The Holy Sepulchre: The History of Jerusalem’s Most Famous Church and Its Military Order

The most famous church in Jerusalem for nearly 2,000 years, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, often called the Church of the Resurrection, was built in the era of St. Constantine, and the church as a structure has no history separable from the city of Jerusalem and its environs. It is venerated as being on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried, and naturally, making it a crucial pilgrimage site for Christians, and it is now the home of the Greek Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate. Moreover, it was the site of many important councils, some of which altered Christian history forever. In short, the Sepulchre was and is synonymous with Jerusalem, and it was essentially the nodal center of the city. Naturally, the Church has had a turbulent history just as Jerusalem has. Under the Emperor Vespasian, Jerusalem was attacked and depopulated by Roman forces in 70 A.D., and from 131-134, the Jewish revolt invited another Roman reprisal. Over and over again, Jerusalem has been decimated, sacked and razed.

The temple built by Constantine was demolished by Jewish militants in 614 under the protection of the Persian Empire. There was an earthquake in 746, and a devastating fire in 967. The temple continued to experience ups and downs that are endemic and essential to its history. In 1036, the Islamic government permitted the rebuilding of the church, and in 1048, Constantine Monomakh improved on the new structure.

Christian Crusaders would famously conquer Jerusalem at the end of the 11th century, and over the ensuing centuries, Christians and Muslims were embroiled in one of the most infamous territorial disputes of all time, viciously and relentlessly battling one another for the Holy Land. Of course, this made the Church of the Holy Sepulchre a perfect target, so much so that a powerful company of knights was founded to guard the church and defend its presence with their lives.