Christians practiced openly in 3rd century Dura-Europos

[guy]

Dura-Europos was founded as a Roman garrison town in AD 164 and is located in what is now Eastern Syria. In AD 194, Septimius Severus used it as a strategic base for his campaigns against the Parthians. The city later fell to the Sassanians led by Shapur I in AD 256-257, and its inhabitants were deported at that time.

Dura-Europos was well-known for its religious tolerance. On the same street in the city, a synagogue, Christian house, and Mithraeum were discovered.

This technical article challenges the theory that the Christian house, built in AD 232, was also a domestic dwelling or "house church" (domus ecclesiae) to obscure its true nature in an atmosphere of Christian religious persecution.

Modern architectural research suggests that the Christian house was actually an openly Christian church and not a domestic dwelling. This raises questions about the extent of Christian persecution by the Roman authorities, at least in that particular area and time.

 

https://phys.org/news/2024-08-house-rethinks-early-christian-landmark.html

 

https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-roman-archaeology/article/debating-the-domus-ecclesiae-at-duraeuropos-the-christian-building-in-context/E76ED3AD86D09A74893368840DEDFA6A

 

 

Edited August 14 by guy