This photo from AFP shows part of a cave underneath St. George's Church in Rihab, Jordan. According to the BBC, based on a story which originally appeared in the Jordan Times, some scholars date the church to as early as AD 33, or, in other words, right at the time of the crucifixion of Jesus. The church may have been used by early Christians who left Jerusalem. An inscription on the floor of the church refers to "70 Beloved by God and the Divine."
There are several doubters, of course. Some argue that, at that early date, the Christians were all Jews and would have gotten together at the local synagogue. Secondly, we know of no other churches that are this early. Christians of that era, of which there were relatively few, generally worshipped in houses. On the other hand, St. George's Church itself dates, by some measures, to as early as AD 230, and it appears that there was some kind of structure there that predates that.
Personally, I think it more likely that the church may date from about AD 70. (The BBC story puts the range at AD 33 - AD 70.) That would make more sense because of the turmoil of the Roman-Jewish War. No doubt many people, including some Christians, fled the city of Jerusalem during this time. Mark's gospel says that the young man at the empty tomb of Jesus told the women to go out of Jerusalem to Galilee.
Werner Kelber says that this was because of two things: (1) at the time of the writing of Mark's gospel, the Christians within the city of Jerusalem were being pressured to resist the Romans with violence, which was contrary to their faith, but also a very difficult position to maintain in light of local anti-Roman fanaticism and Roman oppression, and (2) Mark was distrustful of the Jerusalem leadership of the church--Peter, in other words--and encouraged the people to go back to the beginnings of their movement, in Galilee.
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