Everything about Holy Sepulchre totally explained
The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre (also called the
Church of the Resurrection, (
Greek: Ναός της Αναστάσεως,
Naos tis Anastaseos;
Arabic,
كنيسة القيامة,
Kanīsat al-Qiyāma;
Armenian: Սուրբ Հարություն
Surp Harutyun) by
Eastern Christians, is a
Christian church within the walled
Old City of Jerusalem. The site is venerated by most Christians as
Golgotha, (the
Hill of Calvary), where the
New Testament says that
Jesus was
crucified, and is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried (the
sepulchre). The church has been an important
pilgrimage destination since at least the
4th century, as the purported site of the
Death and
Resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the
Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem.
History
Construction
Eusebius describes in his
Life of Constantine (External Link
) how the site of the Holy Sepulchre, originally a site of veneration for the Christian community in Jerusalem, had been covered with earth, upon which a temple of
Venus had been built. Although Eusebius doesn't say as much, this was probably done as part of
Hadrian's reconstruction of Jerusalem as
Aelia Capitolina in
135, following the destruction of the
Jewish Revolt of
70 and
Bar Kokhba's revolt of
132–
135. Emperor
Constantine I ordered in about
325/
326 that the site be uncovered, and instructed Saint
Macarius, Bishop of Jerusalem, to build a church on the site.
Pilgrim of Bordeaux reports in 333: "There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that's to say, a church of wondrous beauty" (page 594).
Socrates Scholasticus (born c.
380), in his
Ecclesiastical History, gives a full description of the discovery
(External Link) (that was repeated later by
Sozomen and by
Theodoret) that emphasizes the role played in the excavations and construction by Constantine's mother
Saint Helena, to whom is also credited the rediscovery of the
True Cross. Helena had been directed by her son to build churches upon sites which commemorated the life of Jesus Christ, so the Church of the Holy Sepulchre commemorated the end of the life of Jesus, just as the
Church of the Nativity in
Bethlehem (also founded by Constantine and Helena) commemorated its beginning.
Constantine's church was built beside the excavated hill of the Crucifixion, and was actually three connected churches built over the three different holy sites, including a great
basilica (the
Martyrium visited by the nun
Egeria in the 380s), an enclosed
colonnaded
atrium (the
Triportico) built around the traditional Rock of Calvary, and a
rotunda, called the
Anastasis ("Resurrection"), which contained the remains of the cave that Helena and Macarius had identified as the burial site of Jesus. The surrounding rock was cut away, and the Tomb was encased in a structure called the Kουβούκλιον (
Kouvouklion;
Greek: small compartment) or
Edicule (
Latin:
aediculum, small building) in the center of the rotunda. The
dome of the
rotunda was completed by the end of the 4th century.
Each year, the
Eastern Orthodox Church celebrates the anniversary of the
consecration of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) on
September 13 (for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian Calendar, September 13 currently falls on
September 26 of the modern
Gregorian Calendar).
Damage and destruction
This building was damaged by fire in
614 when the
Persians under
Khosrau II invaded Jerusalem and captured the Cross. In
630, Emperor
Heraclius marched triumphantly into Jerusalem and restored the
True Cross to the rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Under the
Muslims it remained a Christian church. The early Muslim rulers protected the city's Christian sites, prohibiting their destruction and their use as living quarters. In
966 the doors and roof were burnt during a riot.
On
October 18,
1009, under the so-called "mad"
Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, orders for the complete destruction of the Church were carried out. It is believed that Al-Hakim "was aggrieved by the scale of the
Easter pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which was caused specially by the annual miracle of the
Holy Fire with the Sepulchre. The measures against the church were part of a more general campaign against Christian places of worship in Palestine and Egypt, which involved a great deal of other damage: Adhemar of Chabannes recorded that the church of St George at
Lydda 'with many other churches of the saints' had been attacked, and the 'basilica of the Lord's Sepulchre destroyed down to the ground'. ...The Christian writer Yahya ibn Sa'id reported that everything was razed 'except those parts which were impossible to destroy or would have been too difficult to carry away'." The Church's foundations were hacked down to bedrock. The Edicule and the east and west walls and the roof of the cut-rock tomb it encased were destroyed or damaged (contemporary accounts vary), but the north and south walls were likely protected by rubble from further damage. The "mighty pillars resisted destruction up to the height of the gallery pavement, and are now effectively the only remanent of the fourth-century buildings." As a concession, the mosque in
Constantinople was re-opened and sermons were to be pronounced in az-Zahir's name. Despite the Byzantines spending vast sums on the project, "a total replacement was far beyond available resources. The new construction was concentrated on the rotunda and its surrounding buildings: the great basilica remained in ruins." The chapels were "to the east of the court of resurrection, where the wall of the great church had been. They commemorated scenes from the passion, such as the location of the prison of Christ and of his flagellation, and presumably were so placed because of the difficulties for free movement among shrines in the streets of the city. The dedication of these chapels indicates the importance of the pilgrims' devotion to the suffering of Christ. They have been described as 'a sort of
Via Dolorosa in miniature'... since little or no rebuilding took place on the site of the great basilica. Western pilgrims to Jerusalem during the eleventh century found much of the sacred site in ruins."
Crusader and later periods
Many historians still maintain that the main concern of Pope
Urban II, when calling for the
First Crusade, was the threat to Byzantine-controlled Constantinople from the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos. Still, historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was of concern if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095. The idea of taking Jerusalem gained more focus as the Crusade was underway. The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatamids (who had recently taken it from the Abassids) by the
knights of the
First Crusade on
15 July 1099.
The most recent of these incidents occurred on
April 20 2008 (
palm sunday), where a brawl broke out due to a Greek
monk being ejected from the building by a rival faction. Police were called to the scene but were also attacked by the enraged brawlers.
Under the
status quo, no part of what is designated as common territory may be so much as rearranged without consent from all communities. This often leads to the neglect of badly needed repairs when the communities can't come to an agreement among themselves about the final shape of a project. Just such a disagreement has delayed the renovation of the
edicule, where the need is now dire, but also where any change in the structure might result in a change to the
status quo disagreeable to one or more of the communities.
A less grave sign of this state of affairs is located on a window ledge over the church's entrance. Someone placed a wooden ladder there sometime before 1852, when the
status quo defined both the doors and the window ledges as common ground. The ladder remains there to this day, in almost exactly the same position. It can be seen to occupy the ledge in century-old photographs and engravings.
None of the communities controls the main entrance. In 1192,
Saladin assigned responsibility for it to two neighboring Muslim families. The Joudeh were entrusted with the key, and the
Nusseibeh, who had been the custodians of the church since the days of Caliph Omar in 637, retained the position of keeping the door. This arrangement has persisted into modern times. Twice each day, a Joudeh family member brings the key to the door, which is locked and unlocked by a Nusseibeh.
The Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre
Constantine set up The
Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre to guard and maintain the Church.
Modern arrangement of the church
The entrance to the church is through a single door in the south
transept. This narrow way of access to such a large structure has proven to be hazardous at times. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death. In
1999 the communities agreed to install a new exit door in the church, but there was never any report of this door being completed.
- Just inside the entrance is The Stone of Anointing, believed to be the spot where Jesus' body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. It is the 13th Station of the Cross. The lamps that hang over the stone are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins.
To the left, or west, is The Rotunda of the Anastasis beneath the larger of the church's two domes, in the center of which is The Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre itself. The Edicule has two rooms. The first one holds The Angel's Stone, a fragment of the stone believed to have sealed the tomb after Jesus' burial. The second one is the tomb itself. Under the status quo the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and all three communities celebrate the Divine Liturgy or Mass there daily. It is also used for other ceremonies on special occasions, such as the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire celebrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. To its rear, within a chapel constructed of iron latticework upon a stone base semicircular in plan, lies the altar used by the Coptic Orthodox.
Beyond that to the rear of the Rotunda is a very rough hewn chapel believed to be the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea in which the Syriac Orthodox celebrate their Liturgy on Sundays. To the right of the sepulchre on the southeastern side of the Rotunda is the Chapel of the Apparition which is reserved for Roman Catholic use.
On the east side opposite the Rotunda is the Crusader structure housing the main altar of the Church, today the Greek Orthodox catholicon. The second, smaller dome sits directly over the center of the transept crossing of the choir where the compas, an omphalos once thought to be the center of the world (associated to the site of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection), is situated. East of this is a large iconostasis demarcating the Greek Orthodox sanctuary before which is set the Patriarchal throne and a throne for visiting episcopal celebrants.
On the south side of the altar via the ambulatory is a stairway climbing to Calvary (Golgotha), believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion and the most lavishly decorated part of the church. The main altar there belongs to the Greek Orthodox, which contains The Rock of Calvary (12th Station of the Cross). The rock can be seen under glass on both sides of the altar, and beneath the altar there's a hole said to be the place where the cross was raised. The Roman Catholics (Franciscans) have an altar to the side, The Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross (11th Station of the Cross). On the left of the altar, towards the Eastern Orthodox chapel, there's a statue of Mary, believed to be working wonders (the 13th Station of the Cross, where Jesus' body was removed from the cross and given to his family).
Beneath the Calvary and the two chapels there, on the main floor, there's The Chapel of Adam. According to tradition, Jesus was crucified over the place where Adam's skull was buried. The Rock of Calvary is seen cracked through a window on the altar wall, the crack being said to be caused by the earthquake that occurred when Jesus died on the cross.
From The Chapel of Adam, a door leads to The Treasure Room, underneath the Roman Catholic Chapel on the Calvary, holding holy relics and the True Cross. The room is usually closed, and opened on special occasions.
Further to the east in the ambulatory are three chapels (from south to north): Greek Chapel of the Derision, Armenian Chapel of Division of Robes and Greek Chapel of St. Longinus.
Between the first two chapels are stairs descending to The Chapel of St. Helena, belonging to the Armenians. From there, another set of 42 stairs leads down to the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross, believed to be the place where the True Cross was found.
In the north-east side of the complex there's The Prison of Christ, where it's believed Jesus was held.
Authenticity
As noted above, both Eusebius and Socrates Scholasticus record that the tomb of Jesus was originally a site of veneration for the Christian community in Jerusalem and its location remembered by that community even when the site was covered by Hadrian's temple. Eusebius in particular notes that the uncovering of the tomb "afforded to all who came to witness the sight, a clear and visible proof of the wonders of which that spot had once been the scene" (Life of Constantine, Chapter XXVIII (External Link)).
Archaeologist Martin Biddle of Oxford University has theorized that this "clear and visible proof" might have been a graffito to the effect of "This is the Tomb of Christ", scratched in the rock by Christian pilgrims before the construction of the Roman temple. Similar ancient graffiti are still visible in the Catacombs of Rome, indicating the tombs of especially venerated saints.
In the nineteenth century, a number of scholars disputed the identification of the Church with the actual site of Jesus's crucifixion and burial, on the basis that the Church was inside the city walls, while early accounts (for example, Hebrews 13:12) described these events as outside the walls. On the morning after his arrival in Jerusalem, General Gordon selected a rock-cut tomb in a cultivated area outside the walls as a more likely site for the burial of Jesus. This site is usually referred to as the Garden Tomb to distinguish it from the Holy Sepulchre, and it's still a popular pilgrimage site for those (usually Protestants) who doubt the authenticity of the Anastasis and/or don't have permission to hold services in the Church itself.
However, it has since been determined that the site was indeed outside the city walls at the time of the crucifixion. The Jerusalem city walls were expanded by Herod Agrippa in 41–44, and only then enclosed the site of the Holy Sepulchre, at which time the surrounding garden mentioned in the Bible would have been built up as well. To quote the Israeli scholar Dan Bahat, former City Archaeologist of Jerusalem: » "We may not be absolutely certain that the site of the Holy Sepulchre Church is the site of Jesus' burial, but we've no other site that can lay a claim nearly as weighty, and we really have no reason to reject the authenticity of the site."
Influence
Since the 9th century, the construction of churches inspired in the Anastasis was extended across Europe.
One example is Santo Stefano in Bologna, Italy, an agglomeration of seven churches recreating shrines of Jerusalem.
Several churches and monasteries in Russia have been modelled on the Church of the Resurrection, some even reproducing other Holy Places for the benefit of pilgrims who couldn't travel to the Holy Land.
Image gallery
Image:5276-20080123-jerusalem-stone-of-anointing.jpg|The Stone of the Anointing.
Image:5249-20080122-jerusalem-angel-stone-holy-sepulchre.jpg|The Angel's Stone.
Image:5291-20080123-jerusalem-holy-sepulchre-catholicon.jpg|The Catholicon.
Image:5289-20080123-jerusalem-holy-sepulchre-omphalos.jpg|The omphalos and the North wall of the Catholicon.
Image:Calvary Altar.jpg|Greek altar at Calvary.
Image:5208-20080122-1255UTC--jerusalem-calvary.jpg|The place were it's believed Jesus died, now under the Eastern Orthodox altar on Calvary.
Image:5307-20080123-jerusalem-adam-chapel.jpg|The cracked Rock of Golgotha, seen from the Chapel of Adam.
Image:5286-20080123-jerusalem-holy-sepulchre-stairway-golgotha.jpg|Stairway to Golgotha.
Image:Church of the Holy Sepulchre-07-St Helen Chapel.jpg|St Helen Chapel.
Image:Church of the Holy Sepulchre-08-Prison of Christ.jpg|The Holy Prison, or Prison of Christ
Image:5281-20080123-jerusalem-holy-sepulchre-treasure.jpg|Treasure Room. In center: the True Cross. Near the walls: other relics.
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