The Churches

During the third century some of the villagers converted to Christianity (Chapter 12), and by the fourth century their numbers had increased to such an extent that three mud-brick churches were built to serve their needs: two in the south-east of the village and the third on the north-west (Figure 1.1). They have been designated the Small and Large East Church and the West Church. The east churches are exceptionally well preserved, as they were protected from the full impact of the prevailing winds that sweep across the plain from the north and were rapidly buried by the sand following their abandonment in the late fourth century. The West Church was to a large extent exposed and is less well preserved. Early churches in the Nile valley no longer survive, due, in part, to continuous rebuilding on these sacred sites and, in part, to the loss of many ancient settlement sites beneath modern cultivation. The churches of Kellis can be dated with confidence to the fourth century and, except for the removal of all wooden fittings and contents, were left intact when the village was vacated. They afford an unparalleled window into three ecclesiastical complexes that served a single village and are of paramount importance for the study of early Christian architecture. The Large East Church, moreover, is the earliest surviving example of a purpose-built Christian basilica in Egypt known thus far; it informs on the development of the liturgy, i.e., the rituals that determined the architectural features of the church, which included the Mass of the Catechumens (those awaiting baptism), the Mass of the Faithful, the rite of oblation for the celebration of the Eucharist, and the separation of the laity and the clergy (Krautheimer 1981, 40). As Grossmann (2002a 153) notes, it ‘bears a number of very interesting features offering the possibility for a better understanding of the development of Egyptian church architecture’ and enables us to reappraise the dates of certain features that were previously attributed to a later century. These early churches, together with a further four that have since been excavated in Dakhleh (Bowen 2019a), attest the pace at which Christianity was adopted by the residents of Kellis and, indeed, the oasis as a whole.