Barque of Saint Peter

[1] This may explain the etymology of the central part of churches, the nave, which stems from the Latin word for ship, navis.

Between 150 and 240 AD Tertullian, "the founder of Western theology", referred to the Church as a ship in De Baptismo (On Baptism):"...the apostles then served the turn of baptism when in their little ship, were sprinkled and covered with the waves: that Peter himself also was immersed enough when he walked on the sea.

[4] Between 375 and 380 AD In the book II of the Apostolic Constitutions:"When you call an assembly of the Church as one that is the commander of a great ship, appoint the assemblies to be made with all possible skill, charging the deacons as mariners to prepare places for the brethren as for passengers, with all due care and decency.

In the middle let the bishop's throne be placed, and on each side of him let the presbytery sit down; and let the deacons stand near at hand, in close and small girt garments, for they are like the mariners and managers of the ship"[5]In 1298 AD the Bark of St. Peter, commonly known as the Navicella, by Giotto was commissioned for the Old Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The similitude of my Ahlul Bayt, is like that of the Ark of Noah: The one who embarks it, will have saved himself, and the one who turns away from it, is doomed.1627 AD Julius Schiller in his book Coelum Stellatum Christianum attempted to Christianise the constellations.