Qualla: Dura-Europos Church https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:31 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Dura-Europos Church https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church Dura-Europos Church: Introduction https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church/ The Romans saved it by accident. In 256 AD, as Persian forces besieged the garrison city of Dura-Europos on the Euphrates, Roman defenders heaped earth against the western city wall, burying an unassuming mud-brick house in the process. That house had been a Christian church for barely two decades. Sealed beneath the ramp, its painted walls survived while everything above ground was destroyed or abandoned. When a French-American archaeological team uncovered the building in 1931, they found the oldest identified Christian house church in the world -- and on its walls, the earliest known Christian paintings.

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/h/v/dura-europos-church-wp/syhv-dura-europos-church-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Dura-Europos Church: An Ordinary House, an Extraordinary Conversion https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church/ The building began as a private residence, constructed around 232-233 AD in block M8 of Dura-Europos, a garrison town on the trade routes between Rome and Parthia. Built in the local tradition of mud brick with rooms arranged around a central courtyard, the house was unremarkable...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/h/v/dura-europos-church-wp/syhv-dura-europos-church-an-ordinary-house-an-extraordinary-conversion.mp3 0:06 2 full Dura-Europos Church: Paintings from Before the Age of Churches https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church/ Only the baptistry received painted decoration, and what survives there is extraordinary. The Good Shepherd stands with a ram across his shoulders, a flock of thirteen to sixteen sheep gathered before him. Below, Adam and Eve appear in what may be a later addition. On the north w...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/h/v/dura-europos-church-wp/syhv-dura-europos-church-paintings-from-before-the-age-of-churches.mp3 0:06 3 full Dura-Europos Church: Unearthed by War, Endangered by War https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church/ Clark Hopkins, field director of the Yale-led excavation from 1931 to 1935, oversaw the house church's discovery alongside Harry Pearson, who mapped its floor plan. The frescoes were carefully removed and transported to the Yale University Art Gallery, where they remain. At the t...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/h/v/dura-europos-church-wp/syhv-dura-europos-church-unearthed-by-war-endangered-by-war.mp3 0:06 4 full Dura-Europos Church: The Question the Walls Still Ask https://qualla.com/dura-europos-church/ Why was there a church in Dura-Europos at all? Scholars have debated this for decades. Some point to the nearby synagogue, arguing Christianity branched off from the local Jewish community -- a Hebrew inscription found in the church resembles both a Jewish prayer and a blessing f...

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]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/s/y/h/v/dura-europos-church-wp/syhv-dura-europos-church-the-question-the-walls-still-ask.mp3 0:06 5 full