Part III - Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Part II of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre explains that this is a holy site where thousands of pilgrims and visitors come to commemorate the hill on which Christ was crucified, the tomb of His burial and where He rose from the dead. Early Christians venerated the site and then the emperor, Hadrian, covered it with a pagan temple.

In 330 AD, Constantine tore down the temple and Constantine's mother built the first Byzantine church on this site in 330 and dedicated it in 335. Constantine’s church was burned by Persians in 614, restored and totally destroyed again by the Muslims in 1009. The Crusaders rebuilt it after 1100, completed it in 1149 and much that is standing today is from that time period. When Constantine converted the empire to Christianity, he had the pagan temples dismantled, the earth removed and a church built over the spot.

Photo: Entrance to the Church.

The front door on the left side of the entryway of the church shows charred metal handles and locks from a serious fire in 1808 and an earthquake in 1927. However, the damage from the earthquake was not repaired until 1959 because it took 32 years for the Latin, Greek and Armenian Christians to come to an agreement on how the church was to be repaired.

Let's go back to the time of Constantine. According to Christian historians, when he cleared away Hadrian's temple, the Rock of Golgotha was found, the Aramaic name of the location where Jesus was crucified outside of Old Jerusalem. In John 19:16-18 we read, “So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.” Golgotha is also mentioned in Matthew 27:32-34 and Mark 15:21-22.

Photo: St. Helena with Cross of Christ. In the course of the excavations, Constantine's mother, St. Helena, is said to have discovered the "True Cross" near the tomb in a cistern not far from the hill of Calvary. The legend that says that St. Helena found not only one but three crosses: those of the two thieves and that of Christ.

To discern the one belonging to Christ, a sick man was brought to touch each one and he was miraculously healed by one of them.

Photo: Courtyard of the church. Within the church are the last five Stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final days of Jesus' life.

Ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is shared between the Greek Orthodox, Catholics (known in the Holy Land as Latins) and the Armenian Orthodox. The first Church of the Holy Sepulcher was approached by a flight of steps from the Cardo, the main street of Jerusalem.

This is a diagram of the church. Inside is a conglomeration of architecture styles for 30-plus chapels and places of worship. Many are heavily ornamented with hanging candles, incense, mosaics and elaborate inlaid floors. As I've already mentioned, this site bears the scars of fires and earthquakes, deliberate destruction and reconstruction down the centuries. Both times we've visited this site, hundreds of visitors were scattered throughout the hallways and many chapels.

Photo: Dome inside. Upon entrance through the huge weathered doors which show burn marks from fires, we looked up and saw beautifully decorated arches and windows . . . each enhanced with gold leaf paintings. The magnificent rotunda with its large dome that Constantine had built over the tomb of Christ, symbolically declares Christ’s victory and His reign. Eusebius, the church historian from the days of Constantine, quoted Constantine as ordering a rotunda be built for Christ that was “of a magnificence worthy of his wealth and of his crown.”

Photo: Byzantine graffiti crosses carved in stone by the Crusaders.

The columns in today’s rotunda over the tomb of Christ are the fragments of the original rotunda of Constantine from the 300’s. The original columns were taller and much more magnificent than what we see today.

Photo: Hanging candles donated by various Christians sects.

Photo: Stone of Unction. This is the stone where Christ was anointed prior to His burial in the tomb. Visitors bow done in reverence and kiss the stone.

The Tomb of Jesus is to the left of the anointing stone, about 70 steps away. (We will see that in part IV). The anointing stone was placed between Calvary and the tomb, in the general area where Joseph would have wrapped Jesus’ body and women may have applied the spices. The stone that is here today dates to 1808 when it was put here to replace the crusader period stone that was destroyed by fire.

Directly in front of the entrance, we see the modern Greek Orthodox mosaic. The right side of the mosaic shows Jesus' body being removed from the cross with the skull of Adam in the ground beneath it. (My photo doesn't show that.) The middle scene shows the anointing of Jesus' body and to the left is the burial of Jesus's body in the tomb. All three of these events took place under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Photo: Steps of Calvary (Golgatha). We are going to ascend a steep flight of stairs (18 steps) which curves as we ascend the “hill” of Calvary or Golgotha which means “place of the skull”. The stairs opens on to a floor that is level with the top of the rocky outcrop on which Christ was crucified, about 15' above the ground floor.

At the top of the stairs is the Greek Altar in the Greek Chapel at Calvary. Underneath the altar is an opening through which one can touch the bedrock of Calvary at a spot that is traditionally believed to be near the place where the base of the cross was placed. On both sides of the altar, the original bedrock of the rock known as Calvary can be seen through glass. The glass is there to protect the rock from visiting pilgrims, who centuries ago, chipped off souvenirs from this most holy site.

Golgotha is the Aramaic name of the location where Jesus was crucified outside of Old Jerusalem. In John 19:16-18 we read, “So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.” Golgotha is also mentioned in Matthew 27:32-34 and Mark 15:21-22.

Photo: Greek monk sits and watches to guard the chapel as hundreds of visitors pass through each hour.

Photo: Floor in chapel.

Photo: It is customary to light a candle and pray; visitors whisper quietly in respect for those in prayer.

The altar was made in Florence, Italy in 1588 and was donated by Cardinal Medici. On the front of the altar are four scenes from Jesus’ suffering, hammered into silver panels: two are on the bottom and the other two are directly above them.

Photo below: The blue-domed Roman Catholic Chapel for Calvary at the top of the steps of Calvary and adjacent the Greek Chapel.

The Roman Catholic (Latin) altar on Golgotha is called the "Nails of the Cross Altar" and according to tradition, where Jesus was nailed to the cross.

The mosaics on the ceiling of the Roman Catholic Chapel preserved a 12th century mosaic figure of Christ. The altar features a life-sized statue of St. Helena holding a cross.

The more modern mosaics above the altar illustrate the crucifixion and holy women at the foot of the cross. This nave was constructed and designed by Barluzzi in 1937, a famous Italian church architect who built many Franciscans churches in the Holy Land.

Photo: View from the top of the steps of Calvary (Golgatha), the place where Christ was crucified. We are looking down at the lamps suspended over the Stone of Unction. This photo provides a perspective of the distance between Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus. This was originally a rock quarry that was abandoned and used for cutting tombs in the days of the New Testament. One can become overwhelmed and even confused to the significance when visiting so many small chapels within one church. For that reason, I have purposely repeated the names of each in the effort to help you remember. The next entry will concentrate on the Tomb of Christ, the Chapel of Adam and other areas of the church. This is the conclusion of Part III> TO BE CONTINUED . . . .