On the plaster remaining on one
column, along with many crosses a partially preserved inscription incised in
large letters contains the words, “under the holy place of M . . . I wrote . .
.” (ΥΠΟ ΑΓΙΩ ΤΟΠΟ Μ . . . ΕΓΡΨΑ
. . .). Here, asking for remembrance in this holy
place, some pilgrim probably wrote the pilgrim’s own name and/or the name(s) of
some dear one(s), as the Anonymous of Piacenza did at Cana, where the pilgrim
said, “I, unworthy though I am, wrote the names of my parents” (Geyer p. 161;
LPPTS II-D, p. 4; CCSL CLXXV, p. 130; WJP p. 79; cf. No. 57). As for the holy
place of M . . .,” where only the initial letter “M” of the personal name
survives, it is at least possible and even probable that the name was Mary. At any
rate that name is very plainly found in the inscription on the base of another column:
ΧΕ/ΜΑΡΙΑ.” This abbreviation in the first line is often used
for χριστε as an address to “Christ” (Mt 26:68), but
in the present context the excavator very convincingly thinks it stands for χαιρε, “hail,” and is intended to repeat the angelic
salutation to Mary in Lk 1:28 (Bagatti, Excavations Nazareth, pp.
156-158; and Church from Circumcision, pp. 62f., 125f.; Briand pp. 22f.)
Together the
architectural elements and the graffiti just described allow the conclusion that
we see here the remains of a pre-Byzantine synagogue-Church dating in the
third-fourth century (Strange in ATR 65 [1983], p. 17) and continuing in use
until replaced by the Byzantine church in the early fifth century. (Jack
Finegan, The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Life of Jesus at the
Beginning of the Early Church [Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992],
49-50)
Further Reading:
Answering Fundamentalist Protestants and Roman Catholic/Eastern Orthodox on Images/Icons
