St. John's Cathedral (Samaria)
The St. John's Cathedral is the ruin of a former bishop's church of the Crusaders in Samaria (also: Sebaste / Sebastiya ) in what is now the West Bank . The building is now partially used as a mosque and the tomb of St. John the Baptist is venerated in it.
history
St. John was built by the Crusaders in the 12th century on the spot where, since Byzantine times, there has been a church dedicated to the veneration of the place where, according to tradition, the place of the burial of St. John the Baptist after his execution by Herod Antipas was found.
Baldwin was mentioned as the first Latin bishop of Samaria in March 1129. Samaria was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Caesarea . In addition to the grave of John, the burial place of the prophets Elisha and Obadja was traditionally venerated in the church . In September 1184 Sultan Saladin appeared with his army in front of the city, which could initially be ransomed by the bishop . In June 1187 a nephew of Saladin conquered the place and tortured the bishop until he told him the location of the cathedral treasure. The bishop and the cathedral chapter were then allowed to flee to Acre. In a document from 1188, Pope Clement III. the canons of the Chapter, who were meanwhile at Nemours , were under his protection.
As early as 1225, a Muslim chronicler reported about a mosque on John's grave. It is thanks to this fact that the cathedral was not completely devastated when Samaria was conquered.
Building
From the cathedral, a three-aisled basilica of seven Jochen was of the vessels carrying a semicircular apse closed, there are still the perimeter today. The last two yokes in front of the choir have been converted into a mosque since 1892. The tomb of John is in the third yoke of the nave . Before that, the mosque was located in the two western nave bays. During the renovation, the apses and remains of the vault were destroyed.
literature
- Denys Pringle: The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem . Volume 2 (L-Z), Cambridge 1998.
Web links
Coordinates: 32 ° 16 ′ 36.2 " N , 35 ° 11 ′ 45.6" E