Church of the Nativity

Overview

The Church of the Nativity is a basilica located in Bethlehem in the West Bank, built over the grotto that Christians venerate as the birthplace of Jesus, whom they hold to be the Son of God. Three Christian communities share its care and hold services there, and pilgrims from around the world pray at the silver star that marks the traditional place of the birth. The church and its historic pilgrimage route form part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Present

The Church of the Nativity is administered under the Status Quo, a long-standing arrangement that governs the shared Christian holy places. Three communities hold rights in the church: the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, representing the Catholic Church, and the Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate. Each community holds its own services, and Christmas is celebrated in the church according to each community's calendar, so the feast is marked on several dates through the winter.

Religious Significance

Christians venerate the Church of the Nativity as the place where Jesus, the central figure of Christianity whom Christians believe to be the Son of God, was born. Christian tradition has identified the grotto beneath the church as the site of the birth since the 2nd century CE, and the first church was built over it in the 4th century. A fourteen-pointed silver star set into the marble floor of the grotto marks the traditional spot, and pilgrims kneel there to pray. Christians believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem to Mary, and the event is celebrated worldwide as Christmas, the most widely observed feast of the Christian year alongside Easter. For Christian pilgrims, the church is one of the principal destinations, together with the sites of Jesus's death and resurrection located within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

History & Structure

The Church of the Nativity was first built under the Roman emperor Constantine, the first Roman emperor to support Christianity, and dedicated in 339 CE. That basilica was destroyed by fire in the 6th century, and the present church was built under the Byzantine emperor Justinian I and completed around 565 CE; it has been in use ever since. Crusader rulers redecorated the church in the 12th century, and wall mosaics from that period survive. The basilica is entered through a low stone doorway known as the Door of Humility, reduced in size in later centuries. Stairs beside the altar lead down to the Grotto of the Nativity. In 2012 the church and its pilgrimage route were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Additional Resources

• Related: Bethlehem Municipality: Church of the Nativity
• UNESCO: Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem