A journalist participated in an overnight experience at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, one of Christianity’s most significant religious sites. The facility is secured nightly from 9 p.m. until dawn through a ceremony involving a Muslim family that has held the basilica’s keys since the 13th century. During nighttime hours, approximately a dozen clergy members, registered pilgrims, and nuns occupy the sprawling structure for prayer and contemplation.
Three major Christian denominations—the Armenian Apostolic, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox churches—share ownership and use of the worship space. The complex was primarily constructed during the Middle Ages over sites venerated since the 4th century and remains under ongoing renovation. Pilgrims and clergy access three primary locations within the basilica: the unction stone where Jesus’s body is believed to have been prepared for burial, the Holy Edicule shrine built over Jesus’s tomb, and the upper chapel of Calvary, which tradition identifies as where Jesus’s cross stood.
Nightly services begin around midnight following bell ringing, with resident clergy conducting prayers that typically conclude around 6 a.m. Rev. Giuseppe Gaffurini, who leads a Franciscan monastic community of 10 members living in rooms above the Catholic section, described the nighttime reverence as enriching the basilica. He noted that ongoing regional conflicts have significantly reduced pilgrimage attendance in recent times.
The arrangement among different Christian traditions represents what officials describe as a positive period of interfaith coexistence. Rev. Francesco Ielpo, the Franciscan priest overseeing more than 300 friars in the region as Custos of the Holy Land, indicated that current relationships between the various churches using the basilica represent an improvement from historical periods marked by serious disputes over worship rights and access.
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