Walking in the footsteps of the Lord in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre

It is three in the morning and the Armenian Orthodox cleric Artak Tadevosyan distributes incense through the corridors of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the place where Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. Impressions of Ammar Awad and Corinna Kern

  • If you follow in the footsteps of the Lord, you have feelings that cannot be explained," says the 26-year-old Armenian Orthodox priest. "All these are holy places for us"
  • Ethiopian Orthodox believers during the celebration of Holy Fire: the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located in the Old Town. In the 4th century a church was built there for the first time under Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor, who converted to Christianity
  • These days, the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches share custody of the building, with occasional tensions over who controls what
  • Other denominations also hold their services in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in languages such as Latin, Arabic, Aramaic and Amharic
  • In the nearby Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, His Holiness Theophilos III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, recently declared that he felt deep reverence for the Church. "For the Christian world, the Holy Sepulchre is the heart of Jerusalem and the world," said Theophilos III in the run-up to this yearʹs Orthodox Christmas
  • Theophilos III, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, performs the foot washing ceremony outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
  • Members of the Orthodox Christian clergy distribute incense inside the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre
  • Crosses carved into the wall by pilgrims can be seen in the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old Town, next to stairs leading to the crypt of Saint Helena