c. 1996 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ Restoration work within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem may lead to new evidence that the site is really where disciples laid the crucified body of Jesus, a British archaeologist says.

The claim that the rock tomb is the place where Jesus was buried has been made since at least the year 325 A.D., when the church replaced a Roman pagan temple that was torn down.

More evidence buttressing the claim of the tomb’s authenticity may be found when restorers uncover the bare rock of the tomb for the first time in centuries, says Professor Martin Biddle of Oxford University.

Biddle, who has completed a “stone by stone survey” of the site, said he would not be surprised to find an ancient inscription or graffiti saying something like, “This is where Jesus was laid.”

Biddle and his wife, Birthe Kjolbye-Biddle, also of Oxford, were part of a team that fed a detailed photographic, archaeological and architectural record of the present tomb structure into a computer.

The archaeologists wanted the most complete record to prepare for the restoration of the so-called edicule, or”little house,”that covers the tomb. Damaged in an earthquake in 1927,”the edicule is in a parlous state and in danger of falling down,”Biddle said.”It will have to be taken down stone by stone to restore it.” The edicule is the centerpiece of a massive basilica that also incorporates what is believed to have been the hill of Calvary, where Jesus was crucified.

Biddle told of his work in a recent slide lecture at the University of Hartford, Conn., and elaborated on it in an interview.

He expressed excitement about the prospect of one day removing a protective slab of marble that lies over the bare rock in the tomb where the body would have been laid. He said the marble has a”fake”crack down the middle.”The crack was carved to persuade the Turkish governor that the marble was not worth taking for his own purposes,”Biddle explained.

He said he could not give any specific timetable as to when the restoration on the edicule will begin; that depends on restoring crumbling tiles on the floor surrounding the tomb.

Nothing involving restoration in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is simple, Biddle said. Three major Christian faith groups _ Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox _ have to agree to whatever is done.

But Biddle said the past history of bad feeling, bitterness and even physical battles in the church appears to have ended or at least abated.

It took the three groups 20 years to agree recently to repaint the dome of the church blue with stars in it, Biddle said. But he said he expects they will come to a much quicker agreement on retiling the floors.

After that, Biddle said, work on the edicule should begin. Scaffolding shores up the structure but”as soon as the scaffolding comes down the discoveries will come thick and furious.” One of the discoveries that Biddle is hoping for is an answer to the question why the 4th-century Christian church historian, Bishop Eusebius, was so positive the tomb _ which he called”the holy cave”_ was indeed that of Jesus.”On what evidence did Eusebius say that this was the tomb where Jesus was laid?”Biddle asked. Eusebius, who visited the site after the pagan temple was torn down, never elaborated, Biddle said.

But even without further evidence, the archaeologist said that of all the Holy Land sites purported to have played a role in the life of Jesus of Nazareth,”it is this site that has the best possible claims to indeed be the site where these events took place.” It meets the New Testament description of the hill of Calvary _ also known as Golgotha, where crucifixions took place _ and the tomb of a rich man, Joseph of Arimathea, nearby where Jesus’ body was said to be laid. A stone found in front of the tomb is also in the church, incorporated into what is called the”Rolling Stone Altar,”Biddle said. The stone covering Jesus’ tomb was rolled back when he rose from the dead, in the New Testament accounts.

Biddle said it was quite likely that Christians of Jesus’ time passed on knowledge of where the tomb lay to later generations, even after 135 A.D. when the Emperor Hadrian built his pagan temple over it. In 325 A.D., after Constantine made Christianity the state religion, Christians knew exactly where to find Jesus’ tomb.

According to Eusebius, the tomb had been covered over by foundation soil and pavement for the sanctuary of the Roman gods. When workers tore down the temple and removed the soil, the tomb”came into view,”Eusebius wrote in his”Life of Constantine.”

MJP END RENNER