Baptistery of the Aryans – Wikipedia

The Baptistery of the Aryans It is located in Ravenna and was built at the time of the Ostrogoth theodoric king, starting from the end of the fifth century, ended shortly after, in the first half of the 6th century. It was the baptistery of the ancient Aryan cathedral, now called the Church of the Holy Spirit.

The baptistery has been inserted, since 1996, on the list of Italian World Heritage Sites from UNESCO, within the “early Christian monuments of Ravenna”.

Since December 2014, the Ministry for Cultural Heritage and Activities managed it through the Museum Pole of Emilia-Romagna, in December 2019 which became regional museum direction.

Theodoric, of worship Ariano, decided to make the Goths of worship coexist peacefully coexist and the Latins of Orthodox worship (where the term “orthodox” refers to the followers of the canonical doctrine recognized by the Church and by the Roman Empire of the East), maintaining the Two separate populations, which involved the distinction of their respective neighborhoods and the construction of their respective cult buildings in the city.

Close to today’s via Diaz, Teodorico built a basilica for the Aryans, the current church of the Holy Spirit, which was very remodeled in the following eras, and a baptistery in ancient times connected to it, today called “of the Aryans” to distinguish it from the most Ancient Neonian Baptistery “of the Orthodox”. It is the only baptistery known to have been properly built for the Aryan worship in Italy.

Externally the building has a subsidia of 2.25 meters. It presents itself as an octagonal brick construction, with apseidiole in the lower register and arched windows in the upper one. Along the external perimeter there was a walking that stopped only in correspondence with the apse addressed to the East. The restorations clarified that the building was an integral part of the back of the Church of the Holy Spirit.

The interior is bare, with the masonry that is exposed and free of furnishings. The presence of the baptismal tank is remembered today only by a round marble slab in the center of the building. The dome, on the other hand, is completely decorated with mosaic. The mosaic surface is smaller than that of the Neonian baptistery and the less complex decorative organization, with only two circular registers. At the center is a representation of the baptism of Christ with Giovanni Battista, the personification of the Giordano river and the dove of the Holy Spirit.

In the outermost register there is the empty throne of Etimasia ^[first] (which refers to the second coming of Christ), depicting a gemmata cross lying on a purple cushion, and the theory of twelve martyrs, identified with the twelve apostles -with the exclusion of Judas Iscariota and the presence of Paolo di Tarso , L’ Apostle of the Gentiles , also martyr, revered as a saint already in the fourth century (which marked the beginning of the construction of the homonymous basilica, in Rome). The twelve are represented in the act of offering crowns with covered hands, divided by slender palm trees.
Unlike the gemmata cross present in the apse of the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in the classroom ^[2] , it represents neither the face of Jesus in the center, nor the letters alpha and omega ( A It is Oh ) in correspondence with the right and left extremes of the horizontal arm.

Palma also owned a symbolism linked to Strait , where it is said that “how the palm will bloom, so it will do the right”, that is, the plant blooms when it seems now dead, like the martyrs who will have their reward in paradise. The representation is oriented to be seen by the baptizing that it was inside the tank facing altar to the East (now no longer present). On the sides of Etimasia there are the Apostles Peter and Paul. Pietro, with veiled hands, as a sign of respect according to the eastern tradition, offers the keys. Paolo gives the rolls with his letters; On the veil that covers his hands, a spindle is represented. It is a reference to work ( Second letter to thessalonians , 3.10).

Compared to the similar representation in the Neonian baptistery, older about half a century, the representation is simple here, with rather static and repetitive figures in posture and in the appearance, which wear only the dawn and flattened volumes. The dominant statement of the gold fund stands out, which was imposing itself throughout the Mediterranean world as a vehicle for more abstract and symbolic representations, flooded by an otherworldly light. In the Neonian Baptistery, the bottom is of intense blue and the faces of the apostles are more characterized and more plastic in the formal yield, elements that refer to classical art.

It is possible that the Aryan bishops have wanted to express their doctrine with two symbols present in the representation: the Christ who goes to the East (in a position exactly opposite to that of the Catholic Christ); And the beak of the dove who, by wetting Christ with the primary water of Genesis, sanctifies him as the spirit sanctified the original waters. ^[3]

The presence of the throne of Etimasia, rather than postponing to the second coming of Christ, could also indicate the corporal aspect of the nature of Christ, according to the Ariane conceptions: on the throne there is in fact a sweat, which would refer to the human nature of Christ ^[4] .

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