A site located in a UNESCO world heritage area of China has been identified as a burial site for Christians dated around the time of the early church.

The Nestorian Church is considered the first movement to have spread the gospel to China, and the site is considered the earliest known Nestorian burial place in China.

Photo: UCA News. “The carved Nestorian cross can be seen above the niche, indicating that this was an early burial place for Christians.”

According to UCA News, the burial site consists of a stone wall with niche and a cross carved above it. Researches have dated the site to some time between the 4th and 10th Centuries AD.

It’s located in the Longmen Grottoes in central Henan province and sits alongside Buddhist and Daoist statues and carvings.

Most of the members of the Nestorian church today live in Iraq, Syria and Iran. It is named after Nestorius, who was condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431 for teaching that there were two separate persons in Jesus—one divine and the other human. His followers were exiled to Persia, and it is this group, known as the Church of the East, which first made inroads into China with the gospel.