The burial plot of Jesus is a mess. More accurately, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem—marking what is thought to be the tomb Jesus occupied for three days—is a mess.
“The warring Christian monks make responsible maintenance of the sacred structure impossible,” wrote author and former Catholic priest James Carroll. “As a result, the roof beams rot, the walls crumble, the leaking gutters channel rainwater into the sanctuary instead of away.”
Carroll notes that turning the holy site into a fancy building, originally by order of Emperor Constantine and modeled after the imperial palace, was part of degrading the site, not preserving it. And, in Carroll’s thought, the old structure’s decay is still inevitable even if it really is the spot where Jesus was raised from the dead.
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