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Praying to Christ
The similarity to the pagan type would allow the Christian praying figure to go unchallenged by most visitors to the home. But the churchman would recognize it at once and the pagan acquaintance interested enough to enquire about its peculiarities would provide his host with an ideal opportunity of explaining the faith to him.1 At Dura-Europos, a Roman frontier fortress, one house church building has actually survived and may be visited today. (See interior view at right) Archaeologists discovered it under the sand in 1934. The house was built before AD 100. We do not know when Christians first used it as their meeting place, but in A.D. 232 the building was altered and made more suitable for services. There were paintings on the baptistery walls, and enough paint remains for us to recognize the subjects, and see what baptism meant to those Christians seventeen centuries ago.
The central picture shows the Good Shepherd bringing a sheep to the flock.2 On the side walls are the healed paralytic,3 Jesus taking Peter from the water into the boat,4 the woman with her water pot at Jacob's well,5 and the three women at the empty tomb. (See picture at right)6
1"Evangelism in the Early Church" by Dr Michael Green. 2John 10.14-16 3Mark 2.5: "Your sins are forgiven" 4Matt. 14.31: the boat represents the Church 5John 4.10: "living water" 6Mark 16 and Rom. 6.4: "As Christ was raised, we too ... walk in newness of life"
"The pagan praying figure and the Christian one."
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