While the emperor and his violence knew themselves supported and endorsed by Christian institutional religion, the core vision of this splendid church by the sea is of a humanity completely transformed by communication of nonviolent divinity. What is the point is the wonder of a vision which saw human existence fully caught up in divine existence. But imperial politics are not entirely the point here. This is a far cry from Christian faith as a persecuted and despised minority religion, which was the case just a little over two centuries prior. Justinian saw it as his job to ensure the conformity of everyone in his empire to orthodox Christian faith, meaning, essentially, the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, fully divine, fully human. This church, along with others in the neighboring Adriatic city of Ravenna, reflect the political and military success of Justinian I, the Byzantine Roman Emperor lately taking power back from barbarian conquerors of Italy. First lesson, therefore: a “basilica” is essentially a secular space, something ordinary, human, communal, down-to-earth. As the Christian movement emerged from persecution and hiding it imitated the secular buildings where citizens came together freely for ordinary human affairs. Because Christian gatherings were not the private sacral space of the temple, reserved for the god and the priests, but rather a communal assembly and event, these big buildings made an ideal template. In literal terms the building should be understood as the Christian re-imagining of the standard imperial urban “basilica,” the roofed public space for the conduct of Roman business and law. Like a beautiful mother-ship set down to invite travelers to journey to another world. Now its sudden presence in the middle of nowhere reinforces the feeling of a wonderful alien interruption of standard human affairs. The place used to be abutting a strategic harbor next to the sea until the shoreline moved away. The church rises up, a sudden eruption of art and meaning on a sun-beaten coastal plain.
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