Commemorating Jesus: Constantine’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre
March 2021 | Vol. 9.3
By Jordan J. Ryan
Since antiquity, Christians have travelled to the region that they call the “Holy Land” in order to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to “adore in the place where his feet have stood” (Ps 131:7, LXX). Today, most of the waypoints on the pilgrimage are represented by churches or chapels, architectural spaces of Christian worship that mark the spots where events in the life of Jesus have traditionally been held to take place.
Although we cannot be certain that the modern pilgrims who walk the stones of these Christian holy places are literally walking where Jesus walked, they are following in the footsteps of the forebears of their faith. The remains of ancient commemorative churches are frequently incorporated into later churches. In one case, the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, contemporary Christians are able to worship in a standing church that has been continuously used since antiquity.
The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem as depicted in Konrad von Grünenberg’s “Beschreibung der Reise von Konstanz nach Jerusalem” (1487).
The interior of the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem (photo courtesy of Anders Runesson).
The present day Church of the Holy Sepulchre (photo courtesy of Anders Runesson).
The façade of the present day Church of the Holy Sepulchre (photo by Joy Lee-Ryan).
The Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulchre was essentially two-churches-in-one. It included a monumental basilica called the Martyrion (“witness”) and a domed rotunda called the Anastasis (“resurrection”). Contained within the Anastasis was a small aedicule, which represented the traditional site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. Recent archaeological work at the site has shown that the aedicule incorporated parts of a Jewish rock-cut tomb from the Second Temple period that was likely regarded as the tomb described in the canonical Gospels as the place where Jesus was buried. Between the Martyrion and the Anastasis was an inner courtyard. In one corner of that courtyard was a rock spire, which represented the traditional site of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified.
The architectural forms of both the Martyrion and the Anastasis originate in Roman imperial architecture. The Christian basilica is derived from the Roman basilica, civic meeting halls. This would have made the Martyrion instantly recognizable as a public gathering place, one that conveyed the same royal splendor that was associated with its Roman civic counterparts, an association that was helped by its gold coffered ceiling and marble decorated interior (Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 3.31-32, 36).
Like other basilicas, the Martyrion featured an apse, which directed the focus of the building and congregants within it. The Martyrion’s apse featured twelve columns, and pointed towards the Anastasis. Eusebius tells us that the number of the columns was meant to match the number of the Apostles (Life of Constantine, 3.38). True to its name, the architecture of the Martyrion (“witness”) represented the Twelve Apostles bearing witness to the Anastasis (“Resurrection”), and the congregants continuing to bear witness with them.
The rotunda of the Anastasis is a development of the form of round Roman imperial mausolea, which were reserved for royalty, and were sites of worship for the imperial cult. The use of this form for the Anastasis communicated that the person commemorated by it, Jesus of Nazareth, should be recognized as royalty. Thus, the early Christian tradition of the kingship of Jesus was conveyed through the architectural iconography of the Anastasis, along with the notion that he was someone deserving of worship. One important difference between imperial mausolea and the Anastasis is that, unlike the emperor’s, Jesus’ body was not contained within his tomb. This divergence highlighted the true significance of the tomb: its emptiness.
A model of the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulchre at St. Peter in Gallicantu, Jerusalem. Image courtesy of the author.
The rotunda and aedicule in the present day Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Image courtesy of the author.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was also vested with New Jerusalem ideology. According to Eusebius, it was “that fresh New Jerusalem proclaimed in prophetic oracles,” facing the “Jerusalem of Old,” the ruins of the Jewish Temple, which had been “overthrown in utter devastation” (Life of Constantine, 3.33.1-2). This problematic anti-Jewish interpretation made the Holy Sepulchre into a new, eschatological Temple, and a symbol of supersessionist triumph. The date of its dedication was the very same as the biblical date of Solomon’s dedication of the original Jerusalem Temple (1 Kgs 8:1-2), which indicates that the New Jerusalem ideology was not unique to Eusebius, but was part of the broader understanding of the monument when it was founded. For the place where Jesus was crucified and buried to become the focal point of a new and greater Temple draws upon the tradition of Jesus as the Great High Priest of the heavenly Temple from Hebrews 9:1-10:18.
The Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulchre represents a number of triumphs in architectural form. Primarily, it represents a witness to Jesus’ triumph over death. However, it also represents the triumph of Constantine, hence its dedication as part of Constantine’s tricennial celebrations and its groundbreaking ten years prior in concert with his bicennalia. In his letter to Macarius, Constantine claims that the tomb of Jesus lay hidden “until through the removal of the enemy of the whole republic it was ready to be revealed” (in Eusebius, Life of Constantine, 30.1). The “enemy” he refers to is Licinius, thus strongly implying that his own victory and sole emperorship directly allowed for the tomb of Jesus to be revealed.
The Holy Sepulchre also represented a victory over paganism, as a Hadrianic temple to Aphrodite that previously stood on the site was destroyed to make way for the new church (Life of Constantine, 3.26.2-3). Finally, it represented a problematic Christian supersessionist triumph over Judaism, as the New Jerusalem that had superseded the Jewish Temple.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was soon joined by two other commemorative churches in the Jerusalem area, which were also commissioned by Constantine and his mother, Helena: the Church of the Nativity and the Eleona, which commemorated Jesus’ teaching on the Mount of Olives. As Vered Shalev-Hurvitz has recently shown, the Eleona was part of a compound that included the site of Jesus’ ascension. These monuments represented the three events of the life of Jesus mentioned in the Nicene Creed: incarnation, the passion and resurrection, and the ascension. Together, they are architectural expressions of the biography of Jesus according to the Creed.
By the end of the fourth century, more commemorative churches would appear, most notably in Galilee, rounding out further events in Jesus’ life: his annunciation and childhood (Nazareth), the feeding of the five thousand (Tabgha), the sermon on the mount (the Chapel of the Beatitudes), and his ministry in Capernaum (the House of St. Peter). The addition of more commemorative sites, and thus more narrative episodes, resulted in a full story of Jesus that could be experienced through pilgrimage: a retelling of the life of Jesus, a sort of “gospel” written in stone upon the land rather than in ink upon the page.
The present day Church of the Multiplication at Tabgha (photo by Joy Lee-Ryan).
Jordan J. Ryan is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Wheaton College.
How to cite this article:
Ryan, J. J. 2021. “Commemorating Jesus: Constantine’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre.” The Ancient Near East Today 9.3. Accessed at: https://anetoday.org/commemorating-jesus-holy-sepulchre/.
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