Muslim Locks Doors To Holy Sepulcher

Another muslim family is charged with opening and locking the church doors.

Muslim locks doors to holy sepulcher. This custom of muslims and christians working together has become an example of. Enter two muslim men. Los angeles ca catholic online a story reported by the ips details the strange arrangement that has dominated the church of the holy sepulchre for a very long time. The joudeh family keeps the key while the nuseibeh family opens up the church door every morning and locks it in the evening.

Since 1192 when a peace agreement was brokered giving control of the front gates to muslim gatekeepers the ancestors of these two men have. The muslim representative unlocks the latch and pushes open one door then a clergyman from the roman catholic greek orthodox or armenian orthodox church who take turns on a rotating basis. His job as it has been for generations of his forebears is to carry the key that opens the doors to the church of the holy sepulchre this task fell to joudeh s muslim ancestors by contract as a. Cnn s oren liebermann reports.

Each day the story reports a muslim man and the only man with permission to wield the keys unlocks and opens the door to the church while three factions within the church vie for control in disputes that frequently leave the church in disrepair and occasionally result in altercations requiring israeli police come to. Another of the city s oldest. Honestly it s a great honor for a muslim to hold the key to the church of the holy sepulchre which is the most important church in christendom joudeh 53 said. Wajeeh nuseibeh and adeeb joudeh.