TheCenacle (from theLatincenaculum, "dining room"), also known as theUpper Room (from theKoine Greekanagaion andhyperōion, both meaning "upper room"), is a room inMount Zion inJerusalem, just outside theOld City walls, traditionally held to be the site of theLast Supper, the final meal that, in theGospel accounts,Jesus held with theapostles.
According to the ChristianBible, the Cenacle was a place in which the apostles continued to gather after the Last Supper, and it was also the site where theHoly Spirit alighted upon the twelve apostles onPentecost,Matthias having been "numbered with the eleven apostles" to replaceJudas in Acts 1:25.[1]
The site is administered by theIsraeli authorities, and is part of a building holding what is known as "David's Tomb" on its ground floor.
"Cenacle" is a derivative of theLatin wordceno, which means "I dine".Jerome used the Latincoenaculum for both Greek words in his Latin Vulgate translation.
"Upper room" is derived from theGospel of Mark and theGospel of Luke, which both employ theKoine Greek:anagaion (ἀνάγαιον, Mark 14:15[2] and Luke 22:12),[3] whereas theActs of the Apostles uses theKoine Greekhyperōion (ὑπερῷον, Acts 1:13),[4] both with the meaning "upper room".
The building has experienced numerous cycles of destruction and reconstruction, culminating in theGothic structure which stands today.
The Cenacle is considered the site where many major events described in theNew Testament took place,[5][6] such as:
In Christian tradition, the room was not only the site of the Last Supper, i.e., theCenacle, but the room in which the Holy Spirit alighted upon the twelve apostles and other believers gathered and praying together on Pentecost. Acts 1-2 tell us that Judas had been replaced by Matthias, and 120 followers of Jesus gathered in this room after his ascension.
It is sometimes thought to be the place where the apostles stayed inJerusalem. The language inActs of the Apostles suggests that the apostles used the room as a temporary residence (Koine Greek:οὗ ἦσαν καταμένοντες,hou ēsan katamenontes),[1] although theJamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary disagrees, preferring to see the room as a place where they were "not lodged, but had for their meeting place".[9][10]
The general location of the Cenacle is also associated with that of the house where theVirgin Mary lived among theapostles until her death ordormition, an event celebrated in the nearbyChurch of the Dormition.
Pilgrims to Jerusalem report visiting a structure on Mount Zion commemorating the Last Supper since the 4th century AD. Some scholars would have it that this was the Cenacle, in fact a synagogue from an earlier time. The anonymous pilgrim from Bordeaux, France reported seeing such a synagogue in 333.[11] A Christian synagogue is mentioned in the apocryphal 4th-centuryAnaphora Pilati ("Report of Pilate"); although the depiction is fantastic and of questionable reliability (the report claims that all of the other synagogues were destroyed by divine wrath immediately after Jesus's death), a Jewish origin for the building has come under serious question.
While the termCenacle refers only to the Upper Room, a niche located on the lower level of the same building is associated by tradition with theburial site of King David, marked by a largecenotaph-sarcophagus that dates to the12th-century,[12] but earlier mentioned in the 10th-centuryVita Constantini.[13][clarification needed] Most accept the notice in1 Kings 2:10 that says that David was buried "in theCity of David", identified as the Eastern hill of ancient Jerusalem, as opposed to what is today calledMount Sion, the Western hill of the ancient city.
The early history of the Cenacle site is uncertain; scholars have attempted to establish a chronology based on archaeological, artistic and historical sources.[14]
Based on the survey conducted by Jacob Pinkerfeld in 1948,[15] Pixner believes that the original building was asynagogue later probably used byJewish Christians. However, no architectural features associated with early synagogues such as columns, benches, or other accoutrements are present in the lower Tomb chamber.[16] According toEpiphanius, bishop ofSalamis writing towards the end of the 4th century, the building and its environs were spared during thedestruction of Jerusalem underTitus (AD 70).[17] Pixner suggests that the Mount Zion site was destroyed and rebuilt in the later first century.[18] The lowest courses ofashlars (building stones) along the north, east and south walls are attributed by Pinkerfeld to the late Roman period (135-325).[19] Pixner believes that they areHerodian-period ashlars, dating the construction of the building to an earlier period.[20]
Many scholars, however, date the walls' earliest construction to the Byzantine period and identify the Cenacle as the remains of a no-longer-extantHagia Sion ("Holy Zion") basilica.[21] EmperorTheodosius I constructed the five-aisled Hagia Sion basilica, likely between 379 and 381.[22]
6th-century artistic representations, such as the mosaics found in Madaba, Jordan (the "Madaba Map") and at theBasilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, depict a smaller structure to the south of the basilica. Some have identified this smaller structure as the Cenacle, thus demonstrating its independence from, and possible prior existence to, the basilica.[23] The basilica (and possibly the Cenacle) was later damaged byPersian invaders in 614 but restored by the patriarchModestus.
In 965 the church was burned down after a Muslim mob killed patriarchJohn VII and then again in 1009 when Fatimid caliphAl-Hakim ordered the destruction of all Christian churches in Jerusalem, an event lamented by Arab Christian poetSulayman al-Ghazzi.[24][25]
After theFirst Crusade, the leader of the newly establishedKingdom of Jerusalem,Godfrey of Bouillon, re-founded the church as a Latin abbey and in the twelfth century the basilica was rebuilt.[26]The Cenacle was either repaired or enclosed by the Crusader church, occupying a portion of two aisles on the right (southern) side of the altar. The Crusader cathedral was destroyed soon afterward, in the late 12th or early 13th century, but the Cenacle remained. (Today, part of the site upon which the Byzantine and Crusader churches stood is believed to be occupied by the smallerChurch of the Dormition and its abbey.)[citation needed]
Syrian Christians maintained the Cenacle until 1337 when it passed into the custody of theFranciscan Order of Friars who managed the structure for almost two centuries.[27][28]
In 1524, duringSuleiman the Magnificent's rule, Ottoman authorities took possession of the Cenacle, converting it into a mosque: theMasjid an-Nabī (al-Nabī) Dāwūd (مسجد النبي داوودlit. 'Mosque of the Prophet David').[27][29] By 1551 the Franciscans had been fully evicted from their surrounding buildings. Non-Muslims were banned from entering though it was possible by bribing the custodians of the Dajani family.[28]
Only in 1831 were Christians again allowed to celebrate mass in the cenacle though visits, such as that ofMelchior de Vogüé, were dependant on the goodwill of the guardian.[28]
During theBritish Mandate, Christians and Jews were allowed greater freedom in visiting their respective holy sites in the complex.[28] The historical building is currently managed by theIsraeli Ministry of the Interior.[citation needed]Pope John Paul II celebrated mass in the Cenacle during his pilgrimage to Israel in the year 2000.[30]
PilgrimEgeria, who visited the site in the 4th century, described the presence in the Cenacle of theColumn of the Flagellation, which was venerated there at dawn onGood Friday.[31] In the 14th century, the Column of the Flagellation was removed from the Cenacle and taken to theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre.[31]
Scholars offer wide-ranging dates and builders for the surviving Gothic-style Cenacle. Some believe that it was constructed byCrusaders just beforeSaladin's conquest of Jerusalem in 1187, while others attribute it toHoly Roman Emperor Frederick II, after he arrived in the city in 1229. Still others hold that it was not built in this form until the Franciscans acquired the site in the 1330s.[32] Scarce documentation and disturbed structural features offer little strong support for any of these dates.[33]
The primary early modern assessments of the Cenacle were recorded by French archaeologists. The first detailed assessment was byEugène-Melchior de Vogüé in 1860.[34] This was largely followed by other commentators until the work ofCamille Enlart[35] andLouis-Hugues Vincent /Félix-Marie Abel.[36][37]
In its current state, the Cenacle is divided into six rib-vaulted bays. The bays are supported by three freestanding columns which bilaterally divide the space, as well as six pillars flanking the side walls. While the capital of the westernmost freestanding column is flush with the Cenacle's interior wall, the column shaft itself is completely independent of the wall, leading scholars to consider the possibility that this wall was not original to the building.[38]
An analysis of the column and pillar capitals offers clues, but not a solution, to the mystery of the current building's origin. The Corinthianesque capital between the second and third bays of the Cenacle is stylistically indicative of multiple geographical regions and chronological periods. This capital's spiky leaves, which tightly adhere to the volume of the column before erupting into scrolls, are in congruence with common outputs of the 12th-century sculpture workshop at the Temple site in Jerusalem in the last years before Saladin's conquest in 1187.[39] The workshop also frequently utilized drilling as an ornamental device. The Jerusalem workshop included artists from diverse regions in the West, who brought stylistic traits with them from their native countries. The workshop produced sculpture for many Crusader projects and other structures, such as theal-Aqsa mosque.
This comparison allows for the support of the 12th century date of the Cenacle. There are also, however, similar capitals which originated in workshops in southern Italy, a draw for scholars who wish to associate the building with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and the Sixth Crusade in 1229. Examples can be seen in the Romanesque cathedral inBitonto, a small city near Bari, in southern Italy, and on the columns of thepulpit in the Pisa Baptistery, carved by the Apulian-born sculptor Nicola Pisano in 1260.
The capitals of the freestanding columns are not identical. The capital between the first and second bays seems either severely weathered or shallowly carved, and its volume is a marked contrast from the others. It rises from the shaft in a straight cylinder, rather than in an inverted pyramid, and then flares only just before it intersects with the abacus. The third capital, which now flanks the Cenacle's western wall, is also unique among the three. It is not decorated with a floral motif, rather, scrolling crockets spring from the base of the volume. Enlart has proposed a comparison to buildings constructed by Frederick II in Apulia.[40]
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Analysis of these column capitals does not yield significant evidence to link them to the 14th century and a potential Franciscan construction, nor does it definitively date them to the 12th or 13th century. The building remains a frustrating, but intriguing, mystery.
Architectural evidence remains of the period of Muslim control including the elaboratemihrab in the Last Supper room, the Arabic inscriptions on its walls, thequbba over the stairwell, and the minaret and dome atop the roof.[28]
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The upper room is a focus of reference in several Christianhymns, for example in "An upper room did our Lord prepare", written byFred Pratt Green in 1973,[43] and in "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest" ('We meet, as in that upper room they met...'),[44] written byGeorge Wallace Briggs.
TheMonastery of Saint Mark in theOld City of Jerusalem near theArmenian Quarter is considered by some as the authentic site of the Last Supper. The monastery church, belonging to theSyriac Orthodox Church, contains an early Christian stone inscription testifying to reverence for the spot.[45]
the sultan [Suleiman I]'s earliest building project in Jerusalem was Mosque of the Prophet David (masjid al-nabī dāwūd), which adjoined that prophet's revered tomb at the Coenaculum in Mount Zion
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate the merciful. The order to purify and to cleanse of polytheists from this place and to make (here) a mosque so that the name of Allah is celebrated in it, is by the Sultan of mankind, the defender of Islamic faith, the servant of the sacred house (at Mecca), the establisher of Justice and security, theSultan, son of Sultan, the Sultan Süleyman son of the House of Osman, may Allah support him throughout his life, by the hand of our Master leader of our Sheikhs, al Shams Muhammed al-'ajami the preacher, may Allah carry out blessings through his hands and have mercy upon his parents, on the day of Thursday at the beginning of the month ofRebiulevvel in the year 930 and praise to be Allah alone.
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