JERUSALEM. - Principal city of Palestine, religious capital and center of biblical history.
I. ANCIENT HISTORY.
I. FROM THE ORIGINS TO THE CONQUEST OF DAVID (3000-1000 B.C.)
The opinion, common until half a century ago, that placed the origins of J. on the western hill, traditionally known by the name of Mount Zion, no longer finds supporters. It is by now an uncontested fact, acquired by historical and archaeological science, that the primitive J. arose on the eastern hill and precisely on the southern spur conventionally called Ophel. To the natural defense offered by this hill with its steep slopes, well delimited by the deep valleys of the Kidron to the east and of the Tyropoeon to the west, by an impassable escarpment to the south, at the confluence of the two valleys, and by a natural depression, easily reinforced, to the north, was added the vital advantage of the proximity of the spring, the only one in J., the biblical Gihon (v.: today called 'Ajn Sitti Marjom' "fountain of Madonna Mary" or Umm ed-Dereg "mother of the steps").
In the caves adjacent to this spring the autochthonous inhabitants took refuge for centuries, from the Lower Paleolithic period down to historical times, until they were supplanted or absorbed by a population of superior culture, acquainted with metal, which in the course of the 4th millennium B.C. invaded Palestine and which the Old Testament later calls, with a term more geographical than technical, Canaanite. The abundant series of lithic tools and pottery collected in the burial caves of Ophel, classified from the end of the Eneolithic age down to the beginning and throughout the time of the Early Bronze, is the concrete proof of the primitive urban nucleus on the hill during the 3rd millennium. The so-called "execration" texts, composed in Egypt ca. 1900 B.C., have revealed that the Canaanite city already bore the name of Uridalem ("foundation of the god Salem"). The great ethnic movements of the 2nd millennium had a repercussion also in J., and the change found in the technique of pottery and of constructions attests the settlement of a new ethnic element.
The Amorite clan of the Jebusites, aware of the importance of the spring of Gihon, settled on the hill above, extending further north, and to the natural defense added a powerful circuit of walls, reinforced with towers the weakest part, the northern one, precisely south of the present wall of el-Haram es-Serif. In the center of the hill on the acropolis, called by the native name Zion, it created the royal palace and the Sanctuary, and provided for the water supply in case of siege, with the construction of the secret passage (the tunnel of Ophel) which from inside the city allowed water to be drawn from the spring of Gihon.
It was here that Melchizedek, priest of the Most High, exercised his sovereignty, according to a Jewish tradition (Fl. Josephus, Antiq. Jud., I, 10, 2), at the time when Abraham was traversing Palestine as a nomad (Gen. 14, 17).
Having fallen under Egyptian influence with the victory of Thutmose III, the Jebusite Urusalim (thus called in the el-Amarna letters, ca. 1400 B.C.), had a mixed population (Ex. 16, 3: "your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite") and was governed by princes vassal to the Pharaoh. The Hittite prince 'Abd-Hiba from the height of his fortress asks the Pharaoh for help to defend Bit Sulman, the capital, from the assault of raiders. At the time of the Israelite invasion the king Adonizedek, having placed himself at the head of a confederation of Amorite kings, attempted to oppose the enemy penetration. Although defeated and put to death by Joshua (Jos. 10, 26), he left the capital strong enough to confront (Jos. 15, 8.63) and to keep the conquerors at a respectful distance (Judg. 19, 12) until the year 1000.
II. FROM THE CONQUEST OF DAVID TO THE DESTRUCTION (1000-587 B.C.)
When King David (v.) resolved to unite the different fractions of the people, the independence of Urusalim, isolated among the neighboring tribes of Judah and Benjamin (Jos. 15, 8; 18, 16) was compromised by the fact that it occupied the site most favorable to becoming the political and religious center of the Kingdom. The city, well fortified, could have resisted for a long time the siege of David's army, had the secret passage (sinnōr), which put the spring in communication with the city, not offered the way by which Joab was able to penetrate and by surprise conquer the city (II Sam. 5, 8; I Chron. 11, 5). The victor's first care was to repair the walls around the hill (a tower and a reinforcement of wall above the spring of Gihon are shown as Davidic work) and with the material and the workers sent by King Hiram of Tyre the royal palace was created in the center of the acropolis of Zion, which as his property became "the city of David" (II Sam. 5, 9). But what contributed to making J. the capital was the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-jearim to Zion and the erection of an altar on the threshing floor of the Hittite Ornan, where the angel had appeared on the occasion of the plague (II Sam. 24, 16).
But the Davidic city, still contained within the Canaanite perimeter, could not satisfy the ambition of Solomon, who moved its center toward the north, onto Moriah, with the creation of the vast platform of the present Haram eš-Šerif, on which workers of King Hiram of Tyre built the magnificent Temple (I Kings 5-8). Almost at the center of this area the "Dome of the Rock" (mosque of 'Omar) today covers the bare rock on which was placed "the altar of burnt offerings"; a little further west was "the house of Yahweh" in the midst of vast courts (I Kings 6, 36; Jer. 36, 10). South of the esplanade where the mosque el-Aqṣā stands today were the royal palace, the palace for Solomon's daughter, the government quarter with the administrative offices and the court of justice (I Kings 7, 12).
By means of a great embankment or millō' (I Kings 11, 27) the city of David was joined to the new city and with a new wall (called "the first wall" by Fl. Josephus, Bell. Jud., V, 4, 2) the new dwellings that had arisen on the slopes of the western hill were included in the city. The "first wall", of which the foundations remain visible, especially in the eastern part, ran north of the present Jaffa Gate, as far as the entrance of the Haram eš-Šerif called Bāb es-Silsileh, and encircled the whole city (called in Hebrew phonetics Jērūšālajim) on the crest of the hills that dominate the valleys of the Kidron and of the Hinnom.
At the death of Solomon the urbanistic momentum suffered an inevitable halt with the schism of the 10 tribes, and J. remained the capital of the small kingdom of Judah and Benjamin, weakened ever more by raids, invasions and internal dissensions. In the fifth year of King Rehoboam (929), Shishak king of Egypt plundered the Temple and the royal palace (I Kings 14, 25); later King Asa (910) alienated a great part of the city's wealth to obtain the alliance of Ben-hadad, king of Syria, against Baasha, king of Israel (I Kings 15, 18; II Chron. 16, 2-3).
In 842 the impious Athaliah usurped the throne and exterminated the Davidic line (II Kings 11, 4); Joash, who escaped her, abandoned himself to idolatry, while Hazael, king of Syria, invaded the city and did not withdraw until he had received the abundant riches of the treasury of the Temple and of the royal palace (II Kings 12, 17-18).
At the beginning of the 8th century, under Amaziah, the king of Israel Joash opened a breach of 400 cubits in the northern wall nal "between the gate of Ephraim and the corner gate" and transfers to Samaria the gold, the silver and the precious vessels of the Temple (II Kings 14, 13-14). King Azariah (782) attends to the restoration of the walls, furnishing with towers "the corner gate and the valley gate" (II Chron. 26, 9), but an earthquake once again devastates J. (Am. 1, 1; Zech. 14, 15) and the desolation would have been complete had not Jotham (738) attended to the fortifications, already begun by his father, especially in the region of Ophel (II Kings 15, 35; II Chron. 27, 2-3).
(Ist. Enc. Cutt.)
King Ahaz (736) further impoverishes the city, buying with immense gifts the aid of the king of Assyria against the king of Damascus and of Israel, who had conspired to the harm of Judah (II Kings 16, 5). On this occasion the prophet Isaiah confronted the King "at the end of the conduit of the upper pool," pronouncing the famous prediction of the 'almāh (Is. 7, 3-14).
After Samaria fell in 721, the capital received many refugees who went to swell the mišneh quarter, or new city 'ir mišneh (II Kings 22, 14; II Chron. 34, 22; Neh. 11, 14), which had been forming outside the city walls and which Hezekiah (716), on the eve of Sennacherib's invasion, protected by creating a new circuit ("the second wall") that extended from the Gennat gate, near the Jaffa gate, as far as the Antonia (v.), leaving the hill of Golgotha outside (II Chron. 32, 2-5). But the principal work of this King was the opening of an aqueduct of about 550 m. through solid rock to carry the waters of the upper Gihon into the pool of Siloam in order to deprive the Assyrian invaders of the water supply. The tunnel, a truly considerable work for the 7th century, is still in working order. An inscription found in 1889 at the outlet of the aqueduct describes this hydraulic work.
His successor Manasseh (687) likewise repaired the fortifications of the city (II Chron. 33, 14-16), especially in the region of Ophel and on the north-east front of the Temple "as far as the fish gate." But all these precautions became useless in the face of the attack launched in 587 by the troops of Nebuchadnezzar, who put the city to fire and sword, deporting to Babylon the king and the greater part of the inhabitants.
III. FROM THE REBUILDING OF NEHEMIAH TO THE DESTRUCTION OF 70
After the liberating edict of Cyrus (538) the Jews who had returned to their homeland repaired the altar of holocausts and on the foundations of Solomon's Temple rebuilt "the house of the Lord," or second Temple (Ezra 3, 1-13); in 444, under the direction of Nehemiah, the walls of the city were raised again (Neh. 3, 1-32). Under the authority of the high priests and the Persian satraps, although the city reproduced the extent of the ancient one, it was sparsely populated and had little political importance. In 331 Alexander the Great conquered it; at his death J. passed under the protectorate of the Lagids, then became subject to the Seleucids.
In 168 Antiochus IV (v.) Epiphanes plundered the city, profaned the Temple, suspended its sacrifices and with his garrison established himself on the citadel, the Acra (v.), probably north-west of the Temple (I Macc. 1, 20-58); the Hellenization of the city would have been complete without the Maccabean reaction. After 3 years of bitter struggle Judas Maccabeus (165) regained control of the Temple, which the style of the age honors with the title of Mount Zion (I Macc. 10, 1-8), and to the north-west built the fortress Baris for the defense of the Temple area. Jonathan, his successor (160), taking advantage of the internal struggles in Syria, reoccupied part of the city and repaired the quarters plundered by Antiochus (I Macc. 6, 18-62), while Simon completed its fortification works and in 142 reduced to silence the Syrian fortress, the Acra (I Macc. 13, 49).
During the Hasmonean kingdom "J. the holy," as it is inscribed on the shekel of Israel, enjoyed a period of prosperity, later disturbed by the internal struggles between Aristobulus II and Hyrcanus II, which provoked Roman intervention. Pompey in 63 made J. tributary to Rome and in 37 Herod (v.) the Great, with the favor of Augustus, took possession of the Kingdom. Of the many transformations the city had undergone, none was more profound than that which this monarch carried out there. The general plan reflected that of Nehemiah, but the buildings were conceived according to Greco-Roman inspiration: the agora, a theater, an amphitheater, a hippodrome were built.
On the western hill, or "upper city," the royal palace was built, defended to the north by a high wall and flanked by 3 very tall towers which Herod named Hippicus, after the name of a friend of his, Phasael, in memory of his elder brother, and Mariamne, in remembrance of the unfortunate wife he had loved so much. The magnificence of these constructions can still be admired in the bases of the so-called "tower of David," or citadel, brought to light again in the excavations of 1934-39.
On the eastern hill, or "lower city," at the north-west corner of the Temple, on the foundations of the Hasmonean Baris, was built the fortress called Antonia (v.), in honor of the Roman triumvir Antony. Surrounded by a formidable moat, it was a vast palace with porticoes and gardens, whose plan recent excavations have made it possible to recognize, and especially the great paved floor which is held to be the Lithostrotos (John 18, 25) in which Jesus was condemned by Pontius Pilate.
The great marvel of the J. of this period was the reconstruction of the Temple ("third Temple"), preceded by vast courts among which rose to the south the basilica, on the site of the present al-Aqsa. This was the Temple that Jesus visited at the age of 12 (Luke 2, 42), where he taught in the "portico of Solomon"
(John 10, 32) and into which he entered solemnly acclaimed, from the gate near the present Golden Gate, a few days before the Passion; but of the "beautiful stones" that adorned the sacred edifice he predicted the destruction, which occurred completely in 70.
On Herod's death, his son Archelaus reigned for a few years with the title of ethnarch, but for the bloody repression of the Jewish revolt, which cost more than 3000 victims, he was recalled to Gaul.
The government returned under the Roman procurators, and J. even lost its status as capital, which passed to Caesarea (v.) of Palestine. In 25 A.D. the emperor Tiberius appointed as procurator Pontius Pilate (v.), who condemned Jesus to please the Jews, whose hatred he nonetheless incurred by having dared to display the Roman standards and to take from the Temple treasury the sums needed for the construction of the aqueduct that brought water to J. from the springs of Ethan. Of the places mentioned in the Gospel, the pool of Siloam (Jn 9:7) and that of Bezetha (v.; Jn 5:1) are certainly known. Guaranteed by ancient tradition are the garden of Gethsemane and the Cenacle; but the site of Jesus' religious trial at the palace of Caiaphas and of the civil trial at the praetorium still remains uncertain.
Golgotha, a rocky knoll outside the walls near a gate of the city, where Jesus was crucified and then buried nearby, now lies within the city, because in 44, under the reign of Herod Agrippa, the city, having expanded into the region of Gareb and Bezetha, was enclosed on its northern side by the "third wall," which followed roughly the direction of the present wall.
In 1925-27 some archaeologists thought they had rediscovered the "third wall" much farther north than the present one, but, as H. Vincent has observed, the poor construction technique, with reused material, seems to bear the mark of hasty work and does not correspond to the description given by Flavius Josephus.
On the death of Herod Agrippa, J. was again governed by Roman procurators, but the rapacity of Gessius Florus (64-66) kindled the terrible conflagration by which J. was to be destroyed.
To quell the revolt Nero sent Vespasian, who, having become emperor, entrusted the continuation of the work to his son Titus. The first attacks (March 31, 70) were directed against the third wall on the western hill defended by Simon of Gerasa; the second wall was then attacked, defended by John of Gischala, where after five days of siege the breach was opened. The population, with the enemy at the gates and civil war within, suffered the horrors of famine, but the army continued to resist stoutly; finally, after the fortress Antonia was taken by assault a few weeks later, the Romans seized the Temple hill and subsequently the upper and lower city. The Temple, against the will of Titus, was set on fire, and all the rest of J., apart from the towers Hippicus, Phasael and Mariamne, was destroyed (Aug. 70).
In memory of that triumph, immortalized in Rome by the arch of Titus, a coin was struck with the inscription Iudaea capta.
On May 15, 1948 the Jews again proclaimed the State of Israel in Palestine with J. as its capital.
Bibliography3 works
II. THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM.
I. FROM THE BEGINNINGS TO THE ARAB INVASION (638)
Although J. was the cradle of Christianity, the patriarchate of J. nonetheless did not have the importance of the other Eastern patriarchates. It arose last and took and kept the last place among the others.
The first bishop of J. was St. James the Less, "brother" of the Lord. His successor Simeon witnessed the destruction of the city by Titus (70). Up to the second destruction, at the time of the rebellion of Bar Kokhba, 13 more Jewish-Christian bishops are counted. In the pagan city Aelia Capitolina, founded in 135, Christians coming from paganism settled, it seems, already early. That Church was subject to Caesarea of Palestine as its metropolis. The bishop Narcissus, at the Council of J. held in 190 over the question of Easter, took the second place immediately after the metropolitan of Caesarea. In the long period of peace of the 3rd century, pilgrimages to the Holy Land already began. J. acquired greater importance after the peace granted by Constantine to the Church. Can. 7 of the Council of Nicaea recognizes for J. a primacy of honor, while insisting however on the rights of the metropolitan of Caesarea. The emperor Constantine had the basilica of the Resurrection built. The Holy Places attracted many pilgrims and monks, and J. became a center of monasticism. The liturgy of the Holy City exercised a very vast influence. In the 4th century J. was involved in the Arian disputes. The most eminent bishop of that time is St. Cyril (351-76). The Origenist disputes and the polemic surrounding Pelagianism reached J. in the time of bishop John II (387-417). The struggle over Origen at that time divided St. Jerome and Rufinus, who had then settled in the vicinity of the city.
The bishop Juvenal (422-58) obtained at the Council of Chalcedon (451) that J. be separated from Antioch and declared an independent patriarchate; Palestine was subjected to it, but not Phoenicia or Arabia. Rome protested in vain against this decision of the Council. The disputes of Monophysitism also touched Palestine, but did not cause there a lasting division as at Antioch and Alexandria. It is largely thanks to St. Sabas that orthodoxy was maintained in Palestine. Against its powerful neighbors (Antioch and Alexandria) J. leaned on Constantinople, following the faith of that city. This dragged it into the Acacian schism in 482-518. The monks of the monasteries of J. and its surroundings took an active part in the Origenist disputes, which led to the condemnation issued by the third Council of Constantinople (553).
The end of the 6th century and the beginning of the 7th were an era of splendor for the patriarchate of J.; but the invasion of the Persians in 614 brought ruin there. Thousands of Christians were killed; many churches were destroyed; the patriarch Zechariah was deported to Persia and the True Cross was carried off as spoils of war. The victory of the emperor Heraclius brought back the True Cross, but stirred up the disputes over Monothelitism, whose bitterest opponent was the patriarch of J. St. Sophronius (634-38).
II. FROM THE ARAB INVASION UNTIL THE CONQUEST OF THE OTTOMAN TURKS (638-1516)
St. Sophronius had to negotiate with the Arab conqueror 'Omar, who granted G. a relatively favorable treaty. The conquerors' distrust of the Orthodox who adhered to the faith of the Byzantine Emperor prevented the election of a patriarch for 68 years. The Church was then administered by vicars, who had relations with Rome or with Constantinople. At that time Rome worked hard to ensure the continuity of the hierarchy of G. and to protect it against Monothelitism. In the controversy over iconoclasm G. remained faithful to Rome and to the true faith. The most strenuous champion of the veneration of the sacred images, St. John Damascene, lived as a monk in the monastery of St. Sabas in the vicinity of G. The patriarch Theodore I condemned iconoclasm in the synod of 763, together with the patriarchs of Antioch and Alexandria. Charlemagne seems to have acquired a right of protectorate over the Holy Places of G. In his time a Latin monastery was founded on the Mount of Olives, whose inhabitants disputed over the Filioque with the Greek monks of the Monastery of St. Sabas. At the ecumenical Council of Constantinople of 869 the delegate of the patriarch of G. Theodosius (862-78) declared that the latter would never recognize Photius. The victories of the Byzantines in the second part of the 10th century exacerbated the situation of the Christians of G. In 966 the Arabs sacked the church of the Resurrection and killed the patriarch John VII. The plan of the emperor John Tzimisces to conquer G. failed. The persecution reached its height under the Fatimid Hâkim (1005-20). The church of the Resurrection was destroyed in 1010. The Byzantine emperors obtained through negotiations permission to rebuild it, and the reconstruction was completed in 1048.
In the era of the schism of Michael Cerularius relations between Constantinople and G. were excellent, since the Christians of the Holy City relied on the help they were to receive from the Byzantines against the Muslims. It is difficult to establish exactly what the attitude of the patriarch of G. was toward the schism of Constantinople. The capture of G. by the Seljuks (1071) worsened the situation of the Christians. The crusaders, who conquered G. in 1099, adopted a less prudent attitude toward the Greeks, although much of what is said against them is exaggerated. The election of a Latin patriarch while the Greek Simeon was still alive and the extensive latinization of the patriarchate must have embittered the Greeks. During the domination of the Latins in G. the Greek patriarchs generally resided in Constantinople and were appointed by the emperor; this proves that at that time they were schismatics. In the patriarchate, on the other hand, clergy and people were officially considered as Catholics. After the Muslims under Saladin retook G. in 1187, the Greek patriarchs returned there and from that time the patriarchate was undoubtedly schismatic. Even at the time of the Council of Lyon (1274) the patriarch of G. Gregory showed himself an opponent of the Union. Under the domination of the Mamluk sultans the situation of the Christians in Palestine was very harsh. At the Council of Florence (1439) the patriarch Joachim of G. was represented by Dositheus of Monembasia, who signed the act of the Union. But, as it seems, the patriarch already in the Synod of G. of 1443 repudiated that Union.
III. FROM THE TURKISH CONQUEST UNTIL TODAY
The Ottoman Turks, who conquered Palestine in 1516, completely subjected the patriarchate of G. to that of Constantinople. They favored the Greeks, whereas the Mamelukes had pursued a policy hostile to them. From the 16th century the Church of G. is dominated by the Greek confraternity of the Holy Sepulchre, composed of the monks of the principal monasteries. Almost the entire people and the lower clergy are nevertheless Arabic-speaking.
The dispute over the Holy Places between the Greeks and the Custody (v.) of the Holy Land of the Franciscans is discussed elsewhere. An important patriarch in the 17th century is Dositheos (1669-1707), noted for his struggle against Protestantism (condemned on his initiative by the Synod of G. of 1672) and for his Confessio Fidei, strongly influenced by Latin theology.
The most recent times of the patriarchate are characterized by growing Russian influence and by continuous disputes over the Holy Places. In the 19th century the Protestants too settled in G., beginning in 1833. In 1840, by the Prussian king Frederick William IV in agreement with the British crown, a Prussian-Anglican bishopric was erected in G. This hybrid organization did not last long. In 1888 the English founded a bishopric of their own. Recently the YMCA carries on an intense and baneful activity.
The Orthodox patriarchate, especially in recent decades, suffered grave internal difficulties. The old opposition between the Greek leadership of the Church and the Arab people was exacerbated at the beginning of this century. In 1908, after the revolution of the Young Turks, the Arabs insistently renewed their demands, demanding the abolition of the privileges of the Greeks. The patriarch Damianos, who showed himself ready to make concessions, was deposed by the Holy Synod, but in the end remained in office. After the First World War the patriarchate of G., because of the lack of Russian subsidies, found itself in a very precarious situation. The English mandatory government had to settle the dissension between the Arabs and the leadership of the Church, publishing in 1938 a Constitution of the Church, which was to replace the fundamental law of 1875. The Constitution, although it takes into account the aspirations of the Arabs, is nevertheless rejected by them as insufficient. The current patriarch, the Greek Timotheos Themelis, elected in 1935, was recognized by the mandatory government only in 1939 and still meets with opposition among the Arab faithful.
The patriarchate of G. counts six metropolises and eight archbishoprics, today for the most part merely titular. It comprises the territory of Palestine and Transjordan; it counts in Palestine 40,000 faithful and in Transjordan 20,000. The lower clergy is of scant culture and the care of souls is much neglected.
IV. THE GREEK-CATHOLIC OR MELKITE PATRIARCHATE
Since 1763 the Catholics of the Byzantine rite in Palestine have been subject to the Melkite patriarch of Antioch. In 1838 Pope Gregory XVI conferred on Patriarch Maximos III Mazloum the title of patriarch of G. on a personal basis. In fact even the present patriarch uses such a title. He is represented in G. by a vicar. Outside the patriarchal diocese there still exists one with the title of St. John of Acre, with Caifa as the episcopal residence. In 1932 the diocese of Philadelphia was erected in Transjordan, with its seat at 'Amman. For the formation of the clergy in G. there is the Seminary of St. Anne, directed by the White Fathers. The number of the faithful is around 20,000 in Palestine and 4,500 in Transjordan.
V. THE LATIN PATRIARCHATE
It was founded after the conquest of the Holy City by the Crusaders (1099). Since the Latins were the masters of the country, it is understandable that they wanted to have a Latin patriarch, although this measure was not very well suited to winning the sympathy of the Greeks. When in 1187 G. was conquered by Saladin, the Latin patriarch had to leave his post. From 1191 until 1291 'Akkâ (St. John of Acre) was the seat of the Latin patriarchate, except for the period between 1229 and 1244, in which the patriarchate was able to reside in G. after it had been recovered by Frederick II. In 1262 the bishopric of 'Akkâ became the patriarch's own diocese. However, after the fall of the city the patriarch took refuge in Cyprus. From the 14th century the patriarchate became purely titular.
In 1847 Pius IX, with the apostolic letter Nulla celebrior of 23 July, re-established the Latin patriarchate of G. To better understand this decision, it is worth noting that the Melkite Catholics were not in a position to work effectively for the conversion of the schismatics in Palestine, and that it was desired to give a suitable title to the head of the Latin Church in G.
The Latin patriarchate has a well-formed and zealous clergy, for the most part native. It counts 21,000 faithful in Palestine and 6000 in Transjordan. It also has a veritable army of religious men and women, numbering about 1770. The island of Cyprus also belongs to the Latin patriarchate. The total number of the faithful of the whole patriarchate is around 40,000. The patriarchate is today subject to the Congregation for the Eastern Church.
Various Catholic centers of biblical-archaeological studies should be mentioned: the Ecole biblique et archéologique française of the Dominicans of the Convent of St. Stephen, who publish there the Revue biblique; the Pontificio istituto biblico of the Jesuits; the Istituto biblico of the Franciscans and that of the Spanish Benedictines of Monserrat; the Oriental Institut of the « Görresgeschellschaft ».
Alongside these, it is right to mention others, although of a different religion, for their excellent work and their costly research: the Deutsches evangelisches Institut für Altertumshunde des hl. Landes; the American School of Oriental Research, the British School of Archaeology, the Palestine Jewish Exploration Society, the Palestine Oriental Society.
VI. THE OTHER CHRISTIAN COMMUNITIES
The Holy Places attract all Christians without distinction. The monophysite Jacobites have had, since the end of the 6th century, a bishop in the city, where they also possess the Convent of St. Mark with a famous library rich in manuscripts and a printing press.
The Catholic Syrians, the Chaldeans, the Catholic Armenians and the Maronites have in J. their own patriarchal vicar. A Coptic bishop has resided in the city since the 11th century. He is today superior of the Coptic convent near the Holy Sepulchre, where there is also an Ethiopian monastery. The dissident Armenians have had since 1175 an archbishop residing in the Convent of St. James on Mount Zion. This archbishop in 1311 took the title of patriarch. The Russians possess some convents in J. and, before the gates of the city, a cathedral, besides a hospice for pilgrims (recently the Russian properties situated in the Jewish quarter passed into the hands of the Soviet government). The Anglicans have there a bishop who governs the entire "diocese of J." established by them (cf. C. Crivelli, La « diocesi » anglicana di G., in Civ. Catt., 1943, iv, pp. 159-65; 235-41).
Bibliography10 works
Guglielmo de Vries
III. THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM.
Around 49-50 the Apostles and the presbyters gathered in Jerusalem to decide a controversy raised by the Judaizers (v.). These demanded that the pagans converted during Paul's first apostolic journey be subjected to circumcision and to the obligation of observing the Mosaic law (Acts 15, 1).
Paul and Barnabas are sent from Antioch to Jerusalem to settle the question. The account of their mission fills those assembled with joy, but the supporters of circumcision do not relent. In the public session, Peter, appealing to the conversion of the centurion Cornelius, proclaims the Gentile Christians exempt from the yoke of the Mosaic law. James confirms his thesis and proposes a compromise then drafted into a decree: the converted pagans are to abstain only from the blood of meats offered to idols ("idolothytes"), from those of animals that died by suffocation ("strangled") and from fornication, which according to several exegetes indicates certain marriages between relatives forbidden by the Mosaic law.
In the "Western" recension of the text (v. ACTS OF THE APOSTLES, 5) of Acts (codex D etc.), where the obligation to abstain from the strangled is omitted (Acts 15, 20, 29), the decree takes on an anachronistic meaning that no longer reflects the Judaizing controversy. In that recension the abstention from blood seems to concern homicide; there is then added the golden rule of charity.
In Gal. 2, 1-10, a passage parallel to Acts 15, Paul adds some clarifications: he says that he went up to J. following a revelation (which does not exclude the mission of the Church), that he brought Titus with him and obtained that he not be circumcised, that there was a private session between him and the pillars of the Church (James, Cephas, John), concluded with an agreement for the division of the field of the apostolate.
Bibliography
Pietro De Ambroggi
IV. HAGIOGRAPHY AND LITURGY.
The apostle and martyr James, first bishop of G., was laid to rest near the temple, and Hegesippus indicates that in his time his stele was still to be seen (Eusebius, Hist. ecc., II, 18). Eusebius relates that in the 4th century his episcopal chair was displayed (ibid., VII, 19), which was later transferred to the church of Sion (Itinera Hierosolymitana, ed. B. Geyer, in CSEL, 38, p. 108). The discovery of the relics of St. Stephen took place at Caphargamala following a dream had by the priest Lucian. The bishop of G., John, solemnly deposited the relics of the protomartyr in the church of Sion (BHL, 7850-56; Epistula Luciani, 2-9: PL 41, 809-15). Martyrius, bishop of G., deposited on 7 May 483 beneath the altar of the monastery of St. Euthymius the relics of the martyrs Tarachus, Probus and Andronicus (Vita s. Euthymii: BHG, 647).
In G., still in the 6th century, under the date of 25 Dec. the Nativity of Christ was not celebrated, but the memory of King David and of the apostle James, first bishop of the city; thus the priest Hesychius of G. calls James the brother of the Lord (Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 275: PG 104, 241). When the calendar of G. was reformed, their commemoration was moved to 26 Dec., the martyrdom of St. Stephen to 27 Dec.; the apostles Peter and Paul, then, to 28 Dec.; according to the testimony of Sophronius (BHG, 1496), to the 29th the commemoration of the apostles John and James (H. Goussen, Über georgische Drucke und Handschriften..., München-Gladbach 1923, pp. 5-6). In the Jeronymian Martyrology there is commemorated at G. on 5 Jan. the deposition of the patriarch Simeon, which in some codices recurs also on 2 Feb.; on 25 March the martyrdom of the apostle and bishop James; that is, on the day on which the same Martyrology marks the death of the Redeemer; on 1 May the natale of the bishop Judas, called Cyriacus, (BHL, 7023-25) which recurs in the story of the invention of the Holy Cross celebrated on the following day (ibid., 4169-75); on 3 Aug. the finding of the body of St. Stephen; on 30 Sept., in the territory of G., in the castle of Bethlehem, St. Jerome.
Although from the liturgical point of view it falls within the Syrian type, the liturgy of G. presents some characteristics of its own. In G. certain ceremonies originated which were later adopted in all the churches, such as, for example, the procession on Palm Sunday. The most important text for reconstructing the liturgy of the Church of Jerusalem is without doubt that of the Peregrinatio Egeriae. In Rome the stational liturgy took place at the tombs of the martyrs, as the Leonine Sacramentary attests; in G. the stations were held on the very places sanctified by the presence of the Redeemer; they had, that is, a markedly topographical character; all the events of the Lord's earthly life that had taken place in G. were recalled and, as it were, lived liturgically, also through the reading of those passages of the Gospels that narrated them. Cassian, St. Cyril of G. and Egeria instruct us on the singing of the Psalms; the cantor said or sang the psalm solo and the choir of the faithful took up one of the verses or a part of it. The antiphons consisted in the singing, alternating between two choirs, of the verses of the psalm.
The psalms were all chosen, appropriate to the time and the place, so as to recall the memory of the different mysteries of the Life, Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord.
In the basilica of the Anastasis, at the vigiliae celebrated there on almost every day of the year, the monks and the sacred virgins were obliged to be present. Wednesday and Friday were days of eucharistic synaxis, of station and of fasting also for the catechumens; the Office of None was celebrated in the church of Sion, all the others at the Anastasis.
On Sundays there were no Offices of Sext and None. Other modifications occurred on the Sundays of Lent and at Pentecost.
The bishop, the clergy and the people of G. went to celebrate the Nativity on 6 Jan. in the church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, 6 miles distant from G. After the singing of the vigiliae they returned to G.; the monks on foot, singing the Benedictus qui venit. At dawn they entered the church of the Resurrection
The feast of the Purification was celebrated in the *Anastasis** solemnly, like Easter. For the ceremonies of Holy Week, v. this entry.
The "encenia," as the feast of the dedication of the Anastasis was called, celebrated on 13 Sept., was a very solemn feast in which bishops and faithful from Syria, Egypt and Mesopotamia took part in pilgrimage.
Bibliography2 works
Enrico Josi
V. ARCHAEOLOGY.
Christian monuments. — The systematic destructions of the inhabited area of G. carried out by the troops of Titus in 70 A.D. and then, again by the Romans, to repress the revolt of Simeon bar Kôkhêba in 132, causing the disappearance of imposing and famous monuments, certainly did not stop before buildings far more humble, such as those in which the first Christian community then celebrated its functions of the city. Nor, in truth, are any others known besides the house recalled by the sources as transformed into a church, in which the Last Supper took place and the Apostles gathered after Christ's Ascension until Pentecost.
According to St. Epiphanius it still existed in 135, since the quarter of Zion where it stood had not been reached by the ruin that had struck the rest of J. It is not clear, however, what its fate was in the following period, after Hadrian had decreed that on the area of the ancient city the colony "Aelia Capitolina" should rise and sanctuaries to pagan deities should be erected not only on the places sacred to Israel, but also on those consecrated by the birth and sacrifice of Christ (R. Bartoccini, La roccia sacra degli Ammoniti, in Atti IV Congr. naz. studi romani, Rome 1938). News of this church is had again in the 5th century, through the Armenian Pilgrim, in a precise description of the basilica that in the preceding century had replaced the primitive sanctuary, surrounded by an enclosing wall, "100 cubits long and 70 wide, with eighty columns joined to one another by arches, and a wooden ceiling."
But even before it, triumphant Christianity had turned its attention once more toward the places where the Redeemer was born and died, which had always remained present to the devout remembrance of the Church of J.
To one of its bishops, Macarius, there was entrusted in 321 by the emperor Constantine the delicate task of bringing back to light the Calvary and the tomb of Christ and the grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem. In the so-called Vita Constantini of Eusebius (III, 25 ff.) there is an effective evocation of this work, to which the presence of the empress Helena certainly gave strong impetus. Once the Holy Places had been freed from all the materials that had been piled up over them, and thus restored to the veneration of the Christian world, Constantine commissioned the architects Zenobius and Eustorgius to build a monumental edifice that should comprise and exalt them all. In reality the solution adopted distorted, and not a little, the appearance of the area, inasmuch as, among other things, the rock that contained the Savior's tomb was isolated from the flank of the hill in which it was cut and the ground all around was lowered to the level of its threshold. A rotunda was built around it, with an internal ambulatory in two orders, on which rested a hemispherical dome 36.52 m. in diameter: at the center was the isolated tomb within a circle of twelve columns, perhaps connected by a simple architrave, as many, according to some, as there were Apostles. To the east of this building, distinguished by the name of "Anastasis" (Resurrection), and so successively, there opened a first courtyard surrounded by columns which on the southern side included the gentle height of Golgotha, squared however almost into a cube, with a flight of steps leading to the upper platform enclosed by silver balustrades and paved in mosaic, from which stood out a very tall Cross, very richly adorned. From this courtyard-atrium one passed into a basilica with 5 naves, called the "Martyrium," through two doors arranged at the sides of the apse that curved outward. Furnished, according to Constantine's plan, with all the annexes needed for the faithful and the clergy, all the functions of worship took place in it, so as not to disturb beyond what was necessary the austere solemnity of Christ's tomb. It is calculated that it measured 45 x 26 m., that is, like the basilica of the Nativity before its subsequent transformation; three portals allowed one to exit at the facade into another porticoed atrium, which in turn permitted, through three doors opening onto a front no less monumental than the first, from which it was about 25 m. distant, descending by a flight of steps flanked by propylaea into the colonnade of the cardo maximus of J., a little south of the three-arched archway giving access to the city's forum.
In this form the Sanctuary is still depicted in the well-known geographical mosaic of Madaba, of the 6th century, and such it remained until the destruction carried out by the Persians of Chosroes in 614, who, after the sack, had removed from it the relic of the Holy Cross.
Fr. Vincent concerned himself with illustrating the ancient representations of the Holy Sepulchre (H. Vincent, Quelques représentations antiques du St-Sépulcre Constantinien, in Revue biblique, new series, 10 [1913], pp. 525-546; 11 [1914], pp. 94-109).
The victory won in 627 by the Byzantines over the Persians in the Tigris Valley, and the death of Chosroes, had as their consequence the evacuation of Palestine and the reconquest of the relics and their return to the "Anastasis"; but, being unable to restore the "Martyrium" to its former splendor, the monument began from then on to lose its commemorative character and to be transformed into a true and proper church. Modestus, the hegumen of St. Theodore, took upon himself the hard task of repairing the damage brought by the invader, and on the whole he did not greatly modify the general scheme of the Constantinian buildings. Only in the "Anastasis," applying rigidly the rules of orientation, did he create in place of the entrance a great apse where he placed the altar, and at the sides he opened the entrances. Moreover, at the other cardinal points, he curved the perimeter wall into deep niches. The rest remained almost unchanged. An earthquake in the 9th century, fires and sacks in the 10th, nothing was spared the Holy Sepulchre, until on 18 Oct. 1009 its systematic demolition was begun, including that of the rock down to the level of the burial bench, by order of the second Fatimid caliph of Egypt, al-Hakim bi-amr'illāh, who thus broke the tradition of religious tolerance maintained until then by his predecessors, after the surrender of J. in 637 to the caliph 'Omar. In 1042 the emperor Monomachus obtained permission to rebuild the sanctuary; in six years of work it was reconsecrated, after having however undergone profound transformations, which of the Constantinian rotunda had respected only the eastern half. Thus the Crusaders found it, who, not considering the building to correspond to the sanctity of the memories it contained, conceived the design of uniting all the principal sanctuaries in a single monumental edifice (begun in 1140, inaugurated in 1149). Once again this was modified in 1808 by the Greek Orthodox, and for several years it has again been the object of studies, to remedy the serious lesions that threaten its stability and to restore to it a more noble appearance (L. Marangoni, Il S. Sepolcro, in Civiltà, 4 [1940-41], pp. 86-91).
First Rivoira and then Giovannoni brought out the evident relations between the architecture of the Holy Sepulchre and the mausoleum of St. Constance in Rome, also of the Constantinian period (T. Rivoira, La chiesa del S. Sepolcro in G., in Dissertazioni della Pont. Accad. rom. di arch., 2nd series, 13 [1918], p. 183; G. Giovannoni, Basilicke cristiane in Roma, in Atti del IV Congr. internazionale di arch. crist., I, Vatican City 1940, p. 129). Bywanck called attention to the analogies with the Holy Sepulchre presented by the constructions erected near Nola by St. Paulinus (d. 452) over the tomb of St. Felix (A. W. Bywanck, Die Grabeskirche in Jerusalem und die Bauten am Grabe des hl. Felix bei Nola in Campanien, in Byzantinische Zeitschrift, 30 [1929-30], p. 549). Krautheimer then demonstrated in 1935 that the church of St. Stephen Rotondo on the Caelian, erected by pope Simplicius (468-83), also repeats the concentric scheme of the Holy Sepulchre.
To Helena, mother of Constantine, is traced the construction of the basilica of Helena (the Olivet: Eusebius, Vita Constantini, III, 41), which arose over the grotto in which Jesus had foretold the ruin of J. and his Resurrection. Demolished in the Persian Sack, it remained abandoned and in time every trace of it was dispersed. No certain excavation datum has so far been able to revalidate the various hypotheses put forward as to its exact location.
Sanctuary of the Ascension. - On the Mount of Olives, the rock from which Jesus ascended into heaven was enclosed with a round precinct and a double concentric inner portico, without a roof: on the west it seems to have been preceded by a kind of very sumptuous narthex. Peter the Iberian (ca. 481) attributes its construction to the pilgrim Poemenia. Fathers Vincent and Abel hold that it would have been built before the year 378. The octagonal building, with a central domed hall, was preceded by a vestibule; Bishop Arculf (Itin. Hieros., p. 259) also gives a description of it. The architectural type was adopted for the mosque of 'Omar. For this monument too no traces of the original construction remain; the present one is due to the Crusaders.
Notable was the building activity carried out in Jerusalem by the patriarch Juvenal (421-58), favored by the fact that the empress Eudoxia had fixed her residence in the city, making it almost a capital. The site of Pilate's praetorium was identified by Fr. H. Vincent with the "Lithostrotos," which later became a sanctuary of St. Sophia (Le Lithostrotos d'après des fouilles récentes, Paris-Jerusalem 1933; id., Autour du Prétoire, in Revue biblique, 46 [1937], pp. 563-70). South of Calvary, on the hill of Zion, Egeria mentions a church built on the site once occupied by the house of Mark. This was the church of the Cenacle, where the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles took place; it was also called the "church of the Apostles"; St. Epiphanius places it before the times of Hadrian (De pondere et mens., 14); St. Cyril of Jerusalem recalls it at length (PG 33, 924). There was kept the column of the Flagellation, previously in the house of Caiaphas. Arculf in the 7th century gives its design.
Among the mosaics that decorated the church of St. Martin in Tours, one represented the church of Mount Zion in Jerusalem, as the inscription taught: "The sacrosanct church, mother of all the others, founded by the Apostles, in which the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues of fire. In this church are placed the chair of the apostle James and the column of the Flagellation" (E. Le Blant, Inscriptions chrétiennes de la Gaule, Paris 1856, no. 175).
Also dating to this period are various buildings of a religious character, among them the basilicas of St. Stephen to the north of the city, where the relics of the Protomartyr were translated (15 May 439) and where the empress Eudoxia was later buried; of the Paraclete at the Pool of Bethesda; the church of the pool of Siloam (perhaps domed) and the triconch church of St. John the Baptist, explored by the French School of Archaeology (in the Muristan quarter, in front of the Holy Sepulchre; its original structures can be distinguished at the base of the present walls) and finally the round temple in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, dedicated to the Virgin.
The church of St. Peter was studied by E. Power (The church of St. Peter in Jerusalem, Its relation to the house of Caiphas and Santa Sion, in Biblica, 9 [1928], pp. 167-187). In the Life of St. Sabas a church in honor of Sts. Cosmas and Damian is recalled near Jerusalem (BHG, II, 1608, c. 55). Two miles southeast of Jerusalem, at Bethany, there had been a church on the site where Mary, the sister of Lazarus, would have met the Lord; a second church was in the center of Bethany, erected on the very tomb of Lazarus.
Beyond what has been said above, little or nothing remains of so many works; nor have excavations conducted in various zones near the Damascus Gate made it possible to establish their location with certainty.
In such fervent building activity, the disappearance of the empress Eudoxia, who had been its soul and patroness, could not fail to have a negative impact; the grave economic crisis that followed led to the suspension of so ambitious a program, even though it was moved by ideal aims, and it was only thanks to the intervention of Justinian that it was resumed and indeed expanded. He in fact did not wish to be outdone by Eudoxia, and ordered the erection of a grand basilica (such it appears also in relation to the others on the mosaic of Madaba), in honor of the "Theotokos" with adjoining hospices for the poor and pilgrims, and he named it "the New" 9 Nèz. It was probably cruciform, with a dome, and, as is believed, stood in the southern part of the Temple area, which was not considered as forming part of the Sanctuary properly so called. Still mentioned in the 9th century, it must have been radically destroyed following the orders of the caliph al-Hakim, since not the slightest trace of it has ever been found again. Among so many scanty remains of the most ancient churches and the many suppositions about the site of those that have disappeared, a fortunate combination allowed the original sanctuary of the Agony to be brought back to light, in the garden of Gethsemane. While work was already underway to rebuild the church on the area of that of the Crusaders of the 12th century, the excavation opened for the foundation of a column encountered a mosaic. The digging having been immediately enlarged, there was thus uncovered a 4th-century building with a mosaic floor, with three naves (16.40 m wide and from 22.30 to 24.50 m long), with an apse, before which, for 8 m by 3.80 m in width and 0.35 m in height, the rock emerged, evidently an object of veneration, because it was entirely marked by the chisel blows with which the pilgrims and the devout had detached small flakes from it. Nothing more was needed to recognize here the "elegant church" of which St. Silvia of Aquitaine speaks (there are also traces of wall mosaics), built by Theodosius presumably around 380-85 on the site where the Savior's agony had begun. Devastated by the Persians, it is doubtful whether it was raised again by Modestus: in all probability it lay in ruins and the Crusaders, returning to venerate the place, did not realize that their new church could seal forever that more ancient one.
The geographical mosaic of Madaba (v.), to which reference has been made several times, illustrated and commented upon by various scholars, has as the central motif of the map of the Holy Land a perspective plan of Jerusalem (with the western part at the top), such as it must have been in the 6th century, at the time of the emperor Justinian. It is crossed by a street flanked by porticoes, which on the left opens into a square facing the northern part of the city, in the middle of which rises a column that gives it its name (Bâb el-Amûd, today also known as the Damascus Gate); almost at the center is the monumental complex of the sanctuary of the Holy Sepulchre, and here and there other sacred buildings can be distinguished, with long double-pitched roofs, among which some of those that have been discussed have been identified. From this plan it is evident that the rise of Christian places of worship had not fundamentally disturbed the urban layout of the Roman-Hellenistic city, such as the Hadrianic architects of the colony "Aelia Capitolina" had conceived it. Of this work the fury of men has dispersed almost everything, so that no exact idea of it could have been had, had there not come to our aid the document owed to the patience and devotion of a modest craftsman working in a small Arab center on the borders of the Byzantine Empire.
Bibliography28 works
Renato Bartoccini
# VI. ART.
The pilgrim of Bordeaux sees the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre just completed and admires its marvelous splendor (Itinera Hierosolymit., ed. P. Geyer [CSEL, 38], p. 23); at the end of the 4th century Egeria speaks of gold, mosaic and marble revetments (id., ibid., p. 76). It is believed that the octagonal church of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives must have had on the outside a mosaic with the representation of the Ascension, just as the buildings of the Holy Sepulchre had that of the Resurrection, because the metal or terracotta ampullae purchased by pilgrims in those Sanctuaries ("in the holy places of Christ") reproduced these scenes, as did those of the Nativity from the basilica of Bethlehem. In other ampullae, on the other hand, there is represented, albeit in schematic form, the sacred building, from which the remembrance of the oil that burned there in the lamps was taken. Thus, for example, in an ampulla, today in the abbey of Bobbio, the interior of the Anastasis is represented.
Another series of souvenir objects of pilgrimages to the Holy Places are certain bracelets with scenes, for example, of the Crucifixion (J. Maspero, Bracelets-amulettes d'époque byzantine, in Annales du service des Antiquités de l'Égypte, 9 [1908], pp. 246-58). In the first half of the 6th century, St. Dositheus saw at Gethsemane a scene of the punishment of the damned (M. Brun, La vie de st Dosithée, in Orientalia Christiana, 26 [1932], p. 104 ff.).
J. is also the heavenly city, inhabited by the witnesses of Christ, the martyrs. This concept is expressed in the graffito read by G. B. de Rossi before the crypt of the popes in the cemetery of Callistus: «Jerusalem civitas ornamentum martyrum Domini». The heavenly city is represented, according to Wilpert, in the background of the apse mosaic of St. Pudentiana (Mosaiken, pls. 42-46) and later in the center of the triumphal arch of St. Praxedes from the time of Paschal I and in the contemporary apse mosaic of St. Cecilia in Trastevere (ibid., pp. 1068-69, pl. 116). J. is sometimes personified in a female figure to symbolize the "Ecclesia ex circumcisione", as in Rome in the mosaics of St. Pudentiana and St. Sabina; or else her name is read in the representation of a turreted city, to indicate the Church (v.) of Israel. Thus in Rome in St. Mary Major and in Sts. Cosmas and Damian; in Ravenna in St. Vitalis and in St. Apollinaris the New.
From the heavenly J. the Apostles go forth in certain sarcophagi (Wilpert, Sarcofagi, pl. XIV, 1-3; XX, 6; CL, CLI, 1; CLIV, 2 and 3). This subject was represented in the precious piece of goldsmith's work offered by Valentinian III for the altar of St. Peter at the time of Sixtus III (432-40); it still existed at the time of Adrian I (772-95), who mentions it in a letter to Charlemagne; it was plundered by the Saracens in the year 846 and replaced in the 13th century with Limoges enamels, of which some fragments still remain in the Confession of St. Peter.
In 1105 a violent earthquake had greatly compromised the stability of the buildings of the Holy Sepulchre, causing damages that the Crusaders hastened to repair. The aedicule of the tomb preserved its traditional form with its small columns supporting the little arches and the vestibule as it had been modified by Monomachus. The upper terrace was covered with gilded bronze plates, and over the upper walkway was placed a dome with gilded silver revetments supported by clusters of small columns. The aedicule received a statue of Christ, in silver, of life size.
In the rotunda two strong bases were built to support a great triumphal arch.
In place of the eastern apse a basilica in Romanesque style was built, with transept, ambulatory and minor aisles; the central nave had three bays. The rock of Calvary was embedded in the minor aisles, while to the north the remains of the portico survived, along with the oratories of the Compassion of the Virgin and of the prison of Christ. The apses set into the semicircular wall replaced the three exedras of the last Byzantine restoration.
Calvary was reduced to a double chapel whose vault was supported by pillars. Two doors facilitated communication; the north one with the spaces situated to the east and with the ambulatory; the other, to the south, with the chapel of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows, or of the Franks.
In the central apse there were two other symmetrical openings. The choir, or the dwelling of the canons, occupied at a higher level the site of the Constantinian Basilica. To the north of the rotunda the patriarch's palace was superimposed on the Monastery of the Anastasis. On the oratory adjoining the rotunda a grand four-storey bell tower was erected.
From the 13th century to our own day. - But in 1187 the defeat of Hattin caused J. to fall once more under Muslim rule.
The sacred buildings and monasteries of J. were confiscated and reduced to mosques or put to other uses.
Saladin, however, following the example of the caliph Omar, allowed the Holy Sepulchre to remain a Christian sanctuary, but under Muslim control. It seems that in 1212 the guardians of the Basilica were local priests, while in 1217 the buildings were found closed by the pilgrim Thietmar. It appears that the Latins were readmitted there in 1192. Frederick II in 1220, during a brief truce, came to be crowned in the Basilica. But in 1244 the Khwarazmians sacked the city, slaughtered the Christians, and the buildings of the Holy Sepulchre were devastated.
Following the protests of the Christian world, Innocent IV received in 1246 an assurance from the sultan Aljibò that the damages would be repaired and that Muslim guardians would ensure entry to the Sanctuary for all pilgrims, who, overcoming the hardships of the journey, were always numerous, especially from the East, receiving hospitality at the various monasteries. Queen Tamara obtained tax exemptions only for the Georgians; the others were subjected to genuine extortions. Fidenzio da Padova (1266-91) attests that each pilgrim had to pay out ca. 80 gold francs to enter the Holy Sepulchre. In 1216 Cardinal Giacomo da Vitry, going to the Holy Land, had already found the Friars Minor in J., who had settled there under the governance of friar Elias. Later, as pilgrims, the Dominicans Burcardo da Monte Sion in 1283 and Ricoldo da Monte Croce went there.
Robert of Anjou and Sancha of Majorca (1309-45) obtained from the sultan al-Malik an-Naqir a residence in J. for the Latin community, which Pope Clement VI (1342-1352) entrusted to the Franciscans.
From the diary of friar Niccolò di Poggibonsi (1346-50) we learn that the various regions had their own altars; thus that of the Armenians was near Calvary, that of the Ethiopians and the Indians near the Edicule, the Jacobites had theirs below Golgotha, the Georgians at the high altar, the Latins, that is, the Friars Minor, at St. Mary's, the Nestorians behind the choir; the Syrians at the altar of the imprisonment of Christ.
At that time, however, the Edicule was Muslim property and the chapel was opened only "for the space of three Our Fathers." The various rites, by corrupting the governors, had a baneful interference in the Holy Places, incessantly frequented by pilgrims.
The Franciscans, favoured by the good relations between the sultan Barsabai and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1419-1467), succeeded in the 15th century in securing the keys of the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre, and in placing there a portable altar to celebrate Holy Mass, while all around the Armenians, the Abyssinians, the Copts, the Georgians, the Jacobites, the Greeks and the Syrians contended for the oratories.
The question of the Holy Places arose following the Turkish occupation by Selim I in 1517; from then on the Greeks, being Ottoman subjects, sought to strip the Franciscans of their privileges. Around the middle of the 16th century an earthquake demolished the bell tower, which was replaced with another construction. The disputes became more bitter during the 17th century. In the 18th century the Greeks, with the support of the Russians, succeeded in restricting the privileges of the Latins, usurping not a few of their prerogatives.
On 12 Oct. 1808 a disastrous fire devastated the distinguished monument, from which only the Latin chapel of Our Lady, the crypt of St. Helena, a part of Golgotha and the small Franciscan convent were spared. The restoration was entrusted to Comninos of Mytilene, to whom on that occasion the title of "royal architect" was given. The internal colonnade was then partly suppressed and partly enclosed within masonry pillars. The rotunda was covered over; the tombs of the kings of Jerusalem were destroyed and dispersed, the Franciscans were then expelled, and they returned in 1853, receiving only part of their buildings. In 1868, at the expense of France, Turkey and Russia, the wretched restorations of Comninos were modified.
When Palestine was taken from the Turks in 1917, it passed under an English mandate and everything was devolved to the English high commissioner for Palestine, who established that nothing should be modified from what had been fixed by the sultan in 1852. The buildings of the Holy Sepulchre suffered considerable damage from the earthquake of 1927, especially in the Crusaders' basilica. The restorations of the dome of the Katholikon threatened to bring further ruin and the works were suspended, and to this day the urgent and unpostponable restoration of the most distinguished monument of Christianity has not been begun. - See plates XIV-XVI.
Bibliography2 works
Enrico Josi
JERUSALEM: v. CONFERENZE PANCRISTIANE.