Church of the Holy Sepulchre
By AVIVA BAR-AM
From: Beyond the Walls: Churches of Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian
Located off Dyers' Street and Christian Quarter Road
On a recent visit to Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre I stood
for a moment in the Chapel of Adam and gazed at the bare rock beneath
Golgotha. A thoroughly bewildered couple wandered into the tiny chamber,
wondering aloud what on earth they had stumbled into. Where was Calvary?
they asked, leafing anxiously through a guidebook and trying to locate
the site of Crucifixion on a tiny map of the church. And where was the
Holy Tomb?
No wonder they were baffled. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is such a
curious conglomeration of altars, chapels, and architectural styles that
almost anyone would be led astray! And while decorous religious
processions take place at specified times each day, the hundreds of
visitors who are constantly weaving in and out of the church create an
atmosphere of noise and confusion not alleviated by the sanctuary's dark
and gloomy interior.
Yet despite the fact that finding your way around can be a truly
frustrating experience, this has to be the most dynamic church in the
country. Believed by much of the Christian world to encompass such
sacred sites as Calvary (Golgotha), the Holy Sepulchre, and the cistern
in which Helena found the True Cross, the church is alive with a
profusion of languages and a variety of diverse apparel.
Although today it is the heart of the Old City's Christian quarter and
overflows with visitors, Golgotha was once a bald, rocky hill apparently
situated a few hundred meters outside of the Jerusalem walls. In a
cemetery on a hill nearby, wealthy Jew Joseph of Arimathea had prepared
a sepulchre for himself, not knowing that one day Jesus would be
entombed within. Destined to become the most venerated of Christian
sites, Golgotha and the Sepulchre were lost to the Christians a century
after the Crucifixion: in 135 Roman emperor Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem,
rebuilt the city as Aelia Capitolina, and covered the sacred sites with
idolatrous shrines.
Constantine I, the first Roman emperor to embrace Christianity, held an
ecumenical council in 325 to discuss the nature of the Trinity. Present
at that conference was the Jerusalem patriarch, Bishop Macarius, who
urged Constantine's mother Helena to take the Holy Land's neglected
Christian sites under her wing. A year later they toured the Holy Land
together, able to identify Jesus' birthplace in Bethlehem and the Mount
of Olives grotto in which Jesus prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem.
Calvary and the Holy Sepulchre were discovered underneath Hadrian's
temples. Queen Helena razed the pagan shrines which concealed the holy
sites, levelled the rocks which surrounded them, and began construction
of a magnificent Christian monument. By 335 a wondrous basilica - far
larger and more grandiose than the contemporary church - encompassed the
Holy Sepulchre, Calvary, and the cistern in which the pious queen had
discovered a piece of the True Cross.
Little remains of the original basilica, which was destroyed by the
Persian invaders in 614. Repeatedly ravaged and repaired over the next
400 years, it never returned to its former glory. Thus on July 15, 1099,
when the Crusaders first entered Jerusalem and rushed to the church,
they found only the partial reconstruction carried out 50 years earlier
by Byzantine emperor Monochamus. The Crusaders decided to unite all of
the holy sites under one roof and erected the Romanesque church that you
see here today. It took 50 years to build the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre, which was inaugurated in 1149.
Over the centuries various Christian denominations vied for the
privilege of praying next to the holy sites. During periods of
restoration after fires, earthquakes, and war had damaged the church,
each group altered the interior according to its own particular tastes
while at the same time latching on to as much property as possible. So
much squabbling went on that in 1852 the Turks issued an edict which
declared a statu-quo: a status quo specific to the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. Still in practice today, it means that the religious
arrangements which existed at the time of the decree - including
lighting, decorations and hours of worship - may not be altered.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is divided among three different
denominations: Catholic (Latin), Greek Orthodox, and Armenian; the
Copts, Syrian Jacobites, and Ethiopians hold religious ceremonies at
specified hours. The largest portion of the church belongs to the
Greeks, who were a powerful force at the time the statu-quo was fixed.
In the past, bloody disputes broke out on issues of possession: for
instance, there was a fight over who would clean the bottom step of a
staircase leading from the courtyard to the Latin Chapel of Mary's
Agony.
Begin your tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the steps across
from the entrance. The church's arched doors, bordered by marble
pillars, are located below corresponding twin windows. Note the ladder under
one of the second story windows. It was used over a century ago for
hauling up food to Armenian monks locked in the church by the Turks.
With the statu-quo still in force, the ladder seems destined to remain
there forever!
Only one of the church's two doors is open. The other was walled up by
Saladin at the end of the twelfth century - apparently the lack of
Christian tourism during the Moslem regime removed the need for more
than one entrance. Two Jerusalem Moslem families received the key in
1245 and were entrusted with the job of opening and shutting the door;
they continue holding the job to this very day.
Begin walking toward the entrance - but stop at the staircase to your
right before going inside. The Crusaders entered Calvary from the little
porch at the top of the stairs which was blocked off in the twelfth
century. Climb up and peer through the glass to see a chapel marking the
Via Dolorosa's 10th Station, the spot at which Jesus was disrobed before
being nailed to the cross.
Now descend the stairs and enter the church. Immediately turn right to
climb 18 steep steps to Calvary. In Latin, "skull" translates as calva,
it is golgotha in Aramaic and golgoleth in Hebrew. From these words you
get the two terms used today: Calvary and Golgotha, both meaning "place
of the skull" or the site of the Crucifixion.
Calvary contains two chapels: Latin and Greek Orthodox. The chapel at
the top of the stairs is the Latin oratory, and directly in front of you
is the Latin altar.
The chapel's striking altar marks the 11th Station, the site at which
Jesus was nailed to the cross. A fine example of Renaissance art, the
altar was made in Florence in 1588 and given to the church by Cardinal
Medici a few decades later. Look for the Medici name. Six panels of
hammered silver (four in front and one on each side) depict scenes from
the Passion.
To reach the Greek Orthodox chapel on the other side of the room (station 12), pass
under an ornamental arch. The Greek altar is built over the spot which
held the cross. Look to its right, to see where the rock cracked when "
Jesus ä gave up his spirit. At that moment the curtain of the temple was
torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split"
(Matthew 27:50-51).
A Christian tradition, born to symbolize mankind's redemption, maintains
that Adam is buried at the bottom of Golgotha. Thus when the earth
quaked, blood from Jesus' wounds dripped through the crack and onto
Adam's skull. There are those who believe that this, and not the
bareness of the rock, is the source of the term Golgotha. You will see
the fissure even more clearly when we move downstairs to the Chapel of
Adam.
Now return to the glass-enclosed statue situated between the Greek
Orthodox and Catholic altars. According to tradition it was here, at
Station 13, that Mary took Jesus' body into her arms after he was taken
down from the cross. The 200-year-old bust in the case is painted wood
and is adorned with jewelry that was donated by thankful pilgrims. The
statue, called Our Lady of Sorrows, was the gift of the Portuguese queen
in 1778.
You will now leave Golgotha by walking down a second set of steps just
across from those you ascended. At the bottom turn left, and left again,
to enter Adam's Chapel. Here you can look through a wrought iron window
to see the cracked bottom of the rocky hill of Calvary, and the symbolic
site of Adam's grave.
Exit the chapel where you came in, through the narrow arched doorway
directly across from the bars. You are now facing a reddish marble slab
topped by eight white lamps and four tall sets of candelabra. Behind the
stone a brilliant wall mosaic illustrates the events which followed the
Crucifixion: Jesus' removal from the cross, the anointing, and Joseph of
Arimathea carrying Jesus to the burial cave.
The reddish marble rock is called the Stone of the Anointing, or
Unction, and it marks the traditional spot on which Jesus was prepared
for burial (embalmed)."
Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. ä He was
accompanied by Nicodemus ä Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped
it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with
Jewish burial customs
" (John 19:38-40).
Stand in front of the red stone, which dates back to restorations
carried out in 1810. Then face the mosaic and turn left to see a small,
open shrine. It is surrounded by slender marble columns and its floor
consists of a disk-shaped stone. This is an Armenian site called the
Station of the Holy Women: "Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee to care for his needs" (Matthew 27:55).
Station 14, the site of Jesus' entombment and Resurrection, is situated
to the right of the Armenian shrine. Located in an impressive Rotunda
which is the oldest and the most important section of the church, the
Holy Sepulchre is encased in a rectangular edifice rebuilt in 1810. Two
years earlier, a terrible fire that spread like wildfire and that
destroyed much of the church had caused the dome of the Rotunda to
collapse.
While waiting in line to enter the Holy Sepulchre, look around the
Rotunda. High above you is a fabulous gold and white dome and on the
walls is a series of balconies filled with golden lamps. Above the
edicule housing the Sepulchre is a strange black dome. The books call it
a "Muscovite cupola" - probably because of its Russian look.
Having reached the beginning of the line you will now enter the atrium,
a small hall typically found in Jewish burial caves where families and
friends of the deceased would gather. The Sepulchre's atrium is called
the Chapel of the Angel."
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene
and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent
earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to
the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. The angel said to the
women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who
was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said ä"
(Matthew 28:1-6). A podium holds a glass case containing a piece of the
rolling stone used to block up the tomb. Clergy had to enclose the rock
because pilgrims tended to chop off chunks to take home.
When you enter the tiny chamber, be careful not to bump your head. The
tomb is covered with a marble slab, and decorated with bas reliefs which
portray the Resurrection.
Exit, then walk around the edicule to the backside of the tomb. The
small Coptic chapel located here contains a portion of the Sepulchre's
bare rock. You can touch it if you wish.
An opening across from the Coptic chapel, slightly to the right, leads
to a Second Temple period Jewish cave. Follow it to a neglected Syrian
altar and a series of tombs - in one of which Joseph of Arimathea was
traditionally interred.
The last two stops on this tour are associated with Queen Helena. To
reach the first, Helena's Chapel, return to the Stone of Unction. Pass
the mosaic (it should be on your left), the Chapel of Adam, and another
small oratory called the Chapel of the Mocking. At the next aperture
descend 27 steps whose walls are lined with crosses etched into the
stone. Many of them - like those you saw at St. James Cathedral, were
left by Armenian pilgrims who carved one cross for each member of the
family.
Within this Armenian chapel is a main altar dedicated to Helena,
who found the True Cross in the dank cistern located beneath
this grotto. To visit the underground reservoir, descend 21 more steps
from the right side of Helena's Chapel to the Franciscan Chapel of the
Invention (Finding) of the Cross.
According to one tradition, the devout Helena sat here and supervised excavations in which she found the three crosses, the crown of thorns, the nails used for pinning Jesus to the
cross, and the inscription above Jesus' head. A large bronze statue of
Helena and the Cross was donated by an Austrian archduke, Maximilian,
who visited the site in 1855. He was later to become the emperor of
Mexico.
Until 1831, pilgrims were required to pay a fee in order to visit the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But during a hiatus in Turkish rule, when
the Egyptians controlled the Holy Land and pro-Christian Ibrahim Pasha
governed Jerusalem, such fees were banned. Since that time entrance to
the church has been free to all comers.
o Visiting hours: Daily, from early morning to sunset
o Extra information: While much of the Christian world regards the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre as the site of Golgotha and the
Resurrection, many Protestants accept the view put forth by famous
British general and explorer Charles George Gordon. General Gordon, who
visited the Holy Land in 1883, maintained that the sacred sites are
located outside the contemporary Old City walls at the Garden Tomb.
You can read about the Garden Tomb in Aviva Bar-Am's latest book, Jerusalem EasyWalks.
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