Note 104 — BOOK V.

The church is interesting as being the only basilica of Constantine left standing in Palestine.

The atrium is destroyed, but the basilica, consisting of a nave and four aisles, is almost intact, the original columns and the clerestory walls, with fragments of glass mosaic (of twelfth century), remaining. The basilica measures 87 feet east and west by 75 feet north and south.

At the east end is a transept with north and south apses and an east apse of equal size. The floor of the transept is raised for a width equal to that of the basilica nave (35 feet). The basilica is separated by a wall, erected by the Greeks in 1842, from the transept.—‘Palestine Exploration Memoirs,’ vol. iii., pp. 83-85.

Notwithstanding the slight notice of this city taken by Procopius, the part taken by Justinian in its adornment is otherwise spoken of in a very striking manner, and its celebrated basilica, usually stated, as above, to have been the work of Constantine, has been assigned in part to Justinian. The eastern part is almost certainly later than Constantine.

‘The choir, with its three apses, does not seem to be part of the original arrangement, but to have been added by Justinian when he renovated—Eutychius says rebuilt—the church.’—Fergusson’s ‘History’ (1867), vol. ii., p. 290.

Eutychius’ account is thus:

‘Jussit etiam Imperator legatum Ecclesiam Bethleemiticam quæ parva fuit diruere, aliamq, amplam, magnam et pulchram fabricare, adeo ut non esset Hierosolymis templum ipsâ pulchrius.

‘Perveniens ergo Legatus Hierosolyma, Nosocomium peregrinis condidit, et Ecclesiam Elenæ perfecit, templaque quæ incenderant Samaritani instauravit, nec non Monasteria quam plurima extruxit, dirutâque Ecclesiâ Bethleemiticâ eaudem eo quo jam se habet modo ædificavit.

‘Cumque his omnibus absolutis ad Imperatorem reversus esset, ille, describe mihi (inquit) quomodo Ecclesiam Bethleemiticam extruxisti. Quam cum ipsi descripsisset, haud probavit Imperator descriptionem estam nec ullatinus ipsi placuit, quaré valde ipsi iratus. Acceptos (inquit) nummos tibi ipsi congessisti, ædificium autem extruxisti male compactum et Ecclesiam tenebrosam confecisti nullatenus ex mente mea fabricatam, nec consilium meum secutus es. Capiteque ipsum plecti jussit.’

Eutychius adds after Omar’s conquest:

‘Deinde Bethleem ad eam visendam prefectus cum adesset orationis tempus intra Ecclesiam oravit ad arcum Australem.

‘Erat autem arcus totus opere tessellate variegatus. Scripsitque Omar Patriarchæ syngrapham;—neque mutaretur in eo quiequam.’—Eutychius, ‘Pocock’s Translation’ (Oxford, 1658), vol. ii., pp. 159, 288.