On the 'Orientation' of Ancient Synagogues and Churches

84 chapter three

CHAPTER THREE

ON THE ‘ORIENTATION’ OF ANCIENT SYNAGOGUES AND CHURCHES

Introduction

This chapter is divided in two sections. In the first section, the theological implications for having a direction of prayer are examined in light of the Jewish sources. This evidence is contrasted with what is known about direction of prayer from the Christian sources. Apparently Jewish writers were not overly concerned with this issue. Moreover, no single authoritative view is expressed, which might be a result of the form of the Jewish sources themselves. This situation stands in marked contrast to the Christian view from as early as the second century CE, in which the East is understood as the ‘correct’ direction to offer prayer. In the second section of this chapter, the archaeological evidence is presented for prayer in the Jewish and Christian realms. First, the criteria used by archaeologists to define the functional aspects of rectangular synagogue halls used by Jews are examined. Second, evidence found by archaeological excavation is reassessed to determine the validity of modern assumptions regarding direction of prayer. Indeed, apses and niches in synagogues are the best evidence for direction of prayer in synagogues, as in Christian practice. Finally, the archaeological evidence from Palestine and Syria is presented to show that apses and the raised bema preceding the apse were features of even the earliest churches.

3.1. Where was the Divine Presence?

In 70 CE, after a three-year siege, the Legio X Fretensis had not only destroyed Jerusalem, but had also obliterated the Temple, the unique house of Yahweh, where the Shekinah or “Divine Presence” supposedly dwelt. In the words of Landsberger: “To many this signi-

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fied that Jerusalem had been forsaken by the Divine.”1 One of the most disturbing questions that Jews might have asked themselves was, “Where is the Divine Presence after the destruction of His Temple?” Though this issue did not seem to be a topic of major importance to the rabbis who wrote the Mishnah and Talmuds, some discussion of the location of the Shekinah is found in the rabbinic sources, as is the direction to which prayers are to be offered. The Tannaim and the Amoraim of Palestine and Babylonia present inconsistent opinions.2 Some thought that the Shekinah is everywhere, while others believed that the Shekinah is in the west. We shall contrast the architecture of prayer halls and their layouts in light of these opinions. Moreover, since archaeologists have often utilized written rabbinic material to explain material finds, the evidence on which some of their theories have been based needs to be re-assessed. However, we should bear in mind that some of the questions that we shall pose have no certain answers.

3.1.1. Jewish influence on Christian practice? There are a number of aspects relating to the directions of influence between Jews and Christians in the first few centuries of the Common Era. I do not intend to detail theologically how Christianity related the death of Jesus to sacrifice in the Temple. Rather, one component that I will try to deal with here concerns the impact of Jewish traditions in art and architecture on early Christian practice. In 1901, Strzygowski proposed that synagogue art must have been transmitted to the Church.3 He based his theory on frescoes in early Christian catacombs in Rome that had Hebrew Bible themes, whereas New Testament themes appear in later catacombs. He surmised that not only did Christian art develop from art of the synagogue, but that Christian liturgy did so as well. This turn-of-the-century methodology which based wide-ranging conclusions on meagre evi-

1 Landsberger, 1957, 182. 2 For a convenient collection of the rabbinic sources on the mobility of the Sheki- nah, suggesting a possible attachment of the Divine Presence to synagogues after the destruction of the temple. See: Schreckenburg and Schubert, 1992, 161-3. 3 Strzygowski, 1901, 37-39. Modern research has leaned less toward a linear evolution from one to another, and more towards a cross-fertilization over centuries, see: Kühnel, 2000, 65.

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