Status quo of Holy Land sites
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The Status Quo ( he, סטטוס קוו, ar, الوضع الراهن) is an understanding among religious communities with respect to nine shared religious sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Other Holy Places in Israel and
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
were not deemed subject to the Status Quo, because the authorities of one religion or community within a religion are in recognized or effective possession of them. The ''
status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
'' stemmed from a ''
firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...
'' (decree) of Ottoman sultan Osman III in 1757 that preserved the division of ownership and responsibilities of various
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
holy places. Further firmans issued in 1852 and 1853 affirmed that no changes could be made without consensus from all six Christian communities; these firmans received international recognition in Article 9 of the Treaty of Paris (1856). The term "status quo" was first used in regards to the Holy Places in the Treaty of Berlin (1878). The 1929 summary prepared by L. G. A. Cust, ''The Status Quo in the Holy Places'', became the standard text on the subject, and the details were further formalized in the 1949 United Nations Conciliation Commission after the
1947–1949 Palestine war The 1948 Palestine war was fought in the territory of what had been, at the start of the war, British-ruled Mandatory Palestine. It is known in Israel as the War of Independence ( he, מלחמת העצמאות, ''Milkhemet Ha'Atzma'ut'') and ...
.


History

Controlled by the Roman Empire and then, following its division, by the
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
, these eastern sites first became a point of contention in the centuries following 1054, when the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church separated. Following the seizure of the Holy Land by knights from the West in the First Crusade, the Catholic church became the custodian of the churches in Jerusalem. With the defeat of the crusader states and the rise of the Ottoman Empire, control of the sites oscillated between the Catholic (Latin) and the Orthodox (Greek) churches, depending upon which could obtain a favorable ''
firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman com ...
'' (decree) from the Ottoman " Sublime Porte" at a particular time, often through outright bribery. Violent clashes were not uncommon. There was no agreement about this question, although it was discussed at the negotiations to the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. During the Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church, possibly leading Sultan Osman III to write a 1757 decree forming the basis of the ''
status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...
''. In the years preceding the Crimean War (1853–1856), Napoleon III of France pressured the sultan to invalidate the 1757 ''status quo'' in favor of the Catholic church, leading in part to Nicholas I of Russia declaring war in favor of the Orthodox church's rights. This resulted in 1852 and 1853 ''firmans'' by Sultan
Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...
which received international recognition in Article 9 of the Treaty of Paris (1856) leaving the status quo intact. The existing territorial division was solidified amongst the communities, the treaty stating that "The actual status quo will be maintained and the Jerusalem shrines, whether owned in common or exclusively by the Greek, Latin, and Armenian communities, will all remain forever in their present state." Despite this declaration, there are no unanimous terms defining the status quo, sometimes causing contradictory differences of opinion. Despite the arguments over who would control what aspects of these sites, the Status Quo has remained largely intact from the 18th century to the present. The term "status quo" was first used in regards to the Holy Places in Article 62 of the Treaty of Berlin (1878). A summary of the Status Quo prepared by L. G. A. Cust, a
civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
of the British Mandate, ''The Status Quo in the Holy Places'', quickly became the standard text on the subject.


Sites

According to the United Nations Conciliation Commission, the Status Quo applies to nine sites in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, which Cust separates into three categories:


Disputed between Christian denominations

* The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, hy, Սուրբ Հարության տաճար, la, Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri, am, የቅዱስ መቃብር ቤተክርስቲያን, he, כנסיית הקבר, ar, كنيسة القيامة is a church i ...
and its dependencies, Jerusalem ** The
Deir es-Sultan Deir es-Sultan, literally the Monastery of the Sultan ( ar, دير السلطان, Deir al-Sultan), is a monastery located on the roof of the Chapel of Saint Helena, which is part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City. The ' ...
, on top of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem * The Tomb of the Virgin Mary, Jerusalem * The Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem * The
Chapel of the Milk Grotto he, מערת החלב , native_name_lang = , image = A Churches in Bethlehem3.jpg , imagesize = 250px , imagelink= , imagealt= , caption = Chapel of the Milk Grotto , pushpin map= West Bank#Palestinian territories ...
, Bethlehem (no records exist): "The Grotto of the Milk and the Shepherd's Field near Bethlehem are also in general subject to the Status Quo, but in this connexion there is nothing on record concerning these two sites." * The Chapel of the Shepherd's Field, Bethlehem (no records exist)


Disputed between Christians and Muslims

* The Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem


Disputed between Jews and Muslims

* The Western Wall, Jerusalem *
Rachel's Tomb Rachel's Tomb ( ''Qǝbūrat Rāḥēl''; Modern he, קבר רחל ''Qever Raḥel;'' ar, قبر راحيل ''Qabr Rāḥīl'') is a site revered as the burial place of the Bible, Biblical matriarch Rachel. The site is also referred to as the ...
, Bethlehem


Related: David's Tomb and Cenacle

* David's Tomb and Cenacle: not part of the Status quo arrangement during the British Mandate, it is nevertheless in a similar position, being disputed by the Catholics who have built the current structure, the Muslims (the Ottoman sultan confiscated it from the Franciscans), and Jewish and Israeli institutions, who took control of it in 1948.


'Immovable ladder'

The so-called immovable ladder, lit. 'the status quo ladder'; ar, السُّلَّمُ الثَّابِتُ, translit=as-sullamu ṯ-ṯābitu, lit. 'the stationary ladder' under the window of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, made of Lebanon cedar wood, was in place by 1728 and has remained there ever since the 1757 status quo was established, aside from being temporarily moved twice. The ladder is referred to as immovable due to the agreement of the Status Quo that no cleric of the six Churches may move, rearrange, or alter any property without the consent of the other five orders. According to various accounts, the ladder once belonged to a mason who was doing restoration work in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor states that "the ladder was first introduced at a time when the Ottomans taxed Christian clergy every time they left and entered the Holy Sepulchre." The
Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
adapted by setting up quarters inside the church. O'Connor continues:
The window, ladder and ledge all belong to the Armenians. The ledge served as a balcony for the
Armenian clergy Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
resident in the Holy Sepulchre, and they reached it via the ladder. It was their only opportunity to get fresh air and sunshine. At one stage, apparently, they also grew fresh vegetables on the ledge.
The earliest record of the ladder is in a 1728 engraving by Elzearius Horn. In 1757, the same year the Status Quo was introduced, Ottoman sultan Abdul Hamid I mentioned the ladder in a ''firman'', and because everything was to be left “as it was” according to the royal decree, the ladder had to stay as it was too. An 1842 lithograph by
David Roberts David or Dave Roberts may refer to: Arts and literature * David Roberts (painter) (1796–1864), Scottish painter * David Roberts (art collector), Scottish contemporary art collector * David Roberts (novelist), English editor and mystery writer ...
also shows the ladder in place. The earliest photograph showing the ladder dates from the 1850s. By the end of the 19th century, the ladder was being used to bring food to Armenian monks imprisoned by the Turks. Turkish accounts mention the ladder being used by Armenian monks to clean the windows above the ledge. The Byzantine
cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
the ladder rests on has been used by the public during festivals. During his pilgrimage to the
Holy Land The Holy Land; Arabic: or is an area roughly located between the Mediterranean Sea and the Eastern Bank of the Jordan River, traditionally synonymous both with the biblical Land of Israel and with the region of Palestine. The term "Holy ...
in 1964, Pope Paul VI described the ladder as a visible symbol of Christian division. In 1997, the ladder was supposedly pulled in through the window and hidden behind an altar by a Protestant Christian intending "to make a point of the silliness of the argument over whose ledge it is." It was returned to the ledge weeks later, and a grate was installed in the window. In 2009, the ladder was placed against the left window for a short period before being moved back again. File:The Holy Sepulchre engraving 1728.jpg, 1728 engraving showing the ladder File:Entrance to the holy sepulchre cph.3g03425.jpg, The ladder on the front page of the 1842-49 '' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia'' File:ChurchOfTheHolySepulcher1885.png, Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1885. The immovable ladder is visible below the upper-right window. (A different ladder leans against the dome.) File:Immovable Ladder CotHS.jpg, The immovable ladder, 2011


See also

* Church of the Holy Sepulchre § Status Quo * Church of the Nativity § Property and administration * David's Tomb, not subject to the status quo, but of its own Muslim ''waqf'' * Simultaneum *
Status quo (Israel) In Israel, the term status quo (or the secular–religious status quo) refers to a political understanding between secular and religious political parties not to alter the communal arrangement in relation to religious matters. The established Jewi ...
*
Temple Mount entry restrictions Temple Mount entry restrictions are restrictions on entering the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem, which is a holy place for Muslims, Jews, and Christians.Abraham Ezra Millgram''Jerusalem Curiosities,''Jewish Publication Society, 199 ...


References

Footnotes Citations


Sources

* * * Marlen Eordegian (2003)
"British and Israeli Maintenance of the Status Quo in the Holy Places of Christendom"
''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 35, No. 2 (May, 2003), pp. 307–328


External links



* ttp://www.custodia.org/default.asp?id=433 Custody of the Holy Land, ''Status Quo'' – a short overviewbr> Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am, "1,000 years of rivalry – and a little bit of harmony – at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher", in ''Times of Israel'', 7 September 2012
{{Church buildings in Betlehem Archaeological sites in Jerusalem Christian holy places Christian pilgrimages 18th century in Jerusalem Islamic holy places Jewish holy places Jews in Ottoman Palestine Ladders Ottoman law Religious buildings and structures in Jerusalem Religion in Jerusalem Tabernacle and Temples in Jerusalem Temple Mount Tradition Western Wall Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs (Jordan)