E02692: A grotto and a church reportedly dedicated to *John the Baptist (S00217) or *Elijah (Old Testament prophet, S00020) at Sapsaphas/Wadi-Kharrar (= Ainon/Betharaba in Bethany, Palaestina I). Possibly with a Greek floor mosaic inscription referring to the saint(s). Probably late antique.

In their list of the places of Christian cult in the borderland of Jordan and Palestine, Sylvester Saller and Bellarmino Bagatti record at Sapsaphas 'a grotto and a church either in honor of St. John [the] B[aptist] or St. Elias [= Elijah, the Old Testament Prophet] or both'. It is, however, not specified, what was the basis for this identification (a dedicatory floor mosaic, a graffito, etc.). The site was revisited by Michele Piccirillo in 1995 and in 1997 was excavated by the Department of Antiquities of Jordan. The excavators unearthed a chapel with a single aisle and a squarish choir, and floor mosaics including a Greek inscription of five lines.

The site is discussed by Anne Michel. See also Manns 2011, 197-198 who mentions a marble fragment inscribed with the letters ΙΟΥ ΒΑΤΤ, found in a 7th c. church at the site. It is not clear, whether it is the church we discuss here.

Sapsaphas is usually identified with Ainon/Betharaba in Bethany beyond the Jordan, the place where John the Baptist preached to the Jews, recorded in the Mosaic Map of Madaba (see $E02524, no. 1). The site is known to the Pilgrim of Bordeaux (AD 333, $EXXXXX); Theodosius (who mentions a shrine of John the Baptist built by the emperor Anastasius, squarish and set on arcades; that church housed a marble column fitted with an iron cross, to mark the place of the baptism of Jesus, $EXXXXX). The grotto at Sapsaphas is also mentioned by John Moschus as the place of an apparition of John the Baptist ($EXXXXX). See: Manns 2011, 198.