The emperor Constantine, encouraged by his mother, Helena, was the first to erect churches in the Holy Land. Earlier Christians did not have a prayer house with distinctive architectural features. Their place of assembly was a domus ecclesiae – a domestic building that was adjusted to serve the religious, administrative, and charitable needs of the congregation. The best known is the Christian community house (domus ecclesiae), uncovered in the early 20th century in Dura-Europos – a small town of a H…