Tired of health care? Let’s talk architecture!
Number Three: Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Enjoy!
I was lucky enough to have been asked by my good friend Fr. Barron at Word on Fire to try to enrich his pilgrimage web site with some short video clips on some of the places he’s been while making his really excellent Catholicism series. So he sent some folks from his crew to my office and the result is a series of ten short videos on great artistic and architectural landmarks of the Church.
See Also:
March 22, 2010 at 9:48 pm
so should all churches be round?
March 23, 2010 at 12:15 am
Anonymous– round or centrally planned buildings are, in the Catholic tradition, are used particualrly for *shrine* churches. The round shape is not necessarily intended for all situations… and it is decidedly distinict from churches seating "in the round."
March 23, 2010 at 12:35 am
Rebuilt in the middle-ages [after the mohamemedan caliph of Jerusalem had it razed to the ground].
There is really nothing easy or "hospitable" about going to the church of the holy sepulchre. It's difficult to get to, it's sad, the people who tend to it are not all very nice people, and you have to go through a gauntlet of Israeli security forces, mohammedan scammers pretending to be guides, and other territorial/ethnic pilgrims. I think this is actually fitting, since it really tests one's own faith and commitment to understanding the passion and death of Our Lord.
That having been said, I would recommend it for any Christian. It is a life-changing experience.
March 25, 2010 at 3:21 am
The reason that the entrances to Christian homes and churches that are older than the colonial period in the Middle East is that Islam demands that Christians live "disgraced, humiliated and belittled."
Therefore, the entrances to Christian homes and churches were constructed so that Christians must bow in disgrace, humiliation and belittlement each time they entered their own home or place of worship.
It has nothing to do with humbling oneself before God or anything else other than Islamic Law that is enforced even today around the world.
Sharia law says: 'In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. This is a document to the servant of Allah Umar, the Leader of the faithful, from the Christians of such and such a city. When you (Muslims) came to us we {Christians} requested safety for ourselves, children, property and followers of our religion. We made a condition on ourselves that we will neither erect in our areas a monastery, church, or a sanctuary for a monk, nor restore any place of worship that needs restoration nor use any of them for the purpose of enmity against Muslims. We will not prevent any Muslim from resting in our churches whether they come by day or night, and we will open the doors [of our housesof worship] for the wayfarer and passerby. Those Muslims who come as guests, will enjoy boarding and food for three days. We will not allow a spy against Muslims into our churches and homes or hide deceit [or betrayal] against Muslims. We will not teach our children the Koran, publicize practices of Shirk, invite anyone to Shirk or prevent any of our fellows from embracing Islam, they they choose to do so. We will respect Muslims, move from the places we sit in if they choose to sit in them. We will not imitate their clothing, caps, turbans, sandals, hairstyles, speech, nicknames and title names, or ride on saddles, hang swords on shoulders, collect weapons of any kind or carry these weapons. We will not encrypt our stamps in Arabic, or sell liquor. We will have the front of our hair cut, wear our customary clothes wherever we are, wear belts around our waist, refrain from erecting crosses on the outside of our churches and demonstrating them and our books in public in Muslim fairways and markets. We will not sound bells in our churches, except discretely, or raise our voices while reciting our holy books inside our churches in the presence of Muslims, nor raise our voices [with prayer] at our funerals, or light torches in funeral processions in the fairways of Muslims, or in their markets. We will not bury our dead next to Muslim dead, or buy servants who were captured by Muslims. We will be guides for Muslims and refrain from breaching the privacy in their homes.' When I gave this document to Umar, he added to it, 'We will not beat any Muslim. These are conditions that we set against ourselves and followers o four religion in return for safety and protection. If we break any of these promises that we set for your benefit against ourselves, then our Dhimmah (promise of protection) is broken and you are allowed to do with us what your are allowed of people of defiance and rebellion.'