Pilgrimage and holy places in the early church

Visits to the holy places and to martyrs' tombs, and their value. Part of Worship.

Against Celsus 1.51Origen · ca. 248 · Micah foretold Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace, the cave of the nativity is still shown there, and the Jewish teachers knew the prophecy until they suppressed it after Christ came.
Church History 6.11.2Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 300–325 · Alexander came on pilgrimage from Cappadocia, and a revelation led Jerusalem to keep him as bishop.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.3.3Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · The pilgrimage laws could not be kept by distant Jews, much less by all nations.
Demonstration of the Gospel 1.3.40Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · It is absurd to require the nations to travel from the ends of the earth to fulfill the law.
Demonstration of the Gospel 2.1.20Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Zechariah foretells that the nations will go up yearly to worship and keep the feast of tabernacles.
Demonstration of the Gospel 3.2.47Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem is attested by the cave shown to visitors.
Demonstration of the Gospel 6.18.23Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Christian pilgrims now flock to the Mount of Olives, where Christ taught about the end and ascended, as Acts records.
Demonstration of the Gospel 7.2.15Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 314–324 · Local tradition in Bethlehem still shows the cave of the Nativity.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 589Anonymous · 333 · Bethel and the disobedient prophet; arrival at Jerusalem and the pools of Bethesda.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 590Anonymous · 333 · On the Temple Mount: Solomon's crypt, the pinnacle of the temptation, the cornerstone, and Solomon's chambers.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 591Anonymous · 333 · The temple site: Zechariah's blood, Hadrian's statues, the pierced stone where Jews lament each year.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 592Anonymous · 333 · The pool of Siloam, Caiaphas's house and the column of the scourging, David's palace on Sion.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 593Anonymous · 333 · Pilate's praetorium and Golgotha.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 594Anonymous · 333 · The tomb of Christ and Constantine's basilica with its baptistery; the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 595Anonymous · 333 · The Kidron valley and Mount of Olives: Judas's betrayal, the palm branches, the tombs, Constantine's basilica, the Transfiguration.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 596Anonymous · 333 · Bethany and Lazarus; Jericho, Zacchaeus's sycamore and Elisha's spring.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 597Anonymous · 333 · Jericho: Rahab's house, the fallen walls, the twelve stones, Joshua's circumcision; the Dead Sea.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 598Anonymous · 333 · The Jordan, Elijah's ascent, Rachel's tomb, Bethlehem and Constantine's basilica.
Bordeaux Pilgrim 599Anonymous · 333 · Philip's spring at Bethsura, Abraham's terebinth at Mamre, and the patriarchs' tomb at Hebron.
Life of Constantine 3.42.1Eusebius of Caesarea · ca. 337–339 · Helena, Constantine's aged mother, made a pilgrimage to the holy places in the East.
Catechetical Lecture 10.18Cyril of Jerusalem · ca. 350 · The Spirit gave Paul, the former persecutor, the most letters, and countless witnesses, from the Father and the Virgin to the holy places of Jerusalem and the martyrs, testify to Christ; believers must honour the name they bear.
Epigram 31Damasus I of Rome · 366–384 · Epigram on the tomb of the martyr Gorgonius on the Via Labicana, pointing visitors to the saints buried nearby.
Letter 46.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Paula and Eustochium argue from Scripture that God calls his people to leave the world for the land of promise, and praise Jerusalem's sacred history.
Letter 46.4Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They anticipate Marcella's objection that Jerusalem lost its holiness after rejecting Christ.
Letter 46.5Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They answer that the sin was the people's, not the place's, and that the Holy Sepulchre is now more venerable than the old Holy of Holies.
Letter 46.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They argue that "the great city", Sodom, and Egypt in Scripture signify the world, and that Jerusalem remains the holy city.
Letter 46.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They defend the holiness of the Lord's tomb, which even demons fear, and cite Paul's eagerness to go to Jerusalem.
Letter 46.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They note that many Christian leaders have visited Jerusalem, which they call the Christian Athens.
Letter 46.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · They picture the joy of Marcella's arrival and the holy places they will visit together in Palestine.
Letter 47.2Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome invites Desiderius and his sister Serenilla to visit Bethlehem and the holy places.
Letter 58.3Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome argues that God is not confined to Jerusalem and that holy places profit only those who live holily, recalling the pagan shrines once set over Calvary and Bethlehem.
Letter 108.7Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Paula's voyage took her past Domitilla's place of exile, through the Greek islands to Cyprus, where she visited Epiphanius and the monasteries, and on to Antioch, whence she set out on a donkey in midwinter.
Letter 108.8Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome traces Paula's route down the coast and inland to Jerusalem, naming the biblical sites she visited from Zarephath and Caesarea to Emmaus, Beth-horon, and Gibeah.
Letter 108.9Jerome · ca. 370–419 · At Jerusalem Paula chose a humble cell over the governor's residence and visited the Cross, the Holy Sepulchre, and Mount Zion with the pillar of the scourging and the place of Pentecost.
Letter 108.10Jerome · ca. 370–419 · At Bethlehem Paula visited Rachel's tomb and the cave of the Nativity, where she saw with the eyes of faith the events of Christ's birth and poured out a prayer weaving together the prophecies of Bethlehem, and then visited the shepherds' Tower of Eder.
Letter 108.11Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Paula travelled the Gaza road recalling the Ethiopian eunuch, visited Eshcol, Mamre, and Hebron, and looked out over the land of Sodom, drawing spiritual lessons from each place.
Letter 108.12Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Returning by Jerusalem, Paula visited the Mount of Olives, Bethany, and Bethphage, went down the Jericho road recalling the Good Samaritan and Zacchaeus, and reached Gilgal and the Jordan, whose events Jerome interprets as figures of Christ and baptism.
Letter 108.13Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Jerome briefly lists more places Paula visited: Achor, Bethel, the tombs of Joshua and Eleazar, Shiloh, Jacob's well, Samaria with its possessed crowds at the saints' tombs, Nazareth, Galilee, Tabor, and Nain.
Letter 108.14Jerome · ca. 370–419 · Paula travelled to Egypt, visited the monks of Nitria, whom she honoured as images of Christ, and then returned to Bethlehem, where after three years she built monasteries and a pilgrims' hostel.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 3.7Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The monks show the cave where Moses received the second tablets.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 4.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · At Horeb they see Elijah's cave and altar.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 4.6Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The burning bush still lives and puts out shoots.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 10.7Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Egeria describes the pilgrims' custom of prayer, reading and psalm at each site.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 12.3Egeria · ca. 381-395 · The guides invite them to view the biblical places from the summit.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 12.6Egeria · ca. 381-395 · They are shown the place of Lot's wife's pillar.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 15.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · They see the spring and pool where John baptized.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 17.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · After three years in Jerusalem Egeria sets out for Edessa and Thomas's shrine.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 17.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Every pilgrim to Jerusalem also goes to Edessa.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 22.2Egeria · ca. 381-395 · She decides to visit the shrine of Thecla in Isauria.
Pilgrimage (Itinerarium) 49.1Egeria · ca. 381-395 · Crowds come from every province for the Encaenia.
Apology against Rufinus 3.22Jerome · ca. 401–402 · Jerome narrates his voyage from Rome in 385 by way of Cyprus, Antioch, Jerusalem, and Egypt to Bethlehem, and challenges Rufinus to produce any church document against him.
Dialogues 1.3Sulpicius Severus · ca. 404–406 · Postumianus sails to Africa, prays at Cyprian’s tomb in Carthage, is driven toward the Syrtis, and finds a hut in the desert coast of Cyrenaica.