Kourion Complex Palace (Mosaics) Fales, c. 1955 (1 of 2)De C. Fales (probably)

74

Moreover, as the wreath symbolized merely an entrance but, x also, had a religious meaning, so the anointing of the catechumens with the sign of the cross, before they entered the baptistery proper had an analogy in the everday customs of the people, for Chrysostom relates that every person automatically crossed himself as he entered a bath-building. We have indicated something of the possible maxx nature of the ceremonies of baptism and the blessing of the waters, as carried out in this building. The blessing of the waters was probably performed for the most part in rooms (49) and (52), and that of baptism, in rooms (39-40-41-42). The baptismal service may have followed x immediately that of the blessing of the waters or it may have occured entirely separately. These usages may, also, have changed with time.

However, if as seems probable, this bath was employed for baptism and the celebration of the blessing of the waters, it would have to be rededicated each year. Askm dedication ceremony of a building was sometimes thought of as the maximum baptism of a building, it is almost impossible to disentangle the two services. In the Coptic, is preserved the ceremony of a dedication of a baptistery, but in the Greek, the only comparable service is that of the dedication of a church. As there may well have been a fixed service for the specific purpose of the recurrent dedication of a bath, any analogy between our building either of the two services mentioned may be fortuitous. However, it is probably not without