The Holy Sepulchre is more than just a large, ancient church, but is a holy site for Orthodox and Catholic Christians divided into many smaller chapels dedicated to different parts of the Easter story.

Also known as the Church of the Resurrection, the cavernous church commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ's burial. It sits on the edge of the Christian Quarter in the Old City and is home to several Christian denominations: Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Orthodox and the (Latin) Roman Catholic are the larger denominations while the Egyptian Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox also possess rights and properties in the building.

Originally built by Constantine’s mother in 330 A.D. on top of a pagan worship site, inside the church many first-century tombs hewn from rock were discovered there, one identified as that of Joseph of Arimathea, used for the body of Jesus after his resurrection.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher has weathered many attacks during various periods of history in the Holy Land. Most of the present building is the result of 12th-century reconstruction by the crusaders. Since 1520, the keys of the church have been kept by a Muslim family rather than one of the Christian groups.

Because many denominations share the building, disputes often arise regarding the space. One is the continuing dispute between the Coptic and Ethiopian Orthodox concerning ownership rights in the Chapel of the Ethiopians, located on the roof of the Chapel of St. Helena. Also, during Easter fights sometimes break out between the Greek and Armenian Orthodox during the Holy Fire ceremony.

Click here for a list of services and the various chapels in which they take place.

The following is a description of the chapels and significant locations within the church, memorializing the death and resurrection of Christ.

The Tomb of Jesus
The tomb, also known as the edicule, is at the center of the Holy Sepulchre Church, and symbolically sits under the largest dome in the church. The tomb is used in turn by all of the denominations for daily mass. A rectangular, tall structure built of red granite and adorned with candlesticks outside the door, the edicule houses two small rooms - the Chapel of The Angel and the tomb itself. The Chapel of the Angel contains a stone, which represents part of the larger stone that was rolled away from Christ's tomb on the day of the resurrection, according to tradition. On this stone is an imprint of a hand believed to be that of one of the angels who waited in tomb to announce the resurrection. A Greek monk is always present in this room to guard the Tomb of Christ. The Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre contains the tomb of Christ, the 14th Station of the Cross and the holiest site in Christendom. A marble slab lies in the place where Jesus was laid.

Stone of Anointing
Upon entering the Holy Sepulchre from the spacious courtyard, the Stone of the Anointing or Unction, lies just beyond the iron doors. Tradition has it that this is the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Jesus was anointed and wrapped in a clean linen cloth according to the Jewish tradition of those days. The limestone slab dates to 1808 replacing the one destroyed in the 12th century. Opulent lamps hang above the stone. Many pilgrims stop here first to kiss the stone before moving on to the rest of the church.

Golgotha (or Calvary)
To the right of the stone is a staircase that leads to two chapels on the tip of Golgotha, where Jesus was nailed to the cross. The first room is a Catholic Franciscan Chapel with an altar dedicated to the Nailing of the Cross (Station 11 of the Via Dolorosa). The Greek Orthodox Calvary is the second room, with the actual Rock of Golgotha (Station 12 of the Via Dolorosa) that can be seen through glass. Pilgrims may touch the rock through a small opening in the glass.

The Chapel of St. Mary Magdalene
This Franciscan chapel, to the north of the tomb, is believed to the where Mary Magdalene watched Jesus’ burial, as recounted in Mark 15:47, and also encountered Jesus after his resurrection. This is the Catholic area of the church.

The Prison of Christ
This small area is believed to be where Jesus was temporarily held with the two thieves before he was crucified.

The Chapel of the Division of the Robe
The Armenian chapel is the location at which it is believed the soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ robe according to John 19:24.

The Chapel of St. Longinus'
The Greek chapel is dedicated to Longinus, the Roman soldier who led the group of soldiers that escorted Jesus to Golgotha. According to Matthew 27:54, after the crucifixion the Roman centurion acknowledged that Jesus was the Son of God.

The Chapel of the Crowning of the Thorns
This Greek Orthodox chapel is located at the base of Golgotha and, as the name suggests, memorializes the abuse Jesus suffered at the hands of the Roman soldiers. According to John 19:2, the soldiers mocked Jesus and put on him a purple robe and crown of thorns. A small fragment of the column from the Prison of Christ is in this chapel.

The Catholicon
The main chapel facing the Tomb of Christ is a large rectangular area with a dome and is considered the “naval of the world” - the spiritual center of the earth (Ezekiel 38:12). Two thrones are on the altar, one for the Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch and the other for the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The ornate chapel is a large area used by the Greek Orthodox.

The Chapel of St. Helena/Chapel of St. Gregory
The Greeks consider this Helena’s Chapel while the Armenians call it the Chapel of St. Gregory. Located at the base of the stairs near the Crowning of the Thorns, there is a throne and an original mosaic from the church which has been preserved. Along the stairway small crosses carved by medieval pilgrims are etched into the wall. The chapel has two apses, one dedicated to the repentant thief and the other to St. Helena, mother of Constantine who searched for the true cross, according to tradition.

The Chapel of St. Vartan
This Armenian chapel, not often open to the public, is adjacent to St. Helena’s Chapel and was only discovered in the 1970s. Remnants of the wall date back to the 2nd century and one is etched with a merchant ship and an inscription which translates "Lord, we shall go."

The Chapel of the Finding of the Cross
According to tradition, St. Helen discovered Jesus’ cross here in 330 AD. She found three crosses - one for Jesus and the two thieves crucified with him. She brought a sick man to touch each cross and determined that the one at which the man was healed was the cross of Christ.

The Coptic Chapel
Located on the other side of the tomb, the small chapel has its own separate entrance.

The Syrian Chapel
For the Syrian Orthodox Christians, this chapel on the east end of the church was used for burials in Jesus’ time.

By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for www.travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy Land.

With just a week until Easter, the celebrations that mark Holy Week begin on Sunday just as an estimated 100,000 Christian tourists flood the Holy Land this week to take part in the Easter season.

The Christians from overseas join the 146,000 Christians living in Israel who deem Easter their most important holiday.

This year, both the Orthodox and Catholic Easters coincide on April 24. Passover is in the middle of Easter week, beginning on Monday evening, April 18.

Jerusalem is the center of the Resurrection story. The following is a list of masses, gatherings and special events this week that commemorate the last days and resurrection of Jesus:

Sunday, April 17
Palm Sunday
7 a.m. Procession with Palms and Pontifical Mass at Holy Sepulchre
2:30 p.m. Procession from the Mount of Olives to St. Anne’s Church
the Armenians, Copts and Syrians join together for a processional three times around the rotunda in the Holy Sepulchre, each chanting or singing in their own language.

Monday, April 18
6 a.m. Mass at 5th Station of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa

Tuesday, April 19
7:30 a.m. Mass at the Church of the Flagellation

Wednesday, April 20
8:30 a.m. Mass at Gethsemane, Basilica of the Agony
All day: Veneration of the Flagellation Column at the Blessed Sacrament Chapel in the Holy Sepulchre:

Thursday, April 21
Holy Thursday
8 a.m. Washing of the Feet at the Holy Sepulchre
2 p.m. Armenian Orthodox Foot Washing Ceremony at St. James Church
3:30 p.m. Catholic Pilgrimage to St. James in the Armenian Quarter and to the churches on Mount Zion
5 p.m. Armenian processional from the olive tree at the Holy Archangels Church, believed to be where Jesus before meeting Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas the High Priest (John 18:19-24). 9 p.m. Gethsemane: Holy Hour in the Basilica of the Agony

Friday, April 22
Good Friday
9:30 a.m. Good Friday Service in English at the Garden Tomb
12:15 p.m. Via Dolorosa: Way of the Cross. Starting from the First Station with the Franciscan Friars, followed by various
groups.
8:10 p.m. “Funeral" Procession at the Holy Sepulchre

Saturday, April 23
Holy Saturday
6:30 a.m. Catholic Easter Vigil at Holy Sepulchre
1 p.m. Referred to as the Saturday of Light, or Sapt il-Noor, the Holy Fire Ceremony takes place at the Holy Sepulchre and is observed by Eastern Orthodox sects, such as the Greek, Syrian, Armenian, Greek and Russian churches as well as the Copts. Must arrive with a pass issued by one of the churches hours in advance of the service.
16:15 p.m. Resurrection Service in Arabic, with translation into Hebrew
7 p.m. Ethiopian Holy Fire service on roof of Holy Sepulchre. No pass required.

Sunday, April 24
Easter Sunday
Masses held at Holy Sepulchre, St. James Church and other churches in the Old CIty
6:30 a.m. “Son-Rise” Resurrection Service in English at the Garden Tomb
9:30 a.m. “Son-Rise” Resurrection Service in English at the Garden Tomb
11 a.m. Resurrection Service in Scandinavian at the Garden Tomb
12:30 p.m. Resurrection Service in French at the Garden Tomb

Monday, April 25
Easter Monday
Masses held at Holy Sepulchre, St. James Church and other churches in the Old City

Holy Week was ushered in to Jerusalem on Sunday with thousands of Christians waving palms and walking the route believed to be the same one Jesus took when he entered Jerusalem in his final week.

“The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!’ Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written: ‘Do not be afraid, Daughter Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.’” John 12:12-15

Thousands of Christians, both local Arabs and Armenians, plus pilgrims, poured into the alleys of the Old City to attend Palm Sunday services and then left with their symbolic fronds for family dinners or to visit more of the city.

The excitement that always marks this time in Jerusalem was palpable in the Old City on Sunday.  As the week carries on, the anticipation of the holy day builds until the Saturday of Light and then ultimately Easter Sunday.

Many of the Holy Week events in Jerusalem are relived as in the Bible. Because of the geography here, Christians can actually follow the footsteps of Jesus around Jerusalem to the holy sites that commemorate the week of his last supper, death and resurrection.

Anthony, a tourist from Romania, was making his first Easter pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He said he was moved by being able to live out some of the passion of Jesus, on location.

“I think it is important to do this at least once in order to strengthen my faith,” he told Travelujah. “I feel the Easter story coming alive to me.”

Services took place at various churches around Israel and the Palestinian territories.

By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for www.travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy Land.

“Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha). There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle. Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” John 19:17-19

Through occasional rain drops and thick clouds, thousands of Christian pilgrims carrying wooden crosses made their way along the slick stones of the Via Dolorosa to retrace the steps of Jesus as he carried his cross to Gologotha and was crucified on Good Friday in Jerusalem.

The Via Dolorosa, or the Way of Suffering, is marked by 14 Stations of the Cross, where Jesus is believed to have stopped on his way to Golgotha. The final four stations are in side the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Some 100,000 Christian pilgrims from Egypt, Ethiopia, Italy, Russia, Armenia, France, the United States and many other nations, are visiting the Holy Land for Easter Week. Hundreds were crowded into the courtyard of the Holy Sepulchre this morning awaiting their turn inside the church that most Orthodox and Catholic Christians contain the original crucifixion and burial site.

Jesus was sentenced and crucified on Good Friday, and rose from the dead three days later.

“It is awesome, how can I explain?” said Meaza Yohannes, an Ethiopian pilgrim who was in Israel for the first time. “Especially for me being a Bible teacher. Everything that is in the Bible I am seeing with my own eyes. The Bible is coming alive.”

An Italian tourist, Mirella from Florence, said that every stone in the Old City was special.

Local Christians were busy preparing for the holiday, the highlight of the Christian calendar for the community here. Candles were being sold in anticipation of the Saturday of Light, the climax of festivities for Orthodox Christians.

On Good Friday, each church held  its own procession from its Old City headquarters to the Holy Sepulchre to hold mass there. Some churches hold a burial service in the afternoon as well and then prayer vigils in dark churches throughout the night.
 
By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for www.travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy Land.

From the Holy Fire Ceremony on Saturday to all-night services and sunrise celebrations on Sunday, Christians in Israel reveled in Easter festivities celebrating the resurrection of Jesus.

For many Orthodox Christians, the climax of the Easter season is on Saturday at the Holy Fire ceremony.

Angelina Karageuzian, an Armenian Orthodox Christian, told Travelujah she goes to the service every year - and it never gets old for her. She walked with the Armenian processional to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 11 a.m. where she and thousands of other faithful - local Christians and pilgrims alike - waited standing for the ceremony at 2 p.m.

“That moment when the light comes out, it’s a different, special feeling,” she said. “I wait for that moment. I am ready to wait for hours for that moment. It is very spiritual.”

Some 10,000 worshippers packed into the Holy Sepulchre for the ceremony including Greek, Russian, Armenian Orthodox and Coptic and Syrian Christians. From early morning, Christians begin to crowd into the Old City to get into the church.

The Holy Fire ceremony has been taking place at the Holy Sepulchre for 1,200 years. Worshippers believe that a flame miraculously emerges from the tomb of Jesus at 2 p.m. each year. Greek and Armenian clergymen in the tomb catch the flame with their candles and then pass it to the congregants in the dark, cavernous church. As the flame is passed from person to person, the church lights up with the candles of 10,000 worshippers and the church bells announce the arrival of the light.

Each person holds a bundle of 33 slim candles bundled together, the number representing Jesus’ age before he was taken to Heaven. The flame is passed to anyone waiting with a candle, from inside the church all the way to those who couldn’t get passed the police barriers at Jaffa Gate. THe same day, candles ignited by the same flame are flown out to Orthodox communities throughout Israel, the Palestinian territories and the world. Some Catholics attend, although the ceremony is not endorsed by the church.

Scouts from all the churches beat their drums in a festive procession leading the way to the Holy Sepulchre.

For Catholics and Protestants, Sunday is the primary day to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection. A sunrise service took place at the Garden Tomb, a place where many Protestants believe the tomb of Jesus could be located. Several services in different languages took place throughout the day.

In the Old City, masses were held at the Holy Sepulchre and the churches in each of the convents marking the many Christian communities.

Traditionally, Christians have a large feast on Sunday afternoon before another afternoon mass.

By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for www.travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy Land.

It is the season of Lent, the 40 days of fasting leading up to Easter, and Israel's Christian community is bustling with Easter preparations from the spiritual to the culinary.

Jerusalem, of course, is central to the Easter story. Within the next month, thousands of pilgrims will converge in Jerusalem, where Jesus died and rose again. The Catholic and Orthodox Easters coincide this year and come during the Jewish Passover. Catholics and Orthodox Christians use different calendars to determine the dates of their feasts. Easter is the most significant holiday for Christians in the Holy Land, even more of a draw than Christmas.

"Christmas, in the West, has eclipsed Easter whereas the big feast of the Church is Easter," Father Athanasius Macora, a Franciscan monk serving at the Custody of the Holy Land, told Travelujah, the only Christian social network focused on learning about and traveling to the Holy Land. "It is the central feast, the most important feast of the church. With the local community (in Israel) you do appreciate the importance of Easter."

Indeed, the ceremony and involvement by local Christians and pilgrims from all over the world that go into Easter week have a tendency to take over the Old City. Marching bands replete with bagpipes and drums gear up to represent their parish on Holy Saturday. Women begin baking the traditional Easter cookies, maamoule, butter cookies filled with dates or walnuts. Eggs will be painted in pastels and distributed to children.

Lent is marked differently by the different denominations. Some fast more, some less. But no matter how it is marked, lent is a time of internal, personal preparation for the upcoming feast.

"It is a spiritual retreat for the entire church. It involves fasting, but above all, the goal is to try to change one's life to come closer to the Lord in preparation for the Easter celebration," Macora said. "The goal is to arrive at some positive change in your life, to create a space for the risen Lord."

All of the events and services of Easter will bring to mind an event during Jesus' last week before his death and resurrection. A mass at Dominus Flevit will recall where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. At Gethsemane, one can reflect on Jesus' last few hours before his arrest. A processional takes place on Good Friday on the Via Dolorosa, the path many believe Jesus took carrying his cross to Golgotha. And at the Holy Sepulchre, the possible sight of his death and resurrection, participants can remember the sacrifice plus the power of the Son of God to die for us, and yet overcome death.

The Palm Sunday processional is perhaps the most visual of all the masses. From the Mount of Olives hundreds of people join the processional to St. Anne's in the Old City carrying palm and olive branches, in a touching reflection of Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem one week before he was killed.

Macora said there are 4,000 Catholics in Jerusalem.

By Nicole Jansezian, Travelujah

Nicole Jansezian writes for Travelujah.com, the only Christian social network focused on travel to the Holy Land. Travelujah is a vibrant online community offering high quality Christian content, user and expert blogs, travel tours and planning services for people interested in connecting with or traveling to the Holy  Land.