Twain and Turner's Holy Land - Jerusalem (original) (raw)

- Jerusalem - The Holy Sepulchre

If you came to this page directly, you might wish to read a page with an introduction to this section first or start with Jerusalem - The Walls.

In the morning the dragoman went to show my firman to the Aga of the city and obtained for me and my servant a permit to enter the Holy Sepulchre without being subject to molestation or extortion. William Turner - Journal of a Tour in the Levant - 1820 One naturally goes first to the Holy Sepulchre. It is right in the city, near the western gate; it and the place of the Crucifixion, and, in fact, every other place intimately connected with that tremendous event, are ingeniously massed together and covered by one roof - the dome of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Mark Twain - The Innocents Abroad - 1869

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre seen from the Citadel; you may wish to see a detail of the church and of Via Dolorosa in the introductory page

To men interested in tracing, within the walls, antiquities referred to by the documents of Sacred History, no spectacle can be more mortifying than the city in its present state. The mistaken piety of the early Christians, in attempting to preserve, has either confused or annihilated the memorials it was anxious to render conspicuous. Edward Daniel Clarke - Travels in various countries of Europe, Asia and Africa in 1799-1804 The church of the Holy Sepulchre is a large building including within its walls the Tomb and the supposed Mount Calvary with all the space between. (..) Although I forbear, from a consciousness of the difficulty of the task, to enter on any discussion as to the topography of Jerusalem and the real site of the holy places, I cannot but notice the improbable position ascribed here to the Holy Sepulchre. Turner The sites of the Crucifixion and of the nearby Sepulchre were established in the IVth century and a map of the VIth century shows of a large basilica in the approximate location of the Church.

## Via Dolorosa (Sorrowful Way): Orthodox Jews on their way to a synagogue on a Saturday morning and Indonesian pilgrims carrying a cross on their way to the Holy Sepulchre

The great prize contended for by the several Sects is the command, and appropriation of the holy Sepulcher, a privilege contested with so much unchristian fury, and animosity, especially between the Greeks and Latins, that in disputing, which party should go into it to celebrate their Mass; they have sometimes proceeded to blows and wounds even at the very door of the Sepulcher: mingling their own blood with their Sacrifices. An evidence of which fury the Father Guardian shewed us in a great scar upon his Arm, which he told us was the mark of a wound, given him by a sturdy Greek Priest in one of these unholy Wars. Who can expect ever to see these holy places rescued from the hands of Infidels? or if they should be recover'd, what deplorable contests might be expected to follow about them? Henry Maundrell - A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter - 1697 Every day I passed in Jerusalem more clearly proved to me the truth of the observation made by Hume that the more affinity there is between theological parties the greater commonly is their animosity. (..) During my stay in Jerusalem I frequently called on a Greek bishop and sat smoking with him for an hour asking questions. I did the same to some Armenian and Coptic priests. Next to these people's hatred of each other, their most frequent subject of conversation was their entire confidence that the time was near at hand when all mankind would be of one religion and this religion each different priest assured me would most undoubtedly be his own. Turner Douglas Hume (1711-1776), a Scottish philosopher, argued that monotheism arises from competition between religions as believers seek to distinguish their deities as superior to all rivals (The Natural History of Religions).

## Via Dolorosa: (left) Vth Station "And as they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name: him they compelled to bear his cross" (Matthew 27); (right) last section

I followed the course of the Via Dolorosa, the road by which our Saviour is supposed to have borne his Cross to the place of Crucifixion which begins about the middle of the street running west in which stands the Roman Catholick convent. At the end of this street the Via Dolorosa turns into a short street which runs south and then again into another long one which continues it to the west. Turner The course of the Sorrowful Way was established in the XVIIIth century by the Franciscan Fathers of Jerusalem. Their order and in particular its Capuchin branch used to build its churches on elevated ground and have them preceded by Stations of the Cross. In 1731 [Pope Clement XII](Storia27.html#Clement XII) issued a bull to regulate the Stations of the Cross: he established that they were fourteen and that their design should be approved by the Franciscans (see S. Bonaventura al Palatino in Rome).

## Francesco Bassano - The Way to Calvary - Louvre Museum - Paris

Turner, similar to most European travellers, was struck by the differences between Via Dolorosa and the many "Way to Calvary" he had seen in paintings and prints. Via Dolorosa starts by sloping down and only its last section goes up. It is very short. It is entirely inside the walls. In 1883 General Charles Gordon (aka Gordon of Khartoum) came to the conclusion that the Crucifixion site and the Holy Sepulchre were located half a mile north of Damascus Gate and most Anglican pilgrims go there rather than to the Holy Sepulchre.

## Via Dolorosa: IIIrd Station - Second Fall - a modern relief donated by an Italian pilgrim

The first thing that was pointed out to me was the spot on which Jesus first fell while bearing his Cross. It is marked by a small column lying broken on the ground and is at a short distance from the Roman Catholick convent in the same street. Near this a little further on is shewn the place at which he advised the women to weep for their own woes, not for his. The place of the second fall is shewn in the small street that runs south and is also marked by a fallen column. A little way down a third street which turns again to the west is an arch stretching over the street on the site of which - said my conductor - stood a house close to which (..) leaned a woman named Maria the Sinner who, as Jesus passed with the Cross, called out "Here comes he who will I hope make my fortune". Jesus replied "I shall never make thy fortune". On hearing which answer she immediately broke a drum which she had been wantonly beating and became one of his followers. Where these people picked up this story I am at a loss to conceive. (..) These places are so firmly believed here to have been the scenes of the events above cited that it would have been impolitick in me to express the doubts which were naturally excited in me by the inconsistency of the accounts. (..) But there would be no end of my journal if I were to descant on all the absurdities that are related to me here. Turner

## Via Dolorosa: (left) starting point marked by the Franciscan coat of arms; (centre) VIth station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus; (right) rosaries, crosses and crowns of thorns on sale

Friday, July 10. 1801 - This morning, our room was filled with Armenians and Jews, bringing for sale the only produce of the Jerusalem manufactures; beads, crosses, shells, etc. (..) All these after being purchased, are taken to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where they receive a sort of benediction. (..) The beads are of various sizes; and they are all strung as rosaries; the smaller being the most esteemed, on account of the greater number requisite to fill a string, and the greater labour necessarily required in making them. (..) This sort of trumpery is ridiculed by all travellers: but we cannot say it is scouted by any of them; for there has not been one who did not encourage the Jerusalem manufactories by the purchases he made. Clarke "On these stones that are crumbling away," the guide said, "the Saviour sat and rested before taking up the cross. This is the beginning of the Sorrowful Way, or the Way of Grief." The party took note of the sacred spot, and moved on. We passed under the "Ecce Homo Arch," and saw the very window from which Pilate's wife warned her husband to have nothing to do with the persecution of the Just Man. (..) We crossed a street, and came presently to the former residence of St. Veronica. (..) We had heard so much of St. Veronica, and seen her picture by so many masters, that it was like meeting an old friend unexpectedly to come upon her ancient home in Jerusalem. We knew her, because we saw her handkerchief in a cathedral in Paris, in another in Spain, and in two others in Italy. In the Milan cathedral it costs five francs to see it, and at St. Peter's, at Rome, it is almost impossible to see it at any price. Twain

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre: (left) Stone of Anointing; (right) faith and technology at the Calvary Chapel

This is the church of which they are falsely persuaded to believe that it contains the grave of Jesus. All who come on pilgrimage to visit it pay a stipulated tax to the Muslims, and suffer very unwillingly various humiliations. H. A. R. Gibb - Selection from the Travels of Ibn Battuta in 1325-1354 Immediately on entering the church of the Sepulchre is seen in front of the door the spot where the body of our Saviour is said to have been anointed before interment. This has been covered by the Greeks with a handsome stone measuring nine feet by four feet one inch. The stone which covered it formerly said to have been the original one has been taken away by the Greeks. It belonged to the King of France. Turner Before you is a marble slab, which covers the Stone of Unction, whereon the Saviour's body was laid to prepare it for burial. It was found necessary to conceal the real stone in this way in order to save it from destruction. Pilgrims were too much given to chipping off pieces of it to carry home. Twain The hole said to be that of the Cross on the summit of Calvary is 110 feet from the dome south east. The holes of the crosses of the two thieves were at eleven feet four inches to the right and left of that of the Cross of Christ, but were obliterated by the late fire. The hole of the Cross of Christ is twenty two inches deep. (..) The Greeks I know not why, except that their hatred of the Roman Catholicks induced them to differ wantonly from them, have made another hole about two feet north of the supposed original one which all the Greek and Armenian pilgrims kiss and throw money into it. I had been told that all who did this received absolution for all their sins past, present and future, but a Greek priest whom I saw swinging incense on the spot, assured me that this was not true, but that they worship there because the Greeks and Armenians believe this to be the hole of the true Cross. (..) He added that the jealousy of the Roman Catholicks perpetually prompted them to misrepresent the Greek religion. The bitterness of feeling which these sect cherish towards each other is peculiarly disgusting on the spot where it would be supposed Christians would most earnestly study to forget their differences. Turner When one stands where the Saviour was crucified, he finds it all he can do to keep it strictly before his mind that Christ was not crucified in a Catholic Church. He must remind himself every now and then that the great event transpired in the open air, and not in a gloomy, candle-lighted cell in a little corner of a vast church, up-stairs - a small cell all bejeweled and bespangled with flashy ornamentation, in execrable taste. Twain

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre: (left) Holy Sepulchre; (right) Coptic Chapel

The Latin fathers have a treasury of plate, and other curious things, in the church, but they never open it, lest it should tempt the Turks at any time to seize on their riches; they have a very fine sett of new gilt plate for the altar, the present of the king of France. But the Greeks shew whatever they have, at the east end of their great church, particularly a large chalice of gold, the present of a prince of Georgia, many vestments adorned with pearls, and a great number of vessels of silver gilt, mostly of Gothic workmanship. Richard Pococke - A Description of the East and Some Other Countries - 1745 The old Sepulchre was burnt on the 12th of October 1808. The fire began at three in the morning and burnt till nine having destroyed the Armenian chapel where it began, the great dome, the Greek chapel, the cells of the Franciscans and the chapel of the Virgin and destroyed many of the fine columns and of the mosaick work contributed by Helena. The Sepulchre itself was not touched, but the Catholicks say that in the confusion the Greeks pulled down the chapel built over it that they might rebuild it and call it their own. The Roman Catholick monks believe that the Greeks and Armenians purposely set fire to the building. (..) The Roman Catholicks have apartments and a refectory behind the Sepulchre as indeed formerly the whole was theirs, but the Greeks, Armenians, Copts and Syrians, making interest with the Turks by paying them immense sums, have turned the Roman Catholicks out of many of the holy places. Turner All sects of Christians (except Protestants,) have chapels under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and each must keep to itself and not venture upon another's ground. It has been proven conclusively that they can not worship together around the grave of the Saviour of the World in peace. (..) One is grave and thoughtful when he stands in the little Tomb of the Saviour - he could not well be otherwise in such a place - but he has not the slightest possible belief that ever the Lord lay there, and so the interest he feels in the spot is very, very greatly marred by that reflection. Twain

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre: (left) Syriac Orthodox Chapel which is cut into the rock and includes the Tomb of Nicodemus; (right) graffiti on its walls

The Syrian church is small and very shabby containing nothing but a very plain altar. There is a small door in the side stooping under which one enters a natural cave. At the bottom of this (..) is a tomb of which the stones still remain called by the Catholicks the tomb of Nicodemus. (..) I was surprised that the monks did not rather give the name of the Holy Sepulchre to the supposed tomb of Nicodemus which, however exceptionable in point of locality, is at least cut in the rock. Turner That of the Syrians is the humblest of them all. It is nothing but a dismal cavern, roughly hewn in the living rock of the Hill of Calvary. In one side of it two ancient tombs are hewn, which are claimed to be those in which Nicodemus and Joseph of Aramathea were buried. Twain

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre: (left) Arches of the Virgin, ancient columns which were not affected by the fire and which probably belonged to a Temple to Venus; (right) Armenian mosaic in the Chapel of St. Helena

(The new church) is neither so large, nor so splendid as the ancient one which had many very large and well proportioned columns of marble. (..) The Armenians obtained from the Roman Catholicks many holy places some years ago by professing themselves Catholicks, but as soon as they had them in their possession, they changed to their former religion. Turner Then we went down into a cavern which cavilers say was once a cistern. It is a chapel, now, however - the Chapel of St. Helena. It is fifty-one feet long by forty-three wide. In it is a marble chair which Helena used to sit in while she superintended her workmen when they were digging and delving for the True Cross. Twain

## Church of the Holy Sepulchre: (left) Chapel of the Invention of the Cross; (right) a rock of Mount Calvary protected by a glass

If Helena had reason to believe she could identify the spot where the sepulchre was, she took especial care to remove every trace of it, in order to introduce the fanciful and modern work which now remains. Clarke Under Mount Calvary to which one descends by forty one stairs is the spot where Helena found as it is thought the true Cross. (..) At first the monks assured me they could not find the Cross, but Helena prayed and instantly the earth trembled in the spot where the Cross was concealed. Turner We descended twelve steps into a large roughly - shaped grotto, carved wholly out of the living rock. Helena blasted it out when she was searching for the true Cross. She had a laborious piece of work, here, but it was richly rewarded. Out of this place she got the crown of thorns, the nails of the cross, the true Cross itself, and the cross of the penitent thief. When she thought she had found every thing and was about to stop, she was told in a dream to continue a day longer. It was very fortunate. She did so, and found the cross of the other thief. (..) The monks call this apartment the "Chapel of the Invention of the Cross" - a name which is unfortunate, because it leads the ignorant to imagine that a tacit acknowledgment is thus made that the tradition that Helena found the true Cross here is a fiction - an invention. It is a happiness to know, however, that intelligent people do not doubt the story in any of its particulars. Twain

## Offices and churches of different Christian creeds

Turner and Twain were struck by the presence of so many Christian groups in Jerusalem. The more they would be today because the number of churches with an office in Jerusalem has grown considerably. The image used as background for this page shows a decorated tile in the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross.

You may wish to see these other pages on Jerusalem: