Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Housing the tomb in which Jesus is buried, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, known also as the Church of the Resurrection to Orthodox Christians, is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. It stands on the Calvary or Golgotha, the spot of the crucifixion. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the most important of all pilgrimage destinations and the holiest Christian site in the world.

Until the Romans took over the city in 66 AD, the early Christians of Jerusalem appear to have gathered at the tomb to hold liturgical celebrations. This custom wasn’t allowed to continue for even a full century when, as so often happened, worship to a different god was planned for the location. A temple to Aphrodite was erected in the same spot by the Emperor Hadrian who filled in the area believed to be the exact location of the crucifixion with rocks from the nearby quarry. Hadrian did so for practical reasons, to create level land for the foundation of his temple for Aphrodite. Practical or not, the site that was sacred to Christians was inaccessible for a few hundred years. The site remained buried and served as a pagan temple into the fourth century; at which time Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity. Showing an interest in his new religion, the emperor started giving out commissions to build churches, the most important being the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Building began in 326 AD.

During the building, the rubble from the quarry was cleared away, along with the remains of Hadrian’s temple. According to modern Christian historians, it was during this process that the Rock of Golgotha was unearthed. Constantine’s mother, St. Helena entered the picture when, it is said, she discovered the True Cross near the tomb. It is a very early legend, saying that she actually found three crosses, that of Christ and those of the two thieves where were crucified alongside him that day. The legend continues that in order to determine which one was the cross of Christ, an ill man was brought to the spot and told to touch all three of the crosse4s, becoming well when he touched one of them, this being the cross on which Christ was crucified.

The Constantinian church that was formally dedicated in 33 was much larger than the one that stands today, though its design was simpler. Like nearly all the sites of churches in the Holy Land, this one went through transformations during the centuries as well. The building was damaged badly when the Persians invaded Jerusalem in 614 AD, capturing the True Cross in the process. However, Emperor Heraclius triumphed when he re-took Jerusalem in 630 and restored the True Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The status quo did not last long; in 638 the Christians surrendered Jerusalem to the Muslims lead by the caliph Omar. In an act of exceeding generosity and sensitivity, for that time or any other, Omar refused to pray in the church in order that the radical Muslim believers would not take it over, saying “Omar prayed here,” magically making it into a mosque under Islamic jurisdiction. Instead, due to Omar’s foresight and generosity, The Holy Sepulcher continued to function as a Christian church under the protection of Omar until 1009. But Omar did not rule or live forever and after the changing of the guard, the new caliph, Hakim, systematically destroyed the church. Had Omar prayed in the church, thus turning it into a mosque in the early days, Hakim would have ignored it. Instead, the result was disastrous; Hakim completely destroyed the east and west walls. The Christian community could not afford repairs but in 1048 Emperor Constantine Monomachos provided some funds – though not enough – for the rebuilding, on condition that it be supervised by the caliphate. A great part was abandoned; the courtyard and the rotunda remained but the atrium and basilica were lost completely. It was in this church that the knights of the first crusade sang the Te Deum on July 15, 1099. The crusader chief Godfrey Bouillon, who became the first king of Jerusalem declared himself “Defender of the Holy Sepulcher.” The Crusaders were also slow to renovate, beginning to make modifications to the Romanesque style in 1112. They built a monastery and excavated the Crypt of St. Helena, replacing the shrine of Christ’s tomb only in 1119. The Constantinian courtyard was covered with a Romanesque church, connected to the rotunda by an arched opening. A bell tower was added in 1170. The entrance to the inner chamber and the tomb itself is through a narrow door in the east side of the entrance area and there is generally a waiting line to enter.

Today the church is controlled by the Greek Orthodox Church.