December 2, 2023

Life in the Land: Series–Stories from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is the traditional site of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is quite a gaggle with crowds of excited tourists from all over the world and busy, garbed churchmen in all shapes and sizes. In fact there are six groups who share the custody of this ancient place.

—First, the big three—the Latin Catholics, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Orthodox. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is divided into sections, some of which are shared by these groups and some which are exclusive to one particular group. Rules govern the shared sections—what time of day they can be used, how long, what can be done there, what cannot. Tension between the groups is all too common, and tempers sometimes escalate into physical altercations. But between them these three groups have almost complete control over the church.

—But there are three minor groups as well—the Copts (of Egypt), the Syrians and the Ethiopians. The Ethiopians have no rights of usage or possession inside the church and have been banished to the rooftop. Although the Copts and Syrians have their own chapels inside the church, their rights to other holy places in the church are extremely limited.

—I’ll have to admit that I’m still trying to learn who is who. I can tell the Armenians by their pointy hoods that symbolize Mount Ararat. The Ethiopians often have great smiles, and, of course, they’re on the roof, so that’s an obvious clue to their identity.

—But mostly they all seem to love what they do, and I’ll have to end with this. How nice it would be to worship regularly on the very spot where Christ rose from the dead! Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift in sending Jesus to die for me and to defeat my sin and death by his resurrection.

—Daniel McCabe