Gereja al-Jubail

Gereja al-Jubail adalah sebuah bangunan gereja abad ke-4 di dekat al-Jubail, Arab Saudi, yang ditemukan pada 1986. Gereja tersebut aslinya dipakai Gereja Asiria Timur, sebuah cabang Nestorian kuno dari Gereja Timur di Timur Tengah.

Pemerintah Saudi menyembunyikannya dari warga lokal dan bahkan para arkeolog karena Kerajaan tersebut mengikuti versi ketat dari Syariah Islam dan melarang seluruh bentuk ibadah non-Islam. Saat ini, mereka menempatkan sebuah pagar di sekitaran gereja agar tak dilihat para wisatawan. Namun, pagar tersebut tak membuat warga lokal berdatangan untuk mencorat-coret dan merusak bangunan tersebut. Gereja-gereja secara resmi dilarang di Arab Saudi, dan sejumlah Kristen dalam jumlah terbatas, kebanyakan orang Barat, diizinkan untuk beribadah secara pribadi selama tak ada simbol Kristen yang terlihat secara terbuka.J.A. Langfeldt, "Recently Discovered Early Christian Monuments in Northeastern Arabia", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, 5 (1994), 32–60  .Changing Identities in the Arabian Gulf: Archaeology, Religion, and Ethnicity in Context T. Insoll – The Archaeology of Plural and Changing Identities, 2005 – Springer "He mentions how access to the monuments was restricted, and how the church in Jubail supposedly had its impressed crosses obliterated. Besides vandalism, the presence of these Christian remains caused a debate over what exactly they signified."The Nestorians in the Gulf: Just Passing Through? Recent Discoveries on the Island of Sir Bani Yas, Abu Dhabi Emirate, UAE J Elders – Archaeology of the United Arab Emirates, 2003 "There are sites along the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, at Jubail (Langfeldt 1994), and inland at Thaj and also Jebel Berri (Potts 1994). There is at least one. possibly two. church sites on Qatar."A Pre-Islamic Christian site on Sir Bani Yas G R D King, P Heliyer – Tribulus, 1994 ".. Bani Yas discovery can also be related to the discovery of a church with a fine cross at Failaka, in Kuwait, in 1990 by Vincent Bernard and JF Salles. Their stucco crosses are dated to the Fifth-Sixth Centuries AD. The discovery of two churches and crosses at Al Jubail and Thaj ..."Crossing the Line L Castoro – 2002 – The lost churches of the Arabian Gulf: recent discoveries on the islands of Sir Bani Yas and Marawah, Abu Dhabi emirate, United Arab Emirates'' J Elders – Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies, 2001 "There are two known sites along the Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia, at Jubail (Langfeldt 1994)
and slightly inland at Jebel Berri (Potts 1994). There are unconfirmed but persistent reports of at least one, more probably two church sites on Qatar."

 Lihat pula 
 Daftar gereja tertua di dunia
 Kekristenan di Arab Saudi
 Gereja Katolik di Arab Saudi

 Catatan 

 Pranala luar 
 Ancient Churches in Saudi Arabia (Crossroads Arabia blog site)
 fourth Century Assyrian Church in Saudi Arabia  Assyrian International News Agency 2010 (with pictures)

Kategori:Bangunan dan struktur yang selesai abad ke-4
Kategori:Gereja di Arab Saudi