World Religions: Jerusalem, Part 2

As a second part to yesterday’s post, I’m going to share our learning and experience with the Christian religion and the Armenians who live in Jerusalem.

Just like my mom said in her post, in Jerusalem, there are four quarters: a Christian quarter, a Jewish quarter, a Muslim quarter, and an Armenian quarter. Why is there an Armenian quarter? Why not a Portuguese or Russian quarter? The reason is the Armenians have been living in Jerusalem for a really long time.

The Armenians were the first entire nation to become Christian in 301 AD. They have many churches in their quarter which contain relics of saints, like one church has the head of St. James the evangelist (his body is in Spain) and the bones of Jesus’ half brother. The holiest place for Armenians is Mount Ararat in Turkey. It is said that was where Noah landed the Ark after floating on water for 40 days and 40 nights. The mountain is so holy, it appears on the Armenian flag.  It is also represented in the hoods of the Armenian Orthodox priests and monks’ robes which are pointed to look like this mountain.

The pointed hoods of the Armenian Orthodox priests

The Armenians were living in Jersalem at the time of the Crusades, and were unfortunately killed because the Crusaders couldn’t tell the difference between the Armenian Christians, Muslims and Jewish people. It was a huge mistake made because of a lack of ability to communicate.

While seeing some of the Christian sites, the one which stood out to me the most, and is  probably the best well known, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. I think this church is really neat because it is divided between different Christian churches like Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox. Earlier on in the church’s history, all the different Christian groups got together and signed an agreement which said nothing would be removed or changed in the church unless all the groups approved. For example, in the church today, there is a ladder on a balcony outside a window, probably used for cleaning or fixing the window.  It is still there after hundreds of years because the groups can’t decide where to put it and who should remove it!

Since the church is owned by different branches of Christianity, which group would be in charge of the keys? The groups went to a Muslim judge who took the keys and gave them to a Muslim family. The keys are still passed on from generation to generation in this one Muslim family. Everyday a member of this family brings the keys and unlocks the church in the morning and locks the door at night. Tourists like to stay after hours to take pictures of the person doing this job.

When you enter the church, the first thing you see is a big beautiful mosaic.  It depicts the crucifixion of Jesus and his burial, which is what the church is dedicated to.  I was able to tell the Greek Orthodox church owned the mosaic because I could recognize the style.  It was like the icons in our church at home.

The holy sites in this church are said to be from Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. There is:

• The rock where the cross was raised

The hill where the cross was raised

Jesus taken down from the cross

• The stone where his body was laid to be cleaned after he was taken down from the cross

The rock where his body was laid to be cleaned

Jesus’ body being cleaned

•  The cave where he was buried

The building containing the burial cave of Jesus

Putting Jesus in the tomb

Also, underneath the rock where the cross was raised, the bones of Adam, the first man who lived with Eve, were found. It shows how everything is connected to something which occurred in the past, as Adam was Jesus’ ancestor.

While we were exploring the church, this man approached us and told us to follow him because he wanted to show us something. He brought us to a small room with a chair, a few icons, and the opening to a small cave. We learned the cave was actually the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, the man who collected Jesus’ blood in a cup, making the Holy Grail, along with his wife, brother, and children. We were the only people in there because nobody knew what they were looking at, so it looked like an unimpressive room. I thought it was really neat to visit a place a majority of tourists don’t know about.

I had read about the places we visited in the Bible, so I can recognize their religious importance.  Jerusalem has the holiest sites on Earth which is why it draws so many devout followers.  Visiting this city is like walking into religious texts; everything you read about and believe can be seen.

One site can have different meanings to different people and faiths.  I’m hoping in my lifetime these groups sort out their problems and practice their religions in peace.