Queen Melisende’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the object of desire for pilgrims in the Middle Ages. Some sought to undergo a ceremonial process within the church, and many wished to be inducted as knights into the Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Even if you were a simple pilgrim and not a candidate for knighthood, arriving at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was accompanied by a religious process that included the washing of the feet of those who made the long journey by the monks there (as Jesus did for his disciples, and as members of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre do today for pilgrims arriving in the country at the airport), participation in Mass, confession, and likely dedicated ceremonies held in groups. But beyond all that, arriving at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was moving and overwhelming, the fulfillment of a long-held dream, a peak experience in the life of the Christian believer, accompanied by personal prayers, pleas, requests, thanksgivings, and moments of ecstasy. Regular prayers, processions, and ceremonies were held in the church, including incense, singing, flag-waving, and the display of icons and holy objects.
The Crusader Architectural Zenith
The riginal structure was built by Emperor Constantine and his mother Helena in the 4th century, but it was mostly destroyed in the early 11th century by the Fatimid Caliph al-Ḥākim, and only the Rotunda around the Holy Sepulchre remained in its original form. The church was rebuilt more modestly by the Byzantine emperors (Monomachos) later in the same century. With the Crusader conquest of Jerusalem, the desire and need arose to rebuild it magnificently to suit its important role in the Christian world. Thus, the Crusaders, led by Queen Melisende, rebuilt most parts of the church splendidly and impressively, including the Catholicon (choir), the corridors, and the hill of Golgotha. The construction was completed on the fiftieth anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem (1149), and this forms the basis of the current structure.
It’s worth noting that upon the Crusaders’ arrival in Jerusalem, they confiscated the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from the Orthodox Christians and took control of the Holy Fire ceremony that occurred during Easter, in which miraculous fire descended from heaven. Processions were held every Friday to commemorate the time of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial, and the tradition of the Via Dolorosa began to develop, though not with the current route and stations [1]. Today, the church is under the joint custody of six Christian denominations, the largest of which are the Catholics (represented by the Franciscans), the Greek Orthodox, and the Armenians.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre’s structure is the zenith of the Crusader Kingdom’s architecture. The ribbed arches express a new religious architectural concept that was later reflected in the development of Gothic cathedrals in Europe. The Crusaders added a large hall, the Catholicon, to the Rotunda (which has stood since the 4th century) in place of the Byzantine courtyard. The length of the Catholicon is the same as the diameter of the Rotunda, and the diameter of its dome (above its western part) is half the diameter of the Rotunda’s dome. Thus, when a person enters the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, they are impressed by the harmony between its two parts—or at least they were impressed before the wall concealing the transept was built—an artificial concrete wall standing opposite the entrance that prevents viewing the space of the Catholicon. The visitor to the church feels the coherence between the Rotunda and the Catholicon due to their shared module and the large arched opening between them that symbolizes victory.
Furthermore, the architectural center of the structure is located in the Catholicon (the rectangular church), beneath the dome that symbolizes the heavens, at a place considered the Center of the World. Thus, the Catholicon symbolizes the world, while the adjacent Rotunda—similar to the Pantheon—represents universality and the heavens. The straight line of the Catholicon expresses the flow of time and the journey of the world and of man from Fall to Redemption. Complementing this, the circular shape of the Rotunda symbolizes eternity, divinity, and the connection between the planes.
The Center of the World in the Catholicon is located midway between the place of the Crucifixion and the place of the Resurrection, which were perceived as divine grace enabling salvation. In the past, there was a circle there that, according to Nurith Kenaan-Kedar, symbolized the Center of the World and was considered the place where Jesus’ body was taken down from the cross and where he appeared after the Resurrection to Mary Magdalene [2]. The traditions associated with the Foundation Stone as the Center of the World were transferred to it, but notably, and similar to Judaism, the center was empty (like the Holy of Holies in the Second Temple). This reflected the Christian perception that the connection is spiritual, not physical. Jesus is a substitute for the Temple, and the commandments of the heart are the most important. The Center of the World in the Catholicon is the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Today, in the center of the Catholicon, beneath the dome, there is a magnificent chandelier, a symbol of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Below it, on the floor, is a large cup made of reddish stone containing a white stone sphere inlaid with cross-shaped black stone stripes. According to tradition, the sphere is the Earth, and the black stripes are the Four Winds/Corners of the Earth. The cup imparts its goodness to the Earth, and in fact, the Earth is contained within the cup, meaning that matter is contained within and nourished by the Spirit. The cup is the Shekhinah (Divine Presence), or the Holy Spirit—the divine influence that creates creation—which is feminine in nature, and it is considered the Omphalos—the Center of the World (see chapter on the Holy Grail).
The union between the Catholicon and the Rotunda is not only between the straight and the circular line, but metaphorically between the Eternal and the Temporal. Eternal holiness appears through the earthly drama of Jesus’ death and resurrection, through the Cross and suffering in this world, and thereby the world of matter is sanctified. The empty tomb reveals that death is only temporary, and Jesus’ resurrection symbolizes the possibility of reaching eternal life. The duality of death and life is expressed in the church’s architecture in the form of a double doorway at the entrance to the complex, a double gate whose magnificent carvings (now displayed in the Rockefeller Museum) reveal the dualistic essence of the appearance of holiness. On one side is the complex tangle of vegetation of this world, with human figures and animals trapped in its temporality, and on the other—scenes related to Jesus’ work in the world, his life and resurrection, a kind of declaration of the possibility of eternal life.
Around the Catholicon, the Crusaders added an ambulatory (corridor) with various chapels representing events and figures in Jesus’ life. Throughout the church, many rooms and sections branch off from the central structures, some closed to the public and some open. The Crusaders adorned the building with intricate and delicate sculpture on the capitals, lintels, and metopes, and also with wonderful artistic mosaics, of which only a few remnants remain. They introduced color, delicacy, and complexity into the architecture, thereby expressing the mysticism that permeated Christianity at the time.
The new construction led by Queen Melisende was far more complete and homogeneous and had more light entering than the church appears to have today. In her important article on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Kenaan-Kedar demonstrated how the module (unit of measure) used by the Crusader architect of the church was the radius of the Rotunda’s inner circle (approx. 10.4 meters), and how the rest of the measurements were derived from it. This radius is the measure of the Holy of Holies in the Temple (twenty cubits) [3].
The diameter of the Rotunda’s dome is two modules of 10.4 meters; the diameter of the Catholicon’s dome is one module; the length of the building is seven modules; and the width of the transept is four modules. By using this module—unit of measure—a connection was created between the place and the Temple, since it is derived from the size of the Holy of Holies in the Temple.
The use of the numbers four and seven creates a world-image representing the spiritual realms: four is related to the cross and material manifestation, and seven to the seven heavens, the spiritual worlds above this world. The duality of body and spirit, which is the makeup of man and the world, is represented by the relationship between the straight and the circular line—the straight structure symbolizing the physical, and the circular structure symbolizing the spiritual. It is also expressed by the ratio between the dome of the Catholicon and the dome of the Rotunda, 1:2.
In Crusader times, holy objects were displayed in the chapels of the ambulatory around the Catholicon. The church was not only the structure itself but also the holy objects contained within it. One of the most important of these sacred relics was the Spear of Destiny, discovered in Antioch by a man named Peter Bartholomew, which helped the Crusaders defeat the Muslims on the battlefield (see chapter on the subject). The lance became the Crusaders’ amulet and a symbol of the blessing and divine power granted to them. It was natural that it would reach the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and be kept in a special chapel, but fate had it that it found its way to Constantinople ten years later and disappeared there. Today, this chapel is empty, and only paintings of Longinus piercing Jesus’ side on the walls reveal this story to us.
Near the Chapel of the Spear of Destiny, pilgrims were able to see the original pillar to which Jesus was tied during his scourging and conviction (today it is in the Franciscan prayer hall). If they descended through the opening near the Chapel of the Scourging to the underground spaces beneath the church, they were able to see the place where Empress Helena found the remnants of the True Cross. From this place, additional spaces opened beneath the church, whose entry was authorized only for the few and the privileged, and they were places of mystery. The Crusaders loved secret underground places, and for the pilgrims who were privileged to descend to them, it was a kind of repetition of Jesus’ descent into the underworld, followed by the Resurrection.
The most important holy relic in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was the True Cross, whose whereabouts were lost over the generations and rediscovered by the Crusaders. The finding of the Cross occurred during the election of the first Crusader Patriarch of Jerusalem. Raymond of Saint-Gilles claimed he should be the Patriarch because he possessed the Spear of Destiny, but unfortunately for him, his rival (Arnold) immediately found the True Cross hidden within a wall of one of the chapels in the church garden. The True Cross was covered in gold and diamonds and displayed on a pillar as inspiration for the Crusaders when they went out to battle. It also went out to the Battle of Hattin, where it was lost and last seen displayed in the streets of Damascus by the victorious Muslims. According to Ze’ev Vilnay [4], in previous generations, tiny splinters allegedly taken from the original Cross were known to pilgrims and served as amulets. When swearing, they would touch a splinter of wood, hence the expression “touch wood.”
The Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) was not dedicated solely to places related to Jesus’ passion and holy relics, but also served as a place of connection with the social order and the kings of the Crusader Kingdom. The holy and original sword of Godfrey of Bouillon, the first King of Jerusalem, was kept in the church and is still used in the knighthood ceremonies of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre (see below).
To the right of the entrance gate was the Chapel of Adam, beneath the location of Golgotha. In this chapel, built by the Byzantine Emperor Monomachos in the 11th century, the crack in the Golgotha rock is visible, through which Jesus’ blood seeped and connected with Adam’s skull. The Crusader kings were buried on the floor in this place, in a way that allowed their graves to be trodden upon. Until the 18th century, we have evidence of the graves of Godfrey of Bouillon and Baldwin I, the first kings of Jerusalem, but then they disappeared. Graves of the other kings of Jerusalem and important figures were found near the entrance. The only one that remains visible today is the tomb of Philip d’Aubigny from England, a member of the chivalric orders, a pilgrim, and teacher of King Henry III, located outside the entrance door.
An important part of the church was the Rock of Golgotha on which Jesus was crucified. According to Eliade [5], Christianity transformed the Cross into the image of the World Tree—the cosmic tree standing at the center of heaven and earth, and therefore Golgotha is the Center of the World. With the help of this tree, the world is redeemed and renewed; temporality is replaced by eternity. Jesus Christ was crucified at the Center of the World, and therefore this is the place where the first man was created and buried. The blood of the mold of man spilled on the head of the first man, thereby baptizing him and redeeming him from sin. The symbol of the Tree of Life is the grain, the vine, the olive oil, and the medicinal herbs—miraculous plants growing from the body of the earth upon which the blood of the Savior was spilled. Baptism is a descent into primordial chaos, and following this, Jesus descends into the underworld for three days. Here we have an archetypal hero’s journey involving struggle with a monster, death, and rebirth.
The Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre
Catholic Christianity numbers about a billion people worldwide and is led by the Pope in Rome. Over its two thousand years of existence, many orders of monks and nuns were established within it, but in addition, from the Middle Ages onward, orders of monk-knights began to be established, the most famous of which are the Templars, Hospitallers, and Teutonic Knights, who were founded during the Crusades.
What many do not know is that, in addition to these orders, some of which no longer exist today, another order was founded during the Crusades, called the “Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre,” which was also open to married people (and knights). This order exists and is active today (not in combat) and serves as a main pillar of the Christian presence in Israel. In addition to it, there are five other non-monastic knightly orders under the patronage of the Pope and belonging to Catholic Christianity, as well as the Order of the Knights of Malta (the Hospitallers), branches of which continue to operate today (including in Jerusalem).
The Order of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most important international organizations in the context of the Catholic presence in Israel and the existence of the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. The goal of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is to preserve the Christian presence in the Holy Land, and it numbers 30,000 knights. Its current Grand Master is Cardinal Fernando Filoni. The administrative center is located in Rome at the Palazzo della Rovere, and the Lieutenant of the Grand Master is the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is essentially the acting administrator of the Order’s activities.
With the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, it was the knight Girolamo Gabrielli from Umbria who first entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with a thousand other knights. The custom of knighting in churches had developed earlier, but it could not be carried out in Jerusalem, which was under Muslim rule. Initially, any knight could bestow knighthood on distinguished soldiers if he wished, and it could be done anywhere. Therefore, after the conquest of Jerusalem, many warriors who participated in the wars were knighted as new knights in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Immediately after the Crusader conquest, an order of priests who cared for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was founded, called the Canons Regular of the Holy Sepulchre, and concurrently, a defense force called Milites Sancti Sepulcri was founded. The first Crusader king, Godfrey of Bouillon, founded the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from these two bodies, and King Baldwin I wrote its constitution in 1103. Members of the Order are friars of the Third Order (they do not take vows of celibacy, meaning they can marry) who adopt the Rule of Saint Augustine. Hugh de Payns, the founder of the Templar Order, was a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre before becoming a Templar.
In the vestment room within the Franciscan wing of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is a glass cabinet containing the original sword and spurs of Godfrey of Bouillon, the Crusader conqueror of Jerusalem and its first ruler. Godfrey refused to accept the title of king, saying that his Lord Jesus was a servant, not a master. He is considered a man of virtue, the ideal knightly figure, and was likely truly so, as even the Muslims who fought him appreciated him for his qualities. This sword is still used today in the dubbing ceremonies of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
The sword and spurs have a symbolic meaning in the various chivalric orders. The sword is composed of three parts: the blade, the scabbard, and the hilt. The blade symbolizes Faith, the scabbard symbolizes Purity, and the hilt symbolizes Modesty. When the sword is turned over, it resembles a cross. The tip of the sword symbolizes Obedience, and the two sides of the blade symbolize the two duties of the knight: service to God and service to human beings.
In the past, in order to be acknowledged and dubbed as a knight, a person needed long preparation, both physical and mental, and only when the candidate was ready was he knighted. The act of knighting was performed with a sword. The bestower gently struck the shoulder of the candidate kneeling before him and passed it three times from side to side. The act of knighting with the sword suggests that the person performing the ceremony has the qualities of Faith, Purity, and Modesty, and that he can transmit them to another so that he may fulfill his duties as a Christian and a knight. At the end of the knighting, the new knight is told thus: “Remember that Jesus our Lord conquered kingdoms by the power of love, not by the power of the sword.” The Order of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre customarily holds knighting ceremonies inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during hours when there are no visitors present.
In 1244, the Crusaders lost Jerusalem and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the second time, and eventually the rest of their holdings in the Land of Israel, and in 1291 they were finally driven out of Israel. The responsibility for the holy sites, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, passed from the Order of the Holy Sepulchre to the Franciscan Order, which founded the Custody of the Holy Land (Custodia Terrae Sanctae). The Order of the Holy Sepulchre lost its status, and the pilgrimage to the holy sites continued under the patronage of the Custodia Terrae Sanctae.
However, from 1335, knights began to be knighted again from among the pilgrims in knighthood ceremonies held in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Many European kings and dukes were dubbed as knights in nocturnal ceremonies held in the Church. When these knights returned home, they sometimes built churches modeled after the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Over time (in the early 20th century), knights began to be knighted into the Order not only in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre itself but also in other places around the world.
A 15th-century pilgrim named Fabri describes a knighting ceremony performed inside the Holy Sepulchre, in which some of the pilgrims who arrived in Jerusalem participated: “The noble John, who was the Count of Sidon, was called into the inner cave of the Sepulchre. The officiant fastened the sword of knighthood to his loins and tied the spurs of knighthood to his feet, and told him to kneel before the Sepulchre of the Lord and prostrate himself upon it with his chest and hands. While John was in this posture, the bestower struck his shoulders three times with the sword he had given him and which he now drew from its scabbard, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Afterward, he raised John, released the sword and spurs from him, kissed him, and said: ‘May this be for your good'” [6].
The ceremony took place at night and was the peak of the pilgrimage journey. Fabri tells us that an hour before midnight, the pilgrims were called to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and every nobleman who wished to be a knight was admitted to the Chapel of Golgotha and to the Catholicon, which was considered the Center of the World. Those present were warned not to lie about their status and affiliation, and that only blameless people of lineage could be knighted. They were instructed to always obey the Pope, the Church, and the Emperor, to defend the Catholic Church and its rights, to fight for the bishops, priests, and all religious people and institutions, and their property and lands. They were commanded to rule in peace, to act justly toward orphans, widows, strangers, and the poor, and to help any believer who was in distress.
In 1496, Pope Alexander VI separated the Order of the Holy Sepulchre from the Franciscan Custodia Terrae Sanctae and made himself and the succeeding popes the Grand Masters of the Order. It can be assumed that during this time, the heads of the Franciscan Custodia Terrae Sanctae were the Grand Priors, a kind of prime ministers of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, at least in Israel, but in the mid-19th century, the Latin Patriarchs returned to Jerusalem and became the heads of the Order. The new Patriarchs strongly identified with the Order of the Holy Sepulchre and nurtured it as a tool for strengthening Christian life in the land and to mobilize support from Christians all over the world to strengthen the Christian presence in the land. Thus, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre contributes $10 million annually to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The symbol of the Order is identical to the symbol of the Kingdom of Jerusalem—five crosses—and the motto of the symbol is Deus lo vult (“God wills it”).
The knightly shield on which the symbol is drawn is carried by two angels, one holding a lance and the other a pilgrim’s staff, thereby symbolizing the dual aspect of pilgrimage to the Holy Land—the religious and the political. On the angels’ chests are scallop shells, and perhaps this is related to the pilgrimage routes to Santiago, as the Order historically also engaged in supporting pilgrimage to the holy sites, especially Santiago de Compostela. Induction into the Order of the Holy Sepulchre is possible only by invitation. There are local Christians among the members of the Order, but most are respectable Catholics from around the world, including kings, counts, and businessmen. Induction involves paying a donation, just as pilgrims donated when they came to Jerusalem.
Members of the Order are forbidden from being members of orders not recognized by the Pope (for example, the Freemasons), and a person can be expelled from the Order if they do not adhere to its rules. There are women among the members, who also receive the title of knight but are called Dames. The Order’s decoration is called the “Palm of Jerusalem.” Whoever has made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem receives the Pilgrim’s Shell (there is also the Pilgrim’s Cross medal, given by the Franciscan Order). Whoever does good deeds, even if they are not Christian, receives the Medal of Merit from the Order [7].
Finally, it is worth mentioning in this context that there is a hierarchy of knightly orders in the Christian world. The highest and most esteemed are the orders restricted to a small number of people, a kind of brotherhood in which the ruler participates. Examples of this are the Order of the Golden Fleece, which numbers thirty people and includes the king of the Habsburg dynasty [8], or the Order of the Garter, of which the Queen of England is a member. In Italy, there was the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation, which had only twenty members, including the King of Italy (people who performed exceptional civil or military service for Italy, and in the past—only nobles), and so on. In a brotherhood of this kind, there is an internal judicial system to which even the king is subject, effectively creating a kind of mechanism for governmental decisions that takes place behind the scenes. Beneath the most restricted and influential orders are broader and less influential orders with hundreds and thousands of members.
Footnotes:
[1] Eliade, A History of Religious Ideas, Vol. 2, p. 298.
[2] Kenaan-Kedar, Nurith, “Symbolic Meaning in Crusader Architecture: The Twelfth-Century Dome of the Holy Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem”, Cahiers archéologiques 34 (1986), pp. 109-117.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Vilnay, Z. (1960). Jerusalem (Vol. 1). Achi’ever, p. 47.
[5] Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion.
[6] Kendall, A. 1970. Medieval pilgrims. Putnam, New York. P. 93.
[7] Among the important members of the Order who greatly influenced the Land of Israel is the architect Barluzzi, who was the architect of the Latin Patriarchate and built the important Catholic Christian churches in Israel for decades, from the 1920s to the 1960s. He was a Franciscan friar and also a member of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre.
[8] The Order of the Golden Fleece has two branches: one headed by the King of Spain, and the other headed by the head of the Austrian Habsburg dynasty, and it is active today.
