From the Passion to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: Memories of Jesus in Place, Pilgrimage, and Early Holy Sites Over the First Three Centuries

293 Pages·2021·12.427 MB·English

by  Jordan J. Ryan

i
THE RECEPTION OF JESUS IN THE FIRST THREE

CENTURIES
7
Series Editors
Chris Keith, Helen Bond, and Jens Schröter
ii
ii i
From the Passion to the Church
of the Holy Sepulchre
Memories of Jesus in Place, Pilgrimage,
and Early Holy Sites over
the First Three Centuries
Jordan J. Ryan
iv
T&T CLARK
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London, WC1B 3DP, UK
1385 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, USA
BLOOMSBURY, T&T CLARK and the T&T Clark logo are trademarks of
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain 2021
Copyright © Jordan J. Ryan, 2021
Jordan J. Ryan has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as Author of this work.
For legal purposes the Acknowledgements on p. xiv constitute an extension
of this copyright page.
Cover design: Charlotte James
Cover image: The Good Shepherd, fresco (3rd century) in the Catacomb of Priscilla,
Rome, Lazio, Italy © De Agostini / G. Cargagna / Getty Images.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including
photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system,
without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc does not have any control over, or responsibility for, any
third-party websites referred to or in this book. All internet addresses given in this
book were correct at the time of going to press. The author and publisher regret any
inconvenience caused if addresses have changed or sites have ceased to exist, but can
accept no responsibility for any such changes.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ryan, Jordan J., author.
Title: From the passion to the church of the Holy Sepulchre : memories of Jesus in place,
pilgrimage, and early Holy sites over the first three centuries / Jordan J. Ryan.
Description: London ; New York : T&T Clark, 2021. |
Series: The reception of Jesus in the first three centuries; 7 |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Summary: “This book examines the history and archaeology of early Christian holy
sites and traditions connected with specific places in order to understand them
as interpretations of Jesus and to explore them as instantiations of
memories of him”– Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020039971 (print) | LCCN 2020039972 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780567677457 (hb) | ISBN 9780567697745 (paperback) |
ISBN 9780567677464 (epdf) | ISBN 9780567677488 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ–Travel. | Bible. New Testament–Geography. |
Christian shrines–Israel. | Christian shrines–Palestine. |
Church history–Primitive and early church, ca. 30–600.
Classification: LCC BT303.9 .R93 2021 (print) | LCC BT303.9 (ebook) |
DDC 225.9/1–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039971
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020039972
ISBN: HB: 978-0-5676-7745-7
ePDF: 978-0-5676-7746-4
ePUB: 978-0-5676-7748-8
Series: The Reception of Jesus in the First Three Centuries, Volume 7
Typeset by Newgen KnowledgeWorks Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, India
To find out more about our authors and books visit www.bloomsbury.com
and sign up for our newsletters.
v
For Anders Runesson
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Contents

List of Figures ix
List of Translations Commonly Used xi
Acknowledgements xiv
List of Abbreviations xvi
1 Introduction 1
Methodological Foundations 5
Conclusion 16
2 Remembering Golgotha: Memory and Interpretation of the Place of
Crucifixion from the First to the Fourth Centuries 19
The Site of the Crucifixion and the Tomb of Jesus in the New Testament 19
Golgotha from the Second to the Fourth Centuries 23
Pilgrim Experiences of Golgotha (Bordeaux, Egeria, Breviarius) 57
Conclusion 62
3 The Tomb of Jesus in Christian Memory and Interpretation 65
The Tomb of Jesus in the Gospels 65
Between Easter and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 75
Interpretation of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as Commemoration
of the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus in Early Christian Writings 80
Memory of Jesus in Pilgrim Experiences of the Space of the Holy Sepulchre 92
Analysis and Conclusions 95
4 Locating a Memory: The Architecture of the Constantinian Church of
the Holy Sepulchre as Jesus-Memory 99
Meaning in Architecture 99
The Archaeology and History of the Traditional Site of the Tomb of Jesus 103
Establishing the Architecture 111
Interpreting the Monument 119
Conclusion 132
5 Bethlehem and the Mount of Olives 135
The Birthplace of Jesus in the Second and Third Centuries ce 139
The Church of the Nativity 152
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The Mount of Olives 159
The Eleona and the Imbomon 170
Conclusion 180
6 Galilee: “There They Will See Me” 183
Constantinian Church Building in Galilee? 184
Capernaum 186
The Heptapegon 195
Nazareth 203
Conclusions: The Galilean Life-of-Jesus Churches 216
7 Conclusion 219
Gallery of Additional Photos 224
Bibliography 237
Index of Authors 259
Index of References 264
ix
Figures
1 Floor plan of the Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulchre 100
2 Floor plan of the Church of the Nativity 136
3 Floor plan of the Eleona 171
4 Floor plan and reconstruction of the Church of the Ascension 172
5 Reconstruction of the fourth-century Church of the House of Peter by
Virgilio Corbo 187
6 The fourth-century Church of the Multiplication superimposed on the
fifth-century structure 196
7 Floor plan of the excavations at the Church of the Annunciation
at Nazareth 204
8 Reconstruction of the early Church of the Annunciation 205
9 The modern Church of the Holy Sepulchre 223
10 Façade of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 224
11 The Anastasis and Aedicule in the modern Church of the Holy Sepulchre 225
12 The Chapel of Adam 226
13 Heavily reconstructed stairway from the monumental entrance to the
Constantinian Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Russian Hospice in
Jerusalem 227
14 The modern Church of the Nativity 228
15 Interior of the Church of the Nativity 228
16 Mosaic floor beneath the current floor of the Church of the Nativity 229
17 Reconstructed façade of the Eleona 229
18 Reconstructed interior of the Eleona (now the Pater Noster Church) 230
19 Reconstructed Apse of the Eleona 230
20 Grotto of the Eleona 231
21 The Chapel of the Ascension 231
22 Remains of the Byzantine Church of the Ascension (Imbomon) 232
23 Jesus’ footprint in the Chapel of the Ascension 233
24 Modern Church of the Multiplication interior, Tabgha (based on the
plan of the fifth-century Church of the Multiplication) 234