October 16, 2023

The Chapel of Saint Longinus the Centurion in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre


The Chapel of Saint Longinus the Centurion is located inside the Church of the Resurrection (or Church of the Holy Sepulchre).

The Patriarchate of Jerusalem erected the chapel in honor of Saint Longinus, just behind the sanctuary of the church.

The chapel belongs to the Orthodox and inside it is kept portions of the pieces of Golgotha, which were cut for the reconstruction of the Church of the Resurrection in the year 1810.

According to one source of information, in the location where the chapel is located, the body of the Saint was buried, while according to others, it is the spot in which the Saint was standing when a drop of blood and water from the side of Christ that he pierced with his spear fell into his "suffering eye" during the crucifixion of the Lord, and it healed him.

The actual namesake for the Chapel of Saint Longinus is thought to have come from the Latinized version of the Greek word “longche” or spear, since he is the one who is said to have pierced the body of Jesus on the Cross.

The Gospel of Nicodemus (a pseudepigraphical work) is the only mention of the name Longinus. It wasn’t used by the Greeks until Patriarch Germanos in the early 8th century. This Gospel of Nicodemus was the sole source of the anonymous Roman soldier’s identification. 
 
 

 

  

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