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| History of the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher |
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Source:
Earthly Footsteps of the Man of Galilee, p. 254. |
Church of the Holy
Sepulcher
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Constantine erected . . . a magnificent group of buildings, which were completed
and dedicated in 335 A.D. In 614 A.D., when the Persians captured Jerusalem, the
Great Basilica, or Martyrion, was wholly or partially destroyed by fire, but it
was rebuilt about 626 A.D. by Modestus, Superior of the Monastery of Theodosius.
The buildings . . . then consisted of the Anastasis, or Church of the
Resurrection which contained the Holy Sepulchre; the Basilica, or Martyrion, a
five-aisled building with a circular apse and an opening towards the east; the
square Church of St. Mary; and a very large church on the east of the sepulchre,
called the Church of Golgotha. In 936, and again in 969, when the Fatimite
Caliphs gained possession of the city, portions of the churches were damaged by
fire; and in 1010 they were partially destroyed by El Hakim, the third Fatimite
Caliph. This wild fanatic commenced a systematic persecution of the Christians,
drove them from their churches, and even attempted to destroy the Holy Sepulchre.
(Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, pp. 14-15.) |
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Church of the Holy Sepulcher |
Source:
Jerusalem, Bethany, and Bethlehem, p.
72. |
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About the middle of the eleventh century
the Christians began to return to Jerusalem
(1048 A.D.) and commenced the rebuilding of
the churches . . . .During the last half of
the eleventh century Jerusalem fell under
Turkish rule, and the Christians were much
oppressed; they were robbed and maltreated
even whilst worshipping in their churches, and
the pilgrims had to submit to every species of
insult. Among those who suffered was Peter the
Hermit, whose burning eloquence on his return
to Europe roused the indignation of Western
Christendom and brought about the First
Crusade. On the 15th July, 1099, the Crusaders
captured Jerusalem, and, after putting to
death most of the Turkish population, entered
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre barefooted
and singing hymns of praise. They soon,
however, found the building too insignificant,
and commenced to remodel it and add new
shrines. (Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p. 15.) |
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Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p.
17. |
The Shrine of the Holy
Sepulcher |
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When Saladin took the city in 1187, and also
in 1244, when the Christians were finally
driven from Jerusalem, the church and the
sepulchre were injured, but with these
exceptions the buildings remained nearly in
the state in which the Crusaders left them
until the great fire of 1808. The church,
except the eastern portion, was almost
entirely destroyed; the dome fell in, crushing
the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre; the marble
columns of the Rotunda were cracked and
calcined; images, altars, pictures, were
consumed in the general conflagration; and
there was a mass of ruin from the Chapel of
Helena to the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of
Arimathaea. In the intrigues which followed at
Jerusalem and Constantinople in connection
with the rebuilding of the church, the Greeks
secured for themselves the greater portion of
the buildings . . . .The work was completed
and the renovated church consecrated in 1810.
(Source:
Picturesque Palestine, vol. 1, p.
15.) |
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See
Authenticity of the Holy Sepulcher,
Via Dolorosa,
Holy Fire Ceremony,
Antonia
Fortress,
Gordon's Calvary,
or
Garden of
Gethsemane |
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