II. Catacomb Scenes of Christ Healing
II. 1. The Healing of the Paralytic (Figures 1-2)
among the first miracles of Christ’s ministry in the synoptic gospels.13 Mark begins with Jesus’ baptism, and immediately follows with several healings and miracles of Christ.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke include the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law as well as the
cleansing of a leper directly after Jesus’ baptism and before the healing of the paralytic. The Gospel of John uses the episode in the healing scene at the pool of Bethesda in John 5:2-9.
Christ encounters an invalid near the healing pool and orders him to take up his mat and walk.
It is unclear why the Christians at the catacomb of Callistus chose to depict the paralytic rather than the earlier scenes of Jesus’ healing. If one is to read the image chronologically, following Jesus’ baptism, a scene of healing the leper or Jesus casting out demons would logically follow. However, there are few depictions of demon-casting and exorcism in the corpus of early Christian art. Similarly, the cleansing of the leper was not a depiction included in the catacombs.14 The healing of the paralytic was likely a popular story due to its dramatic assertion that Jesus is the Son of Man and that Christ was unique.
Mark and Luke ended the miracle narrative with the crowd exclaiming, “We have never seen anything like this.” It was an early scene where Jesus’ healing ability was witnessed by a large crowd, instilling awe and an awareness of his abilities. Church fathers such as Augustine found the paralytic story useful in his preaching of the healing power of Christ. Augustine demanded that his listeners lower the Physician through the roof of their homes by
expounding on scripture, thereby binding up any fractures or maladies caused by greed or
13 Mark 2:1-12; Matthew 9:2; Luke 5:17. For Peter’s mother-in-law, see Mark 1:29-31; Matthew 4:1-11; and Luke 4:1-13.
14 It is extremely difficult to depict an exorcism, and there was no direct precedent in pagan or Jewish art for such a scene. Consider Bosio’s drawing, where the interpretation remains unclear, cf. Finney’s figures, 41.3, and 40.2 in “Do You Think…?”.
pride.15 The synoptic paralytic accounts emphasize Jesus’ power to forgive sins while the paralytic story in John depicts Jesus differently, as the divine lawgiver. Thus, John’s Jesus and paralytic scene are more different than similar to the synoptics. However in John’s Bethesda account, the healing of the paralytic is also associated with baptism. The healing pool of Bethesda, with its curative waters, possibly implies baptism. A depiction of the paralytic along with a scene of Jesus’ baptism, may recall John’s account and would be congruent with a prevailing theme of baptism; a theme also reflected in the images of the baptistery of Dura Europos. The appearance of the paralytic scene in the earliest structure devoted to baptism arguably reflects John’s Bethesda account, as the wavy lines that supposedly emphasize a pool continue into the next scene of Jesus walking on the water.
The recovered catacomb examples of the healing of the paralytic are few in
number.16 Along with the representation at the catacomb of Callistus, there is another at the catacomb under the Vigna Massimo, and another in the catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus.
In the Vigna Massimo catacomb, Christ is depicted on a lower register relief amidst several scenes, including Daniel, Tobias with the fish and the figure of Job (Figure 2). Jesus is depicted next to the boy carrying his mat above his head. While the image is damaged, it appears that Jesus is not only gesturing towards the boy but touching him physically. The late third-century catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus includes the image of the paralytic in a ceiling relief next to an image of Daniel. Daniel, naked and flanked by the two lions, was also understood as a baptismal figure. His nudity may suggest baptism and his experience in
15 Augustine, Serm. 46.13.
16 Josef Wilpert, Die Malereien der Katakomben Roms (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herdersche Verlagshandlung, 1903), 218-224. Some themes are more prominent than others, as Wilpert noted 15 instances of the healing of the paralytic, and seven instances of the healing of the blind, compared with sporadic instances of the healing of the leper, and the woman with the issue of blood that appears in the catacomb of Praetextus and the catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus.
the lion’s den marked him as the prototypical martyr.17 Thus, the catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus scene may not be that different from the catacomb of Callistus scene with its context of baptism.
A common feature the catacomb of Callistus and the catacomb of Peter and
Marcellinus paintings share is that Jesus is absent from the scene. Instead, only the paralytic is captured holding his mat and following Jesus’ command to walk. The singular
representation of the paralytic bears witness to the healing Jesus performed. The catacomb of Callistus and catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus scenes are separated by time, just under a century. This indicates that the image operates on a symbolic level, echoing the healing power of Christ without Christ ever being represented. On relief sculpture featuring the miracles of Christ, Jesus is represented along with the paralytic, however the same manner of depiction of the paralytic remains. The catacomb examples, particularly the paintings at the catacomb of Callistus and the catacomb of Peter and Marcellinus, seem to be integrated into the other scenes. The successful healing power of Christ is symbolized by the walking of the paralytic, and with the image of Christ’s baptism or with Daniel, the rejuvenating effects of baptism is emphasized as well.
In the catacombs, the symbol also expresses the nature of narrative imagery in early Christian art. The scene correlates to the cognate images in its immediate environment.
While the paralytic scene is not the most duplicated in terms of exhibiting Christ in the act of healing, it does portray a successful healing. The examples of the healing of the blind, the woman with the issue of blood, or even the raising of Lazarus capture the dramatic moment of Christ’s action. In the catacombs, the paralytic is a walking advertisement of the
17 See Tertullian, Antidote for the Scorpion’s Sting 8 and Cyprian, Eps. 57.2; 67.8 and On the Lapsed 19. Cyprian states that Daniel was the model of the martyr confessor. In On the Lapsed, Cyprian cites Daniel as the most glorious martyr as he asks “Who more strong for suffering martyrdom in firmness of faith” than Daniel? Also see Jensen, Understanding Early Christian Art, 174-176.
successful healing power of Christ. The paralytic scenes capture the end result rather than the momentous action of Christ’s healing ability. Later examples of the paralytic in Christian art will follow the precedent set by the catacomb examples. The boy walking with the mat over his head becomes the symbol of a successful healing of Christ the Physician. Other examples of Christ healing emphasize the power of his touch. The paralytic merely indicates the dénouement of an encounter with the healing power of Christ.