| Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary | |
|---|---|
 Twelfth-century façade of Mary's Tomb | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Christianity (Catholic,Armenian Orthodox,Greek Orthodox,Ethiopian Orthodox,Syriac Orthodox,Coptic Orthodox),Islam |
| Rite | Latin,Byzantine,Alexandrian,Armenian,Syriac |
| Ecclesiastical or organizational status | Active |
| Location | |
| Location | Mount of Olives,Kidron Valley, Jerusalem |
| Municipality | Jerusalem |
  Shown within East Central Jerusalem Show map of East Central Jerusalem Tomb of the Virgin Mary (Jerusalem) Show map of Jerusalem | |
| Coordinates | 31°46′48″N35°14′22″E / 31.78013°N 35.23940°E /31.78013; 35.23940 |
| Architecture | |
| Type | Church, tomb |
| Materials | Stone |
Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary, alsoTomb of the Virgin Mary (Hebrew:קבר מרים;Arabic:قبر السيدة العذراء مريم;Greek:Τάφος της Παναγίας;Armenian:Սուրբ Մարիամ Աստվածածնի գերեզման) or theChurch of the Assumption (Latin:Ecclesia Assumptionis), is aChristian church built around anancient Judean rock-cut tomb in theKidron Valley – at the foot ofMount of Olives, inEast Jerusalem – believed byEastern Christians to be the burial place ofMary, the mother of Jesus.[1] TheStatus Quo, a 250-year-old understanding between religious communities, applies to the site.[2][3]
TheSacred Tradition ofEastern Christianity teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (theDormition of the Theotokos, thefalling asleep), like any human being; that her soul was received byChrist upon death; and that her body wasresurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, soul and body, intoheaven in anticipation of thegeneral resurrection. Her tomb, according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day.
Roman Catholic teaching holds that Mary was "assumed" into heaven in bodily form, theAssumption; the question of whether or not Mary actually underwent physical death remains open in the Catholic view. On 25 June 1997Pope John Paul II said that Mary experienced natural death prior to her assumption into Heaven.[4]
A narrative known as theEuthymiaca Historia (written probably byCyril of Scythopolis in the 5th century) relates how the EmperorMarcian and his wife,Pulcheria, requested the relics of the Virgin Mary fromJuvenal, thePatriarch of Jerusalem, while he was attending theCouncil of Chalcedon (451). According to the account, Juvenal replied that, on the third day after her burial, Mary's tomb was discovered to be empty, only hershroud being preserved in the church ofGethsemane. In 452 the shroud was sent to Constantinople, where it was kept in theChurch of Our Lady of Blachernae (Panagia Blacherniotissa).[5]
According to other traditions, it was theCincture of the Virgin Mary which was left behind in the tomb,[6] or dropped by her during Assumption.
In 1972,Bellarmino Bagatti, aFranciscanfriar and archaeologist, excavated the site and found evidence of an ancient cemetery dating to the 1st century; his findings have not yet been subject topeer review by the wider archaeological community, and the validity of his dating has not been fully assessed.
Bagatti interpreted the remains to indicate that the cemetery's initial structure consisted of three chambers (the actual tomb being the inner chamber of the whole complex), was adjudged in accordance with the customs of that period.[7]
Later[when?], the tomb interpreted by the local Christians to be that of Mary's was isolated from the rest of the necropolis, by cutting the surrounding rock face away from it. Anedicule was built on the tomb.[7]
A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built byPatriarchJuvenal (duringMarcian's rule) over the location in the 5th century; this was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614.[citation needed]
Alternatively,Jerome Murphy-O'Connor writes that a church is mentioned only in the late 6th century, and that – if indeed it was destroyed in 614 – it was rebuilt and was visited byArculf (c. 670) and described as two-level and round.[8]
During the following centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt many times, but thecrypt was left untouched, as forMuslims it is the burial place of the mother ofprophetIsa (Jesus).[citation needed]
By 1130, during the CrusaderKingdom of Jerusalem, the church was rebuilt by theBenedictines,[8] who installed a walled monastery,[dubious –discuss] theAbbey of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; the church is sometimes mentioned as the Shrine of Our Lady of Josaphat (or Joshaphat). The monastic complex included three towers for protection, and was decorated with early Gothic columns and red-on-green frescoes.[citation needed]
The Crusader building from 1130 included an upper church built on the ruins of its predecessor, demolished in 1009 by Caliph al-Hakim, and a lower church, consisting of the crypt of the Byzantine church, and as additions built by the Crusaders, a southern entrance followed by a staircase.[8]
The upper church was destroyed bySaladin in 1187, its masonry being used to repair the walls of Jerusalem. Saladin left the lower church intact, but removed all the Christian imagery from it.[8]
In the second half of the 14th centuryFranciscan friars rebuilt[clarification needed] the church once more.[citation needed]
The clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church had been the guardians of the Holy Places until the arrival of the Roman Catholic Crusaders in 1099, and in 1757 they tried to take back various Holy Land sites, including this one.[9][10] As a result of that, the Franciscans, who had owned the church since 1363, were forced to leave.[10][9] The Ottoman courts supported this state of affairs, which henceforth became known as the "status quo".[9] Since then, the tomb has been owned by theGreek Orthodox Church and the Armenian Apostolic Church of Jerusalem, while the closeby grotto of Gethsemane remained in the possession of the Franciscans.
Preceded by a walled courtyard to the south, the cruciform church shielding the tomb has been created in part bycutting through the rock and in part with masonry, and is entered by a wide descending staircase whose upper section dates from the 12th century.[8] On the right side of the staircase (towards the east) there is the chapel of Mary's parents,Joachim andAnne, initially built to hold the tomb of QueenMelisende of Jerusalem, the daughter ofBaldwin II, whose sarcophagus has been removed from there by the Greek Orthodox.[8] On the left (towards the west) there is the chapel ofSaint Joseph, Mary's husband, initially built as the tomb of two other female relatives of Baldwin II.[8]
At the bottom of the staircase, on the eastern side of the church, there is theedicule that contains Mary's tomb.[8]There are also altars of the Greeks and Armenians in the eastapse. A niche south of the tomb is amihrab indicating the direction ofMecca, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church.[8] Currently the Muslims have no more ownership rights to this site. On the western side there is aSyriac altar.[clarification needed][citation needed]
TheArmenian Apostolic Church of Jerusalem and theGreek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem are in possession of the shrine. TheSyriacs, theCopts, and theEthiopians have minor rights.
Within the church is located a famous icon calledPanagia Ierosolymitissa (All-holy Lady of Jerusalem) which, according to tradition, was miraculously createdwithout human intervention.[11]
Alegend, which was first mentioned byEpiphanius of Salamis in the 4th century AD, purported that Mary may have spent the last years of her life inEphesus,Turkey. The Ephesians derived it from John's presence in the city, and Jesus’ instructions to John to take care of Mary after his death. Epiphanius, however, pointed out that although the Bible mentions John leaving for Asia, it makes no mention of Mary going with him.[12] TheEastern Orthodox Church tradition believes that Virgin Mary lived in the vicinity of Ephesus, atSelçuk, where there is a place currently known as theHouse of the Virgin Mary and venerated by Catholics and Muslims, but argues that she only stayed there for a few years, even though there are accounts of her spending nine years until her death.
Although no information about the end of Mary's life or her burial are provided in the New Testament accounts, and many Christians believe that none exist in early apocrypha, someapocryphon are offered as supporting Mary's death (or other final fate). TheBook of John about the Dormition of Mary, written in either the 1st, 3rd, 4th, or 7th century,[13][14] places her tomb in Gethsemene, as does the 4th centuryTreatise about the passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[14]
The pilgrimAntoninus of Piacenza, writing of travels in 560–570 AD, mentions in that valley was "the basilica of the Blessed Mary, which they say was her house; in which is shown a sepulchre, from which they say that the Blessed Mary was taken up into heaven."[15] Before as well as after the anonymous traveller from Piacenza, during the 4th to early 8th centuries, SaintsEpiphanius of Salamis,Gregory of Tours,Isidore of Seville,Modest,Sophronius of Jerusalem,German of Constantinople,Andrew of Crete, andJohn of Damascus talk about the tomb being in Jerusalem, and bear witness that this tradition was accepted by all the Churches of East and West.
TurkmenKeraites believe, according to aNestorian tradition, that another tomb of the Virgin Mary is located inMary, Turkmenistan – a town originally namedMari.
Another tradition exists among theChristians ofNineveh in northernIraq, that the tomb of Mary is located nearErbil, linking the site to the direction of tilt of the formerGreat Mosque of al-Nuri minaret inMosul.[16]
TheAhmadiyya movementbelieve that Mary was buried in the town ofMurree,Pakistan, and her tomb is presently located in the shrineMai Mari da Ashtan. The authenticity of these claims is not yet academically established and has not undergone any scholastic or academic research, nor canonical endorsement from theHoly See, nor anyone else.[17]
Each 25 August (12 August according to theJulian calendar), the Orthodox icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos is carried in a procession from theMetochion of Gethsemane across from the entrance to theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre, to the Tomb of Mary. Here it remains throughout the period around the Orthodox Day of Dormition (28 August), including the Lamentations of the Eve of the Dormition, until being taken back on 5 September (23 August Julian) in another procession.[18]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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