Burial place of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where is Jesus' tomb? Ancient burial traditions of the Jews: how it happened

Both Catholics and Orthodox believers agree that Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem on the eve of Easter by the verdict of the Sanhedrin. Enough to reveal New Testament, to see all the stages of Jesus' trial, crucifixion on Mount Calvary and burial in a rock-cut cave. The announcement of the verdict took place in front of the palace of the Roman governor, and the road to the site of the crucifixion led to the outskirts of the then city. The place of execution was located in that uninhabited part of it that towered above Jerusalem.

Rock tomb of Joseph of Arimathea

It is believed that the grave was located nearby. The Gospels say that the rock tomb belonged to Joseph of Arimathea and was prepared by him for his own burial. But it didn’t work out; Joseph donated his crypt to the crucified Teacher. It was in this crypt that the miracles that Jesus’ followers saw took place: the women, who had recently wrapped his body in a funeral shroud and anointed it with oils, suddenly saw that the crypt was empty and the shroud was lying on a stone bed. In other words, the body has disappeared. Jesus rose again and left his final refuge. Forever.

In 326, the Byzantine Emperor Constantine urgently needed to acquire Christian shrines. Jerusalem Christians were given an unequivocal order: to urgently find Golgotha ​​and the cave. They found it. True, the Romans managed to fill up the cave, pave the area with stone and erect in 135 the temple of Aphrodite with a pagan altar.

The first Christian emperor ordered that everything be returned to its original state: the temple was demolished, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was erected over the cave, of which little remained. They reported to Konstantin. He was happy.

Since then, believers have found a rounded depression in the stone, where, in their opinion, the cross on which Jesus was crucified was inserted, the remains of an unknown crypt, which instantly became the main shrine of Christians, and even a huge rounded stone that once covered the entrance to the cave, which received the name "the stone rolled away from the door of the tomb." In what form the cave was found by Christians and whether this stone was there, contemporaries did not report. The main thing is that they now possessed all the necessary shrines - right down to nails and the Life-Giving Cross, although 300 years had already passed since the execution of Jesus. To what extent the historical Golgotha ​​corresponds to what was found - no one thought about it then. But centuries have passed.

Muslims and Prophet Isa

Muslims, who consider Jesus not the Son of God, but an ordinary prophet, and who worship him as a prophet, did not believe in any crucifixion or miraculous resurrection. TO Christian temple and the graves that they received after the conquest of Jerusalem were treated without any reverence. According to some Arab legends, the embittered Jews were really going to crucify Jesus, and it even seemed to them that they had crucified him, but in fact, Allah took his prophet to heaven alive. Consequently, there was no cross, no crucifixion, no death and - of course - no burial. According to other Arabic legends, Jesus was not executed on the cross, but fled from Jerusalem and lived a long life as a prophet. He got married, had children, and had many students. And then he died his own death, was mourned by those who loved him and buried with honor. They called the burial place either India or Turkey. Here the legends did not add up - that’s why they are legends.

So the Muslim part of India (Kashmir) has its own landmark - the Rosa Bal tomb in Sri Nagar. True, for some reason the Jesus there was called Yuz Asaf, but the residents of Srinagar explain this simply - he was a fugitive, an illegal immigrant, and could not reveal his true name. The inscription above the entrance knows him by this name, and the name of the shrine, Rosa Bal, simply means “tomb of the prophet.” There is a similar monument on the Turkish Beykos Mountain, not far from Istanbul. The local landmark is called locally the tomb of Saint Yusha, that is, Saint Jesus (Yeshua). This is a fairly large complex, 17 meters long and 2 meters wide. The tomb itself, that is, the crypt, is not there. But there are two huge round stones, one of which has a hole in the middle. Some believe that a cross was inserted into this hole. In ancient times, a spear was placed there, which was used to pierce Jesus’ side. It seems very likely that this was once a place sacred to the Christian community, which was later destroyed. It is likely that the Christians there staged New Testament events, creating their own Golgotha ​​and their own tomb. After all, before the Turkish conquest, the Byzantines lived in these places. And they were by no means Muslims!

In the Garden of Golgotha

But what about Türkiye! What India! What traces of Jesus are in Tibet! The “tomb” of Jesus will be shown to you in distant Japan. The local Takenouchi and Sawaguchi clans from the town of Shingo will show it to you at the local cemetery. Until 1935, this strange grave was distinguished from all others only by the inscription on the tombstone: “Jesus Christ, founder of the Takenouchi family.” Modern descendants of Jesus of Shingo will tell you that in time immemorial Jesus fled from Jerusalem and reached Japanese Islands. Here he settled, got a wife, gave birth to three children and died at the age of 112. The story of the life of Jesus, his wanderings through India and Siberia and his long happy life in the Land of the Rising Sun is recorded, as the “heirs” claim, in ancient scrolls that are 1500 years old. True, the scrolls that Takenouchi and Sawaguchi can show were rewritten 200 years ago, when Christianity began to spread in Japan. But the older ones have not survived, which leads to quite understandable conclusions...

But you don't have to go so far east of Jerusalem. The city itself also has several tombs where Jesus could have been buried. The first and most famous is associated with the alternative address of Golgotha. In the 19th century, the English general Charles Gordon, who, like all people of that era, knew the New Testament very well, wondered how the modern location of Golgotha ​​corresponded to the geography of Jerusalem in the 1st century. After re-reading the sacred texts, he declared that Emperor Constantine was mistaken. The tomb of Jesus was located in a garden, but there was never any garden around Constantine's Golgotha. But he found perfect place, where there is a mountain on which Christ was crucified, and a garden where he was buried. This place has since been called “Gordon’s Calvary”.

However, a century later, archaeological research revealed several tombs, each of which could be the final resting place of Jesus. One of them was opened during construction in Talpiot in 1980. While digging a pit, an ancient burial was unexpectedly discovered, and archaeologists immediately took the place of the workers. They opened the crypt and found ten 1st century vessels containing the bones of the dead. There were very interesting names on the burial ossuaries: Mary, Matthew, Jesus, Joseph, another Mary, Judas (son of Jesus)... Director James Cameron was so inspired by these names that he made the film “ Lost Tomb Jesus,” in which he stated unequivocally that archaeologists had found the family crypt of Christ.

However, archaeologists were skeptical about Cameron's conclusions. Similar tombs have been found in Jerusalem before. And there were also Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Judas... There was even Jacob, the son of Joseph, the brother of Jesus. It's simple. These were the most popular names back then! But it’s unlikely that at least one ossuary belongs to that same Jesus. And for the simplest reason: inside these vessels there are, excuse me, parts of the skeleton, that is, bones. And the Jesus in whom Christians believe, as we know, was resurrected and clothed in flesh. Simply put: there can be no bones in his crypt. And in general, Jesus’ body did not end up in any ossuary. So these are all the wrong graves...

Turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries.
Canvas, oil
The shroud (from Greek Επιτάφιος) is a large-format shroud depicting the burial order of Jesus Christ or the Virgin Mary.
The origin of the name of the Shroud with the image of “The Entombment of Our Lord Jesus Christ” is associated with the memory of the events of Good Friday and Holy Saturday mentioned in the four Gospels (Matthew 57-60; Mark 15: 42-46; Luke 23: 50-53; John 19: 31-42).
Joseph “from Arimathea, the city of Judea,” “a member of the council, a good and truthful man” (Luke 23: 50-54), having asked permission from the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, removed the body of Christ from the cross. Together with him were Nicodemus and the Savior’s beloved disciple, the Apostle John the Theologian (Gospel of John. 19: 38-42). They wrapped the Savior's body in burial shrouds - a shroud soaked in aromatic substances (in composition - from myrrh resin and aloe wood) and laid them in new tomb, carved into the rock. Only the Gospel of John mentions the participation in the burial of a secret follower of Christ, Nicodemus, who brought abundant incense. The fact that the tomb of the Savior was located in the garden, next to Golgotha, is also mentioned only by the Evangelist John the Theologian as a witness to all the events of the cross.
In Christian art, the “Shroud” is a canvas with an embroidered or painted image of the position of the Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb. From the surviving monuments of facial embroidery, starting from the 14th century, it is known that in the divine service of Holy Saturday a small liturgical cover was used - “air”.
According to the canon, the iconography of the “Shroud” depicts the position of Jesus Christ in the tomb in the center of the composition. Around the tomb are saints and angels. At the head of the Holy Sepulcher there is a weeping Virgin Mary hugging her son. According to the Gospel of John, on the Resurrection - “on the first day of the week” (John 20: 1-16) Mary Magdalene, the Apostle Peter, “another disciple whom Jesus loved” - the Apostle John, came to the tomb. Since ancient times, there has been a tradition of depicting soaring angels at the tomb of the Savior. The angels standing at the tomb of the Lord are holding ripids in their hands. In the Gospel accounts of the Resurrection, Angels are mentioned. In a detailed account of the events that took place in Holy Week, the Evangelist John the Theologian talks about the Day of the Resurrection of two Angels, “seated in a white robe, one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus lay” (John 19: 12), seen by Mary Magdalene. The Gospel of Luke notes that the women who “came with Jesus from Galilee and looked at the tomb and how they laid out His body” also took part in the burial of Christ (Luke 23:55). The myrrh-bearing women, Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary of Jacob and “the other with them” (Luke 24:10) came to the tomb with aromas on the Resurrection and witnessed the appearance to them in the tomb: “suddenly two men appeared before them in shining clothes "(Luke 24:4). In the Gospel of Mark there are several additions to the information about the last earthly days of the Savior: “He (Joseph of Arimathea), having bought a shroud and taking off Him, wrapped the shroud around Him and laid Him in a tomb that was hewn out of the rock; and rolled the stone to the door of the tomb. Mary Magdalene and Mary of Josiah looked where they laid Him” (Mark 16:46-47). Early on the morning of the Resurrection, Mary Magdalene, Mary of Jacob and Salome, having come to the tomb with aromas, saw in the tomb “a young man sitting on right side, clothed in a white robe” (Mark 16:5). The Gospel of Matthew specifies that the Body of Christ was laid by Joseph of Arimathea “in his new tomb” (Matthew 27:60). At the time of the burial, “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb” (Matthew 27:61). In the story of the Sabbath, the Evangelist Matthew speaks of the guards guarding the tomb, placed at the request of the high priests and Pharisees by Pontius Pilate, who sealed the stone with a seal (Matthew 27: 62-66). Matthew has several information about Sunday that is not found in other evangelists. When “at dawn of the first day of the week” Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” came to the tomb, “there was a great earthquake: for the Angel of the Lord, who had descended from heaven, came and rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb and sat in it; his appearance was like lightning, and his raiment was white as snow” (Matthew 28:2-3).
A special feature of the iconography of the monument from the collection of A.F. Likhachev is the content of the inscription according to a literary source - according to the troparion of the second tone of the Week of Myrrh-Bearing Women. In the hymns of the Sunday service, the second voice of the Octoechos is sung at Matins. In an abbreviated form, it is used at Matins on Holy Saturday.
Along the perimeter of the “Shroud” is written the text of the troparion of Great Saturday, located clockwise and starting from the upper left corner of the plate: “The noble Joseph took down your most pure body from the tree, wrapped it in the shroud and covered it with odors (fragrances) in a new tomb, and laid it.”

Immediately after this, the soldiers led the Lord outside the city gates. The execution was to take place on Golgotha, a deserted round hill, shaped and given its name (the word Calvary in Hebrew it means skull, head); This name is usually translated as frontal place. According to another version, the mountain got its name because of the skulls of those executed, which remained on the mountain without burial. Usually those led to the crucifixion themselves carried the instruments of execution. The Lord Jesus Christ also carried the Cross. However, since the Savior lost his strength due to the beatings, the soldiers, as soon as they left the city, forced one villager returning from the field, named Simon, to carry the Cross of Christ.

At the place of execution, Jesus Christ was given an intoxicating mixture of wine and myrrh, but the Lord refused the drink. When the Lord was nailed to the Cross, He prayed for those crucifying Him: Father! forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. Together with Christ, two thieves were crucified: one on the right side, and the other on the left side of Him. The four soldiers carrying out the execution divided the Lord's clothes among themselves. The chiton (shirt) of Jesus was not sewn, but entirely woven. The warriors cast lots to see who would get it. Above the head of the Crucified One, where the guilt of the executed person was usually written, Pilate ordered to nail a tablet with the inscription in three languages ​​- Hebrew, Greek and Latin: This is the King of the Jews.

Golgotha ​​was not far from the city, and people came to watch the execution. Many people slandered: “Destroying the temple and creating in three days! save yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” The high priests, scribes, elders and Pharisees also laughed at Christ: “He saved others, but he cannot save himself; if He is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.” The thieves crucified with Him also reviled Christ. They stood at the cross Holy Mother of God and Her relative, Mary of Cleopas, the Apostle John Zebedee and Mary Magdalene. The Mother of God grieved over her crucified Son. The prophecy of the righteous Simeon came true: A weapon will pierce your very soul. Meanwhile, the Lord, seeing His Mother and the disciple whom He loved, said, turning to the Mother of God: Behold, Your son. Then - to the Apostle John: Behold, your Mother!

One of the crucified thieves turned to his comrade, who continued to curse Jesus Christ: Or are you not afraid of God, when you yourself are condemned to the same thing? and we are condemned justly, because we accepted what was worthy of our deeds, but He did nothing bad. Perhaps the heart of the thief was touched by the meekness of Jesus and His concern for His Mother. Turning to Him, the thief said: Remember me, Lord, when You come into Your Kingdom! And the Lord answered: now you will be with Me in Paradise.

Suddenly, at the sixth hour according to the Jewish reckoning (in our opinion, at noon), darkness enveloped the earth. About the ninth hour (that is, the third hour in the afternoon) Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Or or! Lama sabachthani?- which translated from Aramaic means: My God, My God! Why have you forsaken me? The Lord offers this prayer on behalf of all people, as St. Athanasius the Great explains: “This is the Savior speaking on behalf of humanity and, in order to put an end to the curse and turn the Father’s face to us, he asks the Father to look upon us, applying our need to Himself.” In addition, with these words begins the prophetic 21st Psalm of King David, which accurately describes how the people will reject the Lord, how those who saw His suffering will laugh at Him, how, casting lots, they will divide His clothes, what torment He will endure. Knowing that everything has already been accomplished, the Lord will say: I'm thirsty! Then one of those present will run, soak a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, give it to Him.

When the Lord tasted the vinegar, He said: It's done! - and, offering a prayer to His Heavenly Father: Father! into Your hands I commend My spirit , bowing his head betrayed his spirit. And so the veil in the Jerusalem temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. The earth shook, the stones cracked, the tombs were opened, many saints who had fallen asleep were resurrected and, coming out of the tombs after His resurrection, entering Jerusalem, they then appeared to many. The centurion who led the execution, as well as those who guarded Jesus with him, seeing the earthquake and everything that happened, were afraid and said: Truly He was the Son of God.

The history of this place is this.

In 1882, the brave English general Charles Gordon was looking at the surrounding area through binoculars from the wall of the Old City and suddenly noticed a hill shaped like a skull.

The general, of course, knew that the name Golgotha ​​literally means “skull” (from the Aramaic “gulgolet”). He also knew that about fifteen years before him, the archaeologist Konrad Schick discovered on this hill a tomb carved into the rock and the remains of a well-kept garden, clearly belonging to a rich man. In the general’s head, one thing instantly connected with the other: Golgotha, a garden, a burial, for the Gospel says: “In the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid” (John 19 :41); this garden belonged to the rich Joseph from Arimathea, who buried Jesus, who was taken down from the cross, in his garden. Meanwhile, no traces of the garden were found near the traditional Golgotha ​​in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Thus, the version about the burial of Christ in the Tomb in the garden was born.

Gordon's Golgotha ​​is located near the Nablus (or Damascus) Gate (the northern section of the wall of the Old City). At the beginning of the 1st century there was a quarry here, which was also used for execution by stoning. Nowadays there is an Arab bus station next to it. The appearance of the “Skull Mountain” has also changed - now the similarity is not so obvious: the “eye sockets” remain, but the “mouth” has disappeared.

From the gate you need to cross the street and walk along this beautiful building - the Schmidt School.

After one and a half hundred meters, a sign will indicate the further direction.

It's already very close around the bend.

The Garden Tomb is currently under the protection and care of the independent British charity, the Garden Tomb Society. It should be noted that the Anglican Church remains deathly silent on this matter.

When you enter, you will be politely asked where you are from and given a guidebook. It is also available in Russian. Admission is free, although no one is forbidden to donate something.

The path to the grave is a long, winding path that winds through the garden. At first, she takes Gordon to Golgotha.

At the time I entered the garden, it was full of blacks brought by white missionaries. Near Golgotha, one of them read a sermon (or lecture).

From Golgotha ​​you need to return and, turning the corner of the building with a red roof, go north.

This path will lead to the reservoir. Its neck is now covered.

This is the largest water storage tank in Jerusalem, holding 900 thousand liters. It is believed that it existed already before the beginning of our era.

Next to it is a well-preserved wine press, also from the Herodian era.

It was excavated in 1924 and is one of the largest structures of its kind in the land of ancient Israel.

These finds indicate that the owner of this garden was a very wealthy man, perhaps the same Joseph from Arimathea.

Finally, we go to the burial.
It was a little easier to get there than to the Mausoleum.

The process was led by some clown, apparently the head of the tourist group.

Unfortunately, the tomb was blocked during an earthquake at the beginning of the 20th century, so the entrance to it looked different before. There can hardly be 4-5 people there at the same time. But the stone bed has been preserved, although it is so close that the camera lens has difficulty capturing it.

Some black women, before going inside, fell into natural exaltation, sang psalms and some kind of chants. And suddenly the black tour group subsided like a wave, the garden was empty. If I had entered there at that time, I would have thought that this was the most uninhabited place in Jerusalem.

So, once again the reasons why this place is considered the tomb of Jesus:

1. Golgotha ​​was located outside the city, near a busy road (from the Nablus Gate the road leads to Damascus).
2. The garden belonged to a rich man.
3. The coffin was carved from solid stone and was not a cave formed naturally"...and Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean shroud, and laid it in his new tomb, which he had carved out of the rock; and, big Stone to the door of the tomb, he departed" (Matthew 27:59-60).
4. It was sealed with a large disc-shaped stone, as evidenced by a trench behind the outer wall.
5. Inside the place of mourning there should have been a place for several mourners "... on the first day of the week, very early, bringing prepared spices, they came to the tomb, and with them some others; but they found the stone rolled away from the tomb. And when they entered , they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus... It was Mary Magdalene, and Joanna, and Mary the mother of James, and others with them, who told the apostles about this" (Luke 24: 1-4, 10).
6. The burial place is located to the right of the tomb: “And when they entered the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a white robe...” (Mark 16:5) and he can be seen from the street: “And bending down, I saw the linens lying there, but did not enter into the tomb" (John 20:5).
7. B early Middle Ages there was supposedly a church here, as evidenced by two carved crosses on the wall, one of which is now inside the coffin.

Nowadays, Muslims fire a cannon from the top of the hill to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. From this same place, in their opinion, the resurrection of the dead should begin before the Last Judgment (next to it is a prestigious Arab cemetery).

Greetings to everyone on the blog pages!
Today is Friday, the last and saddest day of this week. Orthodox Church remembers the crucifixion, death and burial of Jesus Christ. On this day it is strict, you cannot eat anything, you cannot do any work. (personal matters for yourself, at home)
Here I will briefly describe how the burial of Jesus took place.
IN Old Testament death is always a tragedy. Preparations for burial in those days were much the same as today.
The eyes of the deceased were closed, the body was washed and wrapped in a piece of cloth.
This is how the burial of Christ was.
The body of Jesus Christ was taken down from the cross on the eve of the Sabbath. According to Jewish law, the body had to be buried within the same day (24 hours) (Deut. 21, 22), but since burial was prohibited on Saturdays, it had to be done before sunset on Friday.

The crucified man could not be buried in a Jewish cemetery; the law strictly forbade this.
According to the law, those who were crucified on crosses were thrown into open burial pits - “Gehenna” to the south of the city.
But in the meantime, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus (Jesus’ secret disciple) went to Pilate to ask that Jesus’ body be buried properly.
Joseph decided to bury him in his new cave, which was located near Golgotha.

By the way, in Judea, tombs differed from the social and property status of the deceased.

In those days, rich people were buried in crypts carved into the rocks. The poor are in shallow graves on level ground.
Inside the cave, in front of the entrance to the tomb, there was a “courtyard” with an area of ​​7 square meters, where they usually placed the body on a stretcher and paid last respects to the deceased.
So, since the Great Feast of Passover for the Jews was approaching. (Mark; 15: 42-44), it was necessary to bury before the start of the Sabbath, the funeral took place in great haste, because this day was a day of preparation, and there was very little time left before the onset of the Sabbath.
By the way, Passover (passover) translated from Hebrew means “passing by”
Joseph brought Jesus' body to his new tomb.
The body of Christ was laid on a stone funeral bed (200 x 80 cm, height from the floor 60 cm, with feet facing east (i.e.
to the entrance), head to the west, according to Jewish custom.
The secret disciple of Jesus Christ, Nicodemus brought an incense composition of myrrh and aloe (about 100 liters), they poured the incense on the shroud (shroud) - a four-meter linen cloth, a meter wide, and wrapped it around the body (John; 19: 38-40) and on the head the sir was put (a cloth on his head) (John 20:7)
The entrance to the cave was covered with a stone so that wild animals would not take away the body of the deceased. A seal was placed on the cave of the tomb and a guard was placed.
This is how the burial of Jesus Christ took place.
I hope you found it interesting. Thank you for attention!