Darat al Funun renovation

PRIOR RESEARCH:

The first to describe the church was Major C.R. Conder who visited in October 1881 and included it in his survey of eastern Palestine. Conder called it the Western, saying that it was built south of a cave and that, "The apse, the window in the south wall, and three pillars of the aisles remain, with four (columns) which belonged to a porch 10 feet wide in the clear". He also describes the remains of a cornice in the southern window and says that a drawing was made of a capital in rough Ionic style. He also reports that in the cave, ".. on the west wall in a south -west angle is a rock cut sarcophagus. There is another recess in this wall, and one also in the north wall". He continues: "The excavation is 18 feet across, and 20 feet to the back". It is not clear if he himself conducted the excavation, but if he did, he did not document his results beyond that brief description. Finally, he states that the cave was probably, "sacred as the tomb or cave-dwelling of some saint."

The site was visited in 1905 by the Dominican fathers M.R. Savignac and F. M. Abel who noted an excavation in the cave, and stated that it was recently disturbed.

Savignac and Abel returned to the site in 1908 and recorded another dedicatory inscription that had been found in the area near the pedestal, by Circassian excavators; they had the inscription in their possession; this inscription is now lost.

It was in Greek on a slab of white marble. On it, two important names are mentioned, that of a "priest of St. George," who built the church and a certain "Polieuctus" who was bishop of Philadelphia, ancient "Amman. AbelÕs translation reads: "By the willingness of God and the intention of the humble priest of St. George for the good health and long life of our sovereigns and thanks to his generosity, this temple was built under the Saint Bishop Polieuctus and for the good cure of Talassamachia..." A question, first raised by J. T., was whether the priest mentioned here belongs to this church or to another church. If he was a priest of this church, then the structure was dedicated to ST. Geogre. On the same visit, Abel reports that the excavators had uncovered chancel screens, a capital with a cross on it, and two other fragmentary Byzantine inscriptions.