Send Prayer Request Online at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Send your personal prayer request online to the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem where Jesus Christ was buried and resurrected. Our volunteers will carry your prayer and pray there.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Orthodox Christians
The Holy Sepulchre and Church History
“And they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to say, The place of a skull,” (Matthew 27:33)
Jesus was crucified at Golgotha, known in the New Testament (Matt. 27:33–35; Mark 15:22–25; John 19:17–24) as “the place of the skull”. This location lay outside the perimeter of the city walls at the time and was an abandoned stone quarry.
Around a decade later, a wall was built which enclosed the site inside what we know today as Jerusalem’s Old City.
Stone of Anointing (Stone of Unction)
Another point of interest inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the so-called Stone of Unction, which was the spot where Joseph of Arimathea prepared Jesus for Burial.
It is customary for pilgrims to kneel and kiss the stone on their arrival at this location within the church. This tradition stems from John 19:40:
“Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury”.
The kneeling action is also represented in the large mosaic above the Stone of Unction, which depicts subjects kneeling alongside the stone.
How was it discovered?
The tomb itself was discovered in the process of building a church ordered by Roman Emperor Constantine I. This then became the first Church of the Holy Sepulchre which could be accessed by a set of steps which rose from one of Jerusalem’s main streets.
Early pilgrims would have walked through a basilica and the ‘holy garden which contained ‘the rock of Golgotha, before reaching the Holy Sepulchre.
The Church starts to form around the Stone of Anointing
A small building was built around the tomb, which was originally exposed. The relic of the cross of Jesus, another important feature of the church, is said to have been discovered by Saint Helena, Constantine’s mother, in 326.
In the 11th century, the Chapel of the Invention of the Cross was founded, in a cave deep beneath the basilica’s ruins, which is still present today.
A number of destructions and restructurings have taken place at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, including a 614 ransacking by a Persian Army, a 966 fire which destroyed the dome in anti-Christian riots, and a complete dismantling by fanatical Arab leader Fatimid caliph al-Hakim in 1009.
After being rebuilt by Constantine IX Monomachus, the Byzantine emperor – after the first Crusade, ending in 1099, freed it up as a place of worship – it was reconsecrated 50 years later to the day. While work has been carried out periodically over the years, the post-Crusade Church of the Holy Sepulchre is much like the one which stands today.
Today pilgrims often light a candle, make a prayer or take part in a procession around the site. The experience is very emotional for some, evocative for others, and gives Christians the chance to communicate with God and ask for what is in their hearts. For those who are far away, we are offering the pilgrims experience as an online option.
How Can The Salvation Garden Help You?
The Salvation Garden believes that every believer in the world should be easily able to access the holy places of the Holy Land. We want to assist you in achieving success in your spiritual and material life.
Those who are unable to make it to these pilgrimage sites, we volunteer to carry your prayers to one of the holiest sites in these lands.
Click here to fill the online prayer request form with your personal prayer. Choose the Church of Holy Sepulcher or multiple holy churches and holy places in the Holy Land.
We will visit those holy places and personally deliver your printed prayer request. You will get the delivery confirmation from us to your email and an optional video.
We also deliver your urgent prayer request to the Holy Land. While our service comes free, your donations help us with our travel, printing, security, and other expenses.
