What is the outer shape of a church building?

The overall plan of a church building may take any one of a number of possible shapes:

1198 Origen, “On Prayer” in Origen, An Exhortation to Martyrdom: Prayer, First Principles: Book IV, Prologue to the Commentary on the Song of Songs , Homily XXVII on Numbers, trans. Rowan A. Greer (NY: Paulist Press, 1979) 32.1: p. 168; Johannes Quasten, Patrology, Volume II (Christian Classics, 1983): p 68; and Jean Daniélou and Walter Mitchell, Origen (New York: Sheed and Ward, 1955): p. 29.

1199 St. Basil of Caesarea, On the Holy Spirit 27 (NPNF II/8:42). 1200

The Didascalia Apostolorum in English , trans., Margaret Dunlop Gibson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1903): p. 18.

1201 Lighthouse of Melchite Holies (Arabic): p. 19.

First: Cruciform. This design reveals the Church’s mystical nature as being the body of the Crucified Christ, her beloved Savior. Butler reports: “The Coptic builders seem to have have no liking for or no knowledge of the cruciform groundplan.”[ 1202]

Second: Circular. This design refers to the eternal nature of the Church like an endless line¹²⁰³ (without beginning or end), as she bears the nature of her eternal Bridegroom. Once again, this form is very scarce in Coptic architecture.

Third: An Ark. Drawings of various shapes have been found inscribed on Egyptian, Greek, and Roman tombs that reflect their beliefs about immortality¹²⁰⁴ ; they regarded death as a journey in a ship to the other world. St. Augustine says, “Undoubtedly, the ark is a symbol of the city of God on its pilgrimage through history, a type of the church which was saved by the tree on which there hung ‘the Mediator between God and men, Himself man, Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim. 2:5).”

St. Hippolytus says, “The sea is the world, in which the Church is set, like a ship tossed in the deep, but not destroyed; for she has with her the skilled Pilot, Christ … her tillers are the two Testaments, and the ropes that stretch around her are the love of Christ, which binds the Church; and the net which she bears with her is the layer of the regeneration which renews the believing, whence too are these glories. As the wind the Spirit from heaven is present, by whom those who believe are sealed: she has also anchors of iron accompanying her, the holy commandments of Christ Himself, which are strong as iron. She has also mariners on the right and on the left, assessors like the holy angels, by whom the Church is always governed and defended. The ladder in her leading up to the sailyard is an emblem of the passion of Christ, which brings the faithful to the ascent of heaven. And the top-sails aloft upon the yard are the company of prophets, martyrs, and apostles, who have entered into their rest in the kingdom of Christ.¹²⁰⁵

In addition , St. Clement of Alexandria says, “The Word of God manages your ship rudder (your heart) and the Holy Spirit returns you to the port of heaven safely.”¹²⁰⁶