The Cenacle in the building on Mount Zion
Cenacle has a modern and a biblical meaning:
- After the 19th century Cenacle is used for a small gathering of specialists (esp. writers etc); a clique
- Traditionally Cenacle (from Latin cenaculum) is the term for the Upper Room, or the site of The Last Supper. This word is a derivative of the Latin word "cena," which means dinner.
- Some Christians believe it lies in the second floor of a building on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, just outside the Dormition Church behind the Franciscan house on Sion, and south of the Zion Gate in the Old City walls. In the basement of the building is what is supposed by Jewish leaders as King David's Tomb, although the Bible says David was buried in the city of David, which is south of Mount Moriah.
History
In Christian tradition, this was the site where the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost. According the archaeologist Bargil Pixner1, during the centuries many different buildings were erected on the site:
- The original building was a synagogue later probably used by Judeo-Christians. The building was spared during the destruction of Jerusalem under Titus (AD 70), and three walls still extant: the North, East and South wall of the present King David's Tomb.
- Roman emperor Theodosius I built an octagonal church (the "Theodosian Church" or "Holy Zion Church") aside the synagogue (that was named "Church of the Apostles"). The Theodosian Church, probably started on 382 AD, was consecrated by John II, Bishop of Jerusalem on 394 AD.
- Some years later, c. 415 AD, Bishop John II enlarged the Holy Zion Church transforming it in a large rectangular basilica with five naves, always aside the Church of the Apostles. This building was later destroyed by Persian invaders in 614 AD and shortly after partially rebuilt by patriarch Modestus.
- In 1009 AD the building was razed to the ground by the Muslim caliph Al-Hakim and replaced by the Crusaders with a three naves basilica entitled to "Saint Mary". This building for the first time included, preserving, the walls of the ancient Judeo-Christian synagogue. On the West side of the synagogue, without touching the East side (now the chambers of the King David's Tomb), the Crusaders build a upper room now known as "Cenacle" and still visited. The basilica was destroyed in 1219 by the Sultan of Damascus.
Franciscan monks cared for the Cenacle, restoring also the building with gothic vaults, from 1333 to 1552 when the Turks captured Jerusalem and banished all Christians. After the Franciscan friars' eviction, this room was transformed into a mosque, as evidenced by the mihrab in the direction of Mecca and an Arabic inscription prohibiting public prayer at the site. Christians were not allowed to return until the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.
The Syriac Orthodox Church monastery of Saint Mark near the Armenian Quarter, in the Old City of Jerusalem, is sometime considered as alternative place for the cenacle.
Architecture
The Cenacle is divided by three pillars into three naves. The pillars and the arches, windows and other Gothic style architectural elements, a clear indication the room was built by the Crusaders in the early 13th century, on top of a much older structure. The older structure, according to the archaeological research, was the church-synagogue of the early Christian community of Jerusalem.
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