Risk of Collapse at Jesus’ Tomb Unites Rival Christians
THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Diaa Hadid
ISRAEL---It was a typical day at the shrine holding the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem’s Old City. A Greek Orthodox choir sang inside a room facing the baroque structure. But the voices were drowned out when chanting Armenian priests and monks circling the shrine raised theirs. But in recent weeks, scaffolding has gone up a few feet from the shrine in the gloomy shadows of the Arches of the Virgin, the first step in a rare agreement by the various Christian communities to save the dilapidated shrine, also called the Aedicule, from falling down. The March 22 agreement calls for a $3.4 million renovation to begin next month, after Orthodox Easter celebrations. [link]
By Diaa Hadid
 |
| The shrine holding the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem’s Old City. The shrine, an unsteady 206-year-old structure held together by an iron cage, has become an uncomfortable symbol of Christian divisions. Credit Gali Tibbon/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
