In the Bible, Bethlehem is
called “Bethlehem of Judea” to
distinguish it from “Bethlehem of
Galilee” in the area of Zobolon Tribe
near Nazareth. Also it is called
“Bethlehem- Ephrata” after a family from
Benjamin Tribe that is believed to have
lived in it ( Genesis 35:1 to
19).
The fame of this small place situated in
the Judea mountains on the edge to the
desert goes to the character of David
from the Jesse family whose roots go
back to Moab as the small and lovely
Book of Ruth recounts to us in the Old
Testament. In Bethlehem the young David
began the course of his life that would
first lead him to Saul’s court and late
to become a king on Juda’s tribe in
Hebron and on the whole land of Israel
from Dan to Bir Sheva. During his flight
from the wrath of Saul, David used to
remember his birthplace and yearn to it:
“ David said oh! who can bring me water
to drink from the well at the gate of
Bethlehem!( 2 Samuel: 23:15).In the
messianic view of the Bible, Bethlehem
would be, and exactly because it is the
birthplace of David, the place in which
the awaited Christ would be born. He is
the new David who would liberate his
people(Micha 5: 1-4). In the mosaics
that adorn the churches of Rome,
Bethlehem is always depicted, like the
holy city of Jerusalem, as one of the
Christian symbols, that consist of the
Church of Circumcision and the Church of
Nations.
The present city extends on
two hills surrounded by a depression
that goes eastward to the Judean desert
beginning from the mountain lying behind
it on the north western side. The old
hamlet was very limited and stood on the
top on which the historical middle part
lies. That is, the city as it was before
the building expansion which occurred in
the past years in a random and irregular
way.
W. Harvey supervised
archeological excavations inside and
outside the basilica in 1932 and 1934.
R.W. Hamilton published the result of
these excavations. In 1947, Father
Bellarmino Baghati, as an archaeologist,
followed up the work of engineer A.
Barlozzi who restored the cloister of
the convent dating to the Middle Ages
which lies to the east of the basilica.
The same archaeologist, who is from the
Franciscan Biblical Studies Institute in
Jerusalem, also supervised the
restoration of Saint Jerome’s grottos
under the basilica, which was carried
out by Father Alberto Farina in 1963-
1964.In 1895 at the site of David’s
Wells, a cemetery underground and a
church with inscriptions on masaics
that quote Psalm 117: 19-20 were found,
and discovered by Brother Michaelangelo
Titsani in 1962. There is also a tomb
from the Second Iron Age ( Seventh
Century BC), and a funeral oratorium
from the Byzantine period with mosaic
inscriptions that were discovered in
1963 during the building of the new
Terra Sancta College on the slopes of
the mountain lying to the north of the
basilica. Remains from the Iron Age were
found as well as a Byzantine oratorium
and a cemetery from the Crusader period.
All of these are preserved in the Milk
Grotto area which is an oratorium hewn
in the rock which is visited and
venerated by the local Christians and
pilgrims. it lies to the south east of
the basilica.
If we took the geological
reality of the mountain into
consideration as well as the results of
the current excavations, we can say that
natural grottos existed before the
building of the Nativity Basilica and
the adjoing convents. At least they were
used during the Jewish kingdom period in
the eighth-seventh century BC This is
indicated by the handle of a pot with a
seal written on it “the property of the
king” which was found in Saint Jerome’s
grottos during their restoration in
1963-1964. All of these grottos were
covered by the Constantinian and
Justinian buildings, and were
successively used to bury the dead.
As for the Basilica of
Nativity which is today the heart of a
building complex that is wide and
evidently seen and that is wide and
evidently seen and that includes to
the south the Armenian monastery and the
Greek Orthodox monastery and to the
north the Franciscan Fathers’ convent,
it actually dominated the interest of
pilgrims and researchers so that this
city lying on the edge of the Judean
desert is known by it.
The evangelists Matthew and
Luke tell us the Jesus, Christ the
Savior, about whom the prophets told,
was born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of
Micha’s prophecy. With this birth begins
a new stage in the history of this city
the focus of the interest in which is
the grotto which is referred to as the
place where Jesus was born and in which
Joseph and Mary found a refuge because
they had no place in the inn, as the
Evangelist Luke recounts.
The “grotto of life “ as
called by Saint Gregory of Nicea who
came to it as a pilgrim, is mentioned by
the martyr Justinos( about 155 AD.) in
“a Dialogue with Trivon” where he says:”
As Joseph could not spend the night in
the village, he sought refuge in a
grotto near Bethlehem. While they were
there, Mary gave birth to Jesus.”
Originus describes it in his book” Anti
Chelsius”(about 248 AD.) as a certain
place and known to all: “As for the
birth of Jesus, if one wants another
proof in addition to Micha’s prophecy
and the history written by the disciples
of Jesus in the gospels,let him know
that in addition to all that is
mentioned in the Bible about his birth,
that in Bethlehem the grotto in which he
was born can be seen. In the grotto,
there is the manger where he was
swaddled and laid. What we see is known
by all in these places so that the
aliens to our faith known how Jesus, who
is venerated and worshipped by the
Christians, was born in a grotto.”
Bishop Eusebius from
Caesarea who was the contemporary
witness of the building of the basilica
over the holy grotto which Emperor
Constantine wanted to build, tells us
that the one responsible for the
building and who inspired it was Helena
Augusta, the Emperor’s mother. “The
pious /empress adorned the birth place
of Jesus by a magnificent building. She
was careful by all means to highlight
the Nativity Grotto with all its
splendor. Shortly afterwards, the
Emperor honored the same place by
bountiful royal donations, adding to the
generosity of his mother golden and
silver wares and multi-colored mats”.
The same historian puts on equal footing
the Nativity Grotto, the Holy Sepulcher
lying in the heart of Jerusalem, and the
Grotto of Teaching on the Mount of
Olives where he says: “ The Emperor
chose three places that are proud to
have three holy grottos in them. He
adorned them with rich buildings,
specially the grotto of the first divine
transfiguration ( the Nativity) by the
honor that it deserves. He venerated in
the other grotto on the top of the Mount
of Olives the memory the last Ascension,
and he glorified in the middle grotto (
The Holy Sepulcher) the victories by
which the Redeemer crowned all his
struggle.The Emperor embellished all
these places making the sign of
redemption shining everywhere.
The first eyewitness to
these magnificent work is the anonymous
pilgrim known as the pilgrim of Bordeaux
who came to the Holy Land in 333 and
wrote in the diary of his travel sayings
“In Bethlehem where the Lord Jesus
Christ was born, a basilica was built by
an order from Constantine”. Pilgrim
Igeria visited the Church and the
adjoining grotto in the end of the
fourth century AD The pilgrim went to
Bethlehem in the company of the
Jerusalemite group which usaed to
celebrate in the Basilica of the Manger
some of ritual feasts of the year.She
wrote saying:” In the Church of
Bethlehem, there is the Savior was
born.”Unfortunately the pages in which
she describes the Basilica and the
grotto were lost.
Saint Jerome who spent a
large portion of his life in a hermitage
near the Basilica at the head of a
monastic group of Western men and women
established by Saint Paula of Rome,
mentions that the grotto was desecrated
at the time of Emperor Adrian (135 AD.)
whereupon a holy wood for goddess
Adonis-Tammouz, the goddess of
fertility, was erected on it whereby “
in the place of the grotto in which the
infant Jesus was born, they mourned
Adonis’ mistress, Venus” as he says in
one of his letters.
When the grotto was restored
to the veneration of the Christian
community after the building the
basilica, the memory of Jesus’ birth was
remembered in a day manger, oas Jerome
himself says in a poetic zeal: “Oh, I
wish to see that manger where the Lord
was laid( We removed the clay manager to
honor Christ and replaced it by a silver
manger. However, the manger that was
removed is, in my opinion more valuable
and costly. Gold and Silver are for the
pagans. As for the Christian faith this
clay merger is suitable. He who was born
in this manger despises gold and
silver, I do not want to blame the one
who did it out of piety, but I admire
the Lord who, despite the fact that he
is the creator of the world, was not
born among gold and silver, but in day
.”We have another contemporary witness
by Saint Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, who
emphasizes that “ the blessed place of
the manger is one of the true witnesses
of Christ”.
In the mosaic map of
Palestine which was found in Madaba and
which belongs to the second half of the
sixth century AD., Bethlehem still
appears in the form of a church of
humble sizes although the building of
the basilica wanted by Emperor Justinian
was completed. If we refer to the
testimony of the patririach of
Alexandria, Ibn Al-Batriq (ninth century
AD.), he says: “The king ordered the
demolition of the Church of Bethlehem
which was small and rebuilt large,
awe-inspiring, and beautiful so that no
church was more beautiful than it even
in Jerusalem itself.” This is also the
opinion of the pilgrims of Piachenza who
visited it about the year 570 and who
enthusiastically remembers it:
“Bethlehem is a wonderful place . . . In
it there is grotto in which the Lord was
born. It contains the manger embellished
with gold and silver and surrounded by
lamps that burn continuously. It is the
visiting place that arouned the poetic
faculty of Sophronius, who later became
the patriarch of Jerusalem. He deciated
one of his meditations to the basilica
in which we find the essential dements
that the visiting place consist of, that
is the four-sided gate, the basilica,
the three naves, and the grotto under it
with the manger: “With the burning zeal
of divine love in the heart, I wish to
arrive quickly to little Bethlehem where
the king of the world was born. I shall
dance as I enter this holy church, into
this sublime four sided gate and these
three noble naves. I wish to forget the
clouds of pains as I look at those
golden and many columns which are
illuminated and the works of art
wonderfully corried out. I will look
wonderfully up to the lamps shining with
stars where the grace of heavens shine
thanks to the art. I wish to descend to
the grotto where the Virgin, queen of
the universe, gave the Savior to
mankind, the true God and the true man.
On the scented marble which received the
divine infant, I shall put my eyes,
mouth, and forehead so that in return I
shall receive from it the divine gift. I
shall hurry in piety to the glorious
manger from the bounty of which I was
fed with the divine words, I who is
lacking understanding”.
The basilica was
miraculously saved from destruction
during the Persian conquest in 614. A
Greek unsigned document from the ninth
ventury (836) mentions the cause by
which the basilica survived. In this
connection, it says:” After the Persians
destroyed all the cities of the Roman
Empire in Syria, they burned Jerualem
and took the Patriarch Zacharia captive.
But when they reached Bethlehem, they
were surprised to see the pictures of
the Persian Maggi, the star watchers,
who were their citizens. Out of respect
and love for their ancestors whom they
venerated as if they were alive, they
did no harm to the church which remained
to our present time”. Following the
Islamic conquest in 638, no harm was
done except for the mosaic in the
southern nave where caliph ‘Umar prayed
when he visited the church, knowing that
the caliph gave his clear instructions
concerning the respect due to this
Christian visiting place. Patriarch
Iotichos says.” In our time, the Muslims
violated the instructions of ‘Umar Ibn
Al-Khattab because they removed the
mosaic of the southern nave and wrote on
it what they wanted. They pray in it
collectively and the muezzin summons the
faithful for prayers”.
In 1099 a Crusader
contingent of horsemen surrounding
Jerusalem under Tancred, prime of Polia,
the Norman seized Bethlehem and the
basilica. There on Christmas Eve in 1100
Baldwin crowned himself the first king
of Jerusalem. Bethlehem became the seat
of a bishopric The service and
maintenance of the basilica were
entrusted to the scholars of Saint
Augustin. The Crusader strengthened the
basilica for more security. Thus they
surrounded it with monasteries, and
added a tower and a belfry. They adorned
the interior walls with an ambitious
mosaic design. This process of
embellishment was completed between 1165
and 1169 at the time of Bishop Raoul due
to the cooperation between Amalrichos,
king of Jerusalem and the Emperor of
Constantinophe Porfiro Ginitos.
After the defeat at the
battle of Hittin and the end of the
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, Bethlehem
returned, once again, to the Crusader
rule, for a short period of time between
1229 and 1244 during the reign of
Frederick 11, King of Sweden. In 1266,
Sultan Al-Dhaher Baibars temporarily
deported the Christians from the town.
In subsequent ages, the basilica was
entrusted to the care of the monastic
orders living in the monasteries adjoing
the visiting place. The Franciscan
Fathers who settled near the grotto in
1347 supervised different restoration
and maintenance works in the basilica
which were completed in 1480, 1607, and
1671. In 1671, the Greek monks repaired
the roof of the basilica.
Despite the factors of time
and negligence that seriously endanger
the durability of the basilica, the
five-winged basilic and its superogatory
chorus still retains its simple and
subline elegance on a holy area
organized within four rows of coloumns
of one mass (ten columns in every row)
at the height of 5.47 meters.Every
column has a
corinthian head adorned by an engraved
cross, and leaning on wooden supports
that are skilfully engraved. The
building extends over an area the length
of which is 53.90 meters and its breadth
is 26.15 at the wings and 35.82 at the
cross wing leading to the grotto via
stairs from either side. The facade of
the basilica had a roofed entrance with
columns. The entrance was 40 meters long
and 30 meters wide. Today we have few
remains of this entrance. Today,
entering the basilica is through the
middle gate which was shrunk at least
two subsequent times times to prevent
horses from entering it, knowing that
Muslims caravans had the right to spend
the night in it.
The archaeological
excavations done by R.W. Hamilton in
1932 and 1934 allowed the discovery of
the remains of the Constantine basilica
from which we know for certain the
passage section leading to the nave of
the facade. These doorsteps were moved
inside the present basilica at the level
of the first row of columns. In the
chorus, the British archaeologist
discovered the remains of a multi-angled
column. All of this prompted the
supposition that the visiting place at
that epoch consisted of a small church
for liturgical celebrations ( Historian
Iotichos describes it as “small”)
followed by a huge eight - angled
building for large celebrations. It is
intended to make the grotto under it
large and awe-inspiring.
If we open the wooden cover
of the floor of the present church, we
can see models of the mosaic of the
Constantine Church 0.75 deep. Originally
the area was a large mat covered by a
strip of acanthus ( a pernnial plant
having spicate leaves in filigree used
for adornment) and adorned by a
swaastika preserverd in the northern
area of the basilica, the old writing “
aktos” was inscribed ( this is the first
letters of the following words: “ Jesus
Christ, Son of God, the Savior”.
The masaic adornment which
still partially covers the walls of the
basilica was added in in the Crusader
period. From the description of the
pilgrims in the Middle Ages and from the
research of Franciscan scientists,
specially Father Francisco Quwarisini,
we can conceptualize the adornment
group. The facade from the inside
carries the family tree Jesse, father of
King David and grandfather of Jesus. The
adornment of the walls of the central
nave consisted of three layers. The
upper layer between the windows was
adrned by a continuous group of angels
whose faces are towards the grotto. In
the lower layer above the wooden
support, we find a demi-plate having the
names of the ancestors of Christ
according to the lineage mentioned in
the Gospel of Luke (the southern wall)
and the Gospel of Matthew ( the northern
wall). Today, only eight portaits have
remained on the southern wall. In the
middle of three two layers, we find
writings in Greek and Latin fixed within
wide geometric designs seperated by a
bunch of acanthus adorned by candelabras
and censers. These writing mention the
seven ecumenical councils on the
southern wall( The first Nicea 325, the
second Nicea 787, The first
Constantinophe 680,
Ephesus 431, (chalkedonia 451), and on
the southern wall four ecumenical
councils and two regional councils
(Ansera 314, Antioch 272, Sardica 347,
Janjer in the fourth century, Latakia in
the fourth century, and Carthage 254).
We also find two large crosses studded
with precious stones separating, in the
middle of the walls, between two
adornnents on which there are texts from
the Bible indicating the two natures in
Christ: the divine nature and the human
nature. It was intended from these texts
the direct reference to the restored
unity of the church which is represented
in the Byzantine Emperor and the
Crusader king.
The interest of the
Armenians in the holy visiting place is
mentioned by a writing in Arabic and in
Armenian on the carefully made wooden
door joining between the passage and the
nave of the church. It is a gift from
Armenians as indicated by the Armenian
writing: “With the help of the holy
Mother of God, this gate was made by
Fathers Abraham and Arakel in 676 in the
reign of the Armenian King Hethom, son
of Costantine. May God have mercy on
their souls”. The Arabic writing says:
“This gate was completed with the help
of God, may His name be glorified, in
the region of our lord Sultan Malek the
great in Muharram of 624 Hijira”. Both
writings coincide with the year 1227 AD.
The walls of the wing,
decorated in the form of the three
leaves of clover, were adorned by scenes
from the life of Christ the Lord as
mentioned by the Bible. The scenes of
Pentecost were totally lost as well as
those of the Dormition of the Virgin and
her Assumption to Heaven, the Offering
of Jesus to the Altar, and the
annunciation. In the north, scenes of
Saint Thomas’ doubt and the lower part
of the Ascension were preseved. In the
south, the scene of Jesus’ entry to
Jerusalem and one picture from the scene
of the Transfiguration on Mount Tabor
remained. The scenes of the Nativity,
the Adoration of the Maggi, the Dialogue
with the Samaritan Woman, and the arrest
of Jesus in the Garden of Gesthamane
totally disappeared. In the middle nave,
we find the portrait of the Mother of
God with the Infant Jesus between
Abraham and David.
The writing accompanying
this mosaic left for us the names of the
mosaic artists who supervised and
completed the work. Among these is a
writing in Greek that preserved for us
the name Ephram “a monk, a painter, and
a mosaic worker”. There is also a
writing in the northern side which
carries the name of another mosaic
artist who is the deacon Basilius.
We here give a translation
of two of the dedication writings in
Latin and in Greek. In Latin we read:
“King Amalrichus, guardian of virtue,
the generous friend, the companion of
integrity, the enemy of infidelity, the
lover of justice, the fellow of piety,
the avenger from crime, the fifth king.
And Emmanuel, ruler of the Greeks, the
generous donation giver and the pious
emperor. And the Bishop Radolphos,
pastor of the church who deserves honor,
and the modest bishop. For all of those,
the hand of Ephram carried out these
beautiful drawings”.
The Greek writing repeats
the same text in a brief way. “ The
present work was completed by the hand
of Ephram, the painter and mosaic artist
in the reign of the great emperor
Emmanuel Porfera Gintos Comneus, and in
the reign of the great king of
Jerusalem, Mr. Amalrichus, and the saint
bishop of the holy city, Bethlehem,
Radolphos”.
During the Crusader era
also,characters from the Old Testement
and the New Testement and saints from
the East and the West which are
indicated by writings in Greek and
Latin, were drawn by wax colors. All of
this is on the base of the columns, a
large part of which is still evident
today. We mention from these drawing ,
the drawing of the crucifixion, John the
Baptist, Saint Stephen, Elijah the
prophet, the Virgin nursing the Infant,
the Virgin Lady on the Throne known as
“The Succor of the Christians” in front
of it there are the faithful kneeling on
the sides, and the Virgin with the Child
having the date of 1130 AD. with the
addition of a prayer in Latin saying:
“O, heavenly Virgin, comfort those are
suffering- O,Son, the True God, I ask
you to have mercy on these faithful”.
Among the western saints, we find that
some of them are from the contemporaries
of the Crusades like King Canute from
Denmark, and King Olaf from Norway. We
also find saints venerated by a specific
Christian nation who particpated in the
Crusaders such as Saint Foska and Saint
Marina from Venice, Saint Cataldos from
Taranto, Saint Jacob the great, Saint
Venchensios from Spain, and Saint
Leonard from England.
With the passage of time and
the action of man, the splendor of the
mosaic and the marble of this basilica
faded without changing the nagnifence
that leads us easily and spontaneously
to the tranquility of the grotto at the
end of the central nave. It seems that
the double entrance under the chorus was
completed in the Justinian era. Crusader
engineers worked to rehabilitate it,
adding to it two finely made alabaster
gates using to bronze gate from the
previous epoch. Entrance to the visiting
place which was built during the reign
of Constrative was by a double stairway
on the eastern edge of the central nave
of the church.
The grotto appears nearly in
the shape of a triangle that extends
12.30 meters long 3.50 meters broad with
a small prayer niche. The eastern side
of the grotto is adorned by a mosaic
scene of the Nativity from the Crusader
period. Thus small prayer riche was
formed after closing the natural
possible entrance of the grotto on the
eastern side of the mountain. The walls
are dug in the rock except the ceiling.
The western side is a wall built
seperating the grotto from a passage dug
in the rock leading to the grottos known
as the grottos of Saint Jerome which lie
in the southern area under the church.
In the small prayer niche under the
altar, a silver star fixed on the marble
was installed. It
was placed by the Franciscan Fathers and
the following is inscribed on it in
Latin: “Here Jesus Christ was born of
the Virgin Mary 1777”. On a low place to
the southern side of the grotto, the
place of the manger is venerated and an
altar had been added to it. The pilgrims
of the Middle Ages mention a small altar
in the grotto supported by four columns
and an alabaster star under it
indicatin “the place where the Virgin
Mary gave birth to her son. Jesus
Christ,” as Jacobos of Verona says.
It was found accidentally in
the Franciscan Fathers’ Convent a
treasure of ritual bronze and silver
vessels dating to the Middle Ages which
belonged to the Nativity Basilica. That
was in 1863 during the restoration work
near the kitchen of the Convent, and
also in 1906 when the foundations of the
new buildings to accommodate the
pilgrims were dug. This treasure is kept
at the museum of the Franciscan Biblical
Studies in Jerusalem. It includes an
ornamented bishop’s supter, two basins
on which the stories of Saint Thomas are
inscribed, three candelabras of adorned
and ornamented bronze, eleven bells, and
about 250 organ pipes. On the bases of
two silver candelabras a writing in
Latin was very carefully inscribed, and
even if its content is not characterized
by the Christian spirit, it was
effective. It says: “ ( Cursed he who
carries me away from the holy grotto of
Bethlehem”.
We have few valuable tools
that remind us of the second period of
the splendor known by the visiting place
in the Middle Ages. This visiting place
remains dear to the hearts of the
faithful in all over the world. It is a
Christian visiting place that recounts
the birth of Jesus and reaches with its
message to every man of good will and
who is open on the mercy of God. This
message is a message of peace and
comprehensive reconciliation.
The inspired psalmist who
lauded the humbleness of this birth
which enriched the whole world remains
Saint Jerome, this Dalmatian researcher
who lived near the grotto continuously
for thirty years and here he wrote the
largest part of his compilations and
knew how to pick up the secret
vibrations of this place. He says in one
of his hymns used in the liturgy of the
Christmas Eve: “ Peace O Bethlehem, O,
City of Bread. Here was born this Bread
which desended from heaven. Peace be
upon you O, Ephrata, O, generous and
fruitful land. O, ye, who God Himself
was the fruit of this fertility.
Bethlehem is this narrow pocket of land
where the Creator of Heavens was born.
Here he was swaddled. Here he was laid
in the manger. Here the shepherds saw
Him. Here the star pointed to him. Here
the Maggi adored Him. Here the angels
sang saying: “Glory to God in the
highest! and peace be on earth for
people who are the object of His
satisfaction”. Bethlehem lives with
this message and mixes with it. It is a
message of peace that is still shining
from its visiting place and from its
dwelling places. It addresses its folks
and the whole world despite all the
manifestations of disappointment.
