Gallery 67--of Palestine, Spring 2008

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The Greek Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic sui juris particular Church in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. The church's origins lie in the Near East, but, today, Melkite Catholics are spread throughout the world. At present there is a worldwide membership of approximately 1.3 million.

The Melkite greek Catholic Church retains its Byzantine roots and liturgical practices similar to those of the Eastern Orthodoxy while maintaining communion with the Catholic Church in Rome.

Mary's Tomb is a tomb located in the Kidron Valley, on the foothills of Mount of Olives, near the Church of All Nations and Gethsemane garden, originally just outside Jerusalem. It is regarded as the burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus by most Eastern Christians (many of whom refer to her as Theotokos)

Inside of the Tomb of Mary. The 3rd century Book of John about the Dormition of Mary places her tomb in Gethsemene, as does the 4th century Treatise about the passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

The Sacred Tradition of Eastern Christianity teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (the Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep) like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, soul and body, into heaven

The current walls of the Old City were built in 1538 by the Muslim Ottoman Empire Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.

The Bnei Hazir tomb is the oldest of four burial monuments which stand in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem and date to the period of the Second Temple. It is a complex of burial caves.The tomb's architectural style is influenced by ancient Greek architecture.The tomb dates to the second century B.C., the Hellenistic period and the time of the Hasmonean monarchy in Jewish history

Tomb of Zechariah.The monument is a monolith -- it is completely carved out of the solid rock and does not contain a burial chamber.It has been proposed that the Tomb of Zechariah is actually the nefesh (a Jewish funerary monument similar to the Greek stele) for the Bnei Hazir tomb.

The style of the construction, which includes Hellenic details such as Ionic columns, is similar to that of the Bnei Hazir tomb, and several writers think that they are near-contemporary with one another

Kidron Valley viewed from the Old City of Jerusalem.The Arab neighborhood of at-Tur.

Mount of Olives viewed from the Old City showing the Jewish cemetery

Main Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.The church has been an important pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the death and resurrection of Jesus. Today it also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem

On October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim orders for the complete destruction of the Church were carried out.In wide ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027-8 an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir agreed to allowing the rebuilding and redecoration of the Church.

The rebuilding was finally completed with the financing of the huge expense by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048.

The Altar of the Crucifixion. There, according to the tradition, Jesus was crucified.

The christian quarter

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