half of the cellar, but who built and how old it remained a mystery. i began to look through pilgrimage accounts to see if there was any evidence for this large building and whether any of them told us what this church was dedicated to. the most authoritative description of early nazareth is called the de locis sanctis, the sacred locations. in addition to the biblical account, we actually only have a seventh-century pilgrim s account, and he says that there stood two churches, one church which was said to have been built over the childhood home of jesus, and the other big church in the center of nazareth, the
today, the church of the annunciation is the largest in the middle east. the question is, if the seventh-century description of nazareth is accurate, what happened to the other church that once stood nearby? the church that was said to be built over the childhood home of jesus was called the church of the nutrition, so called because it was where jesus was nurtured as a child. the big question is where that church is today. it disappeared from history somewhere around the time of the crusades. we re not really sure what happened to it. what we do know is that there are some clues from the de locis sanctus, this medieval manuscript, that gives us a few hints about where this church once stood. and it was fairly easy to see if it had the series of attributes that de locis sanctis attributes to the church of the nutrition.
that once stood nearby? the church that was said to be built over the childhood home of jesus was called the church of the nutrition, so called because it was where jesus was nurtured as a child. the big question is where that church is today. it disappeared from history somewhere around the time of the crusades. we re not really sure what happened to it. what we do know is that there are some clues from the de locis sanctus, this medieval manuscript, that gives us a few hints about where this church once stood. and it was fairly easy to see if it had the series of attributes that de locis sanctis attributes to the church of the nutrition. did it have a well? well, yes. there is a well at the site. did it have a vault under it? yes, the site included a large
genuinely was the childhood home of jesus. on archaeological grounds, that is entirely possible, but it can t be demonstrated. it s difficult to be sure who this house belonged to in the first century. it was a house of the kind that mary and joseph could have lived in. the pottery, the limestone vessels, the construction of the house, the dimensions all make it likely that this is jesus house, and it makes sense that early christians would have treasured that location and passed it on to later pilgrims, so a lot of it fits together, and a lot of it seems to make it likely that this could be the house of jesus, mary and joseph. i think that the sisters of nazareth convent is most likely the church of the nutrition mentioned in the de locis sanctis. the big question is whether or not this is actually the childhood home of jesus, and we may never know the answer to
built and how old it was remained a mystery. i began to look through pilgrimage accounts to see if there was any evidence for this large building and whether any of them told us what this church was dedicated to. the most authoritative description of early nazareth is called the de locis sanctis, the sacred locations. in addition to the biblical account, we actually only have a seventh-century pilgrim s account, and he says that there stood two churches, one church which was said to have been built over the childhood home of jesus, and the other big church in the center of nazareth, the church of the annunciation. today, the church of the annunciation still stands in the center of nazareth attracting tens of thousands of visitors a year. this is the traditional spot