Come to Israel, Day 7

To get to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, we walked all around at least one quarter of the Old City, on “streets’ that were cobble-stoned walkways lined with shops and houses along the way. Each street we took seemed to change our direction as we passed through stone arches (1) and out into the brilliant sunshine then back into dark streets… even passing through a gate that closes off the street of the old city at night.

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As we got closer, we passed by the Mosque of Omar,(2) continuing through the streets with real sky above, until we reached the large court-yard outside of the entrance to the church.(3) I gasped when I saw that “the ladder” was still there. In a National Geographic program that I had seen at Easter-time, it explained how the ladder had been used to bring up food during a war 600 years ago, but when they could finally use their doors again, they had no record of who owned it. Under church law, only the owner can remove any object. So next to the upper window it stands still! (4)

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To the far right of the main doors and attached to the building was a flight of stairs leading to a terrace enclosed on two sides by heavily grated windows, with a small blue dome on top. This is Station 10 of the Via Dolorosa. (in 3)

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It houses a chapel with many names, but is over the spot where Jesus was stripped of His clothes.(5).

Inside the church, Leo explained that St. Helena had followed Constantine’s orders to find the Tomb of Jesus and build a massive church to cover and protect the entire area of the Tomb of Our Lord and Golgotha.  He said that the site itself was hard rock and not good for excavation, so it was used for the death of criminals. In her search, she found a relic of the original cross near another tomb, which led her to believe she’d found Calvary.  When they cleared away centuries of debris from the cave, they found a rock-cut tomb that the locals believed was Jesus’ burial site.

 Though we didn’t see it, right next to this church, was the Chapel of the True Cross – the 9^th Station! If we had time, he said, we’d get to that later, but first we had to get in line to see the Tomb, the 14^th Station.  That line started pretty much right inside the door where we were standing, and it would take us a half hour just to get to the actual line at the rotunda and well over an hour to get the Tomb or Our Lord.

The line crept slowly around the rotunda, which is the actual center of the church housing the surround that protects the chapel inside with the tomb of Our Lord. 

Right above it, in the very center of the church is a dome that lets in bright sunlight. 

In the hour or so that it took to work our way around the rotunda to the tomb, our line moved past a massive mural of the crucifixion and burial on the wall behind the preparation stone (the Stone of Anointment), Station 13

We took turns praying and laying our holy objects on the Stone of Anointment, where Jesus’ body was cleaned and given initial preparation for burial.

As we rounded the back corner of the tomb room (almost there!) there was a spot to light candles, and a monk to help.

We finally arrived at the entrance to the tomb, which has an amazing amount of silver carvings over the door, and a very serious priest who guards the tomb.  Finally, we could see the whole the outside entrance….

The tomb area is called the Aedicule and is made up of two rooms – the chapel of the Angel and the burial sepulcher.           (This is Station Fourteen of the Via Dolorosa)

We went into the tomb site in groups of 4, and were told that we had just four minutes and no pictures were to be taken inside.  (okay, some of us snuck pictures anyway – but no flashes)

We went into the tomb site in groups of 4, and were told that we had just four minutes and no pictures were to be taken inside.  (okay, some of us snuck pictures anyway – but no flashes)

The first place we stepped into was a room with a carved stand in the center. This was the Chapel of the Angel.  The glass-topped square above the stand held some kind of rock.  NO one explained what this was, but we all touched it because if it was inside the tomb walls, we figured it must be important.  IT WAS – it turns our this is the “Angel Stone” – and under the glass is a portion of the actual round stone that was rolled back by the Angel on Resurrection Day.

As we stepped inside the tomb itself, we all dropped to our knees.   The Spirit inside was intense…  I prayed, then remembering we had just a few moments left, I sneaked a couple of pictures of the tomb from my kneeling position.  I looked up and noticed a good friend taking a quiet picture from the corner.  Good Idea!  Quickly, I did the same, just as the guardian of the tomb started yelling (pretty harshly) at us to get out, get out, Get Out.  Our four minutes were up!   

            The right side of the tomb, my camera                         

      The left side, from a friend’s camera     

The tomb guardian, watching and timing the group before us.. 4 minutes!

We moved away from the tomb, then we turned down a corridor and walked past the steps where Jesus was beaten and crowned with thorns, then through an arch to stairs that led up to Golgotha. 

We stopped at the Chapel of Adam, an altar with a glass case beneath it, showing the skull of Adam, teeth and all.                                                                     

A close up of the skull… (note the nose and teeth)

Next to that was another altar with a glass covering over a section of Golgotha above it; this portion of Golgotha had a large crack in the stone from the earthquake after the crucifixion. 

We were told that it was under this stone that the skull of Adam was found when Helena dug up the ruins of Golgotha. 

Finally, we went through a set of arches with beautiful paintings on the ceilings and then, suddenly, we were at the altar of the crucifixion. (Station Twelve of the Via Dolorosa).  On either side of the crucifix were glass cases showing the actual rock of Golgotha at the crucifixion site – and under the altar was the rock that had been in front of the cross.  Leo did not allow us to touch it, though other people did…

We had to wait a few minutes to get to kneel at the altar – but we were overwhelmed anyway. The feeling here was so real – like we were at the actual crucifixion.  By the time we were able to kneel before the cross, most of us were in tears.

A fitting end for Good Friday….

(Next week I’ll share the places after the Resurrection – like where Jesus cooked the disciples breakfast… and a few other important things we missed so we could be here with Jesus, today.)