The Dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church itself is below this dome.
This morning we will continue our virtual tour on the Via Dolorosa. We have already completed Stations I-IX as we made our way up through the narrow streets of the Muslim Quarter of the Old City. Now we have reached the place where all the last five Stations are housed under one roof; the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The Holy Sepulcher is believed by Christians to be the biblical Calvary (or Golgotha, place of the skull) where Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead.
If you have your Bible handy, please read the account in Matthew 27:32- 28:10 as it is something you will want to take your time doing in order to envision the place we are about to enter.
2000 years ago this was an empty hill just outside of the city walls of Jerusalem. The decision to build the church here came 300 years after the death of Jesus, by Helena, mother of Roman Emperor Constantine. While on a pilgrimage to the Holy City, she noted Hadrian’s pagan temple to Aphrodite here and believed that it had been placed to thwart early Christians who worshipped there. Excavations revealed a grave and three crosses, leading Helena to declare it the site of Calvary. Work on the church started in AD 326 and it was dedicated 9 years later. In the 7th century (AD 617) the church was sacked by the Persians who stole the relic of the True Cross. This was recovered in 630 by the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. 8 years later the city was taken by Caliph Omar but the church wasn’t damaged further. Caliph Omar refused to pray here noting that if he did his fellow Muslims would want to turn it into a mosque. So it remained a church until 1009 when it was sacked again by the ‘mad’ Caliph al-Hakim of Egypt.
Station 10 on the Via Dolorosa, Jerusalem, Israel. (Biblewalks.com)
When the Crusaders entered in 1099 they made significant changes to leave us with the church we have today. The Bell Tower and the entrance are Crusader. There is quite an eclectic design to this building, which makes it interesting to look at and also interesting to understand the multiple periods in history from which each part was taken. For example: above the arch and cornice area are parts of the Temple of Aphrodite used in “secondary use”, meaning that they were used from the rubble of Hadrian’s temple for the new construction.
Rival Christian churches (Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syrian Orthodox) all have a shared responsibility for the church which has led to centuries of conflict. The conflict has been so severe and long-lasting that a decree was passed in 1852 to maintain the status quo. The British authorities not only confirmed this decree but published exact details of what it meant for every single window, step and floor space.
Part of the agreement concerns the door. It is locked each evening 15 minutes after sunset and opened every morning in a bizarre ceremony that could only happen in Jerusalem. From inside the church a ladder is passed through a hatch in the door. The key holder receives it. They always are from a local Muslim family (the Nusseibeh family), to stop any Christian fighting over access to the building. Mr. Nusseibeh puts the ladder against the door, climbs up and unlocks the padlock. Clergy, who sleep inside the church, protecting their own enclaves, and pilgrims waiting to enter or leave, then start the day’s business. One of the oddest features of the entrance facade is the ladder propped against the wall – it hasn’t been left there accidentally by some window cleaner but is always there. The balcony and window are owned by the Armenians. In the past, especially when many officials lived inside the church to avoid the tax, they grew vegetables there. Since the ladder was there before the 1852 agreement, the ladder will always remain there.
At the very back of the church is a little chapel that some hold to be the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. It is incredibly run down due, once again, to disputes between the factions. According to the agreement it is owned by the Armenians but leased to the Syrian Christians and neither can agree on who should do the repair work and neither wants to let the other do the work either. When a light bulb blew out a huge crisis loomed. Both the Syrian and Armenian Patriarchs phoned the Israeli state Office of Religious Affairs to claim the right to change the bulb, each saying they would fix it in the morning. The official went down to the church at dawn and “did what I had to do. Do not ask me what I did…” he later said. He then returned to his office and phoned the Armenians “Why did you make me waste my time and come down to the church? The bulb is fine!” Then he phoned the Syrians and said “Why did you make me waste my time and come down to the church? The bulb is fine!” Thus the crisis was averted. The obvious rhetorical question is; How many religious officials does it take to change a light bulb…?
Now to add even more mystery! The tomb of Adam is believed to be under the church. One of the reasons that are given for the naming of this hill as Golgatha is that it is believed that Adam is buried inside the hill. Legend has it that a crack was formed in the rock during the earthquake that hit at the time of Jesus’ death and that his blood flowed through the crack and onto the skull of Adam, thereby cleansing him of his sin. Whether this is the actual site where Jesus was crucified still remains a mystery. That people have prayed here for over 1000 years makes it a holy site.
Let’s go in.
Immediately to our right is a very steep staircase that will take us to the hill of Golgotha. Keep in mind that before Helena built the church, it was a hillside with a tomb carved into it. She had the hillside clear cut to be level at the entrance to the cave. At the top of the staircase is Station X, a mosaic depicting Jesus being stripped of his garments. Station XI is just next to it where the mosaic is showing Jesus being nailed to the cross. Both of these areas are taken care of by the Franciscan Church.
Station XII as described. The last remaining stations along the Via Dolorosa are all contained in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (paulseestheworld.com)
Station XII is just beyond the Franciscan section and is run by the Greek Orthodox Church. Amongst the many hanging chandeliers and icons, there is a clear glass showcase over the base rock of the mountain and just above it is a cross with the crucified Jesus hanging on it. People stand in line so that one by one they can kneel down, reach in and touch the rock on which is believe to be the place of the crucifixion. Station XIII depicts the place where Jesus’ body was taken off the cross and prepared for burial. After descending another staircase to the level of the entrance to the building there is a huge slab stone, called the Stone of Unction. Many people have an emotional experience here as they reflect upon the death of Jesus and how his body would have been prepared and wrapped for burial.
A larger view of the area around Station XII inside the Church. (paulseestheworld.com)
Station XIV, the final Station of the Cross, is believed to be the actual burial tomb of Jesus of Nazareth. It is not easy to imagine the actual tomb as it is displayed here. One must imagine that we are standing on what was once a mountainside, now covered by a massive building. The mountain was clear cut away to the level of the entrance to the tomb, which now has a protective chapel placed over it. And above the burial tomb, at the very height of the domed roof of the church, is a ceiling of glass. The sunlight shines through in remembrance that Jesus did not stay in the grave…but that he resurrected in that very place.
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is quite a sight to behold! Regardless of one’s religious status, there are some places in the world that are a must-see experience. This is most definitely one of them.
Until next week… Blessings from Jerusalem.
