Bits & Pieces Gathered Along Stories From The Road The Way

THE INTENTIONAL TRAVELER • INTEND2TRAVEL.COM • DEC. 2019

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem has numerous chapels for the member religions of The Status Quo agreement A Ladder Left At A Window? A Ladder at the Window early as 90 AD. In 132 AD the discovered the site Constantine Of The Church of the Roman Emperor Hadrian had had the Roman temple removed Holy Sepulchre and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built upon the spot. Located in the northwest quarter of the Old City of Today the tomb itself is now Jerusalem is a church erected enclosed by a 19th-century on the most sacred site in shrine called the Aedicula. The Christianity. It sits against a hill Status Quo, an understanding known as Calvary or Golgotha between numerous religious where Jesus was crucified. communities watching over the Within the church dating back church dates back to 1757, and to the forth century is the tomb applies to everything involving where Jesus was buried and the site. resurrected. A man working on the church The church was originally built in 1785 left behind a ladder by the mother of Emperor outside a second story window. Constantine in 330 A.D., with Because the members current research confirming the representing The Status Quo Church is the most likely the site actually leveled and a cannot agree on what to do location of these events. temple to Venus erected in an about that ladder it still sits on effort to stop the Christians its ledge today. Imagine how Historical records indicate that from using it. After the difficult it would be to the site had become the focus Empress Helena of the Roman accomplish anything of Christian pilgrimages as Empire, and mother of Emperor important? Constantine the Great Continued on the next page COMING SOON INTEND2TRAVEL.COM INTEND2TRAVEL.COM Visit our website for more travel Travel Representatives & Advisors pages to download Travel More, Spend Less The Aedicula shrine encloses.the tomb

Another oddity about the church is that its doors are protected by two Muslim families. In 1192 after the Muslim Salah A-Din recaptured Jerusalem, he assigned the roll of opening the Doors of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to two Muslim families, the Nuseibeh as the Door Keeper and the Joudeh as the key keeper. Over more than 800 years now, every time the doors are Church of the Holy Sepulchre and entrance courtyard opened a member of the Joudeh family brings the Key and a Just inside the entrance to the One of the rituals upon visiting church is the Stone of Anointing the church is to lean in and member of the Nuseibeh family or Unction, which tradition touch the stone. Many people uses the key and open the doors of believes to be the spot where report a religious experience the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jesus' body was prepared for upon laying their hand upon the burial by Joseph of Arimathea. Stone of Anointing.

The Dome of the Rock stands above the West Wall