 Before the conversion of Constantine in 312 AD, early Christians honored the ascension of Christ in a cave on the Mount, and by 384 the ascension was venerated on the present site, uphill from the cave.Around the year 390 a wealthy Roman woman named Poimenia financed construction of the original church called "Eleona Basilica" ("elaion" in Greek means "olive garden", from "elaia" "olive tree", and has an oft-mentioned similarity to "eleos" meaning "mercy").This church was destroyed by Sassanid Persians in 614.