The Carmelite order began with 12th century religious hermits, who, imitating the prophet Elijah who sometimes took refuge in a cave, organized themselves in caves on the Carmel Mountain in Haifa during the Crusader occupation.
Garden Tomb
There is a debate or rivalry between the Garden Tomb and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as to which is the authentic site of the burial of Jesus. The years and the custom of building layer over layer of ruins makes getting at the ultimate truth nearly impossible. The rivalry is further complicated by two different languages being part of the picture. To elucidate: Golgotha, which means “the skull” in Aramaic, is the name of the place where Jesus was crucified according to the Gospel writers; Calvary has the same meaning in Latin.
The Garden Tomb is a possible alternative to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as a place of devotion popular particularly to Protestants. During the 19th century there was a dispute about the location and size of the Holy Sepulcher which is meant to commemorate the actual site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. In 1842, a rocky outcropping outside the walls of the Old City was proposed as the site of Calvary, the place of the skulls. A quarter century later, in 1867, the Garden Tomb was discovered and identified as the location of the burial, corroborated by the fact that a tombstone of a deacon who had practiced in the nearby Church of St. Stephen was found in the same tomb and it attests to the place being the Holy Sepulcher. The fact that the walls of the city were expanded is another factor that makes this debate somewhat frustrating, but it went on and continues until today. The Anglican Church stood by the Garden Tomb, which it then called “Gordon’s Tomb” as being the site of the burial. Later the Anglican Church withdrew this decree on the official level and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is visited today and regarded as the site of the burial of Jesus. However, many among Protestant piety hold onto the original belief that the Garden Tomb is the sacred location.
The Garden Tomb itself is actually located about 100 yards west of “the skull” shape of the rocks and there is a sign in a number of languages adorning the wooden door proclaiming “He is not here – for He is risen”.
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