Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is the centerof all Christianity in our world. This religion unites one-third of the world's population. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located exactly in the place where Christ was crucified, buried, and where he was resurrected.

The structure of the temple is not easy, to understand itIt is easier in the presence of a scheme, because in its territory there are at least 40 buildings. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a mountain of Golgotha, on which the crucifixion of Christ took place, and the cave of the Holy Sepulcher. Underground passages are laid down, however, a few chosen ones can pass through them. It is also unique that different parts of the church belong to different faiths: Orthodox, Catholic, Coptic, Syrian, Ethiopian and Armenian.

History of the Temple

The history of the temple is very interesting - it is three timeswas destroyed and completely restored. The building, which appears to the gaze of pilgrims these days, was restored after the fire that occurred in 1808. After a while, the main dome suddenly fell in the temple. The restoration of this dome occurred during the reign of Nicholas I. Funds for restoration were allocated from the Russian and French coffers.

The very first temple located above the CoffinLord, was built in the time of Constantine the Great, who planned to build the most beautiful of existing on earth temples. In 614, the first destruction of the temple occurred - the work of Persian king Khosrai II. The restoration was carried out by the patriarch of Jerusalem Modest. Rebuild only succeeded in some parts of the temple.

In 1009 the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was destroyedthe second time, the Arabs have put their hand to it. This time the church was rebuilt in the 12th century. The Emperor from Byzantium Constantine Monomakh built a new church over the Holy Sepulcher, however, he did not succeed in repeating the beauty and refinement of the previous structure. In 1130, the crusaders who conquered Jerusalem decided to rebuild the temple in order to restore the former beauty. But the building turned out to be too fragile, it was rather temporary.

The next destruction occurred in the XVI century, more preciselyhis disassembly. Rebuild the Church of the Holy Sepulcher decided the Emperor Charles V and his son Philip. This structure existed until 1808, after which there was a fire.

Temple in our day

Today there are three components: The first is the church on Calvary, the second is the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, the third is the church of the Resurrection. Everyone who enters the Temple in Jerusalem immediately sees the "anointing stone", which is located opposite the entrance. Next is the blank wall of the Resurrection Cathedral. Guides call this wall an internal temple located inside the main building. If you turn right, you can see the entrance to Calvary. On the left hand there is a rotunda of the central church. At its top flaunts a blue dome. Around the rotunda is a colonnade of 18 columns, and in its center is a marble chapel, called Kuvuklia. It is the center of all buildings, it was at this place that Christ was buried. Built this chapel in 1810. Its location is interesting in that it covers the cave where there was a thunder with the body of Christ. The cave is divided into two parts - the chapel of the Angel and the cave of the Holy Sepulcher proper. In the cave itself is a "lioness" in the form of a bed, where the body of Christ lay.

Nowadays, "lavitsa" is an altar forthe celebration of the Liturgy. The length of this "altar" is 2 meters, width - 1.5 meters. The "lavitsa" is laid out with slabs of white marble. A long crack stretches across it, which served as the basis for many legends. The cave of the Holy Sepulcher is illuminated by 43 lamps. Every day three liturgies are performed on the "lavitsa" - Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic.

Directly from the temple you can get to Calvary,breaking 18 steps. The Golgotha ​​temple is a very small room, the source of light in which is the only window. At the place of execution of the cross now is the throne for the commission of a bloodless victim.