Ethiopian Village on the Roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
On top of the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most sacred and important sites in the Christian world, lies a surprise in the shape of an Ethiopian monastery that looks like a small village taken straight from the heart of Africa. According to tradition, the monastery complex is the ninth station on the Via Dolorosa - the way of Jesus' suffering. In the small courtyard of the monastery there is also the "holy olive tree", which according to Ethiopian tradition is located on the place where the Binding of Isaac took place.
Deir Al-Sultan is controlled by the Ethiopian Church, but there is a bitter and age-old conflict regarding the ownership of the place between it and the Coptic Church of Egypt. The Ethiopian and Coptic churches are among the oldest in the Christian world, and the conflict between them over the control of the monastery complex goes for many years. The roots of the Ethiopian Christian community in Jerusalem date back to the 4th century AD, but it gradually dwindled until disappearing completely in the 17th century. When the Ethiopian monks returned to Jerusalem in the middle of the 18th century, they discovered that other Christian factions had taken over their possessions in the Old City and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. With no other choices, the Ethiopians settled on the roof of the church, the only place that was available, but during the 19th century the Coptics took over the compound and since then there has been a tense struggle between the two communities. After the Six-Day War, the conflict even deteriorated into acts of violence, and mutual lawsuits were filed in Israeli courts. The matter was not fully settled yet, and today there is still a lot of tension between the Ethiopian monks and their Coptic counterparts.
Access to the monastery is possible through a flight of stairs that exits from Beit HaBad Street and goes up towards the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, or through the Ethiopian chapels adjacent to the church to the right of the entrance courtyard. It is inhabited modestly by a number of Ethiopian monks, who live in several basic rooms made of clay and wood which are built in between the remains of a large dining room hall that was used by the Crusader knights hundreds of years ago.
Next to Deir a-Sultan is a Coptic monastery called Deir Antonius, where steep steps carved into the rock lead to a large and fascinating water cistern from the Byzantine period called "Helena’s Pool".
(Anecdote authored by: עמיר)
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