In the early churches of Europe, the threshold marked a sacred boundary of the edifice, to cross which indicated a certain covenant right to participate in the privileges of the house of God. As the structure of the churches changed, in the progress of the centuries, the threshold of the sanctuary came to be in a different portion of the building, or series of buildings; but its sacredness remained, wherever it was supposed to be. The term “altar” also changed, from the border line of the place of worship, to the holy table within the sanctuary.
Speaking of the growth of the early church buildings, Bingham says: “In the strictest sense, including only the buildings within the walls, they were commonly divided into three parts: (1.) The _narthex_ or ante-temple, where the penitents and catechumens stood. (2.) The _naos_ or temple, where the communicants had their respective places. And (3.) the _bēma_ or sanctuary, where the clergy stood to officiate at the altar. But in a larger sense there was another ante-temple or _narthex_ without the walls, under which was comprised the propylæa, or _vestibulum_, the outward porch; then the _atrium_ or area, the court leading from that to the temple, surrounded with porticos or cloisters.... There were also several _exedræ_, such as the baptistery, the _diaconicum_, the _pastophoria_, and other adjacent buildings, which were reckoned to be either without or within the church, according as it was taken in a stricter or a larger acceptation.”[401]
In the early churches, the place of baptism was outside of the church proper, or the _naos_, it is said. “There is nothing more certain than that for many ages the baptistery was a distinct place from the body of the church, and reckoned among the _exedræ_, or places adjoining to the church.”[402] “The first ages all agreed in this, that, whether they had baptisteries or not, the place of baptism was always without the church.”[403] Even in mediæval times, in the churches of England, baptisms were on the outer side of the threshold of the church proper, “the child being held without the doors of the church”[404] until baptized. In many churches of Europe at the present time the baptismal font is at or near the door of the church.