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Jesus’ Burial Place Before Resurrection Uncovered For The First Time In Centuries!

October 27, 2016

Jesus’ Burial Place Exposed For The First Time In Centuries!

The supposed burial slab (stone shelf) that many Christians believed held the body of Jesus after his crucifixion and before the Resurrection has been uncovered for the first time in centuries.

The original surface was exposed during the restoration work being done at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where it was located, in the Old City of Jerusalem, according to the National Geographic.

Until then, marble had encased the slab since at least 1555 AD.

“The marble covering of the tomb has been pulled back, and we were surprised by the amount of fill material beneath it,” Fredrik Hiebert, archaeologist-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, told the organisation’s website.

“It will be a long scientific analysis, but we will finally be able to see the original rock surface on which, according to tradition, the body of Christ was laid.”

Christian tradition says Christ’s body was laid on a slab cut from a limestone cave after his crucifixion by the Romans more than two thousand years ago.

He was resurrected three days after his death, according to scripture, and the women who came to anoint his body said no remains were found.

The burial slab was enclosed in a structure known as the Edicule – a word derived from the Latin term aedicule meaning ‘little house.’

An ornate structure with hanging oil lamps, columns and oversize candlesticks, the Edicule was erected above the spot where Christian tradition says Jesus’ body was anointed, wrapped in cloth and buried before his resurrection.

It stands a few hundred yards from the site of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The church where the stone shelf is located is visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims every year and its ownership and maintenance is shared in a complex arrangement between the Armenian, Greek Orthodox and Catholic Churches.

It is currently undergoing restoration work after being damaged by many years of exposure to humidity from the condensation from the breath of visitors, and thermal stress caused by candles burning for hours nearby.

The shrine at the heart of the complex called the Aedicule, the supposed location of the tomb of Jesus, is being renovated at a cost of $3.4 million and the monument, which in its present form dates back to 1810, is being completely rebuilt. The restoration is expected to be finished in 2017.

The renovations will see the marble slabs taken off, the 12th century Crusader shrine beneath the Aedicule repaired and the cracks in the rock-hewn tomb under that filled. The noisy work is being undertaken at night to minimise the disruption to pilgrims.

Professor Antonia Moropoulou, the chief scientific supervisor of the project, told National Geographic that his team had reached “the critical moment for rehabilitating the Aedicule”.

“The techniques we’re using to document this unique monument will enable the world to study our findings as if they themselves were in the tomb of Christ,” he added.

The Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theophilus III, was waiting outside the Aedicule when Jesus’ supposed burial shelf was exposed. He said the “atmosphere was special”.

“Here we have Franciscans, Armenians, Greeks, Muslim guards, and Jewish police officers,” he added. “We hope and we pray that this will be a real message that the impossible can become the possible. We all need peace and mutual respect.”

This file photo shows what the tomb of Jesus in the Holy Sepulchre church has looked like for the past 200 years. It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it. But repairs are long overdue as the structure it was damaged in an earthquake in 1927

It was last reconstructed in the early 19th century after a fire destroyed it.

But repairs are long overdue as the structure it was damaged in an earthquake in 1927.

Lack of financial resources prevented the work from being done, but donors to the project – estimated at more than $4 million (£3.26 million) – include Jordan’s King Abdullah II, and Mica Ertegun, who gave $1.3 million (£1.06 million) to the World Monuments Fund to support it.