church buildings ritual

Question 1

11.1

domus ecclesiae?

Answer 1

• literally the “house of the church”;
• an originally domestic dwelling, converted for special uses;
• there are common meals and areas for baptism;
• This is also mirrored by the Jewish Diaspora when they didn’t have a synagogue.
• Not a secret service, people still know you’re practicing church.

Question 2

Dura-Europos?

Answer 2

• knocking out the walls to have larger spaces for worship, such as to enlarge room 4 (conversion of room 6 into a baptistry);
• Mid-3rd century.
• More religious art used, e.g. frescoes.
• frescoes with common Christian themes.

Question 3

Intermediate Stage: aula ecclesiae

Answer 3

• “hall of the church” in Latin;
• still a domestic residence outside, more obvious and larger and pieced together;
• not secret, recognizable by authorities and others

Question 4

titulus? insulae?

Answer 4

• a legal term referring to the deed;
• larger urban assemblies in insulae (or tenements);
• here, later converted to basilica;
• insulae means island and tenement block;

Question 5

Imperial Patronage?

Answer 5

• Constantine as God’s vicar on earth —> new formulation of God as emperor of Heaven;
• requires increased prestige;
• Clothing of priests borrows features from Roman officialdom and court;
• a new visual approach.

Question 6

Basilica?

Answer 6

• modification of the Roman legal (etc.) buildings;
• long rectangle, with a nave and side aisles set off by colonnades;
• often with an apse at one end;
• a forecourt at the other;
• after a certain point, usually oriented to the east; Pointed towards Jerusalem.

Question 7

Apse?

Answer 7

• Gk. ᾽αψίς, lit. “arch, vault”;
• semicylindrical space;
• often with an arch at the entrance;
• could house seating for clergy;

Question 8

Nave?

Answer 8

• from Lat. navis, ‘ship’;
• main body of church for people rather than clergy;
• clergy often separated, in the east, by iconostasis; the clerical side contains the altar.

Question 9

Baptistery?

Answer 9

• usually separate, to the west of the church;
• often round or octagonal;
• water source;
• with increased infant baptism, increasingly internal;

Question 10

Liturgy?

Answer 10

• Greek for ‘people’ and ‘work’;
• originally public work of any kind;
• in the Septuagint the term means service to the Temple;
• Prescribed, public work;
• The aim: atmosphere of awe and holy fear.
• Generally conservative.
• Very consistent, but not standardised, there were still different.
• Scripture reading and interpretation.
• Prayer leading up to the Eucharist and Communion.

Question 11

Eucharist

Answer 11

• Gk.εὐχαριστία, ‘thanksgiving’
• central act of worship
• NT institution accounts
• 2nd century instructions, including the Didache, Justin;
• worthiness or unworthiness to receive —> spatial divisions;
• gradually evolving Eucharistic Prayer;
  increasingly separated from agape, or communal meal

Question 12

Easter Orthodox vs Western Catholic Church Architecture

Answer 12

• Eastern/Orthodox Churches usually have a dome, there’s a different cross.
• Western/Catholic Churches more gothic architecture style.

Question 13

Approaches to Church Architecture: Krautheimar, White, Theological vs Modern

Answer 13

• Krautheimar: Art historical, how it grows out of late imperial art.
• White: Social historical, how people use the spaces, what is available to them.
  Looks at Christian Architecture in its Roman context AND its Jewish context.
• Theological context
• Modern context – performance/ritual approach: what are you doing in the
  church?

Question 14

Paul on the house of the church

Answer 14

• Early Christian transformation, this is very soon after the death of Christ.
• Meetings seem to be done in the home, perhaps a dining room.
• There is often a common meal shared by those who attend.

Question 15

Interior vs exterior church

Answer 15

• Outer walls are plainer to be less ostentatious – the church is for God not to impress the people.
• Inside the church much more art and colour.

Question 16

Liturgical Calendar

Answer 16

Big weekly worship on Sundays – early attempt at not calling it ‘Sunday’ because of the pagan connotations. Some success in the East at doing this.

Question 17

11.2

Obstacles in Christian art focused on? Lack of?

Answer 17

• text-focused training;
• training focused on stylistic and technical analyses (i.e. art history);
• difficulties in provenancing (origin);
• lack of interdisciplinary communication;
• literal lack of sources, esp. prior to third century.

Question 18

The Good Shepherd?

Answer 18

• young, beardless;
• common in Greco-Roman art;
• also a common theme in OT & NT;
• more than 120 in extant (saved) catacomb frescoes (here in the Catacombs of Callixtus)
  sarcophagus reliefs, statuettes, lamps

Question 19

Christ as Orpheus/Helios

Answer 19

• Christ as Orpheus-figure, calming man, the wildest of animals (here, Catacomb of Domitilla);
• Christ as Helios, the sun-god: Christ as the rising sun, Easter with rebirth of the sun, etc. (here Mausoleum M under St. Peter’s).

Question 20

What do you think of when you think of Christian art?

Answer 20

mosaic, stain glass, frescoes

Question 21

Orant?

Answer 21

• often female figure with hands raised in prayer;
  cf. of course Greco-Roman prayer

Question 22

Popular Post-Constantinian Themes?

Answer 22

• parting of the Red Sea;
• the Nativity and adoration of the Magi;
• narratives around the Passion;
• miracles and healing;
• portraits of Christ and the Saints;
• formalism and frontality