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House Renovations
"Without altering the exterior, a house with eight ground floor rooms, a staircase to the roof, and a central courtyard was converted before the middle of the third century into a building better suited for group worship and activities." "The new room, sixteen by thirty seven feet, could have accommodated perhaps sixty-five to seventy five people. A built-in baptistery with canopy supported by columns was also added in yet another room."1
When the house was renovated by the Christians, several major changes were introduced.
- First, the wall dividing the dining and the adjoining room was removed, thereby creating a large assembly hall.
- At the east end of the room there was a small platform, or dais, which was likely used during the reading and teaching.
- A smaller room was transformed into a baptistery. In it stands a shallow stone bath. Anyone to be baptized stood there, while water was poured over him or her. A canopy was also installed, and the walls were decorated with frescoes.
- The central courtyard was tiled and benches (eighteen inches wide and fifteen inches high) were built around the walls.
- All of these renovations suggest a developed and organized Christian community. It is difficult to determine, however, whether communal meals were eaten in this particular "domus ecclesiae." 2
1"Families in the New Testament World - Households and House Churches" by Carolyn Osiek and David L. Balch. 2"Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development" editors Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids.
"Peter's house was transformed by renovations."
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