Domus Ecclesiae: Rethinking a Category of Ante-Pacem Christian Space

Abstract

Historians of religion, art, and archaeology often invoke the term domus ecclesiae (olkos τγs ekkλγσias) as a technical category to denote a house or building that had been materially adapted for Christian ritual during the ante-pacem period. Most employ the term in the belief that it is genuinely pre-Constantinian, and that Christians in this period described their cult spaces as renovated houses. This essay demonstrates the inaccuracy of both assumptions, and shows that the first attested literary use of the term dates no earlier than 313 CE, when Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 339) used it in his writings to designate a church building without any indication of its architectural form or history. Following a discussion of the term's modern history and an analysis of the ancient literary evidence, the essay concludes with a brief look at the material evidence for domus ecclesiae, which, with one exception (the complex at DuraEuropos), also dates to the post-Constantinian period.