Church of the Sepulchre of Saint Mary, also Tomb of the Virgin Mary (; ; ; ) or the Church of the Assumption (), is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

church built around an ancient Judean rock-cut tomb in the

Kidron Valley The Kidron Valley ( classical transliteration, ''Cedron'', from , ''Naḥal Qidron'', literally Qidron River; also Qidron Valley) is a valley originating slightly northeast of the Old City of Jerusalem, which then separates the Temple Mount fro ...

– at the foot of

Mount of Olives The Mount of Olives or Mount Olivet (; ; both lit. 'Mount of Olives'; in Arabic also , , 'the Mountain') is a mountain ridge in East Jerusalem, east of and adjacent to Old City of Jerusalem, Jerusalem's Old City. It is named for the olive, olive ...

, in

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the portion of Jerusalem that was Jordanian annexation of the West Bank, held by Jordan after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Captured and occupied in 1967, th ...

– believed by

Eastern Christians Eastern Christianity comprises Christian traditions and church families that originally developed during classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations further east, south or north. The term does not describe a ...

to be the burial place of

Mary, the mother of Jesus Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

. The ''

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

'', a 250-year old understanding between religious communities, applies to the site.

Christian tradition

The

Sacred Tradition Sacred tradition, also called holy tradition, Anno Domini tradition or apostolic tradition, is a theological term used in Christian theology. According to this theological position, sacred Tradition and Scripture form one ''deposit'', so sacred T ...

Eastern Christianity Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...

teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (the

Dormition of the Theotokos The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches (except the East Syriac churches). It celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the '' Theotokos'' ("Mother ...

, the ''falling asleep''), like any human being; that her soul was received by

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, soul and body, into

heaven Heaven, or the Heavens, is a common Religious cosmology, religious cosmological or supernatural place where beings such as deity, deities, angels, souls, saints, or Veneration of the dead, venerated ancestors are said to originate, be throne, ...

in anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb, according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day. Roman Catholic teaching holds that Mary was "assumed" into heaven in bodily form, the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

; the question of whether or not Mary actually underwent physical death remains open in the Catholic view. On 25 June 1997

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

said that Mary experienced natural death prior to her assumption into Heaven. A narrative known as the '' Euthymiaca Historia'' (written probably by

Cyril of Scythopolis Cyril of Scythopolis (; – ), also known as Cyrillus Scythopolitanus, was a Christian monk, priest and Greek-language hagiographer or historian of monastic life in Palestine in the 6th century AD. Life Cyril was born in Scythopolis, in the pro ...

in the 5th century) relates how the Emperor

Marcian Marcian (; ; ; 392 – 27 January 457) was Roman emperor of the Byzantine Empire, East from 450 to 457. Very little is known of his life before becoming emperor, other than that he was a (personal assistant) who served under the commanders ...

and his wife,

Pulcheria Aelia Pulcheria (; ; 19 January 398 or 399 – 453) was an Eastern Roman empress who advised her brother, the emperor Theodosius II, during his minority and then became wife to emperor Marcian from November 450 to her death in 453. She was th ...

, requested the relics of the Virgin Mary from

Juvenal Decimus Junius Juvenalis (), known in English as Juvenal ( ; 55–128), was a Roman poet. He is the author of the '' Satires'', a collection of satirical poems. The details of Juvenal's life are unclear, but references in his works to people f ...

, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, while he was attending the

Council of Chalcedon The Council of Chalcedon (; ) was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bithynia (modern-day Kadıköy, Istanbul, Turkey) from 8 Oct ...

(451). According to the account, Juvenal replied that, on the third day after her burial, Mary's tomb was discovered to be empty, only her

shroud Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to ''burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the Jewish '' ...

being preserved in the church of

Gethsemane Gethsemane ( ) is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, where, according to the four Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus Christ underwent the Agony in the Garden and was arrested before his crucifixion. The garden is ...

. In 452 the shroud was sent to Constantinople, where it was kept in the Church of Our Lady of Blachernae (''Panagia Blacherniotissa'').Catholic Encyclopedia, ''Tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary''
/ref> According to other traditions, it was the Cincture of the Virgin Mary which was left behind in the tomb, or dropped by her during Assumption.

History and archaeology

Roman-period cemetery

In 1972,

Bellarmino Bagatti Bellarmino Bagatti (November 11, 1905 – October 7, 1990) was a 20th-century Italian archaeologist and Catholic priest of the Franciscan Order. Life Camillo Bellarmino Bagatti was born in 1905 in the province of Pisa. At the age of 17 he made h ...

, a

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

and archaeologist, excavated the site and found evidence of an ancient cemetery dating to the 1st century; his findings have not yet been subject to

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (:wiktionary:peer#Etymology 2, peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the ...

by the wider archaeological community, and the validity of his dating has not been fully assessed. Bagatti interpreted the remains to indicate that the cemetery's initial structure consisted of three chambers (the actual tomb being the inner chamber of the whole complex), was adjudged in accordance with the customs of that period.Alviero Niccacci
"Archaeology, New Testament, and Early Christianity"
,

Studium Biblicum Franciscanum Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (SBF), Latin for 'Franciscan Biblical Studies', is a Franciscan academic society based in Jerusalem. It is a center of biblical and archaeological research and studies, established by the Franciscan Custody of the H ...

, Faculty of Biblical Sciences and Archaeology of the

Pontifical University Antonianum The Antonianum, also known as the Pontifical University of Saint Anthony (, ), and as Pontifical Athenaeum Antonianum, is a Franciscan pontifical university in Rome named in honour of Anthony of Padua. It is located in the Rione Esquiline Hill, Es ...

in Rome.

Byzantine- and Early Muslim-period structures

Later, the tomb interpreted by the local Christians to be that of Mary's was isolated from the rest of the necropolis, by cutting the surrounding rock face away from it. An edicule was built on the tomb. A small upper church on an octagonal footing was built by

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and ...

(during

's rule) over the location in the 5th century; this was destroyed in the Persian invasion of 614. Alternatively,

Jerome Murphy-O'Connor Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (born 10 April 1935, Cork City, Ireland – died 11 November 2013, Jerusalem) was an Irish Dominican priest, a leading authority on St. Paul, and a Professor of New Testament at the École Biblique in Jerusalem, a posi ...

writes that a church is mentioned only in the late 6th century, and that – if indeed it was destroyed in 614 – it was rebuilt and was visited by

Arculf Arculf was a Frankish churchman who toured the Holy Land around 670. Bede claimed he was a bishop from Gaul (). According to Bede's ''Ecclesiastical History of the English People'' (V, 15), Arculf was shipwrecked on the shore of Iona on his return ...

() and described as two-level and round.Murphy-O'Connor (2008), pp
148
150. Re-accessed 5 October 2023. During the following centuries the church was destroyed and rebuilt many times, but the

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

was left untouched, as for

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

s it is the burial place of the mother of

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

Isa (

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Crusader church and monastery

By 1130, during the Crusader

Kingdom of Jerusalem The Kingdom of Jerusalem, also known as the Crusader Kingdom, was one of the Crusader states established in the Levant immediately after the First Crusade. It lasted for almost two hundred years, from the accession of Godfrey of Bouillon in 1 ...

, the church was rebuilt by the

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

s, who installed a walled monastery, the Abbey of St. Mary of the Valley of Jehoshaphat; the church is sometimes mentioned as the Shrine of Our Lady of Josaphat (or Joshaphat). The monastic complex included three towers for protection, and was decorated with early Gothic columns and red-on-green frescoes. The Crusader building from 1130 included an upper church built on the ruins of its predecessor, demolished in 1009 by Caliph al-Hakim, and a lower church, consisting of the crypt of the Byzantine church, and as additions built by the Crusaders, a southern entrance followed by a staircase.

Saladin (1187) and aftermath

The upper church was destroyed by

Saladin Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known as Saladin, was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from a Kurdish family, he was the first sultan of both Egypt and Syria. An important figure of the Third Crusade, h ...

in 1187, its masonry being used to repair the walls of Jerusalem. Saladin left the lower church intact, but removed all the Christian imagery from it. In the second half of the 14th century

friars rebuilt the church once more. The clergy of the Greek Orthodox Church had been the guardians of the Holy Places until the arrival of the Roman Catholic Crusaders in 1099, and in 1757 they tried to take back various Holy Land sites, including this one. Tomb of Mary
at seetheholyland.net. re-accessed 5 October 2023.Cohen, Raymond (May 2009)
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre: A Work in Progress
Re-accessed 5 October 2023. As a result of that, the Franciscans, who had owned the church since 1363, were forced to leave. The Ottoman courts supported this state of affairs, which henceforth became known as the "

status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...

". Since then, the tomb has been owned by the

Greek Orthodox Church Greek Orthodox Church (, , ) is a term that can refer to any one of three classes of Christian Churches, each associated in some way with Christianity in Greece, Greek Christianity, Antiochian Greek Christians, Levantine Arabic-speaking Christian ...

and the Armenian Apostolic Church of Jerusalem, while the closeby grotto of Gethsemane remained in the possession of the Franciscans.

The church

4975-20080122-0742UTC--mt-olives-marys-tomb

4972-20080122-0741UTC--jerusalem-mary-sarcophagus

Preceded by a walled courtyard to the south, the cruciform church shielding the tomb has been created in part by cutting through the rock and in part with masonry, and is entered by a wide descending staircase whose upper section dates from the 12th century. On the right side of the staircase (towards the east) there is the chapel of Mary's parents,

Joachim Joachim was, according to Sacred tradition, the husband of Saint Anne, the father of Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary (mother of Jesus), and the maternal grandfather of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Gospel of James, part of ...

and

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), Annie a ...

, initially built to hold the tomb of Queen

Melisende of Jerusalem Melisende ( 1105 – 11 September 1161) was the queen of Jerusalem from 1131 to 1152. She was the first female ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem and the first woman to hold a public office in the crusader kingdom. She was already legendary in he ...

, the daughter of Baldwin II, whose sarcophagus has been removed from there by the Greek Orthodox. On the left (towards the west) there is the chapel of

Saint Joseph According to the canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. Joseph is venerated as Saint Joseph in the Catholic Church, Eastern O ...

, Mary's husband, initially built as the tomb of two other female relatives of Baldwin II. At the bottom of the staircase, on the eastern side of the church, there is the edicule that contains Mary's tomb.There are also altars of the Greeks and Armenians in the east

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

. A niche south of the tomb is a

mihrab ''Mihrab'' (, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "''qibla'' wall". ...

indicating the direction of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church. Currently the Muslims have no more ownership rights to this site. On the western side there is a Syriac altar. The

Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Apostolic Church () is the Autocephaly, autocephalous national church of Armenia. Part of Oriental Orthodoxy, it is one of the most ancient Christianity, Christian churches. The Armenian Apostolic Church, like the Armenian Catholic ...

of Jerusalem and the

Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem,, ''Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;'' , also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is an autocephalous church within the Eastern Orthodox Church organization, wider communion of Eastern Ort ...

are in possession of the shrine. The

Syriacs Syriac may refer to: * Suret, a Neo-Aramaic language * Syriac alphabet, a writing system primarily used to write the Syriac language ** Syriac (Unicode block) ** Syriac Supplement * Syriac Christianity, a branch of Eastern Christianity * Syriac lan ...

, the

Copts Copts (; ) are a Christians, Christian ethnoreligious group, ethnoreligious group native to Northeast Africa who have primarily inhabited the area of modern Egypt since antiquity. They are, like the broader Egyptians, Egyptian population, des ...

, and the

Ethiopians Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global Ethiopian diaspora, diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute #Ethnicity, several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighbor ...

have minor rights.

"Panagia Ierosolymitissa" icon

Within the church is located a famous icon called '' Panagia Ierosolymitissa'' (''All-holy Lady of Jerusalem'') which, according to tradition, was miraculously created without human intervention.

Authenticity

Ephesus as alternative

legend A legend is a genre of folklore that consists of a narrative featuring human actions, believed or perceived to have taken place in human history. Narratives in this genre may demonstrate human values, and possess certain qualities that give the ...

, which was first mentioned by

Epiphanius of Salamis Epiphanius of Salamis (; – 403) was the bishop of Salamis, Cyprus, at the end of the Christianity in the 4th century, 4th century. He is considered a saint and a Church Father by the Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Churche ...

in the 4th century AD, purported that Mary may have spent the last years of her life in

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The Ephesians derived it from John's presence in the city, and Jesus’ instructions to John to take care of Mary after his death. Epiphanius, however, pointed out that although the Bible mentions John leaving for Asia, it makes no mention of Mary going with him. The

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

tradition believes that Virgin Mary lived in the vicinity of Ephesus, at

Selçuk Selçuk is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 317 km2, and its population is 38,151 (2022). The town Selçuk is located northeast of the ancient city of Ephesus, that was once home to the Temple of Artemis, o ...

, where there is a place currently known as the

House of the Virgin Mary The House of the Virgin Mary ( Turkish: ''Meryemana Evi'' or ''Meryem Ana Evi'', "Mother Mary's House") is a Catholic shrine located on Mt. Koressos (Turkish: ''Bülbüldağı'', "Mount Nightingale") in the vicinity of Ephesus, from Selçuk in ...

and venerated by Catholics and Muslims, but argues that she only stayed there for a few years, even though there are accounts of her spending nine years until her death.

Pro: apocrypha

Although no information about the end of Mary's life or her burial are provided in the New Testament accounts, and many Christians believe that none exist in early apocrypha, some apocryphon are offered as supporting Mary's death (or other final fate). The ''Book of John about the Dormition of Mary'', written in either the 1st, 3rd, 4th, or 7th century,Herbermann, 1901, p
774
"the 'Joannis liber de Dormitione Marie' (third to fourth century), and the treatise 'De transitu B.M. Virginis' (fourth century) place her tomb at Gethsemane" places her tomb in Gethsemene, as does the 4th century ''Treatise about the passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary''.

Pro: 4th- to 8th-century sources

The pilgrim

Antoninus of Piacenza Saint Antoninus of Piacenza (or Placentia) (died AD 303), also known as Antoninus Placentinus, is a patron saint of Piacenza in Italy. He is venerated as a saint and martyr in the Roman Catholic Church, with a feast day of 30 September. The s ...

, writing of travels in 560–570 AD, mentions in that valley was "the basilica of the Blessed Mary, which they say was her house; in which is shown a sepulchre, from which they say that the Blessed Mary was taken up into heaven."Antoninus of Piacenza, 1890, p.
14
/ref> Before as well as after the anonymous traveller from Piacenza, during the 4th to early 8th centuries, Saints

Gregory of Tours Gregory of Tours (born ; 30 November – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours during the Merovingian period and is known as the "father of French history". He was a prelate in the Merovingian kingdom, encom ...

Isidore of Seville Isidore of Seville (; 4 April 636) was a Spania, Hispano-Roman scholar, theologian and Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Seville, archbishop of Seville. He is widely regarded, in the words of the 19th-century historian Charles Forbes René de Montal ...

, Modest,

Sophronius of Jerusalem Sophronius (; ; c. 560 – March 11, 638), called Sophronius the Sophist, was the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the city known as Aelia Capitolina and then Jerusalem from 634 until his death. He is venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox and ...

, German of Constantinople,

Andrew of Crete Andrew of Crete (, c. 650 – July 4, 712 or 726 or 740), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was an 8th-century bishop, theologian, homilist,A list of forty of his discourses, together with twenty-one edited sermons, is given in ''Patrologia Gr ...

, and

John of Damascus John of Damascus or John Damascene, born Yūḥana ibn Manṣūr ibn Sarjūn, was an Arab Christian monk, priest, hymnographer, and apologist. He was born and raised in Damascus or AD 676; the precise date and place of his death is not know ...

talk about the tomb being in Jerusalem, and bear witness that this tradition was accepted by all the Churches of East and West.

Other claims

Christianity

Turkmen

Keraites The Keraites (also ''Kerait, Kereit, Khereid'', Kazakh: керейт; Kyrgyz: керей; Mongolian: Хэрэйд; Nogai: Кереит; Uzbek: ''Kerait''; Chinese: 克烈) were one of the five dominant Turco-Mongol tribal confederations ...

believe, according to a

Nestorian Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...

tradition, that another tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in

Mary, Turkmenistan Mary (; Cyrillic: Мары) is a city on an oasis in the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, located on the Murgab River. It was founded in 1884 about from the ruins of the ancient abandoned great city of Merv and was actually named Merv until 193 ...

– a town originally named ''Mari''. Another tradition exists among the

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

Nineveh Nineveh ( ; , ''URUNI.NU.A, Ninua''; , ''Nīnəwē''; , ''Nīnawā''; , ''Nīnwē''), was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul (itself built out of the Assyrian town of Mepsila) in northern ...

in northern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

, that the tomb of Mary is located near

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

, linking the site to the direction of tilt of the former Great Mosque of al-Nuri minaret in

Mosul Mosul ( ; , , ; ; ; ) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. It is the second largest city in Iraq overall after the capital Baghdad. Situated on the banks of Tigris, the city encloses the ruins of the ...

Ahmadiyya

The

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

movement

believe Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...

that Mary was buried in the town of

Murree Murree () is a mountain resort city in the northernmost region of the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Lying in the Galyat region of the Pir Panjal Range under the western Himalayas, it forms the outskirts of the Islamabad–Rawal ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, and her tomb is presently located in the shrine Mai Mari da Ashtan. The authenticity of these claims is not yet academically established and has not undergone any scholastic or academic research, nor canonical endorsement from the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

, nor anyone else.

Gallery

File:Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Staircase of 47 steps..jpg, Staircase of 47 steps leading from the entrance down into crypt with the tomb Image:4960-20080122-0718UTC--jerusalem-entering-marys-tomb.jpg, The entrance stairs, lower part File:Mary's tomb,Melisende IMG 0251c.jpg, The Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne, originally the tomb of Queen

File:Painting at Tomb of Mary.JPG, Icons in the Chapel of Saints Joachim and Anne File:Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Altar.jpg, The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door File:maria-tomb.jpg, The Tomb of Mary: facade covered in icons and entrance door File:Mary's tomb PA180062.JPG, Inside the Tomb of Mary: the stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out File:Mary and christ,photo frame at Tomb of Mary.JPG, Crypt, western apse: icon of Mary and Christ File:Dormition Church3099.JPG, Icon of the

Festivities

Orthodox Dormition

Each 25 August (12 August according to the

Julian calendar The Julian calendar is a solar calendar of 365 days in every year with an additional leap day every fourth year (without exception). The Julian calendar is still used as a religious calendar in parts of the Eastern Orthodox Church and in parts ...

), the Orthodox icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos is carried in a procession from the

Metochion A ''metochion'' or ''metochi'' ( or ; ) is an ecclesiastical embassy church within Eastern Orthodox tradition. It is usually from one autocephalous or autonomous church to another. The term is also used to refer to a parish representation (or ...

of Gethsemane across from the entrance to the

Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection, is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, Old City of Jerusalem. The church is the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchat ...

, to the Tomb of Mary. Here it remains throughout the period around the Orthodox Day of Dormition (28 August), including the Lamentations of the Eve of the Dormition, until being taken back on 5 September (23 August Julian) in another procession.The Procession of the icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos to Gethsemane took place at dawn on Wednesday, August 25, 2021.
OrthodoxTimes.com, 25 August 2021, source:

Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem,, ''Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;'' , also known as the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, is an autocephalous church within the wider communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Established in th ...

. Accessed 22 August 2023.

References

Bibliography

* (about

, p
17
* * (pp
20
��21) * * Olsson, Suzanne, ''Jesus in Kashmir The Lost Tomb'' (2019) , Investigation in to the alleged final resting place of Mary in Mari Ashtan, Pakistan, with photos and additional resource links. * (pp
464
��469) * * * (pp
210219
* (p
102
* (pp
2733193
* * (pp
20
��21) * (pp
287

306
* * (pp
305

313
* (pp
40402

External links

*
Tomb of the Virgin Mary
' at ''Sacred Destinations'' provides a description of the interior and history of the site.
Jerusalem Mary`s Tomb
at http://allaboutjerusalem.com
''Assumptions About Mary''
(comments on the historicity of the site) at

Catholic Answers Catholic Answers is a Catholic advocacy group based in El Cajon, California. History Catholic Answers was founded in 1979 by Karl Keating in response to a fundamentalist Protestant church in San Diego that was distributing anti-Catholic propa ...

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O Svetoj zemlji, Jerusalimu i Sinaju
at http://www.svetazemlja.info
Photos of the Tomb of the Virgin
at the

Manar al-Athar Manar al-Athar is a photo archive based at the Faculty of Classics at the University of Oxford which aims to provide high-quality open-access images of archaeological sites and buildings. The archive's collection focuses on areas of the Roman Em ...

photo archive {{Authority control 5th-century churches 5th-century establishments in the Byzantine Empire Shrines to the Virgin Mary Churches in Jerusalem Mount of Olives Armenian Apostolic churches in Jerusalem Syriac Orthodox churches in Jerusalem Status quo holy places Catholic Church in Israel

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

Tombs in Palestine Classical sites in Jerusalem Dormition of the Mother of God Assumption of Mary