eBook

Saving the Holy Sepulchre

Cohen, Raymond

2008

Overview

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the mother of all the churches, erected on the spot where Jesus Christ was crucified and rose from the dead and where every Christian was born. In 1927, Jerusalem was struck by a powerful earthquake, and for decades this venerable structure stood perilously close to collapse. This book tells the engaging story of how three major Christian traditions — Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Orthodox — each with jealously guarded claims to the church, struggled to restore one of the great shrines of civilization. For centuries the communities had lived together in an atmosphere of tension and mistrust based on differences of theology, language, and culture — differences so sharp that fistfights were not uncommon. And the project of restoration became embroiled in inter-church disputes and great power politics. The author shows how the repair of the dilapidated basilica was the result of unprecedented cooperation among the three churches. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of a cast of kings, popes, patriarchs, governors, monks, and architects, the deadlock was eventually broken on the eve of Pope Paul VI's historic pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1964. Today, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in better shape than it has been for five hundred years. Light and space have returned to its ancient halls, and its walls and pillars stand sound and true. This book is the riveting story of how Christians put aside centuries of division to make this dream a reality.

• Publisher: Oxford University Press,Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Subject: Antiquities / Buildings, structures, etc / Christian shrines / Christians / Church buildings / Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Jerusalem) / Churches / Ethnic relations / History of Christianity / Interethnic relations / Israel / Jerusalem / Preservation of cultural heritage / Shrines
• ISBN: 0195189663, 9780195189667