Lost message about the path to salvation may lie in a 1,500-year-old Christian church

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Published: 21:04 EDT, 14 October 2026 | Updated: 21:20 EDT, 14 October 2026

A stunning 1,500-year-old mosaic on the floor of an ancient Christian church may hold a message about the path to salvation.

Scientists reexamined the floor mosaics of the ‘Church of the Four Rivers’ in Turkey, showing the Garden of Eden, the biblical garden God created for the first man and first woman.

The artwork features four human figures representing the rivers of Paradise, the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates, written in Greek.

Each figure is holding horns of plenty from which water flows into a shared pool, bringing to life a passage from the Book of Genesis that describes the four rivers flowing into one.

The team has now proposed theological meanings of what has long been viewed as decorative, suggesting the river personifications likely represent justice, courage, temperance and prudence.

‘For the Early Byzantine viewer, walking upon these mosaics was not just a physical act but a symbolic journey through the virtues required to attain salvation,’ the newly published study reads.

Researchers have also associated Phison with prudence and Tigris with temperance, suggesting ‘a moral instruction embedded in the very floor of the sacred space.’

‘The inclusion of geographically distinct rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates grounds the mythical Garden of Eden in a recognizable reality, bridging the gap between the divine and the terrestrial realms,’ they wrote.

A reexamination of a mosaic depicting the Garden of Eden has suggested it features a hidden message about the path to salvation

The mosaic sits on the floor of an ancient church in Turkey

The mosaic was first unearthed in 2003, but the new study, published in July, has offered a new interpretation.

To explore the mosaic’s meaning, the researchers compared its imagery with ancient interpretations of scripture, including writings by Jewish scholar Saadya Gaon and Christian thinkers Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo and Jerome.

Some writers sought to identify Eden’s rivers with real waterways, as Saadya Gaon associated Pishon with the Nile and placed Gihon in Ethiopia, connecting the biblical landscape with the known world.

However, Philo of Alexandria and Ambrose linked the rivers to the four cardinal virtues, providing the basis for the team’s suggestion that the mosaic offered worshippers a guide to righteous living.

Under this interpretation, walking across the church floor may have symbolized a journey through the qualities believers needed to attain salvation.

The inclusion of the recognizable Tigris and Euphrates rivers also connected the biblical vision of Paradise with familiar geography.

Other details may have reinforced the spiritual message.

‘The fish figures depicted within the flowing water are associated with the concepts of baptism, purification, and the divine abundance promised in the Gospels,’ the study reads.

The mosaic was first unearthed in 2003, but the new study, published in July, has offered a new interpretation

The artwork features four human figures representing the rivers of Paradise, the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates, written in Greek

A cross-shaped design near the southeastern entrance may have been intended to ward off evil.

The authors suggested it reflects how early Christians adapted older protective symbols to their faith.

Similar depictions of Eden’s four rivers survive in churches in Jordan, Libya and Greece. But the researchers describe the detailed composition at Hadrianoupolis as the only known example of its particular kind in Anatolia.

Together, the images may have turned the church floor into a visual lesson in scripture, reminding worshippers of divine order and the promised abundance of Paradise.

Under this interpretation, walking across the church floor may have symbolized a journey through the qualities believers needed to attain salvation

The Garden of Eden is one of the most famous Bible stories, containing the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

According to Scripture, God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge.

However, a serpent in the garden tempted Eve to feast on the forbidden fruit, which Adam did as well, and the act brought suffering, sin and death into the world.

God banished Adam and Eve from the garden and placed cherubim and a flaming sword at the east entrance to block them from the Tree of Life.

Historians and explorers have been searching for the Garden of Eden’s exact location, but an ancient Bible may have been hiding it for centuries.

A 1599 Bible contains a map titled The Situation of the Garden of Eden, which some believe shows the exact location of Paradise

Should ancient religious symbols shape our modern understanding of morality and salvation?

What's your view?A 1599 Bible contains a map titled The Situation of the Garden of Eden, placing it in Great Armenia, near mountains believed to represent Mount Ararat in present-day Turkey.

Discussing the map on her YouTube channel, Ashleys_AntiqueBibles said it appears to locate Eden near the source of the Euphrates at the mountain’s base.

The map also labels Mesopotamia, Babylon, Havilah, the Arabian Desert, the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea.

Most importantly, it shows the Euphrates beginning among the mountains and flowing westward, while the Caspian Sea appears to the right, or east.

This layout places Eden near the mountainous headwaters rather than beneath the Caspian Sea, a location the host said she had proposed in earlier videos.

That interpretation draws on Genesis, which states that one river flowed out of Eden before dividing into the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates.

Translated into modern geography, the map points to eastern Turkey, close to the borders of Armenia and Iran.