CAREFUL INTEGRATED ANALYSIS of the archaeological and literary evidence for Christians in Palestine thus reveals that at the beginning of the seventh century the Christian communities were still thriving, but that by the early ‘Abbāsid period their numbers had declined sharply. The evidence is unmistakable: Christians were using only about half of the churches and monasteries around 813 that were in use in 602, and even where there were still Christian communities, this 200-year period was often extremely disruptive. Such a sharp drop-off in the number of churches in use was not the outcome of a single event, but rather was the cumulative effect of disparate events throughout the 200-year period, and is indicative of the degree to which the entire period was characterized by major and multi-faceted change.

Palestine had been spared much of the destruction from barbarian invasions or wars with the Sasanian Persians that had harmed much of the Byzantine Empire, so that at the end of the sixth century this area was no worse off, and possibly even better, than any other part of the empire. But the inhabitants of the region experienced a number of disruptive events in the first half of the seventh century: riots and I their suppression in 608-609 during the reign of Phocas, invasion and occupation by the Sasanian Persians from 614 to 628, and then, after a brief period of renewed Byzantine control under Heraclius from 628 to the mid-630s, the Islamic invasion in the course of the 630s, which ushered in permanent Islamic rule.

There is little evidence that the number of Christian communities in Palestine had declined significantly before the Sasanian invasion in 614, and much evidence to the contrary. The Christians had as yet abandoned only a few churches or sites, and were still building new churches at about the same rate as they had in earlier centuries. The overthrow of Maurice by Phocas, the turmoil in the Byzantine Empire during Phocas’ reign, and the revolt of Heraclius had only a limited impact on Palestine. Similarly, the riots against Phocas and their bloody suppression by the general Bonosus were in this area relatively small in scale and transitory.