Tomb of the Virgin Mary

Coordinates: 31°46′48″N 35°14′22″E / 31.78013°N 35.23940°E / 31.78013; 35.23940
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
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Tomb of Mary
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Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary
Syriac
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusActive
Location
LocationMount of Olives, Kidron Valley, Jerusalem
MunicipalityJerusalem
Tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in East Central Jerusalem
Tomb of the Virgin Mary
Shown within East Central Jerusalem
Tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in Jerusalem
Tomb of the Virgin Mary
Tomb of the Virgin Mary (Jerusalem)
Geographic coordinates31°46′48″N 35°14′22″E / 31.78013°N 35.23940°E / 31.78013; 35.23940
Architecture
TypeChurch, tomb
MaterialsStone
Plan and vertical cross-section of the site

Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary, also Tomb of the Virgin Mary (

Status Quo, a 250-year old understanding between religious communities, applies to the site.[2][3]

Christian tradition

Main article: Assumption of Mary

The

general resurrection
. Her tomb, according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day.

Roman Catholic teaching holds that Mary was "assumed" into heaven in bodily form, the Assumption; the question of whether or not Mary actually underwent physical death remains open in the Catholic view. On 25 June 1997 Pope John Paul II said that Mary experienced natural death prior to her assumption into Heaven.[4]

A narrative known as the

Church of Our Lady of Blachernae (Panagia Blacherniotissa).[5]

According to other traditions, it was the Cincture of the Virgin Mary which was left behind in the tomb,[6] or dropped by her during Assumption.

History and archaeology

Roman-period cemetery

In 1972,

Franciscan friar and archaeologist, excavated the site and found evidence of an ancient cemetery dating to the 1st century; his findings have not yet been subject to peer review
by the wider archaeological community, and the validity of his dating has not been fully assessed.

Bagatti interpreted the remains to indicate that the cemetery's initial structure consisted of three chambers (the actual tomb being the inner chamber of the whole complex), was adjudged in accordance with the customs of that period.[7]

Byzantine- and Early Muslim-period structures

Later[

edicule was built on the tomb.[7]

A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built by Patriarch Juvenal (during Marcian's rule) over the location in the 5th century; this was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614.[citation needed]

Alternatively, Jerome Murphy-O'Connor writes that a church is mentioned only in the late 6th century, and that - if indeed it was destroyed in 614 - it was rebuilt and was visited by Arculf (c. 670) and described as two-level and round.[8]

During the following centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt many times, but the

Muslims it is the burial place of the mother of prophet Isa (Jesus).[citation needed
]

Crusader church and monastery

Main article: Abbey of Saint Mary of the Valley of Jehosaphat

By 1130, during the Crusader

Abbey of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; the church is sometimes mentioned as the Shrine of Our Lady of Josaphat (or Joshaphat). The monastic complex included three towers for protection, and was decorated with early Gothic columns and red-on-green frescoes.[citation needed
]

The Crusader building from 1130 included an upper church built on the ruins of its predecessor, demolished in 1009 by Caliph al-Hakim, and a lower church, consisting of the crypt of the Byzantine church, and as additions built by the Crusaders, a southern entrance followed by a staircase.[8]

Saladin (1187) and aftermath

The upper church was destroyed by Saladin in 1187, its masonry being used to repair the walls of Jerusalem. Saladin left the lower church intact, but removed all the Christian imagery from it.[8]

In the second half of the 14th century

Franciscan friars rebuilt[clarification needed] the church once more.[citation needed
]

The clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church had been the guardians of the Holy Places until the arrival of the Roman Catholic Crusaders in 1099, and in 1757 they tried to take back various Holy Land sites, including this one.

Greek Orthodox Church
and the Armenian Apostolic Church of Jerusalem, while the closeby grotto of Gethsemane remained in the possession of the Franciscans.

The church

The rock-cut Tomb of Mary and its entrance, its front side covered in icons; eastern apse of the crypt
The stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out, now encased in glass

Preceded by a walled courtyard to the south, the cruciform church shielding the tomb has been created in part by

Melisende of Jerusalem, the daughter of Baldwin II, whose sarcophagus has been removed from there by the Greek Orthodox.[8] On the left (towards the west) there is the chapel of Saint Joseph, Mary's husband, initially built as the tomb of two other female relatives of Baldwin II.[8]

At the bottom of the staircase, on the eastern side of the church, there is the

edicule that contains Mary's tomb.[8]There are also altars of the Greeks and Armenians in the east apse. A niche south of the tomb is a mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church.[8] Currently the Muslims have no more ownership rights to this site. On the western side there is a Syriac altar.[clarification needed][citation needed
]

The

Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem are in possession of the shrine. The Syriacs, the Copts, and the Ethiopians
have minor rights.

"Panagia Ierosolymitissa" icon

Within the church is located a famous icon called Panagia Ierosolymitissa (All-holy Lady of Jerusalem) which, according to tradition, was miraculously created without human intervention.[11]

Authenticity

Ephesus as alternative

A

Selçuk, where there is a place currently known as the House of the Virgin Mary
and venerated by Catholics and Muslims, but argues that she only stayed there for a few years, even though there are accounts of her spending nine years until her death.

Pro: apocrypha

Although no information about the end of Mary's life or her burial are provided in the New Testament accounts, and many Christians believe that none exist in early apocrypha, some apocryphon are offered as supporting Mary's death (or other final fate). The Book of John about the Dormition of Mary, written in either the 1st, 3rd, 4th, or 7th century,[13][14] places her tomb in Gethsemene, as does the 4th century Treatise about the passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[14]

Pro: 4th- to 8th-century sources

The pilgrim

German of Constantinople, Andrew of Crete, and John of Damascus
talk about the tomb being in Jerusalem, and bear witness that this tradition was accepted by all the Churches of East and West.

Other claims

Christianity

Turkmen Keraites believe, according to a Nestorian tradition, that another tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in Mary, Turkmenistan - a town originally named Mari.

Another tradition exists among the

Great Mosque of al-Nuri minaret in Mosul.[16]

Ahmadiyya

The Ahmadiyya movement believe that Mary was buried in the town of Murree, Pakistan and her tomb is presently located in the shrine Mai Mari da Ashtan. The authenticity of these claims is not yet academically established and has not undergone any scholastic or academic research, nor canonical endorsement from the Holy See, nor anyone else.[17]

Gallery

  • Staircase of 47 steps leading from the entrance down into crypt with the tomb
    Staircase of 47 steps leading from the entrance down into crypt with the tomb
  • The entrance stairs, lower part
    The entrance stairs, lower part
  • The Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne, originally the tomb of Queen Melisende of Jerusalem
    The Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne, originally the tomb of Queen
    Melisende of Jerusalem
  • Icons in the Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne
    Icons in the Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne
  • The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door
    The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door
  • The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door
    The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door
  • Inside the Tomb of Mary: the stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out
    Inside the Tomb of Mary: the stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out
  • Crypt, western apse: icon of Mary and Christ
    Crypt, western apse: icon of Mary and Christ
  • Icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos
    Icon of the
    Dormition of the Theotokos

Festivities

Orthodox Dormition

Each August 25 (August 12 according to the Julian calendar), the Orthodox icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos is carried in a procession from the Metochion of Gethsemane across from the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to the Tomb of Mary. Here it remains throughout the period around the Orthodox Day of Dormition (August 28), including the Lamentations of the Eve of the Dormition, until being taken back on September 5 (August 23 Julian) in another procession.[18]

See also

References

  1. ^ What's A Mother To Do? at AmericanCatholic.org
  2. ^ UN Conciliation Commission (1949). United Nations Conciliation Commission for Palestine Working Paper on the Holy Places.
  3. ^ Cust, 1929, The Status Quo in the Holy Places
  4. ^ Pope John Paul II General audience, Wednesday, 25 June 1997
  5. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia, Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary
  6. ^ Serfes, Father Demetrios (1 March 1999), Belt of the Holy Theotokos, archived from the original on 31 January 2010, retrieved 16 January 2010
  7. ^
    Pontifical University Antonianum in Rome.[dead link
    ]
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Murphy-O'Connor (2008), pp. 148-150. Re-accessed 5 Oct 2023.
  9. ^ a b c Tomb of Mary at seetheholyland.net. re-accessed 5 Oct 2023.
  10. ^ a b Cohen, Raymond (May 2009). The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: A Work in Progress. Re-accessed 5 Oct 2023.
  11. ^ Keshman, Anastasia (January 2023). "Panagia Ierosolymitissa Icon – An Instance in the Mutuality Traditions in the Holy Land of the 19th and 20th Centuries". Marginalia: Art Readings. 1–3. Sofia, Bulgaria: Institute of Art Studies: 307–320 – via ResearchGate.
  12. ^ Vasiliki Limberis, 'The Council of Ephesos: The Demise of the See of Ephesos and the Rise of the Cult of the Theotokos' in Helmut Koester, Ephesos: Metropolis of Asia (2004), 327.
  13. ^ Roberts, 1886, p. 587: "In two MMS. the author is said to be James the Lord's brother; in one, John Archbishop of Thessalonica, who lived in the seventh century."
  14. ^ a b Herbermann, 1901, p. 774: "the 'Joannis liber de Dormitione Marie' (third to fourth century), and the treatise 'De transitu B.M. Virginis' (fourth century) place her tomb at Gethsemane"
  15. ^ Antoninus of Piacenza, 1890, p. 14
  16. ^ Geary, 1878, p. 88
  17. ^ "Marian Shrine in Murree(Pakistan)". Archived from the original on 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2014-08-01.
  18. ^ The Procession of the icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos to Gethsemane took place at dawn on Wednesday, August 25, 2021. OrthodoxTimes.com, 25.8.2021, source: Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Accessed 22.8.2023.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Church of St. Mary in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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