(1) - - - To the west of (the Golgotha) church is the Anastasis, that is of the Lord's resurrection, a circular church surrounded by three walls supported by twelve columns. Between each of the walls there is a space the width of a street, and which contains three altars at three points in the middle wall, that is on the south, north and west. This church has two sets of four doors, that is, entries, going through the three walls, of which four face west and four east. In the centre of this the round Tomb of the Lord is cut out of rock. A standing man can touch the ceiling inside. It has the entry to the east, against which that great stone was placed, a fact verified even now by the presence inside of the remains of nails. (2) The whole exterior of the Tomb, right to the top of the roof, is covered with marble. The top of the roof, decorated with gold, bears a great golden cross. Moreover in the northern part of this tomb, cut from the same rock, is the Sepulchre of the Lord. It is seven feet long, and its height is three palms from the pavement. The open side is on the south. This is where day and night twelve lamps burn, four inside the sepulchre and eight above on the right hand side. The Stone which had been placed at the door of the tomb is now spht. The smaller part of it is squared up and stands as an altar in front of the door of the very same tomb, and the greater part forms the table of another altar, hung with linen, in the eastern section of the church. Moreover the colour of this tomb and the sepulchre seems to be a mixture of white and red.
(transl. Wilkinson)
Bibliography |
---|