Church of the Holy Archangels, Jerusalem

Church of the Holy Archangels

Location of Church of the Holy Archangels in a detailed map of the monastery compound^[1]

The Church of the Holy Archangels (Armenian: Սրբոց Հրեշտակապետաց եկեղեցի, romanized: Srbots Hreštakapetats yekeğetsi), also known as Deir ez-Zeitun (دير الزيتون Dayr az-Zaytūn, "Monastery of the Olive Tree"),^[2] is an Armenian Orthodox Christian church in the Armenian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Traditions

According to a tradition, this site was the house of High Priest Annas, although earlier traditions also placed the house at different sites, such as on Jehoshaphat Street^[3] or on Mount Zion.^[4]

One of the chambers supposedly was the prison of Christ.^[5][6] However, the gospels have divergent accounts about whether Jesus was brought to Annas' or Caiaphas' house/court. Therefore, the Armenian Monastery of Saint Saviour (the "House of Caiaphas", also called Dair Habs al-Masih, lit. 'monastery of the Masīḥ's prison'^[7][8]) also claims to host a prison of Christ, where he was supposed to be held after the Sanhedrin trial.^[9][10]

History

The monastery was founded in the 12th or 13th century.^[11]

References

1. Hewsen 2001, p. 271.
2. Tchekhanovets, Yana (2018). The Caucasian Archaeology of the Holy Land. Brill. p. 226. ISBN 978-90-04-36555-1. Armenian church of the Holy Archangels (Deir el-Zeitun, or 'The Monastery of the Olive Tree'), situated in the south-eastern part of the Armenian Patriarchate grounds.
3. Pringle 2007, p. 133. "Marino Sanudo (c.1320) […] places the house of Annas near the house of Pilate in the Street of Jehoshaphat, and the house of Caiaphas on Mount Sion."
4. Pringle 2007, p. 112. "The earliest association of the house of Annas with Mount Sion appears to date to the seventh century, though it appears at that time to have been equated with that of Caiaphas."
5. Pringle 2007, p. 115. "a mural chamber […] is venerated as the Prison of Christ."
6. Church of the Holy Archangels (unofficial site, but includes text provided by the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
7. "Dair Habs al-Masih". Institute for International Urban Development.
8. Pringle, p. 365.
9. Pringle, p. 369. "The small chamber referred to as the Prison of Christ is entered through a low door […] in the south wall of the choir."
10. Pringle, p. 371. "the sacristy, which became the Prison of Christ in the later thirteenth century"
11. Pringle 2007, p. 116. "origin for this church […] in opting for a date in the second half of the thirteenth [… Another opinion is that it] was probably built before 1187."

Bibliography

• Hewsen, R. H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-33228-4.
• Pringle, D. (2007). The Churches of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem: The city of Jerusalem. Vol. III. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-39038-5.

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