-Caveat Lector-
<A HREF="http://www.sightings.com/ufo2/jesus.htm">SIGHTINGS</A>
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SIGHTINGS
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Opening the Tomb of Jesus
By David Yount
� 1999 Scripps Howard News Service
2-16-99
The opening of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem may be imminent, and if
Christendom is not enthralled by the prospect, it is little wonder. The
whole point of the Christian faith is that the tomb is empty. As the
angel announced, "He is not here; he has risen."
Still, there is expectancy that the tomb will reveal artwork or other
signs of veneration by the earliest believers in Christ's resurrection.
No one has laid eyes on the tomb for nearly two centuries, and the dawn
of the third Christian millennium seems to be a fitting time to
rediscover the site.
The tomb is believed to rest within an edicule (or "little house")
within Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The surrounding shrine
is an ornate 19th century construction in danger of collapse. It was
damaged by fire in 1808 and further weakened by an earthquake in 1927,
after which a makeshift framework of steel girders was erected to prop
it up.
The reason the grave has gone so long unopened is because competing
church authorities with rights over the sepulcher have seldom agreed on
anything. But they did authorize a new dome in 1996 and now plan
extensive internal renovations.
Martin Biddle, a 62-year-old Oxford professor of medieval archaeology,
predicts the next step will be to bring down and rebuild the edicule,
exposing the tomb. Biddle and his wife have spent a decade surveying the
site, using ancient sources and modern photogrammetry. They are
convinced that beneath four internal coverings is the burial place
excavated by the Emperor Constantine in 325.
"Originally the tomb was burrowed into a rocky hill slope," Biddle
recently told Stuart Wavell of the Sunday Times of London. "Constantine
cut away all the rock except a plug containing the rock-cut tomb. It was
that plug which he embellished with marble decoration, and the remains
of which are inside the edicule."
Constantine's shrine survived for 600 years before its destruction in
1009. Since then, there have been three further constructions enclosing
the tomb.
"Once the outer skin is off," Biddle predicts, "I think that will leave
a kind of jagged tooth, which will be the wreck of the previous edicule.
Then, poking out of that will be the remains of the original rock-cut
tomb, about five feet high. It will probably include a shelf sticking
out from a rock wall."
The tomb appears to have been accessible to believers for a century
following the crucifixion, until Hadrian had it covered with rubble to
erect a pagan temple in 135. Then, about 30 years before Constantine's
excavation, the scholar Eusebius located Golgotha, the place of Jesus'
crucifixion, leading the emperor's engineers to discover the gravesite.
Biddle does not believe the tomb will tell us anything we do not already
know about Jesus. "I believe Jesus was a historical figure who is very
well-evidenced," he says. "Not many people have four different, almost
contemporary biographies that survive."
David Yount's latest book is ''Spiritual Simplicity'' (Simon &
Schuster). Visit him at www.erols.com/dyount.
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Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
Omnia Bona Bonis,
All My Relations.
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
Roads End
Kris
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