Church of Holy Sepulchre Complete History: Golgotha, Calvary, Crucifixion, Jesus, Tomb, Cross, Tour

[Music] um [Music] welcome to the holy land and this biblical site of the church of the holy sepulchre we're going to be showing you all about this church and telling you all about it so i think you'll find this very very interesting this video now the church of the holy sepulchre is the most important site in christianity it is visited by over a million people each year so in this video we are going to do something unique there have been so many changes to the church of the holy sepulchre over the years that it is hard to picture how calvary and the burial tomb of christ would have looked in its original state to better help you understand this place we are going to take a trip back in time and show how it has developed from the beginning until now along the way we will talk about the rich history that reveals why this site is indeed the authentic place where christ was crucified buried and rose from the dead we will also end with a special faith lesson of reflection so sit back and enjoy this video that will include some animation to bring this site to life now we have other videos that will show the details and places inside the church you might want to look at as well so let's take a trip back in time the place of calvary was once a stone quarry that supplied stone for the building of the temple and so forth during the time of christ there was a gate to jerusalem called the geneth gate which means garden gate this gate has been discovered in recent times it is in a little different location than the jerusalem model shows as the model was built before the gate was discovered josephus makes mention of this gate in his historical writings as well josephus was a jewish historian during the time of christ there was a road that passed by the stone quarry for travelers entering and leaving jerusalem because the quarry had fallen out of use for many years before christ it slowly developed into a garden and had a cistern and pool of water close by some of the rock was left and upon it the romans crucified people part of this rock can still be seen today in the church of the holy sepulchre this quarry place and garden was an ideal place because it was just outside the city and located on a well-traveled road the romans crucified people in the most visible places as possible so all would learn what would happen to them if they disobeyed roman laws there were also tombs in the rock faces that were used for burials at this site now scripture states in john 19 20 that the place of crucifixion was near the city of jerusalem so this place fits the biblical narrative well it says therefore many of the jews read this inscription for the place where jesus was crucified was near the city and it was written in hebrew latin and greek this is john 19 20. substantial remains of the first wall have been found in the jewish quarter of the old city today in these latter excavations the remains of the gineth gate or garden gate and the beginning of what is believed to be the second wall have been found just where josephus described them as being the name garden gate indicates that a garden must have been located nearby the city excavations below the church of the holy sepulchre and the lutheran church of the redeemer show that this area used to be an ancient quarry which was later abandoned the excavators believed that the area was then filled with good soil presumably to turn the ugly quarry remains into a beautiful garden an additional area by the rock quarry became a cistern as the city developed from the gospels we know that jesus was crucified in a place called calvary and buried in a garden that was in the same location as joseph of arimathea's tomb was located the front wall of the tomb faced east so the early morning sun could illuminate it according to hebrews 13 12 jesus was crucified outside the city so once again this place was just outside the city on a well-traveled road now some people have a problem that the place of crucifixion and the tomb of jesus are so close together in the church of the holy sepulchre however john 19 41 states that now when the place where he was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid so scripture clearly indicates that the crucifixion and tomb were nearby to one another according to tradition the early christian community of jerusalem worshipped at this site of the crucifixion from the time of the resurrection until 1 35 a.d when the roman emperor hadrian destroyed and rebuilt jerusalem visiting the burial sites of the rabbis was a common practice that is even done to this day by the jews so there is no doubt that the early christians would have visited the place where christ died and rose again as well and i have been to jerusalem many times and i see sights all over the place on the mount of olives and famous rabbi tombs where the jews to this day still visit famous rabbis with this being the case it is absolutely certain that the early christians would have visited jesus's tomb and knew exactly where it was at there was no one like jesus so his followers knew once again exactly where golgotha was and venerated it there is no way this spot would have been lost or forgotten by them for example shortly after the resurrection of christ the upper room was converted into a church and the apps and apps is a half round circle with a dome shape on top of it pointed toward the crucifixion burial and resurrection place of christ this gives significant evidence that this place was venerated and visited early on after christ's resurrection because this place was so important the apps of the upper room church pointed toward the place of the crucifixion and resurrection and not the temple which was on the temple mount another interesting fact is that there are also burial tombs in the church of the holy sepulchre that date to the time of christ they are of the type that were used from about 37 bc to around 70 a.d these tombs clearly indicate that this area had tombs and was outside the city of jerusalem during the time of christ as regular people were not buried within the city now about 10 years after the crucifixion of christ another wall was built by king herod agrippa the first that enclosed the area of christ crucifixion burial and resurrection within the city this accounts for why the holy sepulchre is located inside the old city walls of jerusalem today but during the time of christ the crucifixion site and tomb were located outside the city once again today they are located inside because of a wall that king agrippa the first built about 10 years after the time of christ the next significant event that affected the place of the crucifixion and resurrection was a major jewish rebellion against the romans this rebellion was called the barkova revolt and this happened in around 132 a.d because of this revolt the roman emperor hadrian destroyed much of jerusalem and changed its orientation he renamed the city aelia capitolina and renamed the country to palestine which was a philistine name his desire was to erase the jewish connection to the land because of the jews continual rebellions and uprisings he constructed a main street that ran north and south called the cardo maximus cardo means heart or center of he also desecrated the place of the crucifixion and resurrection that had been venerated by the early christians and in its place he built a large platform that filled in the quarry and had upon it a large temple dedicated to jupiter and aphrodite aphrodite was an ancient greek goddess of sexual love and beauty identified with venus by the romans hadrian was so intent on destroying any connection to the land by the jews and christians that he buried all the evidence of the crucifixion and tomb of christ under the platform that housed his large temple to jupiter and venus hadrian laid out the new city of jerusalem so that the major streets led to his temple to jupiter and venus which again were over the remains of the crucifixion and tomb of christ eusebius the bishop of caesarea in israel who lived from 260 to 339 a.d gave a chronological account of the development of early christianity from the 1st century to the 4th he was an eyewitness to some of the events hadrian did and wrote down what he saw regarding the desecration of the crucifixion and tomb of christ eusebius says the romans brought a quantity of earth from a distance with much labor and covered the entire spot and buried it then having raised this to a moderate height they paved it with stones now what eusebius is describing is the raised platform hadrian built upon which he would erect his temple to jupiter and venus this platform had retaining walls all around it of which some can still be seen today inside the church also some of the stairs leading up to the temple of hadrian can be seen today as well in the lower part of the church to the east eusebius goes on to say that the monument of his most holy passions so long ago buried beneath the ground so here he's describing the place of the crucifixion and tomb of christ that were buried by hadrian hadrian also minted a coin depicting the temple he built upon golgotha the temple of hadrian would remain in place for another 200 years or so until the time of the roman emperor constantine now let's see what jerome says about the fact that hadrian's temple was located on the top of the crucifixion and tomb site of christ now jerome lived from 347 to 420 a.d he established a monastery at bethlehem and translated the hebrew bible into latin bethlehem is very close to jerusalem so jerome was an eyewitness to what he writes here's what jerome tells us from the time of hadrian to the reign of constantine the spot which had witnessed the resurrection was occupied by a figure of jupiter while on the rock where the cross had stood a marble statue of venus was set up by the heathen and became an object of worship the original persecutors indeed supposed that by polluting our holy places they would deprive us of our faith in the passion and in the resurrection so jerome confirms that from the time of hadrian until constantine the temple hadrian built was located on the top of golgotha on the very places where christ was crucified and rose again so in the place where christ died for the sins of humanity hadrian set up a temple to false gods who promoted deep immoral sin so what a contrast in 313 a.d a major change happened in the roman empire when constantine legalized christianity later because his mother was so passionate about christ she made a trip to the holy land to build churches over the main events of christ's life she built the church of the nativity in bethlehem the church of the ascension on the mount of olives which is currently known as the paternoster church the church of annunciation in nazareth and the church of the holy sepulchre here in jerusalem the roman emperor constantine had the temple hadrian had erected to jupiter and venus demolished to make way for the church of the holy sepulchre in the process of the demolition the tomb and crucifixion site of jesus were uncovered once again and the church of the holy sepulchre was erected additionally constantine's mother helena is claimed to have discovered the relic of the cross of jesus at this time the church was dedicated in 335 a.d now eusebius who we referred to earlier describes the destruction of hadrian's temple by constantine here's what he says as soon as his meaning constantine's commands were given these engines of deceit were cast down from their proud eminence to the very ground and the dwelling places of error with the statutes and the evil spirits which they represented were overthrown and utterly destroyed nor did the emperor's zeal stop here but he gave further orders that the materials of what was thus destroyed both stone and timber should be removed and thrown as far from the spot as possible and this command was also speedily executed eusebius continues the emperor however was not satisfied with having proceeded thus far once more fired with holy adjure he directed that the ground itself should be dug up to come to a considerable depth and the soil which had been polluted by the foul impurities of demon worship transported to a far distant place this was also accomplished without delay and as soon as the original surface of the ground beneath the covering of the earth appeared immediately the venerable and holy monument of our savior's resurrection was discovered then indeed did the most holy cave referring to the tomb present a faithful similitude of his return to life and that after lying buried in darkness it again emerged to light and afforded to all who came to witness the sight a clear and visible proof of the wonders of which that spot once had been seen a testimony to the resurrection of the savior clearer than any voice could give eusebius then speaks about the church of the holy sepulchre that constantine built here's what he says accordingly on the very spot which witnessed the savior's suffering a new jerusalem was constructed were at the side opposite to the sepulcher jesus's tomb was the eastern side the church itself was erected a noble work rising to a vast height and a great extent in length and breadth eusebius then goes on to describe the construction of the church of the holy sepulchre by constantine thereupon the emperor issued sacred edicts and when he had provided an abundant supply of all of the things required for the project he gave orders that a house of prayer worthy of god should be erected round about the cave of salvation so he's speaking about the tomb and on the scale of rich and imperial costliness to be greater than anything else that had been built on earth so what we have described here is that constantine built a large mausoleum over the place of the tomb and mausoleum is a structure designed for burial or entombment above the ground and he also built the basilica of the martyrium and the open courtyard now the church of constantine was laid out in three sections the first main part was a place called the basilic of the martyrium and it led up from the cardinal maximus upstairs to this church and it was a large area now martarium is taken from the word martyr and the apps of the church faced west so this was the main meeting area the main church area of constantine's buildings just outside the church of the martyrium and before the rotunda covering which is also called a mausoleum was an open courtyard and this was called the triportico because it had three sides with covered walkways just to the left of this open courtyard was the crucifixion site of christ now i should mention that some believe that the crucifixion site was located in the apps part of the basilica of the martarium and not in the courtyard however both places are just a few feet away so it's really not that important i should also mention that part of the rock of golgotha is still preserved today and is in the place where the courtyard was and not in the church part where the apps is just beyond the open courtyard was the large rotunda covering the tomb of christ this is also called a mausoleum or anastasis the tomb was initially carved out of the rock and preserved and you can see an example of this in absalom's monument in the kidron valley so the tomb was carved out of the rock and preserved in its natural state at this time the crypt or cistern of the crosses was under the basilica of the martyrium venerating golgotha another eyewitness account that the church of the holy sepulchre was located on the site of the crucifixion and tomb of christ comes from the pilgrim of bordeaux from 333 a.d and this witness says on your left is a little hill of golgotha where the lord was crucified about a stone's throw from it is the crypt where they laid his body and from where he rose again on the third day these are present by order of constantine there has been built a basilica that is a church of wondrous beauty so this witness describes in part the church of the holy sepulchre we also have another pilgrims account of a worship service in the church of the holy sepulchre that comes from 380 a.d they say i know you were eager to know about the services they have daily in the holy places i shall tell you about them when the first has crowed the bishop straight away enters and goes into the tomb and the anastasis anastasius means resurrection and is the round rotunda dome place in the church over the tomb of christ he continues and the whole crowd streams into the anastasis which is already ablaze with many lamps then the bishop standing inside the screen takes the gospel and advances to the door of the tomb where he himself reads the account of the lord's resurrection when the gospel is finished the bishop comes out and is taken with hymns to the cross and they all go with him to the great church the martyriam the people assemble in the great church built by constantine upon golgotha so we have many eyewitness accounts of people who clearly saw and claim that this place where the church of the holy sepulchre was the place where christ was crucified buried and rose again and that hadrian built a temple upon it to cover everything up and then constantine uncovered everything and built a new church over it to venerate this site another amazing piece of evidence is found at the basilica of santa pudanciana which is recognized as the oldest place of christian worship in rome in the apps of the building is a mosaic of christ and the church of the holy sepulchre in the background so we actually have a photo of what constantine's church of the holy sepulchre in part looked like this is strong evidence as well for the authenticity of this site the next big change to the church took place during the persian conquest in 614 a.d when the church was pillaged and suffered significant damage however it was restored by the monk modestus according to tradition it was during this time that the relic of the true cross was also taken and then recovered in 630 a.d in 648 a.d jerusalem came under muslim rule but christians were still able to make pilgrimages to the church of the holy sepulchre however in 1009 a.d the muslim caliph al-hakim gave orders for all churches to be destroyed this proved fatal for the church of the holy sepulchre which was singled out in particular and destroyed beyond recognition during the destructions of the church the tomb of christ was largely destroyed however some of the rock of the tomb and the location of it were still preserved the church was again restored at a large expense by the roman emperor constantine the ninth monomocktas and the patriarch nisopharus of constantinople in 1048 a.d then a little bit later the crusaders renovated the church in 1112 and consecrated it in 1149 a.d much of what is seen today of the church of the holy sepulchre is from the crusader renovations in around 1112 a.d although portions of the church of the holy sepulchre are from the time of constantine and can still be seen today in the church as 12th century maps reveal the church of the holy sepulchre was the spiritual focus of christianity and its most important pilgrimage center the church was laid out to enable pilgrims to move from chapel to chapel their visit culminating in the holy sepulchre itself the church that the crusaders built included the courtyard where golgotha was believed to have been and enclosed everything under one roof within a magnificent cathedral the entrance to the church was changed from the east end and placed on the south side as it is today the basilica of helena helena was constantine's mother accessed from stairs leading downward was also built this is the believed place where helena found the true cross of christ it was originally in a hole under the quarry during the early period of christianity the entrance to calvary was from the outside of the church with stairs leading upwards to a platform where all the events of the crucifixion are located the basilica of the martyrium was also changed and everything was now housed under one roof of the church the apps of the church constantine built for the crucifixion site faced west today it's changed and faces east but it's the very same spot the sites of the crucifixion and tomb have remained in the same places since the time of christ only the buildings around them have changed this is important to realize that the sites the crucifixion place and the burial place are the exact same locations the only thing that has changed are the buildings around them an edicule was also built over the tomb of christ and within it is the chapel of the angels and what's left of christ's tomb later the right-hand side of the door was blocked up after the muslim conquest of the city in 1187 a.d now the entrance consists of just one large single door as you can see here today the three primary custodians of the church were appointed when the crusaders ruled jerusalem they are the greek orthodox the armenian apostolic and the roman catholic churches in the 19th century the coptic orthodox and the ethiopian orthodox and the syrian orthodox also acquired responsibilities as well but in a smaller way each church denomination agrees to times and places of worship in the church of the holy sepulchre today a muslim family has been given the key for opening and closing the church doors since 1187 when muslims seize control of jerusalem and it has continued until this very day now after a fire the last major changes to the church of the holy sepulchre took place in around 1808 the edicule over the tomb was renovated now the catholic on was at one time where part of the courtyard of constantine's church was located new stairs leading up to calvary were changed from outside the church to inside so today you enter from just inside the church turn right and take steep stairs up to the platform of calvary to see all of the events of christ's crucifixion the edicule or tomb of christ has been renovated several times since the crusaders it suffered an earthquake in 1927 and was shored up and then recently in 2016 it underwent another major renovation as mentioned earlier there is nothing but the floor and back edge of the tomb that is from the time of christ in 2016 the marble slab covering the tomb of jesus was uncovered and the original rock was exposed now because of all the adornments and construction over the centuries it is hard to imagine how the site would have looked like in the time of christ however these 2 000 years of activity and tradition give greater weight to its authenticity some people have an adverse reaction to the atmosphere inside the church however this is what we should expect from a place that has been venerated for two millenniums now in archaeology one of the most important factors in locating an authentic site is having one thing built upon another so you have all this history of one thing built upon another upon another upon another now the church of the holy sepulchre has around 2 000 years of such history of one thing built upon another so for me personally there is no doubt that this is the genuine place where christ was crucified buried and rose from the dead to pay for our sins all of the evidence and historical writings from eyewitnesses provide overwhelming evidence that points to the authenticity of this site now what are some faith lessons that we can learn from the church of the holy sepulchre while we might not agree with the decorations and atmosphere of the church of the holy sepulchre do we appreciate all the devotion and sacrifice that has been made to remember and commemorate all jesus did for us on the cross we have to realize there have been countless people who have spent countless hours protecting caring for building and venerating this site so we have to honor and appreciate all that has been done here to keep this site intact so that we today know where jesus died was buried and rose again also the fact that this place along with many others have been preserved and set aside to honor christ and the events of the bible provide powerful evidence regarding the historicity of christ and the truthfulness of the bible so the bible is true it is here in the holy land it cannot be erased unless we erase israel off the face of the earth so do we truly believe the bible and everything written in it so in closing it was here that god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life this place is where it all took place and should cause us deep gratitude for what happened here history has not forgotten what happened and for this reason this place has been venerated and preserved over the centuries and millenniums christ existence and work on the cross is an undeniable historical event that proves christ is who he said he was and is indeed the savior of the world if you haven't trusted him as your lord and savior then now is the time to do so well i hope that you have enjoyed this video i hope that you have found it significant to see all that has transpired here all of the witnesses all of the evidence that points to the fact that this is indeed the place where christ died was buried and rose again well thank you for listening and watching and may god richly bless you [Music]

Channel: HolyLandSite

Views: 96,190

Keywords: Golgotha, Calvary, Crucifixion, Resurrection of Christ, Bar Kokhba Revolt, Roman Emperor Hadrian, Roman Emperor Constantine, Queen Helena, Upper Room Church, Temple Mount, Aelia Capitolina, Cardo Maximus, Basilica of Santa Pudenziana Rome, Jerusalem, Gennath Gate, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, History of Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Via Doloroso

Id: EBRX_T4Uei4

Length: 33min 7sec (1987 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 03 2020