welcome to Jerusalem experienced at home
the place we can watch videos from
Jerusalem and it's holy sites from your
computer hi I'm Anne Frankel the founder
of jerusalemexperience.com and today we
are visiting the church of the sepulchre
of Mary which is the term of the Virgin
Mary which is located in the Kidron
Valley right at the foot hill of the
Mount of Olives so let's enjoy this
video in Christian belief death is our
punishment for the original sin
regarding Mary the mother of Jesus God
is believed to have shielded her from
the stain of original sin at the time of
her own conception moreover she remained
a virgin throughout her life as such she
was the first among all human beings to
experience resurrection Catholics
believe that Mary was taken up body and
soul into heaven while she slept at the
site that is now the basement of the
Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion the
Eastern Orthodox including the Greek
Church claim that Mary died in her sleep
the Dormition of the Theotokos buried
and only then experienced resurrection
today the church over the tome of Mary
which was built back in the 14th century
by the Franciscans is controlled by the
Greek Orthodox Church and the Armenian
Apostolic Church now let's enter the
Church of the tomb of Mary while the
entrance gate dates back to the
Crusaders the three stairs in front of
the entrance are new in order to prevent
floods 47 steps lead to the depths of a
cave
but there are also important graves
halfway down here to the right at this
Chapel are the traditional graves of
Mary's parents and a new arena here to
the right is the tomb of N and here is
the to view him lower down on the left
hand side is the tomb of Joseph the
carpenter of Nazareth Jesus's adoptive
father and Mary's husband the
underground Hall is shaped like a cross
but now is in a temporary T shape as the
area opposite the stairs is blocked off
because of flood damage
to the right there is the chapel housing
Mary's tomb
[Music]
we are now entering the chapel to see
and touch the tomb of Mary
[Music]
the glass plates around the grave in
order to prevent pilgrims from taking
mementos here above is an opening in the
ceiling symbolizing Mary's ascent to
heaven
during the years the muslims ruled
Jerusalem they built a prayer leash myth
hub in the cave facing east to Mecca and
is here to the left of the tomb behind
Mary's tomb further along the cave there
is an icon of the holy mother and her
son to which Christians attribute
special powers on the western side there
is a Coptic altar
every year on August 15 all Christians
all over the world celebrate the
Assumption of Mary a big ceremony takes
place here at the actual tomb of Mary
both by the Catholic and the Orthodox
for each of them I have a separate video
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