During the Byzantine period a large church complex was gradually built over the house of Cleopas, venerated by Christians as the place of the breaking of bread by the risen Christ.  This church complex  consisted of two Basilicas and a baptistery (the complex was cleared out during the archaeological excavations in the late 19th - the beginning of the 20th cent.). Emmaus-Nicopolis was a big city, a regional center, and a bishopric. For the first time, the name of the bishop of Nicopolis, Peter, is mentioned in the list of the Fathers of the Nicaean Council of 325 A.D. The second bishop of the city known to us, Ruphus, was present at the Council of Constantinople in 381. Third, Zenobius, signed a decree of the Jerusalem Synod in 536 (see: Gelzer, ed., "Patrum Nicaenorum nomina", Leipzig, 1898, p. 123 (see here); Lequien, Oriens Christianus, III, 594).

 Emmaus-Nicopolis upon the Madaba map (Jordan, 6th c.)

 Stylized image of the Nicopolis Basilica also appears upon the mosaic floor of the 8th c. at Ma'in near Madaba.

  Numerous pilgrims were visiting Emmaus on their way to Jerusalem from the port of Jaffa (Joppa).  Throughout this period, Nicopolis was the only place in the Holy Land, venerated as the New Testament Emmaus, in continuation of the tradition that had already existed during the Roman period. Nicopolis was identified both as Emmaus mentioned in the 1st Book of Maccabees, ch. 3-4 (the place of the Maccabee’s battle with the Syrian army) and as Emmaus of the Gospel of Luke. This is illustrated by the following texts: 
Hesychius of Jerusalem, Quaestiones, difficultas 57 (text of the beginning of the 5th c.):
  "Question: How could John say that Christ manifested himself to all his disciples, except Thomas, on Sunday evening (John, 20, 19-24), while Luke says that he appeared only to Peter, when Cleopas and his companion came back the evening of that same day to Jerusalem after having seen the Lord at Emmaus ( Luke 24, 33-34)?  
Solution: After the (holy) women, it is to Peter that Christ first appeared, then to the Apostles, according to what Paul says: “He was seen by Cephas and then by the Twelve” (1st Letter to the Corinthians, 15, 5), not counting Thomas, who was absent, but Matthias and Justus (Acts of the Apostles 1, 22-23).  Furthermore, it is while Cleopas and his companion were on the way back from Emmaus that Christ appeared to Peter.  When they had returned from Emmaus and had recounted to the Apostles how they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread, then Christ showed himself to all of them on Zion, as Luke asserts (Luke, 24, 35-36).  One must not be surprised if in the same day they went from Jerusalem to Emmaus and from Emmaus to Jerusalem.  It is not written that it was evening when they approached Emmaus, but that it was towards evening (Luke 24, 29), and that the day was declining, as if it were, for example, the eighth or the ninth hour (2 or 3 p. m.).  From the seventh hour (1 p. m.), the sun seems to incline towards the west.  Without counting the fact that the joy of announcing the miracle had to hasten their journey and that they would have arrived very late.  We have, in effect, the habit of calling evening (“opsias”, see John 20, 19) the time which extends until a late hour in the night.  Here, still, Christ appeared to them as well as to the others." (PG XCIII, 1444). The text of Hesychius supposes a significant distance between Jerusalem and Emmaus, which is not easy to cover twice on the same day. The disciples left Emmaus, perhaps, about 3 p.m. and came to Jerusalem very late (10-11 p.m.?). Their journey took thus 6 to 8 hours, which corresponds to the distance of approximately 30 km.

  St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary upon the Gospel of Luke, ch. 24, text of the early 5th c. Quoted in: Cramer, "Catenae in Evang. S. Lucae", ch. 82, p.172, see: Vincent & Abel, "Emmaüs", Paris, 1932, p. 411, footnote 2, and "A Commentary upon the Gospel of Luke by St. Cyril of Alexandria", Oxford, 1859, p. 727-728: 
  “Having risen at the same moment, they returned to Jerusalem” and so on: that is to say that at the very moment that their master, Christ, made himself invisible to their eyes, they returned, not seeing him any longer.  It was not at this hour that they found the Eleven gathered and that they gave them the news of the Lord Jesus, but this was after a few hours, after the hours necessary for someone walking to cover the distance of one hundred and sixty stadia, also during which the Master appeared to Simon; “and they recounted what had happened on the road...”

  St. Jerome, Commentary upon the Book of Daniel, ch. 8, verse 14 (text of ca. 407 AD): 
“And he answered him, ‘Until the evening and the morning, until two thousand three hundred days; and then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.'“ If we read the Books of Maccabees and the history of Josephus, we shall find it there recorded that in the one hundred and forty- third year after the Seleucus who first reigned in Syria after the decease of Alexander, Antiochus entered Jerusalem, and after wreaking a general devastation he returned again in the third year and set up the statue of Jupiter in the Temple. Up until the time of Judas the Maccabee, that is, up until the one hundred and eighth year, Jerusalem lay waste over a period of six years, and for three [of those] years the Temple lay defiled; making up a total of two thousand three hundred days plus three months. At the end of the period the Temple was purged. Some authorities read two hundred instead of two thousand three hundred, in order to avoid the apparent excess involved in six years and three months. Most of our commentators refer this passage to the Antichrist, and hold that that which occurred under Antiochus was only by way of a type which shall be fulfilled under Antichrist. And as for the statement, “The sanctuary shall be cleansed,” this refers to the time of Judas the Maccabee, who came from the village of Modin, and who being aided by the efforts of his brothers and relatives and many of the Jewish people [defeated?] the generals of Antiochus not far above Emmaus (which is now called Nicopolis).”  (PL XXV, 537).
  Ibidem, ch. 11, verses 44-45:
  “And tidings from the East and from the North shall trouble him. And he shall come thither with a great host to destroy and slay very many. And he shall pitch his tent in Apedno between the two seas, upon the famous and holy mountain; and he shall come even unto its summit, and none shall help him.” 
 Those of our party… explain the final chapter of this vision as relating to the Antichrist, and stating that during his war against the Egyptians, Libyans, and Ethiopians, in which he shall smash three of the ten horns, he is going to hear that war has been stirred up against him in the regions of the North and East. Then he shall come with a great host to crush and slay many people, and shall pitch his tent in Apedno near Nicopolis, which was formerly called Emmaus, at the beginning of the mountainous region in the province of Judea. Finally he shall make his way thence to go up to the Mount of Olives and ascend to the area of Jerusalem; and this is what the Scripture means here: “And when he has pitched his tent.... at the foothills of the mountainous province between two seas.’’ These are, of course, that which is now called the Dead Sea on the east, and the Great Sea on the shore of which lie Caesarea, Joppa, Ascalon, and Gaza. Then he shall come up to the summit thereof, that is of the mountainous province, or the apex of the Mount of Olives, which of course is called famous because our Lord and Saviour ascended from it to the Father. And no one shall be able to assist the Antichrist as the Lord vents his fury upon him.” (PL XXV, 574). 

←  St. Jerome

As to the tradition of the Christian pilgrimage to Emmaus, the first traveller known to mention his visit of Nicopolis in the Byzantine period, is the Anonymous pilgrim of Bordeaux of 333 AD:
“From Jerusalem as follows:  City of Nicopolis - miles XXII.
City of Lydda - miles X.
Change at Antipatris - miles X.
Change at Betthar - miles X.
City of Caesarea - miles XVI.
Through Nicopolis to Caesarea – miles LXXIII”
(Paragraph 600, "The Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society", London 1885-97, p.28; Vincent & Abel, op. cit., p.412) 
  The distances indicated by the pilgrim of Bordeaux require corrections: the total distance from Jerusalem to Caesarea - 73 miles – does not correspond to the sum of the specified interurban distances: 68 miles.  Vincent and Abel  (Vincent & Abel, op. cit., p. 300-301) propose the following corrections: from Jerusalem to Nicopolis - XX miles, from Nicopolis to Lydda - XII miles, from Betthar to Caesarea - XXI mile, which gives a total amount of  73 miles. The distance of 20 miles between Jerusalem and Nicopolis corresponds to 160 stadia (about 30 km). 

A miraculous spring of water was venerated at Emmaus, where, according to a tradition, Jesus had washed his feet during his earthly life. This spring was filled up on the orders of the Emperor Julian the Apostate, the persecutor of Christians, around 362 AD, but later reopened, and we find the mention of it in pilgrims’ accounts over the centuries: 

  ← Julian the Apostate

  The testimony of  St. Jerome confirms once again the information about the location of Emmaus: between Lydda (nowadays Lod) and Beth-Horon, about 30 km away from Jerusalem. We can deduce from it also that the first Christian cult at Emmaus was celebrated in the house of Cleopas upon which the Basilica was later erected.

The house of Cleopas, venerated at Emmaus, was considered to be the place of his martyrdom. We find mention of this in "De situ Terrae Sanctae", by the archdeacon Theodosius (written ca. 539 AD, ch. 139):
 “From Jerusalem it is nine miles to Shilo (Kiryat Yearim), where was the ark of the covenant of the Lord. From Shilo to Emmaus, which is now called Nicopolis it is nine miles. In this Emmaus Saint Cleopas 'knew the Lord in the breaking of the bread', and there too he suffered martyrdom. From Emmaus to Diospolis it is twelve miles…”   (Theodosius, «De situ Terrae Sanctae", 139, Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, London, 1897, p.91).

  We receive similar information from the 9th c. Archbishop of Viena in Lotharingia Ado, who compiled a Martirology based upon ancient traditions and who places the memory of St. Cleopas on September 25: 
“September 25, Nativity (Anniversary of Martyrdom) of Cleopas, one of the 70 disciples of Christ. The Lord appeared to him after his Resurrection while he was walking with another disciple towards the village of Emmaus, which is called Nicopolis nowadays. According to tradition, in the same town and in the same house, where Cleopas had received the Lord as a pilgrim at his table, he was killed by Jews for his confession of Him whom he had recognized at the breaking of the bread. There also he is buried in glorious memory.”  (PL CXXIII, 193) .

  St. Cleopas is mentioned as a martyr also in the list of the 70 disciples of Christ composed by Jacob Bar-Salibi, and transmitted by Michael the Syrian:
"Cleopas preached in Lydda and was killed" (Michael the Syrian, "Chronicle", written in 1195 AD; Vincent & Abel, op. cit., p. 348) 
  The relics of St. Cleopas until some time, perhaps, were kept at Emmaus. Ca. 570 A.D., the Anonymous pilgrim of Piacenza mentions their location upon the Mount of Olives. The relics had been translated there, possibly, to ensure their protection during the Samaritan revolt of 529 (see below).

 

Between the famous visitors of Emmaus during the Byzantine period there was St. Sabbas, one of the Fathers of the monasticism in the Holy Land. He founded a Monastery at Nicopolis in 508: 

  “On returning to his own Laura, the sanctified Sabas found that the forty mentioned above, those prone to share in evil, had suborned others and become sixty. He was distressed and wept copiously at the damage inflicted on his community, and was amazed how envious and prompt is wickedness in effortlessly drawing the lax to itself. At first he opposed patience to their irascibility and love to their hate, controlling his speech with spiritual understanding and integrity. Subsequently, however, when he saw them grow bold in wickedness and resort to shamelessness, not bearing to walk in the humble path of Christ but alleging excuses for their sins and inventing reasons to justify their passions, he left scope for divine anger and withdrew to the region of Nicopolis, where he lived as a solitary for many days under a single carob-tree, living on carobs. On learning this, the bailiff of the place came out to see him and built him a cell in this very place; this cell, by the help and favour of Christ, became in a short time a coenobium.”  (Cyril of Scythopolis, "Life of St. Sabas", ch. 35, text of ca. 558 AD; Cyril of Scythopolis, "The lives of the Monks of Palestine", Michigan, 1991, p.p. 129 - 130)

In 529 A.D., the Samaritan revolt started in Palestine. Harassed by Byzantium, Samaritans were irritated against Christians and destroyed many churches in the Holy Land. We have no direct evidence about the events that occurred in Emmaus during the uprising, but according to the archaeological data, the church complex built here during the 4th-5th cent., was rebuilt during the 6th. The reason for this could be the destruction of it in 529 by the Samaritans. 

  Following texts bear evidence to the Samaritan presence at Emmaus during the Byzantine period: 
Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate "Avoda Zara", 5, 4, (events of the 4th c. AD): 
Rabbi Aha went to Emmaus  (מאוס) and ate their pastries (Samaritans’)

(Vincent & Abel, op. cit., p. 408,  "ספר הישוב", עורך ש' קליין, ירושלים, תרצ"ט , v. 1, p. 6)

  John Moschos, "The Spiritual Meadow", 165 (text of 619 AD, events of the late 6th century):
“The same friend of Christ told us about a robber named Cyriacos whose thefts were committed in the area around Emmaus, known also as Nicopolis. He became so cruel and inhuman that they called him “the wolf”. There were other robbers with him; not only Christians, but also Jews and Samaritans too. One day—it was in holy week—some people from an estate in the region of Nicopolis came up to the Holy City to baptize their children. When the children had been baptized, they were returning to their own estate to celebrate Easter Day there. But they were confronted by the robbers on the way (the chieftain was not present). The men took to their heels. Casting aside the newly baptized children, the Jews and Samaritans seized the women and took possession of them. As the men fled, they ran into the chieftain of the robbers who asked them: 'Why are you running away?' They told him what had happened to them. He took them with him and went in search of his companions; he found the children stretched out on the ground. When he discovered who had perpetrated this atrocity, he beheaded the guilty ones. He had the men take up the little ones (because the women were unwilling to do so on account of their defilement by the robbers) and then he conducted them all safely to their own estate. A little while later, the robber-chief was arrested. For ten years he languished in jail and no ruler had him executed; finally, he was released. He would say over and over again: 'It is thanks to those babes that I escaped bitter death. I used to see them in my dreams, saying to me: “Do not be afraid; we are putting forward the case for your defence”'. We met this man, I and Abba John, priest of the Laura of the Eunuchs. He told us all this—and we glorified God.”
 (PG LXXXVII, 3032; John Moschos, «The Spiritual Meadow», Michigan, p.135-136; "ספר הישוב", op. cit. p.6).
  

 At the distance of about three kilometres to the north of Emmaus, in the village of Shaalbim, some ruins of a Samaritan synagogue have been discovered.                                                                                                                                        Mosaics from the Samaritan synagogue of  Shaalbim in the region of Emmaus

                                                                                                                                       (preserved at the "Good Samaritan" site near Ma'ale Adummim) 

  Several stone-carved Samaritan inscriptions found in the vicinity also testify to the presence of Samaritans at Emmaus. One of them, engraved in an ionic column capital, was found in the ruins of the southern Byzantine basilica. The inscription, which on one side is written in Greek capitals, reads: "Eis ho theos," meaning,  "One God", while on the other side there is a Samaritan script inscription written in Hebrew which reads: "Barukh shemo le-olam" - "Let his Name be blessed for ever" (in the collection of the Carmelite monastery in Bethlehem). For more about this inscription, see: Clermont-Ganneau,  1^er rapport, 3^e série, v. IX, p. 292 and following, and v. XI, p. 251; Vincent & Abel, op. cit., p. 235, drawing XXV; Sukenik, PEF 1931, 22, footnote 2; Pilcher, "The Date of the Siloam 

Inscription", PSBA, 1897, v. XIX, Bloomsbury. The discovery of the capital in the Christian Basilica must be explained by the fact that, after the suppression of the Samaritan uprising in the 6th century, their synagogue in the region of Emmaus was destroyed, like many others by the order of Justinian, and some of its stones were reused for the reconstruction of the Christian Basilica.

  In the region of Emmaus two more Samaritan inscriptions were found, carved in stone and containing quotations from the Pentateuch: Genesis 24, 31; Exodus, 12, 33; 15, 13, Deutoronomy, 33,26 (The collection of the Betharram Fathers, Bethlehem, about these inscriptions see: Lagrange, "La Terre Sainte", 15.11.1890 and 15.03.1891; Lagrange, "Inscription samaritaine d'Amwas", RB 1893, p. 115 and following (see here), M. De Vogüe, "Nouvelle inscription samaritaine d'Amwas" , RB 1896, p. 433 and following (see here); J.-B. Frey, "Corpus Inscriptiorum Judaicorum", v. II, Roma, 1952, № 1185). 

  From the archaeological point of view, the Emmaus’ Byzantine period is represented by the ruins of two Basilicas. In the northern Basilica, the baptistery with water reservoir is well-preserved. 

The Eastern (back) wall of the southern Basilica, with its three apses, has survived. 

                                                                                                       Byzantine baptistery at Emmaus →

Plan of the archaeological site of Emmaus:

  In both Basilicas, magnificent mosaics with geometrical patterns and inscriptions in Greek with names of benefactors were found. In the northern nave of the southern Basilica, a "Nile" style mosaic portraying birds, animals and flowers was discovered. 

    In the collection of the Latrun Monastery and on the territory of the nearby "Canada" park, we can see beautifully carved cornices and capitals which belonged to the southern Basilica. Two large fragments of columns and two Ionic capitals made of blue marble which belonged to the northern Basilica have also survived.

Both Basilicas, dating from the 6-7 centuries AD, were built on the site of an older church complex (4-5 c. AD), the northern part containing what was probably the house of Cleopas while the southern had the miraculous spring of water, which was mentioned above. In the area of the Southern basilica several stones, arranged in a semicircle, were found, which probably served as the foundation for the apse of the oldest church building, as well as small installations for pilgrims’ bathing in the waters of the miraculous spring. In the ground and grottos around the church compound of Emmaus, items dating from the Byzantine period were found: coins, jewellery (rings, bracelets, ornaments), ceramic and glass, ceramic oil lamps, etc. 

  Special attention can be paid to the marble slab found in a field west of the church complex, bearing an  inscription in Greek: "In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, beautiful the city of Christians is" (kept in the museum of  St. Anne’s Monastery in Jerusalem, see: Germer-Durand, RB 1894, p.255 (see here); L.-H. Vincent, "Inscription grecque chrétienne d'Amwas", RB 1913, p.100-101 (see here)). 

During the excavations of the late 19th c. in the area of Emmaus  there was discovered a tombstone 

 with a Hebrew inscription: “Mekom menuhato shel Elazar ben Yehoshua. Shalom me-Emmaus (אמאוס). Shalom” – “The resting place of Elazar, the son of Joshua, peace from Emmaus, peace” (now found in Jaffa Archaeological Museum).

(A detailed analysis of archaeological finds in Emmaus can be found in the following sources: Charles Clermont-Ganneau, "Archaeological Researches in Palestine during years 1873-74", p.483-493; Germer-Durant, "Epigraphie palestinienne", RB 1894, p. 253-257 (see here); L.-H. Vincent & F.-M. Abel, op. cit., p.p. 19-274; "Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie", v. 12, article "Nicopolis", Paris, 1935; "The New Encyclopaedia of Archaeological Excavations in the Holy Land", E. Stern ed., Jerusalem, 1993, article "Emmaus", v. 2, p.p. 385-389; V. Michel, "Le complexe ecclésiastique d'Emmaüs-Nicopolis", Paris, Sorbonne, 1996-1997 (thesis); K.-H. Fleckenstein, M. Louhivuori, R. Riesner, "Emmaus in Judäa", Basel, 2003, p.212-310; K.-H. & Louisa Fleckenstein, « Emmaüs-Nicopolis Ausgrabungen 2001-2005», Novum publishing, 2010).

 It is unknown what happened in Nicopolis during the Persian invasion of Palestine in 614 A.D. Perhaps, the Byzantine church complex was destroyed at that time. We find distant echo to these events in the account of the Rabbi Isaac Helo about his visit to Emmaus in 1334: 
"There is an ancient sepulchral monument at Emmaus, it is said to be the tomb of a Christian lord, fell in the war of the king of Persia." 
("Les chemins de Jérusalem", Bruxelles, 1847, E. Carmoly, trad., p. 245). 

  The Byzantine period in the history of the Holy Land and of Emmaus ends with the arrival of the Arab conquerors in 637 A.D. 

Continuation