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Candles are taken in the Angel’s Stone of the Edicule. Here, after being removed from the Cross and anointed, Jesus was buried, and his miraculous Resurrection took place here too. The candles are blessed on the Hill of Calvary - just at the place where the Saviour was crucified. Nowadays both the Cave of the Holy Sepulchre and the Hill of Calvary are situated under one dome of the majestic temple.
Three candles from the Church of the Calvary are put in the grey linen sack with the inscription “Relics of Israel”.
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The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem: the place of crucifixion, burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, also known as The Church of the Holy Sepulchre,- here you can find the most sacred for Christian soul places under one roof: a place of crucifixion (Golgotha), the Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
The first thing which impresses you most in the Church of the Resurrection is its diversity from other Christian Churches of the world. From outside it is impossible to imagine the huge space hidden inside the Church. It is not a chapel in its classical form, but the whole constellation of churches of different Christian confessions, it is the whole universe!
Main Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Plain and solitary paved yard abuts the front of the Church – a high rectangle of the grey rough wall, laid out of limestone blocs. There are two high-pitched stone arches in it. Under each arch there is an entrance (but one of them is immured with stones). Just in front of the high entrance, just few steps from it, on the marble floor there is the Stone of Anointing, believed to be the spot where Jesus' body was anointed with mirth and aloe by Joseph and Nicodemus. Behind the Stone of Anointing there is a lonely wall of the main church - the Church of Resurrection. To the left of it you can find the Rotunda of the Anastasis beneath the larger of the church's two domes, in the center of which is the marble chapel, Edicule, of the Holy Sepulchre itself.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Burial place of Christ in the edicule
The Edicule has two rooms. The first one holds the Angel’s Stone, a fragment of the stone believed to have sealed the tomb after Jesus' burial. Here in the old days in the morning of Christ Resurrection, the Angel met the myrrh-bearing women and imparted them Good News: “What are you looking for among dead? He is not here: He has resurrected.” Two windows in the wall at the Angel’s Stone are used for passing all the praying the Holy Fire, which annually comes to the Holy Sepulchre on the Holy Saturday on Easter’s Eve. The second part of the chapel is Jesus’ tomb itself. This is a small cave approximately two meters long and a meter and a half width, but how magnificent it is! Splendid icons and icon-lamps hanging over the gravestone cover its walls and cellar. There are not enough words to describe in details this Holy place, where incarnated Word is alive up to present time. You should be here by yourself, in reverent silence and prayer…
ÑTo the right of the wall of the Church of Resurrection there is a stone stairway climbing to the most mournful place - Hill of Calvary believed to be the site of Jesus' crucifixion. It is the most lavishly decorated part of the church. Here everything shines with the golden attire - icons, icon-lamps, murals, mosaic… And only in the middle of the rock under the thick glass there could be seen spitted in two halves stone where the Cross was raised. At the moment of Jesus death the split came through the whole Golgotha. It is the highest (in the spiritual sense) peak of the world.
Mount Calvary - the place where the Saviour was crucified
(nowadays is situated within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
Under the Church of Resurrection there is an intricate system of caves, which make a real labyrinth, where different relics are placed at different levels. In the underground vaunt a multi-step stage leads to the Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross, believed to be the place where Empress Helena (mother of Emperor Constantine) found the True Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. The Chapel in honour of St. Constantine and Helena belongs to the Armenian Church. The Chapel of Division of Robes also belongs to the Armenians. At this place the Roman warriors guarding Jesus Christ divided His robes throwing lots. Armenians- monophysites unlike Catholics and Orthodox Christians ( who honour both divine and human nature of Jesus Christ), recognize only divine nature.
However, whatever contradictions there were among different Christian confessions, everything recedes into the background before the expiatory sacrifice of the Saviour. In the Church of Holy Sepulchre there is the Franciscan Monastery and belonging to the ancient Ethiopian community tomb of Joseph of Arimathea which are the domain of Moscow patriarchate and Greek Orthodox Church. Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic Churches all have rights to the interior of the tomb where Jesus’ body lied, and all three communities celebrate Holy Mass there daily.
