Night at Holy Sepulcher
FILE - A Christian worshipper kisses the Stone of Unction, the stone slab traditionally claimed as the stone where Jesus' body was prepared for burial, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where many Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Good Friday, March 29, 2024.
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Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher was built over the very spots where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. In a nightly ceremony dating back centuries, a representative of the Muslim families from Jerusalem who hold the basilica's keys locks the door from the outside. At dawn, the doors are usually reopened with the same ceremony watched over by about a dozen resident clergy of the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic and Greek Orthodox churches who share the worship space in a unique arrangement. On a mid-August night, also locked inside the sprawling, dark basilica were a smattering of registered pilgrims, a few cats and an Associated Press journalist.