Crosses etched in mysterious abundance throughout the partitions of Christianity’s most sacred church have been lengthy assumed to be graffiti, however they could be the work of mediaeval masons paid to carve them by pilgrims, analysis suggests.
Revered in Christian custom as the location of Jesus’s crucifixion and burial, Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre normally bustles with worshippers and clergy. That has made research of the sacred markings tough.
But renovations in 2018 at considered one of its chapels that includes 1000’s of the close-bunched and hand-engraved crosses gave Israel’s Antiquities Authority and Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem a possibility for analysis.
Father Samuel Aghoyan, the Armenian superior on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre touches crosses etched into the traditional stone wall of the Saint Helena chapel contained in the church which is revered in Christian custom as the location of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial. (Photo: Reuters)
In coordination with the Armenian Orthodox Church, which controls the chapel, the students used digital cameras and three-dimensional imaging to map out, evaluate and date the crosses.

“This unique phenomenon always baffled us: Is it graffiti of the pilgrims, or rather, something else?…,” stated Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional archaeologist for the Authority.
“We saw that all of them (crosses) have the same depth and even the marking of the mason,” he stated, provisionally relationship them to the fifteenth century.
Father Samuel Aghoyan, the Armenian superior on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre holds candles to light up crosses etched into the traditional stone wall of the Saint Helena chapel. (Photo: Reuters)
“Maybe two or three hand artists made these crosses,” Re’em stated. “…So it’s not graffiti, it’s something more organised.”
He urged an intercessionary goal.
“Let’s say that you are an Armenian pilgrim, so you pay something to the priest, you pay something to this special artist and he carved for you, for the benefit of your soul and your relatives’ souls, …a special cross in the most sacred place for Christianity on earth,” Re’em stated.
The construction housing the purported tomb of Jesus, generally known as the Edicule, is seen contained in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (Photo: Reuters)
Father Samuel Aghoyan, the Armenian superior on the Holy Sepulchre, noticed advantages to the church from the analysis, particularly because it struggles to emerge from COVID-19 lockdowns and prepares for Easter.
“Now there are no pilgrims here, (but) still their spirit is here, we know, I believe in that,” he stated.