Church of Sepulchre, Jerusalem

The Church of Sepulchre is in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Interestingly, the doorkeeper who holds the key of the main door of the Church is not someone from a Christian family but instead a Muslim family. 

The current key holder, Adeed Joudeh al-Husseini claims that his family was given the custodianship since the time of Saladin, the Muslim leader who liberated Jerusalem in the 12th century AD. However, the person who then takes the key and physically opens and closes the door everyday is somebody else. This door opener/closer is from the Nusseibeh family. Wajeeh Nusseibeh is currently the person tasked with opening and closing the door daily (Read here).

The entrance door to the Church of Sepulchre.

The main entrance door.

Adjoining the Christian Quarter is the Muslim Quarter. A few mosques are close by. It is therefore normal to see crowds of Muslims walking at the courtyard of the Church of Sepulchre.

The Church of Sepulchre dates back to the 4th century AD. It had since been attacked, plundered, damaged, destroyed and had undergone many times of reconstruction and renovation. What we see today has remained unchanged for the last 160 years.

Our visit to this Church was a time travel back to medieval time when church liturgy consisted of elaborate rituals, processions and burning of incense etc. There are different domains each controlled by a particular church. The Greek Orthodox controls the Monastery of Abraham, the Armenian Orthodox controls the Chapel of St. John, the Syriac Orthodox controls the Chapel of St. Joseph of Arimathea & St. Nicodemus, the Ethiopian Orthodox controls the roof top Ethiopian Monastery.....This is a miniature Christendom where each church domain is under a particular nationality.

As we moved around, we saw different church groups clamoring for space to match and parade, sometimes singing processional hymn along the way. This combined with the rowdy crowds of tourists, the Church was more like a war zone rather than a place for quiet reflection and contemplation!

At the Greek Orthodox Golgotha Chapel, there was a sense of awe and disbelief to see people queuing up just to touch and kiss a cavity under the Altar of Crucifixion. This area called the rock of Calvary is believed to be where the cross used to crucify Jesus was planted at Golgotha.

At another open area, a framed stone slab called the Stone of Anointing showed sign of wear and tear. The shine it emitted was probably caused by millions of touches and cuddles by the faithful over many many years. This piece of slab is believed to be where Jesus' dead body was laid when he was taken down from the cross.

We walked pass this boxed structure topped with a mini dome. The crowd was just too large for us to have access to see what's inside. We were told that this structure called the "Edicule" holds the empty tomb of Jesus. Of course, this is not the only site claimed to be the empty tomb of Jesus. Later on, we visited the "Garden Tomb", another site claimed to be Jesus' empty tomb and we had holy communion there. 

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We were taken to the rooftop to see the Ethiopian Church called the Monastery of the Sultan or Deir es-Sultan. The ownership of this area had changed hand many times. In 1654, a group of Ethiopian monks was given the right to host an Ethiopian church. But dispute remains. Most recent was clashes between Egyptian monks and Ethiopian monks!

The interior of the small Ethiopian Church at the roof top.