A Christian community in Palestine

EAPPI International Coordinator Manuel Quintero in the
narrow street where according to tradition Jesus walked

The only entirely Christian village in the West Bank is Taybeh (population 1,200), east of Ramallah. It is an ancient village, that has been destroyed and rebuilt seven times in its history. In Jesus' time, it was known as Ephraim, and John 11:54 records that Jesus stayed there with disciples when the priests were  plotting to kill him.

Roman Catholic Church (left) and Greek Catholic Church (right)

We had the opportunity to visit Taybeh with Nader Muaddi, a Palestinian-American on the EAPPI staff who has many relatives there. He says there are three Christian communities in Taybeh:  Greek Orthodox (the oldest),  Roman Catholic (now the largest), and Greek Catholic (Melkite). Since the communities are so interwoven (wives take their husband's faith), that they have all agreed to celebrate Christmas together on the day normally observed by Catholics, and Easter on the day normally observed by Orthodox. The three faiths have their own churches, but also celebrate masses at the hilltop ruins of the fifth-century church of St. George, which has an ancient baptismal font.

St. George's Greek Orthodox Church

Fourth century mosaic was in the first
Greek Orthodox church, next to the
current one

Interior of St. George's Greek Orthodox Church

Ruins of basilica honoring St. George begun in the fifth century

Baptismal font at the ruins

Nader in front of his great-grandfather Jacob's house (left door)

Nader showed us the house where his great-grandfather Jacob lived, and some older and newer houses as well.

Older home

Space for new burials

Nader says, "in Taybeh we have one scout troup and one cemetery for all three denominations in the village. In most other communities, each denomination has its own." In the cemetery, Nader showed us the tombs of some of his relatives. He pointed out that new niches are constantly being built on top of the old ones. He said the walls around the cemetery were funded by the late King Abdullah of Jordan, because Nader's maternal grandmother slipped a note in the King's pocket asking for help.

Cemetery wall built thanks to Nader's grandmother

Nader says Taybeh is the largest town in the area, with over 10 square miles, but is steadily losing land to encroaching Israeli settlements. He says they took part of his grandfather's land and compensated it with a small deposit in a bank account which the family has not withdrawn, because they do not want to legitimize the transaction.

New home in Taybeh

The village is building a state-of-the-art sewage and wastewater recycling system, the first of its kind in the West Bank. Nader says that during a recent excavation under streets for the project they came upon a surprise: 15 chests of gold coins from the Roman era. New and old are intertwined in Taybeh.