The Tomb from which Jesus Arose

Intermountain Catholic

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JERUSALEM — Of the many holy sites in the Holy Land open to pilgrims from around the world, only six are considered authentic, meaning they can be authenticated through archaeology. According to Israeli Catholic Tour Guide Amer Shehadeh, those six sites include the 1) Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in which are the places of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection; 2) the site of his nativity, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem; 3) the place where Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, the dramatic Church of Pater Noster; 4) the Garden of Gesthemane, the site of Jesus’ agony; 5) the place where Jesus spent most of his time, the house of St. Peter; 6) and the site of the angel Gabriel’s Annunciation to Mary that she would be the mother of the Messiah.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built by the mother of Emperor Constantine, Queen Helena, in 324 A.D., provides remarkable access to the hill on Calvary, where Jesus’ crucifixion took place, and the nearby tomb in which St. Joseph of Aramathea and other followers of Jesus hastily placed the body of the crucified Christ so as to conform to Jewish law that the dead be buried before sundown.

According to the Good Friday Passion of Our Lord according to John, "After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took (Jesus’) body. Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about 100 pounds. They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom. Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried. So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by."

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most sacred place of Christianity, lies in the heart of today’s Jerusalem. At the time of the Crucifixion, Golgotha, the place of the Crucifixion, and the tomb where Jesus’ followers laid his body, were outside the walls of Jerusalem – "without the walls, but close to the city." (John 19:20)

"The Jewish tombs seen inside the church are strong evidence that this district was outside the city, for according the Jewish law, nobody can be buried within the precincts of the Holy City." ("The Holy Land in Color" by Sami Awwad)

Since its first construction, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has stood near the center of the walled city, and in 335, the Church of Golgotha was included within the city by new walls. Under the supervision of Queen Helena, a basilica was built over Calvary and the tomb.

"This grandiose monument of Constantine was destroyed in 614 by the Persians; rebuilt on a reduced scale by Abbo Modestos; it was again destroyed by the Khalif Hakem in 1009. The destruction of the church was the main reason that led to the Crusades." (ibid.)

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was again restored by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachus.

Pilgrims enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre through a Crusader façade of stone. Much of the church we see today is from the Crusader period. Just inside the church is the rocky area, Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. Archeological excavations prove that this site was outside the wall of the city during Jesus’ time, but close to one of its gates. Today, this part of the church is controlled by the Orthodox Church.

The structure known as the Edicule preserves the location of Christ’s tomb. A Muslim ruler more than 1,000 years ago, carved away a cave that protected the tomb, but history bears out that this is Jesus’ tomb.

Under the current status quo the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb, and all three communities celebrate Mass there.

Inside the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the Stone of Anointing, believed to be the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the leading Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, celebrated Mass in the dark, incense-filled Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the spot where many Christians believe that Jesus died on the cross, according to an Associated Press Story dated April 17.

Pilgrims enter the Church of the Holy Sepulchre through a Crusader Gate (above left). A dramatic crucifix marks a spot above the rock where the Cross on which Jesus was crucified was placed on Calvary. Below center, a stone slab is believed to be the one on which Jesus’ body was prepared for burial. Near left, the door to the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb of Christ) is hung with oil lamps. Above right, Bishop (now Archbishop) George Niederauer and Deacon Max Flaim prepare for Mass in a tiny anteroom of the sepulchre. Below, right, a temporary altar is set up for Mass just 21 inches above the stone on which Jesus lay in the tomb. The Roman Emperor Hadrian erected a temple to the goddess Venus over these sites, and Eusebius noted that a statue of Jupiter was on the site for 180 years. When Constantine converted the empire to Christianity, he dismantled the pagan temples and built a large church over the sacred sites.