In sign of unity, Christians renovate Christ's tomb together

[webfact]

In sign of unity, Christians renovate Christ's tomb together
By DANIELA BERRETTA

JERUSALEM (AP) — A team of experts began a historic renovation on Monday at the spot where Christians believe Jesus was buried, overcoming longstanding religious rivalries to carry out the first repairs at the site in more than 200 years.

The project is focused on reinforcing and preserving the Edicule — the ancient chamber housing Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is the first such work at the tomb since 1810, when the shrine was restored and given its current shape following a fire.

An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus' body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection. It stands a few hundred yards (meters) from the site of Jesus' crucifixion.

With its stone staircases, gilded ornamentation and many dark chambers, the church is one of Christianity's holiest shrines. But that hasn't stopped clerics from engaging in turf rivalries over the years.

The Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches are responsible for maintaining separate sections, and each denomination jealously guards its domain. While the clergymen who work and pray at the church generally get along, tensions can rise to the surface. In 2008, an argument between Greek Orthodox and Armenian monks erupted into a brawl.

This time, the clergymen put aside their differences — a reflection of the dire need for the repairs. Last year, Israeli police briefly shut down the building after Israel's Antiquities Authority deemed it unsafe, prompting the Christian denominations to join forces.

"We equally decided the required renovation was necessary to be done, so we agreed upon it", said the Rev. Samuel Aghoyan, the top Armenian official at the church.

An Associated Press team had exclusive access to the site as the work began late Monday, carried out by a team of nine Greek experts who have done similar restoration work on the Acropolis as well as to Byzantine churches throughout the Mediterranean.

While a group of nuns looked on, the sound of clanking tools filled the vast arched space where conservators and restoration experts began chipping away at mortar between marble slabs. Using cotton swabs dipped into a solution of liquid soap and water, one expert scrubbed away centuries-old layers of wax and carbon dioxide. Another airbrushed the dirt as the work progressed.

Antonia Moropoulou, an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, which is supervising the renovation, noted the intricacy of the historic effort.

"Nobody envies this responsibility and challenge," she said. "Because, it is a challenge to work here in this ambient of an open monument visited by thousands of people daily."

Moropoulou said the tomb is stable, but needs urgent attention after years of exposure to environmental factors like water, humidity and candle smoke.

"The marble and stone slabs have developed, due to the stresses, some deformations," she said. In addition, the structure needs to be protected from the risk of earthquake damage.

Even an iron cage erected around the Edicule by British authorities in 1947 cannot bear the stress. "So another solution is needed," Moropoulou said.

The project will bolster the structure by, among other things, replacing the mortars and strengthening the columns. It is expected to take eight to 12 months, during which time pilgrims will be able to continue visiting the site.

Some of the work will be done in the early morning hours or late at night, when the church is closed. This quiet atmosphere will make it easier for experts to concentrate on the delicate task and help avoid disruptions for the thousands of pilgrims and tourists who visit each day.

The project will cost about $3.3 million (3 million euros), said Theophilos III, the Greek-Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem. Each church is contributing funds. In addition, Jordan's King Abdullah made a personal donation. Jordan controlled Jerusalem's Old City until the 1967 Mideast war, and the kingdom continues to play a role safeguarding Muslim and Christian holy sites.

Despite the sometimes tense relations between the denominations, the tomb served as a potent symbol of Christian unity when Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, prayed together there in May 2014.

Likewise, today's restoration is bridging centuries-old divisions by being carried out in the name of all three major denominations that share possession.

In a show of unity, on May 20 clerics from the three denominations posed and shook hands in front of the scaffolding erected around the tomb ahead of the work.

"What has happened is a very good sign, a sign of togetherness," said Theophilos III.

The church, one of the world's oldest, was built in 325 A.D. by the Roman Emperor Constantine. That structure was destroyed in 1009 by Muslim Caliph al-Hakim. A 12th-century restoration by the Crusaders gave the Holy Sepulchre its current appearance, while in 1808 a fire all but destroyed the Edicule.

In 1852, the Ottoman authorities then governing the Holy Land provided a framework for resolving disputes inside the church. They put into effect the "status quo," a set of historic laws and power-sharing arrangements that rigidly regulates the denominations' activities inside the Holy Sepulchre.

The Rev. Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan monk who represents the Catholics at the inter-church commission that negotiates disputes at the Holy Sepulchre, said the renovation might have been more ambitious if not for the status quo rules.

"I personally would have liked to maybe contemplate some alternative to simply restoring the current structure. But because the status quo is so conservative in its nature . we had to more or less accept the fact that there would be no change whatsoever to the current structure, and it would be restored as it is now," he said.

Still, for pilgrims like Italian Claudio Pardini, the restoration is "an important sign" that all of the Christian churches are getting together to preserve their faith's traditions.

"It's good to take care of our churches so that we can leave the next generations a sign, something to visit," he said. "Because Christ isn't an idea. He's a story."


-- (c) Associated Press 2016-06-07

[Credo]

It would be quite a shock if with all the digging, scraping and cleaning they found human remains.

[Emster23]

Have they found the back door yet?

[dick dasterdly]

I'm missing something here - is it a small cave tomb or a church, which by necessity would need to be a lot bigger?

[kamahele]

So after 200 years of infighting, these not so Christian groups have agreed on how the fake tourist attraction they are occupying is to be repaired and upgraded. I'm sure Jesus is delighted.

[ballpoint]

So after 200 years of infighting, these not so Christian groups have agreed on how the fake tourist attraction they are occupying is to be repaired and upgraded. I'm sure Jesus is delighted.

He'll be turning in his grave.

[up2u2]

One small reno for man one giant leap backwards for mankind.

[Fookhaht]

I'm missing something here - is it a small cave tomb or a church, which by necessity would need to be a lot bigger?

Yes, yes, and yes. All three: cave, tomb and church.

One of the biggest disillusionments of visiting the Holy Land is to find out that there are two alleged sites for almost every event in the story of Jesus. Usually the Protestants claim one site and the three groups mentioned above claim another site.

So is the case with the tomb. The Protestant tomb sits outside the north wall of Old Jerusalem, and is a small cave hewn out of a stone cliff.

The above three groups claim that the site is in a deep hole under a church within the current walls of old Jerusalem. Multiple destructions and rebuildings of the old city have caused this site to now be well below the modern-day ground level.

Both historical records and archaeological evidence (mostly from non-Christian sources) weigh in evenly on both sides of the argument as to the actual location of the tomb.

Edited June 7, 2016 by Fookhaht

[Morch]

I'm missing something here - is it a small cave tomb or a church, which by necessity would need to be a lot bigger?

The Aedicule is a small chapel within the church:

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre

Rotunda and Aedicule

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre#Rotunda_and_Aedicule

[Khon Kaen Dave]

Actually,it wasnt the tomb of the so called Christ.It was the future tomb of Joseph of Aremathea,who lent the tomb to the family,because they did not have one.So if any remains are found,they could be the remnants of past family members of Josephs familyThis Joseph is meant have been of some importance in the details following the crucifixion..It is he that is meant to have carried the child born of the Nazarine and Mary Magdaline across the sea to the 'Isle of the Engs'.

This child being the real Holy Grail,as the vessel that carried The Christs Blood.hence the descendants of Christ now being in Scotland,Roslyn church.

Of course this is all conjecture fired by Dan Brown and the holy blood and the holy grail,books

But its interestin' innit ?

[swerver]

It would be quite a shock if with all the digging, scraping and cleaning they found human remains.

What ever remains they would find would not be these of Jesus because Jesus in his wandering died in Srinegar, Kashmir were he was buried in a grotto. Later the grotto was cleared out to burry a holyman of their own (Kashmiris), the grotto ever since has remained a place of worship by the locals (Kashmiris). When the grotto was cleared out the bones were deposited outside and with all the wild dogs in the area I leave it up to you to figure out what did happen with the bones same as Atheist archeologist did figure it out.

“Why does god need adults to tell kids about his existence?”

“You were born an atheist too.”

“Atheism: That’s why babies won’t go to hell.”

“If you were still a baby, you would be an atheist.”

[DrTuner]

Renovating, huh? A sofa and a flatscreen ought to please the old hippie.

[puck2]

Nobody saw Jesus' dead body in the tomb after his dead by crucifixion: Religious logic: raised from the dead.

As far as I remember the bible Jesus "went" to the "heaven" after raising from the dead, 60 days later, as it is celebrated now. But you read in one part of the bible that it happened 40 days after Easter Sunday and more "similar facts".

Why don't they build a monument there in the heaven ?

But ..... wait a moment. Does anybody know where the heaven is ? Within or beyond our Milky Way? At that time, about 2.000 years before, the Earth was still very flat and the center of the "world"

Edited June 8, 2016 by puck2