Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons / Viktor M. Vasnetsov)
BY JASMINE BAILEY
Archeologists in Turkey claim to have unearthed a relic that could come from the cross of
Jesus Christ.
In a church in Turkey built in 660 AD, researchers discovered this stone chest with two crosses
engraved on the sides. But what's inside the chest is what archeologist say could be a
monumental find. (Via KUSA)
"Professor Gülgün Koroglu this piece may contain the bone of a Christian saint or a
piece of the cross that Jesus Christ was crucified on." (Via MSNBC)
Professor Koroglu told a Turkish newspaper, "The excavation of Balatlar Church has been
going on since 2009 and this stone is the most important piece we have found so far.
We have also found a number of human bones during our excavation. We have learned many
things during the excavation that we did not previously know." (Via Today's Zaman)
The findings have been sent to a lab to be examined. Researchers are hoping to find an
approximate date for the piece. KDKA talked to a curator who said Turkey is an important
site in earlier Christianity. However...
"To analyze that piece of wood it would take years to determine its age through a process
called carbon 14 dating. So we could date it to when he was crucified but we wouldn't
necessarily know if it was a piece of the cross." (Via KDKA)
But there is no shortage of skeptics — as there is no foolproof way to prove not only
if the piece was part of a cross, but if it even has any direct relationship to Jesus
at all. The Archbishop of New York talked to NBC's Today Show.
"I don't mind sharing with you that I'm a little skeptical because there have been
such claims in the past... But anything that brings us a little closer to Jesus and
his cross is a good thing."
Claims of finds from the cross have been abundant for centuries. In the Middle Ages there were
so many assertions of finds ... (Via Wikimedia Commons / James Tissot)
...that pastor John Calvin wrote: "In brief, if all the pieces that could be
found were collected together, they would make a big ship-load. Yet the Gospel testifies
that a single man was able to carry it." (Via Wikimedia Commons / Georg Osterwald)
Jesus' cross is said to have been about 12 feet high — probably not quite big enough
to fill a ship.