments of glass window as well as of lamps and vessels were found in the church, all dated to the 6th to 7th centuries.

Detailed description

Structure

Orientation:

Facing east

Materials applied (walls):

Limestone

Materials applied (roofing):

tiles

timber

Atrium:

Yes

Water cistern:

Narthex:

Yes

Aisles:

Colonnades / Arcades:

Arcade of columns

Number of nave columns in a row:

Total
3

Capital types:

Bi-zone

East end:

Internal apse

Church Head/Chevet:

monoapsidal with lockable pastophoria (mon-aps II)

Central Apse Category:

apsidal

Bema type:

U shaped without lateral openings

Elevation of Bema above nave:

1 step up

Altar remains:

plate

Altar type:

Marble, table like

Altar reliquiarium type:

Depression in the floor

Altar location:

On the apse cord

Secondary tables:

An offering table was set at the southwest corner of the bema. It was an altar table of Phase 1 in secondary use. It stood on a pair of marble colonnettes.

Ambo:

Yes

Ambo remains:

base plate

legs

platform

side plates

indicated by screen

Ambo description:

Accessed from the NW corner of the bema. Hexagonal in shape and standing on three legs set in the mosaic floor. Made of soft bituminous chalk stone. A wooden ramp led up.

Ambo location:

Ambo materials:

Soft stone

Ambo placement:

On the Mosaic floor

Apse elevation:

Flush with the bema

Apse shape:

Hemispherical

Synthronon:

Pastophoria

Pastophoria loci:

N & S

Description and function of northern:

The northern pastophorium, measuring 3.5 X 2.3 m, was paved with a coarse mosaic. In the center of the room a baptismal font was standing, abutted by the mosaic floor. It served as a baptistery.

Description and function of southern:

The southern pastophorium, measuring 3.6 X 2.3 m, was paved with a mosaic of geometric pattern.

Cult of relics

Cult of relics loci:

under altar

elsewhere

Reliquiaries: shapes and contents:

Two reliquaries were uncovered. One - of limestone and with two compartments, one square, the second rectangular, with flat lids. The square lid was decorated with a Maltese cross in relief with an elongated hole in its center. The second - a marble mini-sarcophagus with a single compartment and a gabled lid with a hole in its center. The limestone reliquary was found in the niche of the northern aisle. It was moved there in the second phase, being replaced by the second reliquary, found in a depression (loculus) that was located lightly to the east of the altar base. A hole (6cm in diameter in Phase 1; 10cm in diameter in Phase 2), permitted contact by a rod with the underlying reliquary. A 19 cm long brown hair was found in the marble reliquary.

Baptism

Loci:

The limestone circular baptismal font encased in a monolithic block located in the northern pastophorium, abutted by its mosaic floor. Each side of the cube is measuring 1 m; the circular internal font is 50 cm in diameter and 55 cm deep. New type, not in Ben Pechat. Can be labelled 7d.

Font structure:

Monolithic

External shape:

square

Internal shape:

circular

Attached structures

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:

Simple rectangular room

Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:

A large room (6.5 X 4.2 m) was added to the church southeast corner in the second phase. The room was entered from the southern aisle. It was paved with a crude mosaic floor, like that of the pastophoria. Apparently it served as a diakonikon.

Burial room or chapel:

Trapezoidal room

Burial room or chapel description:

An opening in the northern wall of the narthex led to a burial chamber that held three burial troughs (the third is a later addition). It was roofed by a vault and held 8 burials.

Architectural Evolution

Phase 1
Phase 2
Abandonment

General outline:

Basilical church with an atrium, narthex, prayer hall and pastophoria. Baptismal font in the northern pastophorium. U-shaped bema with marble table-like altar.

Dating material:

According to the pottery assemblage, coins and mosaic style, the church was constructed at the early 6th century.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Early

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

General outline:

As in Phase 1. A hall that might had served as a prothesis chapel/diakonikon was added to the southeast corner of the church. The altar plate, altar base plate and the reliquary were replaced by new ones. An offering table was constructed at the southwest corner of the chancel. The chancel was elevated by one step, slightly enlarged and entirely repaved. An ambo was constructed near its NW corner. Benches were built against some walls, being laid over the mosaic floors.

Phase date

Century:

6th c.

Within century:

Second half

Iconoclastic evidence

Iconoclastic evidence:

General outline:

The church was abandoned during the second half of the 7th century.

Phase date

Century:

7th c.

Within century:

Second half

Post Arab conquest history:

Abandoned