Jerusalem (Mount of Olives) - DOMINUS FLEVIT (eighth century)
Church Name, type, function
Site Name:
Jerusalem (Mount of Olives)
Identification:
The site of Dominus Flevit commemorates the site of Christ's weeping, predicting the future destruction of Jerusalem (Luke 19: 37-43). The tradition is late (not earlier than the Crusaders period. Ovadiah (1970, no. 72), following Bagatti, called it after St. Anna, but Milik had commented that this should rather be the site where Christ was weeping for Jerusalem.
Church name:
DOMINUS FLEVIT (eighth century)
Functional Type:
Monastic
Dedication:
Christ's weeping, predicting the destruction of Jerusalem.
Church type:
Chapel - With a secondary chapel
Location
Coordinates, ITM system:
223.01
631.70
Coordinates, ICS system:
173.01
1,131.69
Geographical region:
Jerusalem Mount of Olives
Topographical location:
The site is located on a steep slope.
Distance from nearest bishop-seat:
0.3 km (Jerusalem)
Distance from nearest settlement:
0.3 km (Jerusalem)
Distance from Roman roads:
0.2 km from the road connecting Jerusalem with Bethany.
Provincial affiliation:
Palaestina I
Bishopric:
Jerusalem
Source of knowledge
Epigraphy:
Archaeological remains
Excavated site
Excavators:
| Name | Date |
|---|---|
Bagatti | 1955-1956 |
History:
The monastery was founded in the Byzantine period, in the 5th or 6th century CE. In 614 CE, with the Persion occupation it was violently destroyed and abandoned. In the 8th century it was rebuilt, following the plan of the early monastery. No major changes were reported by the excavator between the phases. For a description of the monastery see early phase. The monastery was abandoned sometime before the Crusader period but no precise date has been provided.
General description
Description
Illustrative material:
Atrium:
A central courtyard formed the heart of the monastery, measuring 14.5 x 15 m and surrounded by porticos, evidenced by remains of pilasters surrounding the courtyard. Beneath the courtyard a large cistern was discovered (measurements were not provided). drainage channels were found beneath the paving.
Nave:
The church ( 12.50 x 5.40 m, internal measurements) was a single nave chapel with an apse. A chancel screen base was found in front of the apse and fragments of a chancel screen were also found. An oratory / diakonikon was located north of the chapel with a small apse in its eastern end. The church and the diakonikon were paved in polychrome mosaics.
Bema, chancel screen and apse:
The chapel has an apse at its eastern end.
Small finds
Detailed description
Structure
Materials applied (walls):
Limestone
Materials applied (roofing):
tiles
timber
Atrium:
Yes
Water cistern:
Yes
Narthex:
No
East end:
Internal apse
Church Head/Chevet:
n/a
Bema type:
Transversal
Pastophoria
Pastophoria loci:
N
Attached structures
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon:
Apsidal chapel
Prothesis chapel / Diakonikon description:
The hall, with a niche in its eastern wall rather than a full-fledged apse, is identified by an early 8th c. mosaic inscription as an oratory (eukterion). Its mosaic floor is more elaborate than that of the chapel (labeled ekklesia in a mosaic floor there). It is located north of the chapel, and both are connected by an opening.
Architectural Evolution
| General outline | Dating material | Iconoclastic evidence | Phase no. | Century | Within century |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
The church was dated after 614 by Bagatti 268ff, because it was erected on an earlier ecclesiastical building which, in his opinion, might have been destroyed by the Persians during the conquest of Jerusalem. The coins found in the excavation are from the Umayyad period (7 coins from between 684 and 705) and of the Abbasid period (3 coins from between 745-776, 2 from between 775-785). He identified the patron of the church as Ste. Anne, but there is no church dedicated to her in Jerusalem attested before the Crusader period. Milik suggested a different reading, which eliminated the mention of Ste. Anne, and identified the church with the one erected on the place where Jesus had prayed at Gethsemane (Mt 26,36-46; Mk 14,32-42; Lk 22,39-46). This identification would allow a more precise date for its foundation; no church is mentioned by the pilgrim Arculfus (who visited Jerusalem in 670 according to Baldi, ca. 683/4 or earlier according to L. Bieler [Arculfus, De locis sanctis, ed. Bieler, CCSL 175, 1965, 175-209]) at the place where Christ had prayed, while ca. 725 Willibald visited a recently built church at this spot. According to the Commemoratorium de casis Dei composed in 808, there were three monks there, while the monk Bernard, in 870, was shown the place of the prayer, seemingly no longer occupied by a church (Baldi, Enchiridion 536-538 nos. 795-798). Milik therefore dated the church to the last quarter of the 7 c. If Milik’s identification is right a somewhat later date is also possible.
| Numismatic and literary evidence (Commemoratorium de Casis Dei) | Phase 1 | 7th-8th c. | Early | |
The monastery was abandoned before the Crusader period but no precise dating has been provided. | Abandonment | Unknown |
Post Arab conquest history:
Built anew