The history of Christianity in Jerash between the fourth and seventh centuries AD can be read through its archaeology. Its development from simple, recycled buildings to byzantine influenced structures shows the development not only of architectural style but the organisation of the Christian religion.
Fourth to Fifth Century AD — Early Christian Churches in Jerash
In the fourth century AD, the newly legitimate Christian religion in Jerash established itself by creating associations with paganism. This involved locating churches over or next to prominent pagan sites. However, this did not mean Christians turned old temples into churches — instead, they built afresh, adopting a public form of Roman architecture, the basilica, as the basis of their new church buildings.
The cathedral complex in Jerash is an example of this. Situated in the centre of Jerash, it occupied the site of the old sanctuary of Dionysus and was right next door to the chief pagan sanctuary of Jerash, the temple of Artemis. Wharton believes that the new religion legitimised itself by associating itself with the old while using its new style of architecture to show the difference between the old and new religions.
Pagan temple complexes drew the viewer into them. The new cathedral cautiously advertised its religious leanings through exterior shrines, reserving its main features for the initiated. The cathedral doorway did not face the entrance to the cathedral complex but was tucked away on the other side. Inside, the design carefully controlled the space. The entrance passage was divided into two, possibly to separate the sexes, while recycled Corinthian columns divided the nave and isles.
By the fifth century, the architecture of the cathedral complex had moved on. In the 490s, the church of St Theodore joined the original basilica within the precinct. This church displayed many more byzantine elements as Jerash became influenced more by the fashions of the eastern Roman Empire than its classical past. Arches now appear over the columns, and round-headed windows appear in the upper walls. Crucially, this period sees the appearance of specific side chapels, such as the baptistery in the church’s apse, rather than the anonymous side rooms of the cathedral.
The Sixth Century AD — The Development of the Byzantine Church
The consolidation of Christianity saw a rapid building programme of churches in the sixth century. Christianity was gaining confidence; there was no need to continue associating with old pagan sites, so churches appeared all over the city. The influence of the Byzantine imperial court on Christianity was also more apparent. The new churches included more side isles, chapels and baptisteries and lavish interior decor such as mosaics. This decor celebrated not only the Christian religion but the imperial patrons who financed many of the churches.
The conjoined churches of St Cosmas and Damian, St John the Baptist and St Georges typify Jerash’s sixth-century churches. United by a single atrium, the church of St Georges lies largely ruined today, but its companions survive sufficiently to give a picture of Byzantine churches in the city.
The church of St Cosmas and Damian — co-patron saints of physicians along with St Luke — show how the basilica style continued to develop. The church’s naves and aisles are no longer separated by pillars but solid stone piers. But the key feature is its mosaic floor, the best preserved in Jerash. Its pattern consisted of plain bordered geometric motifs in the side aisles with a more elaborate arrangement in the nave area of motifs, animals and plants. Near the chancel screen are mosaic portraits of the church’s patrons, the eastern roman emperor Theodore and his wife, Georgia.
The design of St John the Baptist was unique in Jerash and rare elsewhere. In fact, the church was probably based on the cathedral of Bosra in Syria. St John’s church is not a basilica like either of its neighbours but a circular design set in a square, with a horse show shaped exedra in each corner.
The church’s interior decor was impressive. The roof featured domes over the exedras and the eastern apse, whose interiors featured glass mosaics. These decorative domes reflected the light from a lantern in the centre of the church, suspended from an arrangement of four Corinthian columns. Parts of its mosaic floor remain, displaying important Christian sites in the eastern Roman Empire.
The Seventh Century AD — An Orthodox Church in Jerash?
Bishop Genesius’s church was built in 611AD. It is the only type of its kind in Jerash and shows the beginnings of today’s eastern orthodox Christian architecture.
While the basic form of the church is still a basilica, there are significant developments not found in earlier churches in Jerash. The nave and aisles were still divided by colonnades, but unlike in earlier churches, these lines of pillars stopped before they reached the chancel.
Many features are similar to later Greek orthodox architecture. Arches led off into north and south chapels, screened off from the main church. This screen ran in line with the chancel, segregating it from the rest of the church, providing a clear demarcation line between the congregation and the clergy.
This separation was further emphasised by the arrangement of the chancel, where the clergy sat in two rows of seats on either side of a flight of stairs leading up to the bishop’s chair, just behind the altar. This was an additional unique feature in Jerash and one that showed how elaborate and hierarchical Christianity had become just before Jerash was lost to the Persians.
Resources
Browning, I, 1982. Jerash and the Decapolis. Chatto & Windus: London
Wharton, A, J, 1995. Refiguring the post-Classical City-Duras Europos, Jerash, Jerusalem and Ravenna. Cambridge University Press.
