Why Muslims hold the key to the Holy Sepulchre-CathNews NZ/Pacific

Why Muslims hold the key to the Holy Sepulchre

Friday, August 3rd, 2012

Every morning and night, in a ritual dating back hundreds of years, two Muslim families control the opening and closing of the place in Jerusalem where Jesus rose from the dead.

The Joudeh and Nuseibeh families, one generation after another, got the job of holding the keys and opening the door to Christianity’s most sacred site because the Christians in charge of it could not get on together.

“The Churches wouldn’t go along with each other, so the key was taken away from the dominant Church and entrusted to a neutral monotheistic faith that embraces the Christ as a prophet — Islam” confesses Father Samuel Aghoyan, Armenian Superior of the Holy Sepulchre.

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News category: News Shorts.

Tags: Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Churches, Joudeh, keys, Muslim, Nuseibeh

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