The Garden Tomb - An Alternate Site for the Tomb of Christ

I was almost dumbstruck when the tour we were with completely disregarded the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We followed the Via Dolorosa and got within about 50 yards of it, and were then disbanded for free-time. We were told it was near, but other than our smaller group of eight, I saw less than a handful of other members of our tour, which did include our tour director, go to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As our local Jewish guide told us, in what I took as some incredulity that our tour was not going inside, 97% of the world believes that the Crucifixion of Jesus and his subsequent burial took place on the spot now occupied by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is mostly Protestants and Mormons that look to the Garden Tomb as the alternate historical site. 

This photo, from bibleistrue.com, shows the location of the Garden Tomb (the left hand) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the right hand) on the miniature construction of Jerusalem at the time of Christ.

How can you go to Jerusalem and not visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre? One of my very few criticisms of our tour was that it was so focused on the traditional Mormon view of Christianity, that we did not get to really taste much of the diversity of this area: the Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim and other traditions that permeate this spot of the globe (we built some of that in to our own side tours). At another time, while in Nazareth, I asked our tour director how far it was to get back to Nazareth from Tiberius, where we were staying, as I wanted to visit the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, a site we bypassed. His response was, "Are you Catholic?" 

The Garden Tomb is a rock-cut tomb unearthed in 1867 and considered by some Christians, particularly Protestants and Mormons, to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. 

We were not able to get any pictures of the Garden Tomb without lots of visitors around it. Chris and Stan are in line and about ready to get their turn inside. 

Judy in front of the tomb.

An inside view, marred by an iron fence.

Off to the side was a tomb stone representative of what the stone in front of the Garden Tomb might have looked like, although much too small for the Garden Tomb. 

It is adjacent to a rocky escarpment which has been proposed to be Golgotha (known as Skull Hill and Gordon’s Calvary). 

Gordon's Calvary. A Muslim cemetery is on top of the hill, now surrounded by a rock fence.

A picture I got off the internet and now can't find the source. It more clearly reveals the eyes and nose of the skull. The green vegetation when we visited detracted from the visual image of the skull.

The bus station at the base of Gordon's Calvary. This parking lot would have been the spot of the cross if this spot was the historic Calvary. Somehow, that seems fitting for the life of Jesus, the boy who was born in a manger. 

Mormon leaders have favored it as the possible site.  See: (a) “The Garden Tomb” by John Tvedtnes, Ensign, April 1983; and (b) “Revisiting Golgotha and the Garden Tomb” by Jeffrey R.Chadwick in Religious Studies Center, BYU Religious Education.  From Chadwick's article: (1) Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley, standing at the Garden Tomb, said, “Just outside the walls of Jerusalem, in this place or somewhere nearby was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, where the body of the Lord was interred.” (emphasis added) No LDS church president has ever specifically said it is “the place.” (2) The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is not the correct site of Jesus’ death and burial – (i) Soundings show it was a stone quarry in the 7^th century B.C. and the topsoil was entirely removed; (ii) It could not have been a garden at the time of Jesus; (iii) At the time of Jesus’ death, no new tombs would have been permitted in that area according to Jewish law; (iv) no surviving feature on the “Hill of Calvary,” which is referenced in the hymn as a ‘green hill far away,’ can be identified as a skull. (3) Skull Hill, just north of the modern wall of Jerusalem’s Old City fits all the requirements of the New Testament for the crucifixion: (i) From the top of the Old City wall, or the parking lot of the bus station (which would have been the plaza in front of the skull feature), it has a skull-like appearance, from below the nose bridge to the top of the brow; (ii) Crucifixions could have been carried out at the site under Jewish law; (iii)  The open area below it was a natural plaza and junction of two major roads leading away from the Damascus Gate, the “Jericho Road” going east to the Mt. of Olives, now “Sultan Suleiman Street,” and the modern Nablus Road. (4) The Garden Tomb is not the correct site of the tomb: (i) It was not a “new tomb” [Matt. 27:60] or “wherein never man before was laid” [Luke 23:53] as it was hewn in the 8^th or 7^th century B.C. and was reused for burial purposes in the Byzantine period (5^th to 7^th centuries A.D.); (ii) The benches were carved into fixed sarcophagi for Byzantine Christians 400 to 600 years after Jesus; (iii) The track feature and large cistern were from a stable complex for donkeys constructed in the Crusader period, 11 centuries after Jesus, and are not evidence of a missing rolling stone (the track was a water channel). (5) The actual tomb was probably along modern Saladin Street, between the Israeli post office and the money changer Aladdin, but across the road on the west side. Behind the single line of commercial buildings is the Muslim cemetery on el-Edhemiah. The hill rises steeply and would have allowed ancient burial caves to be cut horizontally into bedrock. Jesus’ tomb was likely a single chamber, triple bench tomb, with the body laid on the back bench, directly opposite the entry, sealed with a square block stone with a plug.

One of my nieces, who spent time at the BYU Jerusalem Center, said one of her professors believed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre best fit the New Testament description for the crucifixion and burial of Jesus. 

Ultimately, it doesn't really matter where the historic spot was. As with the Via Dolorosa, even though it almost surely was not the path taken by Jesus on the way to his Crucifixion, it remains a powerful symbol of that event. And from that standpoint, for me, the Garden Tomb and Gordon's Calvary are more powerful representations of that event than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But I freely acknowledge that is due to my upbringing in Mormonism with its lack of ornamentation and symbolism in its churches (the same biases found in Protestant churches). For me, the sites in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are so covered up in distracting altars, statues, icons and walls that it becomes difficult to imagine what the site was like free of all that. At the Garden Tomb, you see a tomb mostly unadorned. It is easy to imagine what it would have been like for the body of Jesus to have actually been placed there. On Gordon's Calvary, you can see a hill and you can see a skull in that hill. The fact it is unadorned is a plus for my personal contemplation. 

But if I'd grown up a Catholic or Orthodox Christian, where those symbols are a staple of the religious diet, I'm sure I would have a completely different reaction to it. 

Which brings me back to something else our tour director told us as we stood at the Temple Mount, looking at the Dome of the Rock, while he talked about Islam. I am using the words of our tour director as paraphrased by Emily Freeman (who must have taken the same tour we did with the same tour director) in a post at multiplygoodness.com titled "Building Good/Holy Envy,"   If you "take a mathematical compass and place the tip of one leg firmly into the center point", that represents "you...[and] your religious belief...Now, take the other tip and pull it out a bit and draw a circle. Now, pull it out again, and draw another circle. And another. And another. Now, look at the point of the first leg in the center. Has it moved? No, not one bit -- it stayed firmly planted. But your knowledge has increased." Then he suggested using that approach in terms of learning about other religions. He is Mormon, "but there is so much I admire in the Jewish faith, in the Muslim faith, in the faith of other like minded Christians, and in other religions across the world." 

Our tour director, the one who asked if I was Catholic, was one of the few others than us to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during our free time. Despite the question about me being a Catholic, he obviously does love and appreciate what other faith traditions add to our own. I have grown to love visiting Catholic, Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim and other sites because their perspectives are so different than those I've grown up with. To change metaphors, those differences add richness to a religious broth, they make the broth more savory, more delicious. Jerusalem is a store full of religious ingredients to be added to a religious broth and I wanted to add as many ingredients to my broth as I could. As in my culinary life, my mantra is, the more ingredients the better. 

Stations of the Cross - The Via Dolorosa

The Via Dolorosa, a Latin term, which in English would be Way or Path of Suffering, Way of Grief, or Way of Sorrows, is traditionally the path Jesus walked after his meeting with Pilate while carrying the cross on the way to his crucifixion. 

It starts about two-tenths of a mile in from the Lions’ Gate, at what was then thought to be the Antonia Fortress where Pilate was believed to be located, and goes a little less than four-tenths of a mile to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and entombed.  There are 15 Stations of the Cross, each station a scriptural or mythical event. Nine of the Stations of the Cross are along the path and five are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Lion's Gate is part of the wall around the Old City of Jerusalem built under the direction of Suleiman the Magnificent of the Ottoman Empire in 1542. 

Two of the four "lions" on Lion's Gate. They are actually leopards. 

Pilgrims early on wanted to visit and see the holy sites in Jerusalem. Identification of these sites was made dramatically more difficult by the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE. Saint Helena, in the 4^th century, nearly 300 years later, identified many of the sacred sites. However, many Christians could not visit Jerusalem and wanted to make a spiritual pilgrimage by meditating upon scenes of the suffering and death of Jesus. The development of today’s version of the Via Dolorosa, both on the ground in Jerusalem and as stations inside churches outside of Jerusalem, was probably developed by the Franciscans after they were granted administration of the holy places in Jerusalem in 1342. In 1686, Pope Innocent XI gave the Franciscans the right to erect stations within their churches. This was extended in 1731 by Pope Clement XII to all churches, so long as a Franciscan erected them with the consent of the local bishop. Pope Clement XII also fixed the number of stations at 14. In 1862 the right to erect stations within churches was extended to bishops throughout the Catholic Church, without the intervention of a Franciscan priest. Today the Stations of the Cross are popular among Anglicans and Lutherans, as well as Catholics.

Inside churches, an individual may worship by going from one station to another, saying prayers at each station. I found a number of internet sites with prayers that can be offered at each station. Alternately, an officiator, such as a priest, may move from station to station while worshippers make responses. For example, Pope John Paul II led an annual public prayer of the Stations of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday. He originally carried the cross himself from station to station. Stations vary, but they must be blessed by someone with the authority to erect stations. It is common for a series of 14 numbered images to be arranged in order around a church nave in the form of a plaque with a relief or painting. For consistent examples, as I present the stations below, I will include a photo of the Stations of the Cross taken from each of three churches: (a) the Church of the Beatitudes, a Franciscan Church, located near the Sea of Galilee on the traditional site where Jesus is believed to have delivered the Sermon on the Mount, (b) from the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Mobile, Alabama; and (c) St. Mary's Catholic Church in Lincoln, Nebraska which is my favorite. 

The Stations of the Cross, and scriptural references related to the Stations of the Cross, are as follows:

Station 1   The first station commemorates Jesus being condemned to death by Pontius Pilate. Pontius Pilate was the prefect of Judaea who normally resided in Caesarea. However, during Passover, when tens of thousands of Jews visited Jerusalem, he was expected to be in Jerusalem to keep order. The Antonia Fortress was a large military barracks constructed under Herod the Great in about 19 BCE just north of the temple. It was named after his good friend, the Roman general Mark Antony. It housed the Roman soldiers in Jerusalem which would have numbered between 600 and 1,200 men. In the Middle Ages when the Via Dolorosa was established, it was believed Pilate stayed at the Antonia Fortress while in Jerusalem, and thus where Jesus would have been tried by him. However, based on the writings of Josephus and recent archaeological discoveries, it is now believed that Pilate was based instead at Herod's Palace, near today's Jaffa Gate, on the opposite side of the city. This means that most of the Via Dolorosa is most likely completely wrong from a historical perspective, but it remains a powerful symbolic representation of the last hours of Christ's life that allows worshipers to contemplate those events. 

This reproduction of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus shows the temple and the Antonia Fortress at the right end of it (the building with the four towers). 

A closer view of the reproduction of the Antonia Fortress.

There are three 19^th century churches at the site that take their names from this event: (1) the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross; (2) the Church of the Flagellation; and (3) the Church of Ecce Homo, which is a memorial to the speech attributed to Pilate by John in John 19:5, where he said, “Here is the man!” An area of Roman paving beneath the structures was originally believed to be the pavement where Pilate judged Jesus (John 19:13 - "Pilate...brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge's seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement..."). However, archaeologists have determined that the Antonia Fortress was not as big as they once thought. It was limited to the area south of the Via Dolorosa, an area now occupied by the Al Jawiliyya madrasa. These three churches are north of the Via Dolorosa and have Roman pavement put in after the time of Jesus by the Roman general, Hadrian, as part of the construction of the Aelia Capitolina. Previous to that time the area the churches are on had been a pool of water known as the Strouthion Pool, mentioned by Josephus as being adjacent to the Antonia Fortress. The pool is still present beneath Hadrian's flagstones, so even if Pilate was at the Antonia Fortress, it would not have been at this spot which has been traditionally recognized.

Pavings stones originally believed to be from the time of Christ underneath the convent. 

In Matt. 27:11-31, it says: “Meanwhile Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” “You have said so,” Jesus replied.  When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.  Then Pilate asked him, “Don’t you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?”  But Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge—to the great amazement of the governor.  Now it was the governor’s custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd. At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas. So when the crowd had gathered, Pilate asked them, “Which one do you want me to release to you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Messiah?” For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.  While Pilate was sitting on the judge’s seat, his wife sent him this message: “Don’t have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.”  But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.  “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” asked the governor. “Barabbas,” they answered. “What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate asked. They all answered, “Crucify him!”  “Why? What crime has he committed?” asked Pilate.  But they shouted all the louder, “Crucify him!”  When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility! All the people answered, “His blood is on us and on our children!” Then he released Barabbas to them. But he had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him.  They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. “Hail, king of the Jews!” they said.  They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.  After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.”

 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

Mark 15:1 adds, “Very early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate.”

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

John 18:28-40, and 19:1-5, adds: “Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness they did not enter the palace, because they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What charges are you bringing against this man?”  “If he were not a criminal,” they replied, “we would not have handed him over to you.”   Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him by your own law.”  “But we have no right to execute anyone,” they objected…Pilate then went back inside the palace, summoned Jesus and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”   “Is that your own idea,” Jesus asked, “or did others talk to you about me?”   “Am I a Jew?” Pilate replied. “Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What is it you have done?”   Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”  “You are a king, then!” said Pilate.  Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”  “What is truth?” retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.  But it is your custom for me to release to you one prisoner at the time of the Passover. Do you want me to release ‘the king of the Jews’?”  They shouted back, “No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” Now Barabbas had taken part in an uprising…When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”’

From St. Mary's in Lincoln, Nebraska. I loved the reliefs, but I also liked the description and the fact that each was numbered (the numbering is cut-off in my pictures to allow greater detail of the relief). 

Luke 23:1-25, says:  “…[T]hey began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.”…Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.  When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time.  When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.  He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.  The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.  Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.  That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.   Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people,  and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.  Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death…”

Station 2  commemorates Jesus carrying his cross. John 19:16-17 says: “So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. Carrying his own cross…”

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Coneption

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Three of the stations: three, seven and nine, commemorate Jesus stumbling, and they are not found in the gospels. They probably originate from an earlier belief in the Seven Falls, which probably stem from Proverbs 24:16, which reads: “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again.”

Station 3   is where Jesus fell the first time. It is adjacent to the 19^th century Polish Catholic Chapel, built by Armenian Catholics who were based in Poland.

Station 3

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Four of the stations: four, five, six and eight, commemorate encounters between Jesus and others along the path.

Station 4  is an encounter between Jesus and his mother, not an event mentioned in the gospels. The Armenian Church of our Lady of the Spasm commemorates the event. Inside is a 5^th century floor mosaic which includes an outline of a pair of sandals said to be Mary’s footprints.

Jesus and Mary above the gate entrance.

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 5  commemorates Simon of Cyrene taking Jesus’s cross and carrying it for him. It is adjacent to the Chapel of Simon of Cyrene, a Franciscan building, built in 1895. An inscription in the architrave (lintel) of one of the chapel doors references the events.

Above the brown circle "V" is the Franciscan symbol showing the arm of Jesus and Francis crossing below a Jerusalem Cross. Francis' arm is clothed, Jesus' is bare; Jesus has the nail marks in his hand and Francis has the stigmata. My crude Google translation of the inscription on the lintel is "Simon of Cyrene of the imposed cross." 

To the right of the lintel, near the corner of the wall, is a stone with a hollow in it. According to tradition, when Jesus stumbled he put his hand on the stone to balance himself and it made an imprint. The touches of pilgrims over the centuries has smoothed out the stone and made the impression deeper.  Presumably, this stone was on or near the ground and then placed in the wall when the church was constructed. 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

Mark 15:21 says: “A certain man from Cyrene, Simon, the father of Alexander and Rufus, was passing by on his way in from the country, and they forced him to carry the cross” Luke 23:26, says: “As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.”

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 6  is where Veronica wiped the face of Jesus with her handkerchief, an event not mentioned in the gospels. It appears that this story germinated with the apocryphal "Acts of Pilate" which identified the name of the bleeding woman who touched the veil of Jesus and was healed as Veronica. In the 11th century the story expanded by adding that Jesus gave Veronica a portrait of himself on a cloth which she used to cure Tiberius. Then this story later got linked to Jesus bearing the cross and later became one of the Stations of the Cross. The Veil of Veronica, which includes an image of the face of Jesus imprinted on cloth, is a relic kept at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The Crusaders built the Monastery of St. Cosmas and the Church of the Holy Face. They are run by the Little Sisters of Jesus and are not usually open to the public.

Pillar next to the Sixth Station. Photo from here.

A painting by Hans Memling in 1470 showing Veronica and the veil. Picture from Wikipedia.

A statue of Veronica and the veil in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Photo from Wikipedia.

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 7 is at a major crossroad junction where the Via Dolorosa joins the Khan ez-Zait, a street lined with stalls running down from the Damascaus Gate. Station 7 commemorates Jesus falling the second time. and is adjacent to a Franciscan chapel built in 1875.

Franciscan chapel. Picture from here. 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 8  commemorates an encounter of Jesus with the women of Jerusalem, described by Luke. It is adjacent to the Greek Orthodox Monastery of St. Charalampus and is marked by the Greek word Nika (meaning victory) carved into the wall, and an embossed cross.

Picture from here. 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

Luke 23:27-31, states: “A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.  For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then “‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”and to the hills, Cover us!”’ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 9 commemorates the third fall of Jesus. We were not able to find it in our limited time, but found a good description here. Off the Khan al-Zeit is an entrance to the outside on the right. Go up the stairs to find the Ethiopian and Coptic Monasteries. Along the walkway is an arch topped with a Jerusalem Cross. On the Roman pillar just beyond the arch is the Station of the Cross. 

Station 9 is noted by the brown circle below the arch to the right side. Picture from the site noted above.

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Stations ten through fourteen are all inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Station 10 is where Jesus was stripped of his garments. It is at the top of the stairs to the right outside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Inside is the Chapel of the Divestiture which I was only able to see through the locked door. Although the gospels do not say and artistic portrayals are contrary (they always show Jesus with fabric covering his loins), Jesus would have been stripped naked as part of the Roman process of humiliating the victim.

Stairs leading to the Chapel of the Divestiture in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Photo of the altar taken through the locked door. The wall on the left is the location of Station 11 inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 11 is where Jesus was nailed to the cross. It is just inside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, to the right and up the stairs. It is in the Franciscan Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross. Some crucifixion victims were attached to the cross by rope and some were nailed. There are no specific references to Jesus being nailed to the cross, but there are references after his resurrection.

Station 11 inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

From the Church of the Beatitudes

John 20:24-27, states: “Now Thomas…, one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came…[H]e said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’ A week later…Thomas was with [the disciples]…Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’”

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 12 is where Jesus died on the cross. It is in the Greek Orthodox Rock of Calvary, or Rock of Golgotha. The actual spot is believed to be beneath the altar, under glass. Right under the altar is a silver disk with a central hole which marks the spot where the cross was placed and raised. Pilgrims kneel and kiss the spot. Silver icons of the Virgin Mary and St. John are to either side. 

Pilgrims wait to kneel under the altar.

A better view of a pilgrim kneeling. I believe the marks on either side of the altar, under glass, are the places where the crosses of the two thieves were placed. 

A photo of the altar without a kneeling pilgrim, from here. The next photo below is of the actual hole where the cross was place.

This photo of Church of the Holy Sepulchre is courtesy of TripAdvisor

From the Church of the Beatitudes. Note the skull at the base of the cross.

Luke 23:32-46, states: “Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left.  Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.  The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”  The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”  There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.  One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

Mark 15:22-40, states: “They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means “the place of the skull”).  Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.  And they crucified him. Dividing up his clothes, they cast lots to see what each would get.  It was nine in the morning when they crucified him.  The written notice of the charge against him read: the king of the Jews... At noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.  And at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”).  When some of those standing near heard this, they said, “Listen, he’s calling Elijah.”  Someone ran, filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a staff, and offered it to Jesus to drink. “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to take him down,” he said.  With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.  The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.  And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, “Surely this man was the Son of God!”  Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph, and Salome.  In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.”

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Matt. 27: 38-55, states: “…The earth shook, the rocks split  and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.  They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and they went into the holy city and appeared to many people…”

John 19:19-30, states:  “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.  Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek.  The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”  Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”…When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,”  and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.  Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.”  A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips.  When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

Station 13 commemorates the Deposition or Lamentation, where Jesus was taken down from the cross and his body was given to his family. It seems as though the 13th Station is really two places: (1) The spot between the 12th Station and the 11th Station, to the right of the altar in the 12th station (facing it) where there is a statue of Mary, or Our Lady of Sorrows; and (2) Inside the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the Stone of Anointing or Stone of Unction where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea. The stone can only be attested back to the crusader era and has only been in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since 1810. The mosaic on the wall behind the Stone of Unction depicts the anointing of Jesus' body. The picture below is the statue of Mary between the 12th and 11th Station. 

This photo of Church of the Holy Sepulchre is courtesy of TripAdvisor

The Stone of Unction as viewed from above nearer to where Jesus was placed on the cross. The lamps hanging above it are contributed by the Armenian, Coptic, Greek and Roman Churches. 

A closer view of the Stone of Unction.

The first panel of the mosaic shows the body of Jesus being taken down from the cross. Note again, the skull at the base of the cross.

The second panel of the mosaic shows Jesus' body being prepared for burial. 

The third panel shows Jesus' body being taken to the tomb. 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.

Station 14 is where Jesus was laid in the tomb. In the Rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, under the larger of the two domes, is the chapel called the Aedicule with two rooms. One holds the Angel’s Stone, a fragment of the large stone that sealed the tomb. The second is the tomb itself, or the Holy Sepulchre, for which the church is named.

The Aedicule in the Rotunda. The entrance is to the right.

A picture of Jesus at the top of the Aedicule above the entrance.

The front of the Aedicule with a view in. The pedestal viewed from the entrance looking in is in the Chapel of the Angel. The pedestal is believed to support a portion of the rolling stone that was used to close the tomb. Photo from holylandphotos.org.

This view is from inside the tomb looking through the passage into the Chapel of the Angel with the pedestal holding a portion of the stone. Picture from holylandphotos.org.

A Greek inscription above the entrance to the tomb, as seen from inside the tomb (above the entrance in the picture above). Photo from holylandphotos.org. 

This is the burial bench of Jesus which is now covered with marble. Tradition says that Jesus' head was placed where the vase with candles is located. Photo and information from holylandphotos.org.

This is the wall above the burial bench. Photo from holylandphotos.org. 

From the Church of the Beatitudes

John 19:31-42  (NIV)  “Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.  But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.  Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.  The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe.  These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”  Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders. With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away.  He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs. At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.  Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

From the Cathedral-Basilica of the Immaculate Conception

From St. Mary's in Lincoln.