The oldest church in the world: Dura-Europos, Aqaba, Megiddo, Etchmiadzin, the Nativity, and the oldest still in use, by claim and by evidence

Architecture · 4 September 2026

Which church is the oldest depends on what is meant: the oldest building known to have been used as a church is a private house at Dura-Europos on the Euphrates in Syria, converted about 233 with a painted baptistery, found in 1932 and now in Yale; the oldest building constructed as a church is at Aqaba in Jordan, a mud-brick basilica of about 293–303, before Constantine made Christianity legal, found in 1998; the oldest cathedral is Etchmiadzin in Armenia, founded in 301–303 when Armenia became the first Christian state and rebuilt in 483 on the same plan; and the oldest church in continuous use as a church is the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built by Constantine over the cave in 327–339 and rebuilt by Justinian about 565, where the liturgy has not stopped since. Rome's oldest are Santa Maria Maggiore (432) and Santa Sabina (422), the Lateran being of 324 but rebuilt; Europe's oldest north of the Alps is the cathedral of Trier, on a hall of 326; and the oldest in continuous use in Britain, France, Ethiopia, Georgia and America each have their own answer. Below: the claimants in order, what survives of each, the regional oldest, and the arguments, with the earliest churches in the Ancient temples of the world collection and their style in Byzantine architecture.

Before Constantine: the house churches

• Dura-Europos, Syria, about 233–256. A Roman garrison town on the Euphrates was abandoned after the Persians took it in 256, and the houses along the wall were buried under an earth rampart the defenders had built, which preserved them; in 1932 Yale's excavators found a house of about 200 that had been converted about 233 into a church, with a hall for the congregation made by removing a wall and a small room made into a baptistery, its walls painted with the Good Shepherd, Adam and Eve, the healing of the paralytic, the women at the tomb, and Christ walking on water, the oldest Christian paintings in a church anywhere; the paintings were removed to the Yale University Art Gallery, and the site, in the war since 2011, has been looted. It is the oldest identified church building in the world, and the first Christians met in houses like it for two centuries. Dura-Europos church.
• Megiddo, Israel, about 230. Found in 2005 under a prison at Megiddo, a room in a Roman village with a mosaic floor inscribed in Greek to "God Jesus Christ", given by a centurion named Gaianus and a woman named Akeptous, "who offered the table", the table being the altar; if the 3rd-century date holds, it is the oldest Christian prayer hall found and the earliest inscription calling Jesus God, from a time when soldiers could be Christian and worship openly in a village.
• Aqaba, Jordan, about 293–303. A mud-brick basilica 26 by 16 m with a nave, aisles and an apse, a narthex and a chancel, found in 1998 by Thomas Parker, dated by coins and pottery to the end of the 3rd century and buried by the earthquake of 363; the oldest building known to have been built as a church rather than adapted, in the years just before Diocletian's persecution of 303. The church of Rihab in Jordan, claimed in 2008 as of 33–70, is not accepted.
• Rome's tituli. The house churches of Rome, San Clemente, Santa Pudenziana, Santi Giovanni e Paolo, whose 1st- to 3rd-century houses survive under the 4th- and 5th-century churches; Santa Pudenziana's apse mosaic of about 390 is the oldest in Rome.

The 4th century: the oldest standing churches

• Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia (301–303, rebuilt 483). Founded by St Gregory the Illuminator after King Tiridates III adopted Christianity as the religion of the state in 301, the first state to do so, on the site of a pagan temple whose altar has been found under the present one; the church of 303 was a basilica, rebuilt in 483 as a cross-shaped domed church by Vahan Mamikonian, which is the building that stands, with a 17th-century belfry and dome, the mother church of the Armenians and the oldest cathedral in the world. It is in the collection.
• Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem (327–339, rebuilt 565). Constantine's basilica over the cave where Jesus is held to have been born, dedicated in 339, burned in the Samaritan revolt of 529 and rebuilt by Justinian about 565 with its five aisles, Corinthian columns and mosaic floor of the 4th century under the present one; it escaped the Persian destruction of 614, it is said, because the Persians saw the Magi in Persian dress in the mosaic over the door; the oldest church in the world in continuous daily use, and a World Heritage Site since 2012, restored in 2013–20.
• Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem (326–335). Constantine's church over the tomb of Christ and Golgotha, destroyed by the caliph al-Hakim in 1009 and rebuilt by the Byzantines and the Crusaders, whose church of 1149 is what stands; the tomb's rock and parts of the 4th-century rotunda's walls survive.
• Trier Cathedral, Germany (326). The oldest church north of the Alps and in Germany, built on Constantine's palace, with the walls of the 4th-century hall standing 26 m high inside the present building, rebuilt in the 11th century; the oldest bishop's church in continuous use in the West.
• Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome (432–440). The oldest church in Rome that keeps its original structure, a basilica of Pope Sixtus III with 5th-century mosaics in the nave and on the arch; Santa Sabina (422–432) on the Aventine is the least altered early basilica, with its cypress doors of 430, the oldest wooden doors in the world with the earliest crucifixion.
• St John Lateran, Rome (324). The first basilica built by Constantine and the cathedral of Rome, "mother and head of all churches", rebuilt so many times that nothing of 324 shows; the oldest cathedral in the West by foundation.
• Mar Sarkis, Maaloula, Syria (325). A church in an Aramaic-speaking village with an altar of a pre-Christian type, claimed as one of the oldest in continuous use; damaged in 2013 and restored.
• St Peter's, Rome (326–333). Constantine's basilica over the apostle's grave, demolished in 1506; the present church is of 1506–1626.

The oldest still in use, region by region

• Ethiopia. Debre Damo, a monastery on a mesa reached by rope, of the 6th century, the oldest church in Ethiopia and among the oldest in Africa in continuous use; the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela are of about 1200, and the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion at Axum, said to hold the Ark of the Covenant, stands on a site of the 4th century in a building of 1665.
• Egypt. The Hanging Church in Cairo of the 7th century on a 3rd-century foundation, and the monasteries of St Anthony (about 356) and St Catherine at Sinai (548–565), whose church of Justinian is the oldest working church in the world with its original roof and doors.
• Georgia. Bolnisi Sioni of 478–493, the oldest dated church in Georgia, and Jvari at Mtskheta of 586–605; Svetitskhoveli of the 11th century on a 4th-century site.
• Constantinople. Hagia Irene of 532–564, the oldest church of the city and never a mosque; Hagia Sophia of 537.
• Italy beyond Rome. Santa Maria in Cosmedin on a Roman temple; Ravenna's Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (about 430), the Arian and Orthodox baptisteries, and San Vitale (547); Milan's San Lorenzo (about 370), the oldest church in Milan and the oldest centrally planned church in the West.
• Britain. St Martin's in Canterbury, used by Queen Bertha before Augustine arrived in 597 and with Roman brick in its walls, the oldest church in England in continuous use; St Piran's Oratory in Cornwall and Whithorn in Scotland of the 5th and 6th centuries are ruins; Escomb in County Durham (about 670) the oldest complete Saxon church.
• France. The baptistery of St John at Poitiers of about 360, the oldest Christian building in France; the abbey of Saint-Victor in Marseille (5th century); the cathedral of Lyon on a 5th-century baptistery.
• Spain. The Visigothic church of San Juan de Baños of 661, the oldest dated church in Spain, and Santa Eulalia de Bóveda.
• Ireland. Gallarus Oratory, undated, of the 7th to 12th century; the cathedral at Clonmacnoise of 909.
• America. San Esteban del Rey at Acoma, New Mexico (1629–41), the oldest church in the United States in its original form and in use; San Miguel in Santa Fe of about 1610 rebuilt in 1710; in the Americas, the cathedral of Santo Domingo (1512–41) is the oldest.

How the dates are argued

Almost every "oldest church" has three dates: the founding, when a bishop or king built a church on the site, which is the date on the sign; the oldest fabric, the part of the standing building that goes back furthest, found by archaeology and by the style of the stone; and the continuous use, from which the church has never stopped being a church. Etchmiadzin is 303 by founding and 483 by fabric; the Nativity is 339 by founding and 565 by fabric and by use; the Lateran is 324 by founding and 1650 by fabric; Trier is 326 by fabric in part; Dura-Europos is 233 by fabric and by use, for twenty years, and is in a museum. The Aqaba church is dated by the coins under its floor, which stop in the 290s, and by the pottery, and its identification as a church rests on its plan, which is that of a basilica with an apse and a place for the clergy, before basilicas were built for anything else; the Megiddo hall is dated by its mosaics' style and the pottery to about 230, and some scholars put it in the 4th century. Claims for 1st-century churches, at Rihab in Jordan, at Jubail in Saudi Arabia, and in Cornwall, are not accepted. The one certain thing is that no church built before 200 exists, because none was built: the first Christians met in houses.

Versions and theories

• The oldest church is in Jordan. The Aqaba church is the oldest purpose-built church found, of about 300; the Rihab claim of AD 33 is a cave with a later church over it, and no archaeologist supports the date.
• Etchmiadzin is the oldest cathedral. By foundation, 301–303, and by continuous status as the seat of the Armenian church; the building is of 483 with later additions. St John Lateran is older by foundation as a cathedral, 324, but is a 17th-century building.
• The Church of the Nativity is the oldest in continuous use. Since 339, with the rebuilding of 565 done around the worship; the Persians in 614 and the Muslims after 638 left it, and the Crusaders, Ottomans and the three churches that share it have kept it open. No other church has a better claim.
• St Catherine's at Sinai is the oldest with its original roof. The church of 548–565 has its cedar roof beams with Justinian's name carved on them, and its doors; the monastery has never been destroyed.
• Britain's oldest church is St Martin's. It was in use before 597 and has Roman brick, some of it possibly from a Roman building on the site; whether that building was a church of the 4th century is not proved.
• The oldest church in the world is Armenian, or Syrian, or Jordanian. All three are right about something; the answer to the question "which is the oldest church" is "the oldest what".

The world's oldest religious buildings of all kinds are in the oldest temples in the world; the Armenian and Georgian churches, the oldest national Christian architecture, in the temples collection.

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