The New Diaconicon

 After the funeral chapel and the Diaconicon Baptistery took apart, the floor adjusted to level with the rest of the basilica, making a single large chapel divided by stairs and railing into two separate rooms. The eastern room decorated with mosaic depicting animals and flowers inserted in a geometrical frame; the western room graced with geometrical motifs.

The extended chapel might have been used as the Diaconicon of the basilica and as a chapter room for the monks.

Perhaps during the same period in which the Diaconicon altered and embellished, the ancient funeral chapel destroyed, and a new room, filled with mosaics, built instead. This replaced by a new baptistery with it's own mosaics in 597-598 AD. Over the threshold at the entrance of the baptistery, was a welcoming inscription, "Peace to All", placed to greet visitors entering the chapel.

Mount Nebo Guide: The Old Diaconicon Baptistery | The 5th-7th Century Basilica | The New Diaconicon | The Theotokos Chapel