Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a structure in Jerusalem, Israel, built over what are believed to be the sites of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus of Nazareth. The church contains what is said to be the rock of Calvary, the large stone into which Jesus's upright cross was placed, as well as the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where Jesus's body was said to be laid after his death and the place from which he rose from the dead. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a continuously popular pilgrimage site for Christians from around the world.

History of the Holy Sepulchre

The circumstances of Jesus's death, burial, and purported resurrection in the early 30s CE are enormously important to Christians, who believe that, by these acts, Jesus delivered humanity from sin to eternal life in heaven after their deaths. According to the Gospels—the biblical accounts of Jesus's life—Jesus was crucified at a site called Golgotha, which meant "place of the skull." At the time, this was likely a desolated area of disused stone quarries located directly outside Jerusalem's walls.

After some years had passed, and Jesus's followers had begun spreading word of his name and teachings in the early days of Christianity, Jerusalem authorities had an additional wall built around Golgotha so that the site of Jesus's death would be located and protected inside the city. Golgotha remained protected for another three centuries.

In about 325 C.E., the Roman emperor Constantine (272–337), who had recently legalized the practice of Christianity in the Roman Empire, sent his mother, Queen Helena (circa 250–330), on an official mission to Jerusalem to investigate the state of the Golgotha site. Helena found that not only was the site in disrepair, but also since the second century a Roman pagan temple had been built over it. Constantine quickly had the temple destroyed to prepare a place for a church to be built over Golgotha.

During the removal of the Roman temple, Constantine's workers discovered a tomb that was thought to have belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, the man the Gospels claim donated his own unused tomb to hold the body of Jesus. Constantine ensured the protection of the tomb as well, having the surrounding rock removed to leave the tomb as a freestanding structure. Over this and the Golgotha site—including the rock of Calvary, supposedly the rock that held Jesus's cross—Constantine built the first incarnation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Visitors to the church traveled through a basilica and an open garden that held the rock before arriving at the tomb.

Over the next few centuries, the church was continually destroyed and rebuilt. The original structure survived until 614 C.E., when it was burned and looted by the invading Persian army. Soon after this, it was partially rebuilt by Modestus (died circa 630), patriarch of Jerusalem. The structure was damaged again in 808 when an earthquake struck the area. The church then remained untouched until the mid-900s, when Muslims occupying Jerusalem converted the basilica into a mosque, a place of Islamic worship. In 1009, what remained of the church was destroyed entirely on the command of al-Hakim (circa 985–1031), caliph—or leader—of the Muslim Fatimid caliphate, or Muslim government.

The Byzantine emperor Constantine IX (circa 980 – 1055) funded the church's reconstruction in 1048, but the resulting structure was much smaller and less ornate than the original. Nonetheless, as it was now a fully completed new building, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre again began attracting Christian pilgrims from all over the world. About a hundred years later, during the Crusades—the two-hundred-year period of holy wars fought between Christians and Muslims for control of the Holy Land of Israel—Christian knights further renovated the church, essentially converting it into a Western European-style cathedral. The knights turned Constantine's original garden into their new basilica and erected a chapel over the rock of Calvary. They officially consecrated the new Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1149.

This Crusader structure lasted into the Renaissance era, though by that point it had become severely dilapidated. In the early 1500s it was renovated into a larger church by Franciscan monks, but most of this was destroyed in an accidental fire in 1808, whereupon it was rebuilt again. The church as it appears today is the result of an early 1960s renovation project undertaken by the various Christian churches that claimed ownership of it, including the Roman Catholic Church and various Eastern Orthodox churches. In 1967 Israel took over the legal administration of the church, guarding it from attack and defacement and providing security for the crowds of pilgrims who visit it. The various Christian denominations still maintained their respective parts of the church.

The Church Today

Located in Jerusalem's Old City, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a dense, crowded complex of walls and chapels. One of the main points of attraction is the Greek Orthodox section of the church, which contains the rock of Calvary. Protected under glass, this large rock is believed to be that into which Jesus's cross was placed. It contains a hole of an approximate size to support a shaft of wood.

Near this is the Stone of Anointing, a slab of rock on which Christians believe the body of Jesus was placed to be anointed before burial. One of two small holding rooms in the complex is also believed to be the prison of Christ, where Jesus would have been held before his execution.

Finally, the church's rotunda, created with twelve large columns and a domed ceiling, contains the sepulcher itself. This massive, box-like structure in the middle of the rotunda has been dated to the time of Jesus and is believed to be the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where Jesus was placed after his death. Consequently, in the Christian tradition, the tomb is also venerated as the site of Jesus's resurrection. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre remains one of Jerusalem's most visited historical sites.

Bibliography

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"Church of the Holy Sepulchre." Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Web. 22 July 2015. http://churchoftheholysepulchre.net/

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