The greenhorn's adventures in the news (III)

From the BBC this morning: "Unholy row threatens Holy Sepulcher"

The above photo shows the Deir al-Sultan monastery, run by Ethiopian Orthodox Christians. If you're approaching the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on the Via Dolorosa, you'll see the monastery right after the ninth station and the Queen Helen Coptic Orthodox Churh, the last before the CoHS.

This summer our group stopped at the monastery and talked with a couple of the monks, including these two pictured in a 2002 BBC article, "Holy War over Jerusalem Church." They claimed that the Ethiopians have been here since just after the death of Christ, though the most recent BBC article cites that date at 1808.












The two articles discuss the conflict between the Ethiopians and the Coptics regarding ownership of the monastery, made all the more poignant as the complex sits atop a roof of the CoHS badly in need of repair. I'm almost positive that the Copts are headquartered out of the aforementioned Queen Helen Church, from which you can access some of Jerusalem's largest underground cisterns. Here are a few relevant photos of mine:

View of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher from the Via Dolorosa, Ninth Station

Queen Helen Coptic Orthodox Church (Egyptian)



















Stairwell leading to the cisterns, which were too dark to be photographed



















Ninth Station, just outside the gate leading to the monastery and across from the Queen Helen



















Roof of the Church, above the Armenian Chapel of St. Helena



















Deir al-Sultan monastery



















Entrance forbidden