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PANTHER MEDIA GMBH / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

STORIES IN STONE. During the fourth century, Roman Palestine saw the emergence of monumental churches commemorating the major events in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Beginning with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that arose over the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, these holy sites communicated the tenets of the Christian faith and helped construct early Christian identity. Fourth-century Christianity grew from a persecuted minority into a state-sponsored religion, and the commemorative churches became material representations of the central gospel events.