11/29/12 – Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre's
non-descript facade

We arrived to pure chaos at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the site of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.  2000 years ago, it was located outside of the city walls and the dead were not permitted to be buried within the walled city.  But the expansion of the city in the ensuing centuries, and with it its walls, now places the church on the inside.  From street level, you wouldn’t guess the importance of what hides behind its heavy wooden doors.  The place was packed with people, but I was assured that compared with the summer months, it was practically empty.  Dad found his spot among the crowd and knelt down to touch the Stone of the Anointing, on which it was said that the body of Jesus was laid to be prepared for burial.  We then climbed the staircase to view The Rock of Calvary upon which the cross of Jesus was mounted during his crucifixion.  Dad wasn’t given much time to pray as an Orthodox priest kept telling people “hurry”.  Occasionally he would blurt out “five seconds only!” which didn’t give worshippers nearly enough time to i) get down on their often old and arthritic knees, ii)crawl under an altar that seemed to be intentionally placed to inflict head trauma iii) reach down to touch the rock; and do it all without breaking their bodies or cracking their skulls.

Stone of the Anointing

Altar above the Rock of Calvary

The Aedicule

We then joined the long line leading to the Aedicule, the small chapel that houses the tomb of Jesus.  There, in groups of four, we were offered considerably longer to worship…a whole ten seconds to appreciate the location that essentially represented the entirety of one’s faith.  The tomb was a tight fit, but dad still managed to have his quiet moment because the others in the tomb with us were absolutely silent.  Such is the mood at the site of the most important event for Christians.  I felt slightly guilty for breaking that silence with click of my camera’s shutter, but it had to be done.  Dad definitely looked at peace in the Aedicule.