The earliest Christians revered this site as the place where Christ died and was buried. One problem I originally had was that the church is INSIDE the old city walls, whereas the gospels all tell us the crucifixion took place outside the city - which is why I was in favour of what is now the Garden Tomb being THE place. However, archaeologists have evidence that the site of the church was outside the city, until the middle of the first century A.D., when a new city wall was built, further out, and thus included the site of the church within the city.
And further archaeological work has proved the tombs in the Garden Tomb site are much older by several centuries than the time of Christs crucifixion. Having visited Petra about 12 years ago, where I had seen many rock tombs, the Garden Tomb site 'felt' right, but I was wrong !
Tomb 'niches' cut into the pink rock of Petra.
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The Israel Museum (in Jerusalem) has an enormous model of old Jerusalem as it was in 66 A.D, and it shows the rocky hill of Calvary ... outside the then city walls.
The first church on the site was begun in 326 A.D. by Emperor Constantine I. He had the pagan temple put on the site by Emperor Hadrian (of Hadrians Wall fame) pulled down, and Constantines mother, Helen, is said to have discovered the remains of the cross of Christ not far from the hill of Calvary. The church of Constantine (and his mother) was burned down by Persians in 614 A.D., then rebuilt, then destroyed by Moslems in 1009, and then partly rebuilt. Earthquakes have also done their part in destruction. Crusaders completed the final rebuilding in 1149, which is mostly the church as it is today. No wonder it is in a constant state of being repaired !
The church contains about 30 or more chapels and different worship spaces, some below ground, and some above what is now the ground floor. It is dim and gloomy, and usually crowded with vistors and pilgrims. The air is perfumed with incense and the waxy smell of burning candles, and there seem to be processions of various sorts going on all the time. It is certainly a 'living' church.
On entering the church, through the left hand door, (the door on the right was blocked by Moslem conquerors in the 12th century .... time moves slowly in Jerusalem), the first thing to be seen is the Stone of Anointing, where it is said, Christ was laid while his body was prepared for burial.
Now I admit to being sceptical about this ! Visitors were kneeling by it, kissing it, weeping over it, rubbing it with holy books, hankies, crosses and medals ... I suppose to try and soak up traces of Christ that might be remaining on the stone after almost 2,000 years.
My scepticism was justified, when I later discovered the stone was put there, replacing an older one, in 1810 ! I have great difficulty witnessing other peoples devotion to a 200 year old marble slab like this, but I pondered long and hard on other peoples faith, the like of which is sadly lacking in me. I think my faith is in my imagination, in my thinking, not in visible ancient stones.
There are two other principle shrines in the church, the Chapel of the Crucifixion and the Tomb of Christ. Greek Orthodox priests control the massive crowds who are queueing to visit these chapels, and again, I was amazed on both my visits to Jerusalem, at the determination and devotion of people to wait in a queue and slowly shuffle forwards, for one or two hours, in order to be rushed through these dimly lit shrines in pairs, for a sixty second visit.
This is a piece of the actual rock of Calvary, which it is thought cracked at the moment of Christ's death when the sky went dark in the middle of the day and there was (may have been) an earthquake. (Apologies; my scepticism again).
The church contains about 30 or more chapels and different worship spaces, some below ground, and some above what is now the ground floor. It is dim and gloomy, and usually crowded with vistors and pilgrims. The air is perfumed with incense and the waxy smell of burning candles, and there seem to be processions of various sorts going on all the time. It is certainly a 'living' church.
On entering the church, through the left hand door, (the door on the right was blocked by Moslem conquerors in the 12th century .... time moves slowly in Jerusalem), the first thing to be seen is the Stone of Anointing, where it is said, Christ was laid while his body was prepared for burial.
Now I admit to being sceptical about this ! Visitors were kneeling by it, kissing it, weeping over it, rubbing it with holy books, hankies, crosses and medals ... I suppose to try and soak up traces of Christ that might be remaining on the stone after almost 2,000 years.
My scepticism was justified, when I later discovered the stone was put there, replacing an older one, in 1810 ! I have great difficulty witnessing other peoples devotion to a 200 year old marble slab like this, but I pondered long and hard on other peoples faith, the like of which is sadly lacking in me. I think my faith is in my imagination, in my thinking, not in visible ancient stones.
There are two other principle shrines in the church, the Chapel of the Crucifixion and the Tomb of Christ. Greek Orthodox priests control the massive crowds who are queueing to visit these chapels, and again, I was amazed on both my visits to Jerusalem, at the determination and devotion of people to wait in a queue and slowly shuffle forwards, for one or two hours, in order to be rushed through these dimly lit shrines in pairs, for a sixty second visit.
This is a piece of the actual rock of Calvary, which it is thought cracked at the moment of Christ's death when the sky went dark in the middle of the day and there was (may have been) an earthquake. (Apologies; my scepticism again).
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There was a lot more to see in the church; one needs a whole day, or even two might not be enough to be able to see everything, and understand and learn from the mosaics, the ancient graffiti, carvings and the various chapels. I found on both visits that I got far more out of the visit by just standing back and watching and thinking.
I'll write more about the various Christian groups who 'own' the Church of the Holy Sepulchre ... and that ladder (!) ... in my next post ...
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