THE ICONOGRAPHIC CONCEPTION BAPTISMAL SPACE IN THE EARLY CHRISTIAN ART: A STUDY IN A PERSPECTIVE OF ‚DOMUS ECCLESIAE’ IN DURA-EUROPOS, SYRIA

Abstract

The early Christian church discovered in 1920 in the Syrian territory of Dura-Europos is now the oldest meeting place of a community of followers of Christ known to us. By research of the archaeological discoveries conducted at the site, largely by the scientists from the Yale University, one finds cultural richness of the Christians in the first half of the third century. An analysis of the partially preserved frescoes filling the space of the baptistery at Dura-Europos serves as a testimony to faith and an element of characterisation of not only the of early Christian art, yet also of the richness of the spirituality of the first followers of Christ. Clearly distinguished in the domus ecclesiae, the rooms for community meetings, the teaching of catechumens and the baptistery, indicate the important process of the formation of the cultic and catechetical sphere during that period. When we analyse the iconography discovered in the baptistery, we gain an insight into the theological and philosophical foundations that underpinned the understanding of the Sacrament of baptism in the earliest period of the liturgical development in the early Christian Church.