Church complex Khirbet Beit Loya contains the remains of a church constructed around 500 CE. The church was a monoapsidal basilica, consisting of a nave flanked by two aisles separated by rows of columns set on stone stylobates. The columns supported wooden beams rather than stone arcades. An internal
apse was located at the eastern end of the nave, with a raised chancel. To the west were an
atrium,
exonarthex, and narthex, while two
pastophoria flanked the apse. Additional architectural elements included a
chapel to the north, a
baptistery to the south, and a room north of the narthex. The church complex was paved with extensive mosaic floors covering an area of approximately 220 square meters. The mosaics display high
tessera density and fine workmanship in figural areas. The mosaics of the nave, aisles, and narthex included vegetal scrolls, animals, birds, objects, and human figures. Following iconoclastic damage, the mosaics were repaired by resetting the original stones, often obscuring outlines but preserving the overall compositions. The mosaics in the chapel and baptistery were primarily geometric and survived intact. Several Greek inscriptions were incorporated into the mosaic pavements. These include dedicatory inscriptions naming donors (Azizos, Kyrikos, Epanagia), inscriptions commemorating individuals, and quotations from the
Psalms and
Proverbs. Inscriptions appear in the nave, chapel, baptistery, and bell-tower room. In the 8th century CE, following the
Muslim conquest, the mosaics depicting human and animal figures were defaced, possibly in response to an edict of the
Umayyad caliph
Yazid II (721 CE). The damaged areas were later partially repaired using the original tesserae. Later in the 8th century, the church was abandoned, its walls dismantled for building stone, and a smaller structure erected to the east incorporating reused masonry. The site was subsequently vandalized and reused as a Muslim cemetery, where burials were placed above and into the mosaic floors, accompanied by grave goods including jewelry, metal objects, and glass vessels. Excavations also revealed agricultural installations associated with the church complex. An olive press was uncovered adjoining the south side of the church, east of the baptistery, and was integrated into the complex. A well-preserved Byzantine
winepress was discovered just east of the church. Additionally, a rock-cut burial cave dating to the Byzantine period was found north of the chapel, outside the enclosure wall. It contained burial niches marked with carved crosses, along with
oil lamps, glass vessels, and a bottle. Evidence indicates that the cave was later disturbed during the Mamluk period. Two small quarries located south of the atrium likely supplied building stone for the church.
Hermit Cell Another remain from the Byzantine period is a large Greek inscription carved into the wall of a rock-cut cistern on the hill's eastern slope. The cistern was originally hewn in the Hellenistic period but was reused during the Byzantine era; by that time, tool marks, traces of plaster, lamp niches, and soot-stained recesses indicate that it was no longer used primarily for water storage but had been adapted for human occupation, likely for religious
seclusion. Opposite the entrance is a single-line inscription over two meters long reading, "
Jesus (is) here" (). Above the inscription is a faint depiction of a man standing in a boat and raising his right hand, possibly representing Jesus in a
Gospel scene. Beneath the text appears a cross rendered as a
chi rho or
iota-chi monogram, enclosed within a circular
medallion. The form of the letter bases suggests a date in the 7th or 8th century CE, supporting the interpretation of the cistern as a hermit's cell and providing another example of
ascetic practices of seclusion near villages or churches that were common in this period. == Islamic and Mamluk periods ==