Aqaba Church

Aqaba Church
Aqaba Church
كنيسة العقبة
	Ruins of the church
	Aqaba Church
	29°32′02″N 34°59′56″E / 29.533787°N 34.999025°E
Location	Aqaba
Country	Jordan
Denomination	Early Christianity
History
Status	Inactive
Founded	293
Relics held	1 tomb
Architecture
Functional status	Ruins (possibly destroyed)
Style	Basilica
Completed	293 AD
Demolished	363 AD (earthquake)
Administration
Parish	Aila (extinct)

Aqaba Church is a historic 3rd-century church located in Aqaba, Jordan. It was unearthed in 1998 by a group of archaeologists and is considered to be the world's oldest-known purpose-built Christian church.^[1] Its first phase was dated between 293 and 303, which makes it older than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, both of which were built in the late 320s.^[2]

Its peripheral location within the Roman Empire is likely to have saved it from destruction during the Great Persecution that broke out just a few years after the church's construction.

^ "First purpose-built church". Guinness World Records. 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2016-06-04.
^ "Earliest church discovered in Red Sea port". The Independent. 1998-12-21. Retrieved 2016-06-04.

[guin-1] "First purpose-built church". Guinness World Records. 2014-01-02. Retrieved 2016-06-04.

[inde-2] "Earliest church discovered in Red Sea port". The Independent. 1998-12-21. Retrieved 2016-06-04.

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