The Face of Jesus

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 In Israel: A Newly Discovered Image of Jesus’ face

Today’s blog is different, being the first one to discuss churches in Israel. Perhaps from the 4th or 6th century these three churches are in a now isolated part of the Negev, which has aided their preservation.


They are at Shivta, which was a thriving village for two centuries before the Muslim conquest. Shivta had at least three churches. Two of them (called the South Church and the North Church) have extant but degraded artwork: one mural of Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, one of the Transfiguration and one of Jesus’ face. This last one was detected by Maayan-Fanar and photographed by her husband Dror Maayan in 2018, although the buildings have been known since 1871.


In the East and in the Early Byzantine period artists depicted Jesus as youthful, clean-shaven and with short hair but later, and in the West, and in the best-known images and on most icons, he has long hair parted in the middle, has a beard and moustache and appears older. This example is of the early type.


We encourage you to read about this discovery and view the image for yourself.
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/premium.MAGAZINE-jesus…

‘Suddenly I Saw Eyes’: Jesus’ Face Discovered in Ancient Israeli Desert Church’,
by: Ruth Schuster, for Haartez, Nov 14, 2018.

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