The church as a temple in Christianity

The temple, which means a place of worship, is a place where people come into contact with the transcendent being they believe in, and they fulfill their loyalty and sincerity to it with some worship, rites and rituals. Temples are also buildings that gather the community on various occasions and contribute to their socialization, unity and solidarity. In addition to all these, the temple, with its architectural structure, is a document that gives clues about the religious, political and social life of the period in which it was built. As the temple of Christianity, one of the religions of divine origin, the church, as structures in the sense we know today, started to come to light with the Edict of Milan ( A.D. 313 ), which opened the doors of tolerance to Christianity in the 4th century, and after this date, churches were built all over the Empire. Until this time, the word church was used to mean congregation, not temple. In the early Christian period, believers gathered in different places as places to pray, worship and spread their religion. These practices were legitimized personally by Jesus. Because, as stated in the Bible, while spreading his teaching, Jesus not only used the holy temple, synagogues and personal residences in Jerusalem, but sometimes a mountain, a lake or a street became his preaching place. His successors, the Apostles, also did not seek a new temple, and this situation continued during the persecution period (between the 2nd and 4th century A.D. ) when the Roman Empire increased its oppression and persecution of Christians. After the 4th century, the first churches of Christians were built as thin and long architectural structures inspired by basilicas. Later, due to the detailed ceremonies held in the church, new church architectural types such as cross and square planned church emerged. This study aims to deal with how the church emerged as a temple and its course in the historical process, the architectural building styles of the church, its sections and some basic funds of the church.