Northern Church

The largest church of Shivta was part of a monastery and consisted of over forty rooms connected by a system of courtyards. The church has a large atrium (21 x 15 m). The walls are about 10m high and at the entrance gate, the first and last letters of Greek alphabet are inscribed, alluding to the words of Jesus "I am the first and the last". The floor of the church was paved with mosaics in geometrical patterns and contains an inscription referring to a Bishop named Thomas (517 AD). A side entrance lead to two more chapels. The baptistery, with a large stone-cut baptismal font, lies south of one of these chapels. This area was also used as a cemetery, and contains several gravestones with the names of monks and priests, dating between 612 and 679. In the centre of the atrium you can see a column (4P). Some say it represents a stand for a decorative vase. There is a diffrent opinion that the column was used by a christian saint (I guess his name was Sergius?...not sure). He spent his whole life standing on this column and pilgrims who flocked to Shivta visited him and asked for blessing....Though Shivta was not located on any major roads, its position near the St. Catherine Monastery (Mt. Sinai according to Christian traditions) made it a famous stopover. It is said that the inhabitants of Shivta utilised this intelligently. Through out these churches relics of saints were kept immersed in water and pilgrims collected the holy water for religious purposes. However, we missed the the Central Church which is the smallest of Shivta .....................lack of time.