weibel-paper

It is one of the oldest cities in the world. Many Arabs know it as "el Quds," the "Holy City." Some present-day maps of Israel call it Yerushalayim. To most Westerners it is Jerusalem. But however the city is known, it has drawn people for centuries and continues to do so. Pilgrims have traveled to Jerusalem to confirm their faith or to renew it. Some make the journey to fulfill vows. Others travel there to prove to themselves that their lack of faith is valid. Still others visit because they have a desire to touch history -- it claims their interest because of important events which have taken place there.
In 1913 a group of pilgrims left Switzerland on a journey to Jerusalem. One member of the group was a Benedictine Priest from Hot Springs, Arkansas. The Priest, John Eugene Weibel was known as a meticulous record keeper so it is not surprising that he kept a detailed description of his journey filled with a sense of history and faith strengthened by visiting holy places. Though he wrote "several books," his journal seems to have had a limited circulation and his name is not well known beyond his circle of influence in Arkansas. As one reads his account of people met, of delight in seeing new things, hearing new sounds, and having new experiences, it is often easy to forget this man was a priest. His commentary many times reads like letters home. At other times his very Catholic view of life and all it means to him is very evident indeed. In some areas, his journal sounds more like a travel brochure than a priest's notes. But, even though this journal may not have been written for a vast audience, his account of his journey is worth examining.
In his book, John Eugene Weibel wrote, "My inclination all my life has been to travel and see sights." This elderly Benedictine Priest's love of travel manifested itself early in childhood when he would decide to "travel" to Lucerne, Switzerland from his home in nearby Eschenback. These childish adventures usually ended with an exhausted little boy being returned to worried parents by amused neighbors.
His love of travel was certainly useful in the years following his assignment to the United States in the late nineteenth century. There he served several Roman Catholic missions, building eighteen churches as well as hospitals and convents throughout the Arkansas region. In 1907, ill health due to malaria, prompted his decision to retire and return to Switzerland. The Bishop of Little Rock, Arkansas was loath to lose such a valuable worker. He suggested another solution.
Hot Springs, Arkansas needed a new church. The spa, the bishop suggested, could be beneficial for the priest's health. So it was that in May, 1908, the resort was assigned to John Weibel, V.F. He began working immediately.
In April, 1912, the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist was ready for its first Mass and its official dedication ceremonies. Already a school was under construction. In the meantime, two more Roman Catholic Priests were assigned to Hot Springs since the Rector's health was still a concern. Since he had not taken a vacation for some five years, well-wishers reminded him of his desire to take a trip. He said he finally "was persuaded" to go by those concerned parishioners and colleagues. He decided to visit his boyhood home in Switzerland and join a group of priests going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
So, on June 26, 1913, John Eugene Weibel, the first Rector of the Catholic Church of St. John the Baptist, started off on a journey which would take most of six months to complete. It would lead him by train from Arkansas to New York, by steamer across the Atlantic, by rail again across Europe to Switzerland. There he met with the group of pilgrims and arranged to continue journeying by rail to the coast of Italy, where another ship would take him across the Mediterranean to Egypt. Then he traveled by donkey, horseback, truck and rail across Egypt to the Holy Land. The return trip to Switzerland before at last returning to Arkansas was just as involved. This seems a strenuous undertaking for one who suffered from poor health, yet he recorded that his health was at its best when traveling.
His record was first published in the parish paper, St. John's Echo, then in book form. He stated that it was his wish that his "reminiscences may supply a weak substitute" for those unable to make such a journey. It is also possible that he was hoping to raise funds to rebuild Hot Springs after a devastating fire in September of 1913. The fire nearly destroyed the city, many of his parishioners lost everything, though the church and the school, thanks to their hilltop location, stood unharmed.
The year of 1913 was one of unrest for more than just Hot Springs, Arkansas. The clouds of war were definitely gathering on the horizon, though not many recognized them for what they were nor how dark a storm was brewing. Even many pilgrims to Jerusalem seemed unaware of the trouble blowing up for the world.
Troubles began cropping up by February. The Second Balkan War started. It was settled April 23rd only to flair up again on May 19th as the Third Balkan War. Bulgaria fought against Serbia, Greece, Russia, Turkey, and Rumania. This time a treaty was drawn between Turkey and Bulgaria on the frontier in Thrace. On August 10th the Treaty of Bucharest was signed. Greece and Turkey also signed a treaty in 1913. The storm seemed to be held at bay.
But there were other signs of the coming storm: Serbia invaded Albania; the King of Greece was assassinated; suffrage in Hungary was made to favor the Magyars; and tensions were building between France and Germany over Alsace-Loraine.
Perhaps just as significant was the arrest of Gandhi for promoting peaceful disobedience in his fight for the independence of India. In England, Mrs. Pankhurst, leader of the suffragettes' movement, was sentenced for her part in a conspiracy to place explosives in Lloyd George's house. No, 1913 was not a peaceful year. Yet for many, like the group John Weibel traveled with, it did not seem a dangerous time for traveling. By September they had reached Jerusalem with no problems.
In My Voyage to Europe and the Holy Land in 1913, the Rector of St. John's wrote a lengthy description of his visit to a place he felt was most holy: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Many pilgrims have visited that site and written of it -- each record is unique to the individual pilgrim, as is his. His commentary concerning his visit and what it meant to him is worth examination:

Jerusalem -- Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Tuesday, Sept. 2. -- 37th Anniversary of my first holy mass. Through the excavations of the Russian Palestine Society in 1883 and through the greatest archaeological historical authorities of the day, all doubts about the real site of the holy sepulchre have been removed. Even the greatest skeptics have acknowledged that the tradition about the holy sepulchre and its surroundings go undoubtedly back to Constantine and Eusebius.

In 1882 the Orthodox Palestine Society was founded by Arab Christians. It is interesting to note that for many 'Orthodox' was synonymous with Russian. Theirs was not the only organization interested in exploring and controlling Jerusalem at this time. Many Europeans, especially the Germans and the English, were interested in extending their colonial power to include the ancient city.
Eusebius, the Bishop of Cesarea, was a prolific writer of religious history in the fourth century. His last work, The Life of Constantine, dealt with the Emperor who recognized Christianity as a legal religion. The Emperor's mother, Helena who had embraced Christianity, made the journey to Palestine in 326 C. E., escorted by Eusebius. During her visit she donated many churches. It seems that she may have been in Jerusalem when a tomb was discovered beneath the platform of the destroyed Temple of Aphrodite. Constantine, always alert for ways to promote unification of his Empire, ordered a round shrine to be built to enclose the tomb. This shrine, the Anastasis, is now in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
But they express a doubt as to whether the Christians of that early date possessed still a correct knowledge of the real places. Now it is absolutely unconceivable how the zealous Christians of the golden age of Christianity could have lost tract of those venerable places. The catastrophe of Jerusalem's destruction, far from obliterating the tradition, rather refreshed it, especially as the western part of the city suffered the least from it. Christians soon returned to settle there again. We know that Hadrian rebuilt the city as Colonia Aelia Capitulina. He desecrated the holy sepulchre an(d) surrounding holy places, leveling the grounds and erecting a temple of Venus over the place of the holy sepulchre.
In 70 C.E. Rome ended a Jewish revolt by destroying Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple. Many residents had abandoned the city in response to the warning quoted in Matthew 24:15,16 --"Therefore when you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains." Josephus, a contemporary historian, wrote gruesome descriptions of the agonies suffered by those in Jerusalem during the siege by the Roman armies.
How "unconceivable" it is to consider Christians losing tract of the locations of various sites that have been called 'holy' is open to speculation. According to some of the records of early Christians and their activities, many were not interested in locations but in the ministry that had taken place. Some, as mentioned by Karen Armstrong, were more interested in the Heavenly Jerusalem, than in the earthly one. However, if indeed, Jewish legends were beginning to be incorporated into a new "mythology about Jerusalem," it seems likely that this too could be part of that mythology.
Hadrian's decision to rebuild in 130 C.E. was an attempt to bring Jewish Jerusalem into unity with the rest of the Roman Empire. He wanted to modernize the Jews, who he thought were backward. Unfortunately, his actions sowed seeds of hatred which would bring forth fruit as another rebellion against Rome in 132 C.E.
Professor Yehoshua Ben-Arieh mentions that Emperor Hadrian had a temple to Jupiter built on the site of the destroyed Jewish Temple. However, it is reported that no one visiting Jerusalem ever said they actually saw a pagan temple standing on the site. St. Jerome wrote about the temple built on the site of the tomb, which he thought was to Jupiter though it had a statue to Aphrodite (Venus) standing in it. Eusebius states that a temple to Aphrodite (Venus) had been built on the site where Constantine excavated until the supposed tomb of the Christ was uncovered. Over this site, it was ordered that a "house of worship...larger, more beautiful, and more precious than any other similar building" be constructed.
He intended to obliterate the memory of Christ and to replace Christianity by paganism. But he accomplished just the reverse. Trying to bring the holy places into oblivion and covering the holy sepulchre, he really preserved the memory of these holy places so much fresher in the memory of the Christians. When he built the temple of Venus over the holy sepulchre, he made it impossible for the Christians to worship there, but so much deeper the memory of the place was engraven in the hearts of the faithful. Therefore the excavations under Constantine were started right at the place of the temple of Venus, and their expectations were quickly justified, for they found in the depths the sepulchre of the Lord entirely preserved, and the recent excavations, especially by The Russian Palestine Society, taking the holy sepulchre for their starting point, have brought a great amount of evident proffs (sic) of the absolute correctness of the Christian tradition conc(e)rning the different holy places near the holy sepulchre.
At the time Hadrian was building Colonia Aelia Capitulina, about 135 C.E., Caesarea had become the spiritual center for Palestinian Christians. It is probable that he gave no though at all to the Christians one way or the other when he decided to build the temples and shrines in his city. His primary concern was keeping the Jews out of Jerusalem and preventing any further rebellion. He wanted a city which was fully Roman, not Jewish in any respect. It was is accordance with this desire that he renamed the country Palaestina or, as we know it, Palestine.
Constantine assigned the job of finding Jesus' tomb and site of impalement to Bishop Macarius. It was the Bishop who decided the site was located under Hadrian's temple to Aphrodite.
Thirty years ago Rosen, the former Russian consul in Jerusalem, prophesied in the "Magazine on the German Oriental Society," that the thesis of the uncertainty of the holy places would soon be considered as nothing more than a scientific curiosity. This prophesy has been verified; not a shred of doubt is left today in the minds of the best informed concerning the holy sepulchre and its site.
Even though the Russian Consul and the Rector from Arkansas were convinced, there are others who are not. Some believe the Garden Tomb is the true site of Jesus' burial. However, the Garden Tomb dates from the seventh or eighth century B.C.E. This precludes its use as Jesus' tomb since John 19:41 states that no one had ever been laid in the new tomb.
Excavations done since 1960 by various archaeological groups have led to the conclusion that the area of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was indeed used for burials, probably from the first century C.E. The May/June issue of Biblical Archeology Review stated in 1986 "We may not be absolutely certain that the site of the Holy Sepulchre Church is the site of Jesus' burial...."
Next John Weibel discribes the building:

By Eusebius the historian we are informed about the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as it was built by Emperor Constantine. Over the holy sepulchre was a circle of beautiful precious columns and a rotunda church called anastasis (sic) "the Resurrection." From the rotunda you entered into halls of noble columns enclosing a large open court of 16,200 square feet. The floor was of polished plates. To the east of the this (sic) court was the magnificent Basilica, a large building containing 27,000 square feet. Its columns and pilasters were resplendent with with (sic) exquisite marbles and onyx. Its ceiling was fine painting and mosaics upon rich goldground. The holy sepulchre itself was according to Antoniu of Piacenza.1570) (sic) decorated with innumerable "Ex voto's," golden bracelets, chains, and rings, imperial crowns of gold and inlaid with precious stones, etc. The sealing stone of the tomb was also decorated with gold and gems.

The Rector of St. John's, as befits a driving force in many building projects, pays great attention to architectural details. One can imagine him gathering all the information the travel guides could furnish, writing it down do he would not forget. The pilasters mentioned in this passage were "a shallow rectangular feature projecting from a wall, usually imitating the form of a column."
"Ex votos" is Latin. According to a Latin Dictionary, ex can mean "owed or owing" and votos is "a vow made to a god to do or offer something in return for the granting of a favour." So, these items described as decorating the area are things left by pilgrims as payment of a vow made. The pilgrim mentioned was Antonius who visited Jerusalem around 570 C.E. He too wrote about his trip. His account can be found in the second volume Of the Holy Places Visited," published by Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, edited by C.W. Wilson, in New York in 1971 and in London in 1986.
Goldground -- could the rector be speaking of a similar art form he speaks of later: ..."rich paintings and mosaics upon gold...?"

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stood like the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, as a monument of the vigorous Christian faith of the early Christians and of the wonderful architectural perfection of that time. As we still admire the Hagia Sophia for its incomparable architectural beauty, thus the grand Basilica of the holy sepulchre built by Constantine formed once the object of the whole world's admiration. But in the year 614 this splendid Basilica was destroyed by the Persian King Choeroes II.
The invasion of Byzantine territory by the Persians started in 610 C.E. By 614 they were in Palestine. Over 66, 000 Christians were killed in the fall of Jerusalem and many of those who were not killed were taken into exile. The Persians destroyed all churches and shrines. Constantine's house of worship was among those destroyed.
The Persians were Zoroastrians who did not bury their dead. They felt the clean earth should not be desecrated with the unclean bodies of the dead. Horrified, many of the survivors of the Persian invasion defied their conquerors by gathering the bodies of Jerusalem's defenders and buried them.
But two years later Abbol Modestus of the Monastery of St. Theodosius began to rebuild the temple, making the best use he could of all that was left of the former building. This building stood 400 years. In the year 1010 Hakem Biannue Illahs, Calif of Egypt, destroyed again the church. However it soon was once more rebuilt. In 1099 the Crusaders appeared and they formed a plan to build a new church which should connect all the sacred places around the holy sepulchre in one immense building under one roof. Whatever could be preserved of the former Basilica and every Sanctuary were left intact and preserved as fas (sic) as possible. However, the whole was to form an architectural symmetrical unit. In the middle of the 12th Century the gigantic undertaking was happily accomplished. Immediately afterwards the decoration of the walls and vaults with rich paintings and mosaics upon gold was begun. This work was finished in 1168.
In 629 Heraculius marched into Jerusalem. He found that Modestos, a monk, had been busy making repairs to the shrine around the tomb. As a reward, Heraclius named Modestos the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Some seven years later, 636 C.E., saw the defeat of the Byzantine armies by the Arabs. Thus began the period of Muslim control over Jerusalem.
The year the Caliph of Egypt ordered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre burned is reported by one source to be 1009. Norman Kotker writes that the only reason for the Caliph's actions were that he "was a madman, a paranoid who hated Christians and Jews, women and dogs." Moreover, Mr. Kotker states an historian from the time reported "the Caliph's brain dried up and no one dared to pour rose oil into his nose to moisten it again and restore him to sanity." Kotker reports that Caliph al-Hakim was assassinated in 1021. Armstrong reports a more colorful, if mysterious, end: "One night in 1021 he simply rode out of Cairo alone into the desert and was never seen again."
When Crusaders were building their structure, a bell tower was also erected. The whole building was consecrated in 1149 by the Crusader Queen Melisanda.
The present Church of the Holy Sepulchre is still the same church in its essential parts. The Basilica is by no means a labyrinth of churches and chapels joined pell-mell as some thoughtless visitors asserted. The many churches and chapels are parts of one grand building and its organic connection is only disturbed and obscured by later additions and changes.
It is said that "The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a charming architectural jumble. Most of what now exists dates from the Crusader period." It is assumed that by 'organic' John E. Weibel was referring to the way in which the structure was organized.
The piazza in front of the imposing main entrance is now a market place for devotionals which are sold here by all nations and creeds. On the western side of this piazza the sides of three Greek chapels are seen: th(e) chapel of St. James the Less, the chapel of St. John's and St. Magdalena and the chapel of the Forty Martyrs. On the east side of this court three doors give access to the three different places. The first leads to the Greek Convent of St. Babraham, where we entered, guided by the brother Joseph O.S.M. and were shown with greatest kindness several places of interest. The second brings us into the Armenian chapel of St. John, whilst the third one leads to the Coptic chapel of St. Michael. The massive heavy square belfry in the northwest corner was built by the Crusaders; it was originally standing by itself and was of exquisitely beautiful architecture. But deprived of its two upper stories it was really robbed of its crown and looks now rather like a sad stoic ruin.
A later pilgrim, Pierre Van Paassen, who visited in 1926, did not find the market place attractive. He was advised by a priest to avoid the "hawkers and peddlers...." He, himself, described the selling as vulgar and a detraction from the atmosphere of the sacred places.
Before our eyes we have the still imposing facade of the Basilica. It has two long portals of which one is walled up. Above these portals are two large simular windows. Doors and windows terminate in lightly folding arches, and are adorned with three archivolts, a mode of decoration quite popular in Jerusalem. The archivolts are supported by three little columns of greenish blue. The capitals with their richc (sic) foliage show their Byzantine-Corynthian origin. The lintels of the doors are covered with a slab of limestone richly sculptured in bas-relief. In the northwest corner of this court to the right side of the facade there is an elegant monument in the same style. It is the ancient porch which opened immediately on Calvary. After the taking of Jerusalem by Saladdin (sic) in 1187 this entrance was blocked up and replaced by a grated window. A nice oratory was made there inside, called by the pi(l)grims of old the Chapel of the Franks. It is dedicated to our Lady of Sorrows and St. John. It belongs exclusively to the Latins, and in it mass was daily celebrated. Under this sanctuary we meet a very small Greek oratory dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt, in memory of her wonderful conversion in Jerusalem.
Here is another reference to architectural detail; an archivolt is the "molding running around the face of an arch immediately above the opening -- often decorated with sculpture."
In 1187 C. E. when Saladin took Jerusalem, he was advised to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. He refused to do so. He did, however, close the church to Christians. He also instigated a program of building which surrounded the church with Islamic buildings. After the second crusade, the church was given into the custody of the Greek Orthodox. The continuing effects of Islamic
We enter the Basilica. The the (sic) left on a divan we behold Turkish soldiers, sitting and lying around, smoking and conversing. Turks are the keepers of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is by permission of the Sultan that Christian communities are allowed to use it. Just as humiliating for us is the consideration that these Mohammedans are needed as guards here to keep peace among the Christians. There has been but one entrance door not only to the Basilica, but also to the adjacent convents, the Latin, the Greek, and Armenian, and the Coptic. During the night this door is locked. In the morning one of the communities above named has to pay for the opening of the door to give entrance to the pilgrims.
Today Jerusalem's Christian community numbers about 4,700 people. Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic (Latin), Russian Orthodox, Copts, Lutherans, Ethiopians, and other dominations. The church itself is shared by six denominations.
The powerful rotunda over the holy sepulchre is noticed first and it makes a wonderful impression, recalling to mind the overwhelming vaults of the Hagia Sophia. Its height is 150 feet with a diameter of 60 feet. The disastrous fire of 1808 injured the Basilica greatly and made renovation absolutely unavoidable. This renovation, undertaken by the Russians, was an absolute failure. The work was done without due knowledge and was performed in a way to destroy the uniform organism of the building. The work was executed so superficially that the cupola was threatening to fall already towards the middle of the last century.
In 1808 a fire gutted the whole church. Supporting columns collapsed. Each sect blamed the other for the fire. The Greek Orthodox undertook the rebuilding, furthering the animosity between the sects by closing up the triumphal arch and replacing the collapsed columns with "clumsy pillars." It may be assumed that most damage was internal and that the roof had not collapsed since most of the repairs mentioned are to the inside of the building.
The Crusader's church choir was turned into a Greek Katholikon. Arches and aisles were walled up, dark passages were created. The Catholic Encyclopedia states that the cupola they built was about to fall in by 1869.
The animosity got so bad that no sect could be trusted to allow another into the church. Karen Armstrong relates that the continued arguing over control led to a decision to give a Muslim family the key to the door. This ensured that each sect had access to the Church since a disinterested party now had control of the entrance. Another source states that the decision to entrust a prominent Muslim family with the keys was made in 1187, during Saladin's time. The Catholic Encyclopedia asserts that it was this arguing over control of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which led to the Crimean War.
With the permission of the Porte, Russia and France undertook a new restoration. This destroyed totally the splendid organic arrangement of the Basilica. Going forward a few steps we see a rectangular slab of polished stone, placed almost on a level with the floor and measuring 10 feet in length by four feet in width and 1 foot in depth. According to tradition this slab covers the rock on which was laid the lifeless body of Christ when it was embalmed and anointed with sweet spiices (sic) by Nicodemus before being laid in the sepulchre. (John 19:38) Therefore it is called the stone of anointment. In the center of the Rotunda is the glorious sepulchre of our Lord. It was very little injured by the fire of 1808. However, the astute Greeks made use of the opportunity to build it in order to have more claims to it. They most certainly show a great interest in the holy places; if they just would exhibit a little more Christian charity and just regards for other Christians this would be very praiseworthy.
The Porte mentioned here was the former Ottoman court or government in Turkey. The name came from a French interpretation of the words denoting the law giver "at the gate" or porte. Because Jerusalem was under the control of the Ottomans in the mid-1800s, it was necessary for permission to be granted to those who wished to work on the damaged church. This permission was withheld for some time since, according to Turkish law, the right to repair also implied possession. Possession of something so important as a roof would, by extension, imply ownership of the whole structure it covered. The ensuing dilemma caused much deterioration to occur while no repairs were allowed.
Perhaps the Rector can be forgiven for letting a bit of his ranker show through. He has spoken of the shame of needing an intermediary to referee the use of the church with which he lumped all those who laid claim on the holy sites. Here he speaks of the Greeks being astute in regard to their actions after the fire in 1808, when their architect enclosed the tomb in a marble covering.

The little edifice over the holy sepulchre is rectangular in shape, terminating to the west pentagonally. It measures 24 feet in length, 15 feet in width, and the same in height. The restoration is in Russian style and out of harmony with the Rotunda. The old division into two chapels is retained, but the entrance from the first to the second is so low that even a short man has to stoop quite a good deal in order to enter.

A pilgrim for the fifteenth century, Canon Pietro Casola, also mentioned the need to stoop to enter. His account is not so preoccupied with architectural detail, he describes it "... like a little round chapel, carved in stone...."
Weibel goes on to say:

The lateral walls of this chapel are adorned with 16 pillars and crowned with a balustrade. The little terrace is surmounted by a kind of dome in the Muscovite style intended to represent an imperial crown. The front is adorned with four twisted columns and ornamented with three paintings each having a lamp; one of these, the upper one, belongs to the Latins; the second to the Greeks; and the third to the Armenians. It is the same with the great candlesticks placed at the entrance. The first chapel is called the Angel Chapel as the angel sat by the tomb, announcing to the holy women, Christ's resurrection. The second division on the chapel, containg (sic) the holy sepulchre measures 7 x 5 feet. The little alter is formed by the heavy marble slab extending over the whole sepulchre. It is not the rock in which the sacred body of our divine Lord reposed from Friday to Sunday morning. That rock is concealed under it, but it is not without deep emotion or even without tears that the pilgrim, prostrate on the ground, kisses the stone and the floor and adores our divine Redeemer before his glorious tomb, the principle object of his pilgrimage. The chapel reminded us some of the miraculous chapel of our Lady in Einsiedeln.

Einsiedeln, Switzerland is itself a place of pilgrimage. The monastery built in the ninth century was granted the standing of principality by the German Emperor Rudolph in the year 1294 C.E.

I had the happiness to celebrate more than once upon the tomb of our Lord and did not our heart burn of love and did not we feel so happy to offer our dear ones on this most holy spot. Our spiritual director celebrated a solemn high mass in the chapel of the holy sepulchre for the whole caravan and for our parishioners. The singing by the Franciscans and their school, consisting of a large number of boys was beautiful. I am sure everybody would enjoy the Gregorian chant rendered in this manner. Again and again I went to pray in front of this holy place. Right opposite to the holy sepulchre isthe(sic) choir of the Franciscans where the singers are whenever they celebrate a Latin high mass on the holy sepulchre. The choir of the Greeks, the Katolican is next to it, to the east of the stone of the annointing (sic). The Katolicon is in fact the great nave of the building of the Crusaders and is remarkable for the regularity of its architecture. But it can hardly be recognized on account of the massive walls put up by the Greeks to separate and enclose it entirely. There are many stalls for the monks in the large choir. The walls are covered with gaudy paintings and ornamentations. A very rich ikonastasis separates the usual pictures but above a kind of an architrave are seen the twelve apostles in nojabeur gold painting with their faces and hands painted in the natural colors, all in life size.