ABSTRACT
This study wishes to contribute to a more holistic approach towards the role of the Church's institutions by focusing on the material culture of a particular part of the Empire, namely Greece. Several examples regarding the spatial arrangements in the annexes of Early Christian basilicas, made in order to accommodate industrial, philanthropic, and pilgrimage activities, and addressed in the archaeological and epigraphical documentation, testify to an evolving institutional activity that is of social and economic interest. Furthermore, the links between the ecclesiastical laws, the related secular laws, and the archaeology of churches, reveal the extent and the effects of the integration of the Church into political life.
