The Church of the Holy Sepulcher: the construction and history of the holiest site in Christianity

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built for the first time in the XNUMXth century AD, is one of the holiest sites in Christianity, revered as the place of crucifixion, burial and resurrection of their founder Jesus Christ. Located in the controversial Israeli / Palestinian capital of Jerusalem, the Church is shared by six different Christian sects: Greek Orthodox, Latin (Roman Catholic), Armenian, Coptic, Syro-Jacobite and Ethiopian.

This shared and restless unity is a reflection of the changes and schisms that have taken place in Christianity over the 700 years since its first construction.

Discovering the tomb of Christ

According to historians, after the Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity at the beginning of the fourth century AD, he tried to find and build churches-sanctuaries in the place of Jesus' birth, crucifixion and resurrection. The mother of Constantine, Empress Elena (250–330 AD), traveled to the Holy Land in the year 326 AD and spoke with the Christians who lived there, including Eusebio (around 260-340), an early Christian historian.

The Christians of Jerusalem at the time were quite certain that the Tomb of Christ was located on a site that had been outside the city walls but was now located within the new city walls. They believed it was located under a temple dedicated to Venus - or Jupiter, Minerva or Isis, relationships vary - which was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 135 AD

Building the church of Constantine

Constantine sent workers to Jerusalem who, led by his architect Zenobius, demolished the temple and found several tombs beneath it that had been cut on the hillside. Constantine's men selected what they thought was right and cut the hill so that the tomb was left in a block of limestone. They then decorated the block with columns, a roof and a portico.

Near the tomb was a jagged mound of rock which they identified as Calvary or Golgotha, where Jesus was said to have been crucified. The workers cut the rock and also isolated it, building a nearby courtyard so that the rock was in the southeast corner.

The church of the resurrection

Eventually, the workers built a large basilica-style church called Martyrium facing west towards the open courtyard. It had a colored marble facade, a mosaic floor, a gold covered ceiling and internal walls of multicolored marble. The sanctuary had twelve marble columns topped with silver bowls or urns, some of which are still preserved. Together, the buildings were called the Church of the Resurrection.

The site was dedicated in September of the year 335, an event still celebrated as "Holy Cross Day" in some Christian denominations. The Church of the Resurrection and Jerusalem remained under the protection of the Byzantine church for the next three centuries.

Zoroastrian and Islamic occupations

In 614, the Zoroastrian Persians under Chosroes II invaded Palestine and, in the meantime, most of the Basilian church of Constantine and the tomb were destroyed. In 626, the patriarch of Jerusalem Modesto restored the basilica. Two years later, the Byzantine emperor Heraclius defeated and killed Chosroes.

In 638 Jerusalem fell into the Islamic caliph Omar (or Umar, 591-644 AD). Following the dictates of the Qur'an, Omar wrote the extraordinary Alliance of 'Umar, a treaty with the Christian patriarch Sopronios. The surviving remains of the Jewish and Christian communities had the status of ahl al dhimma (protected people) and, consequently, Omar pledged to maintain the sanctity of all Christian and Jewish holy places in Jerusalem. Rather than enter, Omar prayed outside the Church of the Resurrection, saying that praying inside would make it a Muslim holy place. The Omar Mosque was built in 935 to commemorate that place.

The mad caliph, al-Hakim bin-Amr Allah

Between 1009 and 1021, the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim bin-Amr Allah, known as the "mad caliph" in western literature, destroyed much of the resurrection church, including the demolition of the tomb of Christ, and banned Christian worship on the site . An earthquake in 1033 caused further damage.

After the death of Hakim, the son of Caliph al-Hakim Ali az-Zhahir authorized the reconstruction of the Sepulcher and Golgotha. The restoration projects were started in 1042 under the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos (1000-1055). and the tomb was replaced in 1048 by a modest replica of its predecessor. The grave dug in the rock was gone, but a structure was built on the spot; the current newsstand was built in 1810.

Crusader reconstructions

The Crusades were started by the Knights Templar who were deeply offended, among other things, by the activities of Hakim the Fool, and took Jerusalem in 1099. The Christians controlled Jerusalem from 1099-1187. Between 1099 and 1149, the Crusaders covered the courtyard with a roof, removed the front of the rotunda, rebuilt and redirected the church so that it faced east and moved the entrance to the current south side, the Parvis, which that's how visitors come in today.

Although many minor repairs of age and earthquake damage were committed by various shareholders in later cemeteries, the extensive work of the XNUMXth century Crusaders makes up most of what the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is today.

Chapels and features

There are numerous chapels and niches named throughout the CHS, many of which have different names in different languages. Many of these features were shrines built to commemorate events that happened elsewhere in Jerusalem, but the shrines were moved to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, because Christian worship was difficult in the city. These include but are not limited to:

The Edicule - the building above the tomb of Christ, current version built in 1810
Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea - under the jurisdiction of the Syro-Jacobites
Anastasia Rotunda: commemorates the resurrection
Chapel of the Apparition to the Virgin - under the jurisdiction of Roman Catholics
Pillars of the Virgin: Greek Orthodox
Chapel of the Finding of the True Cross: Roman Catholics
Chael of St. Varian —Ethiopians
Parvis, the colonnaded entrance, is a jury shared by Greeks, Catholics and Armenians
Anointing stone - where the body of Jesus was anointed after being removed from the cross
Chapel of the Three Marys - commemorates where Mary (mother of Jesus), Mary Magdalene and Mary of Clopa observed the crucifixion
The chapel of San Longino: the Roman centurion who transfixed Christ and converted to Christianity
Chapel of Elena - commemoration of Empress Elena