First Christians: The house of St. John and St. Paul

We are in Rome, at the basilica of St. John and St. Paul.

Few people know that under this church there is a complex were these 4th century saints lived and are buried. They were court officials during the reign of the emperor Julian the Apostate.

The two saints were brothers. When the emperors daughter gave them a great fortune to be distributed among the poor, he invited them to his court.

John and Paul refused the invitation because the emperor had rejected God. Julian gave them a ten day ultimatum to worship Jupiter if they wanted to save their lives. They gave away the fortune and were later decapitated.

Their house was found in 1887. Today only some parts are still preserved due to the basilicas construction. A total of 20 views can be seen from several levels.

This is the home of a an upper-class Christian family called a domus, around which a small Christian community had been formed. It dates to the 2nd century, has two floors, an area designated for baths, and a porch.




All the rooms were joined together at the will of one of its landlords during the 3rd century. Another floor was added and decorated with frescoes.

One of the most important frescoes is the one of the praying figure, a person with raised arms. Many consider it one of the first images of Christians.

The paintings in the ladder from the second half of the 4th century are also spectacular.

Theres also a fresco with marine motifs and many that make reference to the seasons.

Some parts of this house were visited in medieval times. Thats why they built an oratory, used between the 8th and 12th century. In it, they represented an image of Christ crucified, clothed, the way they depicted him at that time, and its still conserved.

PVB

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[MsCapricorna]

i hate this girls voice

[AgApE010]

@katdanmo

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There was no Vatican in the first century. Peter died in Rome. And John lived and died in Ephesus.

[cloudsurfer007]

There was no Catholic Church in the first century. There were Christian Communities who were autonomous and differed in worship, organization & beliefs. There was no Pope. There were bishops elected by the people. Regional Councils decided policy. Today's Christian Church was created by Constantine as a State Religion. It was governed by 5 Patriarchs all having apostolic succession, and all being equal. Christianity took 1000 years to disintegrate into denominations. The early church was Jewish.

[SuperBoomboon]

@cullyvan exactly. paul dissapeared silently without leaving a clue.

EVERY Apostle left records of their deaths. authorities and followers report it. as it was super important at the time to bury them and also to the romans so that their deaths made exemplar punihments for the rest of the christians.

there isn´t a single document or even rumor on paul´s death. in the VI century the catholic church "proposed" beheading. yeah that´d sound cool .. false apostle paul creator of the roman church

[cullyvan]

Theres no proof Paul was decapitated. No proof that he died at all. He might still be alive. Jeebus.

[NikolaosP75]

The two individuals named as saint are fictitious characters. All those lives of "martyrs" were written many years after the periods they describe. Also from Julian's own writings but also from Libanius and Ammianus Marcelinus among others we know that Julian was not only tolerant of Christian but allowed all the bishops exiled by his predecessor Constantius to return to their towns.

Also Julian although Roman emperor never in his life went to Rome to condemn the two so called martyrs.

[gabi326jjk]

Julian the Apostate is my hero =) to be pagan in such a time takes courage, I admire him greatly

[davemakesawave]

What about the Old Testament and Acts, Luke and Mark, Romans and other writings of Paul? The Bible came together from many different authors; the only consistent thread in it is the Holy Spirit guiding the authors.

[jesujoyofmansdesirin]

I wonder why some people who believe any imagery is idolatry don't complain about pictures such as the praying Christian.