1,782 Years Old: Inside the Oldest Church in the World

History of Dura Europos

Dura Europos was founded in 303 BC by the Seleucids (Alexander the Great's successors) on the intersection of an east-west trade route and a north-south trade route along the Euphrates. The new city, named for the birthplace of Seleucus I Nicator, controlled the river crossing on the route between Antioch on the Orontes and Seleucia on the Tigris. Dura Europos was part of a network of military colonies intended to secure Seleucid control of the Middle Euphrates.

Dura was rebuilt as a great Hellenistic city in the 2nd century BC, with a rectangular grid of streets arranged around a large central agora, was formally laid out. Its location on a major crossroads made it a very cosmopolitan city: inscriptions in many languages have been found here and the religious buildings of pagans, Jews and Christians stand side by side.

Dura Europos later became a frontier fortress of the Parthian Empire and it was captured by the Romans in 165 AD. In the early 200s AD, the famed house-church and synagogue were built at Dura Europos. There was also a Mithraeum, a Temple of Bel and a Temple of Adonis in the multi-cultural city.

Dura Europos was abandoned after a Sassanian siege in 256-257. In a last-ditch attempt to save the city, the synagogue was filled in to make a fortress, thereby ensuring its preservation. The city eventually became covered in shifting sands and disappeared from sight.

Although the existence of Dura-Europos was long known through literary sources, it was not rediscovered until British troops under Captain Murphy made the first discovery during the Arab rebellion in the aftermath of World War I. On March 30, 1920, a soldier digging a trench uncovered beautifully preserved frescoes. The American archeologist James Henry Breasted, then at Baghdad, was alerted. Major excavations were carried out in the 1920s and 1930s by French and American teams.

The first excavations of the site, undertaken by Franz Cumont and published in 1922-23, identified the site as Dura-Europos and uncovered a temple before renewed hostilities in the area closed it to archaeology. Later, renewed campaigns directed by Michael Rostovtzeff funded by Yale University continued until 1937, when funds ran out with only part of the excavations published. World War II then interfered.

Since 1986 excavations have resumed. Not the least of the finds were astonishingly well-preserved arms and armour belonging to the Roman garrison at the time of the final Sassanian siege of 256. Finds included painted wooden shields and complete horse armours, preserved by the very finality of the destruction of the city that journalists have called "the Pompeii of the desert".

Catholic ping!

Beautiful images, and history. Thanks!!

probably a very difficult task, but I kind of wish they would relocate that church to another part of the world or it will soon suffer the same fate as that ancient church in Mosul.

Well, that church sure wouldn’t be safe here.

It would very well land up in a museum in no time.

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Great post!
Thanks.

Very nice.

https://theorthodoxlife.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/dura-europos-western-wall.jpg

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Dura_Europos_fresco_Moses_from_river.jpg

[snip] Dura Europos was abandoned after a Sassanian siege in 256-257. [/snip]

> Shapur I took Dura and destroyed it. Why would the Sasanians want to ruin the city? “We donâ€™t really know,” Downey admits. “They just didn’t want Dura; they just wanted it not to be there or not to be inhabited.” James theorizes that the back-and-forth conquering of Dura angered the Sasanians, especially after the Romans retook the city and fortified it in 254, defying the Sasanians. Shapur attacked soon after for “partly punitive” reasons, he says, with the mindset of “We took the city, it rejected us; therefore, weâ€™re going to destroy it.” They similarly razed and destroyed “another former buffer city,” Hatra, in 240, when it defied them.

http://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/dura_europos/

“”The church is in the people”” ....... that part reminded me of this story.

Old Cowboy in Church

One Sunday an old cowboy entered a church just before services were to begin.

Although the old man and his clothes were clean, he wore jeans, a denim shirt and boots that were very worn. He carried a worn out old hat and an equally worn out Bible.

The church was in a very upscale part of the city, the largest and most beautiful church the old cowboy had ever seen. The people of the congregation were likewise upscale, dressed with the most expensive of clothes.

As the cowboy took a seat, the others moved away from him. No one greeted, spoke to, or welcomed him. They were appalled at his appearance and didn’t attempt to hide it. The preacher gave a long sermon and a lecture on how much money the church needed to do God’s work.

As the old cowboy was leaving the church, the preacher approached him and asked the cowboy to do him a favor. “Before you come back, have a talk with God and ask him what He thinks would be appropriate attire for worship.” The old cowboy assured the preacher he would.

The next Sunday, he returned to the same church wearing the same ragged jeans. Again, the congregation shunned and ignored him. Again, the preacher approached him and said, “I thought I asked you to speak to God”.... “

“I did,” replied the old cowboy.

“What exactly did God say was the proper attire for worshiping here?” asked the preacher.

“Well, sir, God told me that He didn’t have a clue what I should wear. He says He’s never been in this church.”

“”The church is in the people”” ....... that part reminded me of this story.

Old Cowboy in Church

A chaplain pal told me about an understudy of his who had just graduated from his seminary, and had received his first assignment, to a dirt-poor rural Southern farming community. Nevertheless, he looked forward to it, and welcomed the bus ticket that went with his ordination paperwork. He caught the local Greyhound, and off to his new flock he went.

The town he arrived at was only a block long on Main Street, with no church in sight. The single cross street was a graveled road, with farmland on either side. His best guess was that his new flock would be found on that gravel road, but had no idea about which way to proceed. He prayed for guidance, and a Sign. And then, on that sunny Sunday morning, he heard the bells. He set off in that direction.

He had not gone terribly far, up a hill and across a bridged stream, when he saw it: a picturesque little white clapboard church, set in a grove of woods, with a fence separating an adjoining church cemetery. There were a few wagons, and even a couple of pickup trucks, but mostly, there were a couple of dozen saddled horses hitched to the rails of the fence, contentedly keeping the grass cropped and sipping from a ditch that wandered that way. He went up to the front doors, and opened them.

Everyone, Everyone in the church turned to look at him, except for one man: the pastor, a large man standing behind the pulpit, and dressed, as were his parishioners, in a blue unifoirm coat with gold braid. And the leader of that flock had on a wide leather belt, with a revolver on it, and, like Saul and Peter, with a sword. He looked down at the well-meaning interloper, and asked him his business, and thew newly-minted pastor tried to explain:

He was just out of his divinity school, and this would be his first step on a long journey in service to his Lord. He was new to this place, but would come to know and understand and love it, but he had bveen given to understand that the church's leadership had called for a young new pastor to take the place of one old and feeble who deserved his retirement in his final days. And, he had his orders from his Bishop, and held them high.

So then, you are of the Baptist faith, thundered the man be hind the pulpit? I am he squeaked, replying in the affirmative. And are you then to lead the First Baptist Church, was the second query put to him. Yes, he answered, with all the enthusiasm he could manage.

And the man behind the pulpit stood tall, placed hisa plumed hat on his head, and drew his sword. And that is where you are mistaken, sir! And he pointed with his sword down the road where the younger man had come: This is the Cavalry Baptist Church!

Here is a picture of the oldest known church that’s still standing (at least partially):

This might not seem like much, but wait ’til you see what they found inside.

This one is a depiction of the Gospel story of the healing of the paralytic:

Here’s Christ and Peter walking on water:

Here is Christ as the good shepherd:

The Samaritan woman at the well:

And the women at the tomb:

History of Dura Europos