An Amazing Icon at the Early Church in Caesarea
(The theatre at Caesarea)
Author of this picture: Berthold Werner
I stopped in my tracks when I saw it. It was one of the most spectacular uses of an icon I had ever seen! It was in the remains of an Early Church building in Caesarea.
It is called Caesarea Maritime, or Caesarea on the Coast, to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi, which is in Northern Israel in the territory of Dan. Herod the Great built the city on the site known as Straton’s Tower. He named it in honor of Augustus Caesar.
One of the most amazing architectural feats of the ancient world is the port Herod built there. The breakwaters were constructed of volcanic ash and underwater cement and enclosed about 100,000 square meters. When Herod built this harbor around 20 B.C it was the largest artificial harbor in the open seas. The 500 meter long breakwater wall on the south of the harbor and the 275 meter long breakwater wall on the north of the harbor provided port to around 300 ships at a time.
Josephus called the palace that Herod built in Caesarea a most magnificent palace. It set on the shore with a fresh water swimming pool nearly Olympic size jutting out into the beautiful Mediterranean. The city was 1.4 sq. miles. It had a theater that held about 4,500 spectators, a hippodrome for chariot races, and three aqueducts that supplied an abundance of fresh water.
Some of the streets and sidewalks were paved with marble and many of the columns were made of Italian and Egyptian marble. Caesarea Maritime was truly the most luxurious city that part of the ancient world had ever seen.
It was one of the most important cities to the context of the Early Church. It became the Roman capital of Judea in the first century and remained the capital for almost 600 years. It is mentioned several times in the Bible.
The chariot races in the hippodrome did not become popular in Caesarea so the Romans built a wall in the middle of the track to make it smaller. They held gladiatorial contests in the smaller arena. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Romans killed 2,500 Jews by putting them in the arena with the gladiators. The Romans arrested members of the Early Church and fed them to wild beasts in front of crowds in the modified hippodrome in the latter first, second, and third centuries.
While I was visiting this ominous archeological site recently, I saw something that shocked me. At the hippodrome in Caesarea Maritime there were the remains of an Early Church building! The Church built a place of worship on the site where believers were fed to wild beasts for sport. The Early Church was not a church defeated. It was a church victorious! In spite of the best efforts of Rome to abolish the Church, it thrived.
It is called Caesarea Maritime, or Caesarea on the Coast, to distinguish it from Caesarea Philippi, which is in Northern Israel in the territory of Dan. Herod the Great built the city on the site known as Straton’s Tower. He named it in honor of Augustus Caesar.
One of the most amazing architectural feats of the ancient world is the port Herod built there. The breakwaters were constructed of volcanic ash and underwater cement and enclosed about 100,000 square meters. When Herod built this harbor around 20 B.C it was the largest artificial harbor in the open seas. The 500 meter long breakwater wall on the south of the harbor and the 275 meter long breakwater wall on the north of the harbor provided port to around 300 ships at a time.
Josephus called the palace that Herod built in Caesarea a most magnificent palace. It set on the shore with a fresh water swimming pool nearly Olympic size jutting out into the beautiful Mediterranean. The city was 1.4 sq. miles. It had a theater that held about 4,500 spectators, a hippodrome for chariot races, and three aqueducts that supplied an abundance of fresh water.
Some of the streets and sidewalks were paved with marble and many of the columns were made of Italian and Egyptian marble. Caesarea Maritime was truly the most luxurious city that part of the ancient world had ever seen.
It was one of the most important cities to the context of the Early Church. It became the Roman capital of Judea in the first century and remained the capital for almost 600 years. It is mentioned several times in the Bible.
- Phillip the Evangelist was from Caesarea (Acts 8:40, 21:8)
- Paul visited Caesarea many (Acts 9:30, 23:23-25)
- Cornelius was from Caesarea (Acts 10:1)
- Herod died in the theater of Caesarea because the crowd worshipped him as God and he accepted the worship. He was eaten with worms (Acts 12:21-23)
- Paul was imprisoned in Caesarea (Acts 25)
The chariot races in the hippodrome did not become popular in Caesarea so the Romans built a wall in the middle of the track to make it smaller. They held gladiatorial contests in the smaller arena. After the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, the Romans killed 2,500 Jews by putting them in the arena with the gladiators. The Romans arrested members of the Early Church and fed them to wild beasts in front of crowds in the modified hippodrome in the latter first, second, and third centuries.
While I was visiting this ominous archeological site recently, I saw something that shocked me. At the hippodrome in Caesarea Maritime there were the remains of an Early Church building! The Church built a place of worship on the site where believers were fed to wild beasts for sport. The Early Church was not a church defeated. It was a church victorious! In spite of the best efforts of Rome to abolish the Church, it thrived.
(The apse of an early church at Caesarea)
Then I saw it! The main element that made the Early Church victorious and able flourish in the face of Satan’s vicious attacks. The apse was a semicircular alcove in the front of the church. This is where the focal point of the church was embodied. In the remains of this apse I saw a staggering use of one of the Temple icons. The dome on top of the rounded walls of the apse was made in the form of the icon of the Shekinah Glory of God! The starburst represents the Ark of the Covenant and the presence of God radiating from it. The focal point of the Early Church was the Shekinah Glory of God. They understood that when Jesus died on the cross, the veil in the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom by the Father. The Shekinah Glory of the presence of God was no longer in the Holy of Holies. Fifty days after Jesus death on the cross on the day of Pentecost, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in His believers. Paul said in I Corinthians 6:19 that the believer’s body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word for Temple there means the inner sanctuary. This is where the Shekinah Glory of God dwelled in the Temple. The Early Church knew their bodies were the inner sanctuary of the Holy of Holies. They allowed the Holy Spirit to have full control of them. They followed God’s leading every day in preparation for the return of the Messiah. Nothing could stop the Early Church because they were filled with the Shekinah Glory of God.
© Dr. Steven L Smith 2016
© Dr. Steven L Smith 2016