Christian Jerusalem Sites in Old City

On this very cold Shabbos afternoon we joined Abby and her friend Isabelle, a tour guide, for a visit to the Christian Quarter in the Old City. We learned a great deal about the Christian Communities in Old Jerusalem, and about the correlation to our Jewish traditions. Follow the photos from upper left corner around for the narrative.
(Upper left corner). We were inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher which we learned is divided among the six oldest Christian sects: Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Greek orthodox, Egyptian Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syrian Orthodox. Each with its own priesthood and each with their own religious garb--not unlike the ultra orthodox Jewish dress, long, black, with interesting and varied hats. In this photo we see pilgrims to the church kissing the stone on which Jesus was prepared for burial. We remember that Jesus was Jewish. He was taken down from the crucifixion on Friday afternoon and immediately prepared according to Jewish ritual practice, for burial before Shabbos. This is the stone on which he lay while his body was washed and dressed in a white shroud. This same tradition continues today.
(center photo) Replicas of crosses for sale in the Arab/Christian Suq. There is a six foot cross in the courtyard of the Holy Sepulcher Church which pilgrims use when they follow the stations of the cross.
(Upper right photo). During the Muslim occupation of Jerusalem the Shiek needed to pray. He was invited to pray inside the church, but declined. He said that if he prayed in the church that in years to come the Muslims who feel the need to build a mosque at the site at which he prayed and would remove the church to do so. That is in fact what happened at the Temple of the Rock where the Muslims built their mosque on the site of the Jewish Temple.
(Middle Right side photo) Exterior shot of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This remodeling begun many years ago and has not progressed because the six Christian sects cannot agree on how to complete the remodel. Even within the great church, each sect has claimed a piece of the action, with slight deviations. Each claims ownership as the true church. Sounds like 2 Jews 3 opinions, or 6 Christian sects, 7 opinions.
(Large left corner photo) This is a photo of a cave from Jesus' time, a cave next to where Jesus was buried. The original cave was removed piece by piece by pilgrims, and thus no longer exists. The Jewish custom was to be buried in the family cave. A year after burial the family returned, picked up the bones after all of the flesh dissolved, and put the bones using the femur (longest) and hip bones (widest) to determine the size of the coffin. In this way all the family's bones were together in the same coffin when the mesiach arrived. Later the custom changed to have each person in his own coffin so that the person was whole and ready to greet the mesiah. Note that above the cave opening which is housed in the Church, pilgrims put prayers on slips of paper and push them into crevices in the cave wall--much as the Jews do at the Western Wall.
We learned more about the early church, the setting of dogma in the 4th century, the origin of the immaculate conception and angel Gabrielle's revelations to St. Anne (Mary's mother). Much of it very interesting, but varies from the commonly told narrative.
We completed this Christian tour with a visit to King David's tomb, a cave enclosed in a synagogue still in use today.
Although we had not planned to visit the Christian quarter during our limited stay, we were very glad we did.
Due to daylight savings time, Shabbos didn't end until 7:30, too late for us to wait for a Kosher restaurant to open and prepare some food. We took off on our own and had Mandarin Chinese dinner along with two buses filled with Chinese tourists!
Another great day in Jerusalem.