* Before Christ * Till Crusades * Post Crusades * It's Christmas
* Catholic 1 * Catholic 2 * S. Francesco * Pictures 1 * Pictures
2 * Pictures 3 * Pictures 4 From Justinian to the Crusaders In
527 Justinian became Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. His reign
was one of great prosperity and expansion for the churches, but
not for the non-Christians. In 529 the Samaritans revolted.
Spreading from Nablus, they plundered the countryside. The
rising was soon quelled and the Samaritans in great part
exterminated. According to a posterior source (Eutichius of
Alexandria) the rebuilding of the Church in Bethlehem is
attributed to this emperor. This same source says that the
Emperor himself was not "satisfied" with the job carried out by
his architects who had pulled the Constantinian church down,
damaged during the Samaritan uprising, and built in its place a
new one. The Emperor found that this new church was "dark" and
he even accused the architect of wasting the Empire's money. So
much was his dissatisfaction that t