7. From the rebuilding by Hadrian the history of Je- rusalem is almost a blank till the time of Constantine, when its history, as a place of extreme solicitude and interest to the Christian Church, properly begins. Pil- grimages to the Hoi}' City now became common and popular. Such a jiilgrimage was undertaken in A.D. 326 by the emperor's mother Helena, then in the eighti- eth year of her age, who built churches on the alleged site of the nativity at Bethlehem, and of the resurrec- tion on the !Mount of Olives. This example may jirob- ably have excited her son to the discover}' of the site of the holy sepulchre, and to the erection of a church thereon. He removed the temple of Venus, with which, in studied insult, the site had been encumbered. The holy sepulchre was then purified, and a magnificent church was, by his order, built over and around the sa- cred spot. This temple was completed and dedicated with great solemnity in A.D. 335. There is no doubt that the spot thus singled out is the same that has ever since been regarde<l as the jilace in which Christ was entombed : but the correctness of the identification
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then made has of late years been much disputed, on grounds wliich have been examined in the article Gol- gotha. The very cross on which our Lord suffered was also, in the course of these explorations, believed to have been thscovered, under the circumstances which have elsewhere been described. See Cross.
By Constantine the edict excluding the Jews from the city of their fathers' sepulchres was so far repealed that they were allowed to enter it once a year to wail orer the desolation of " the holy and beautiful house" in which their fathers worshipped God. When the neph- ew of ConstantUie, the emperor .Julian (q. v.), abandoned Christianity for the old Paganism, he endeavored, as a matter of policy, to conciliate the Jews. He allowed them free access to the city, and permitted them to re- build their Temple. They accordingly began to lay the foundations in A.D. 362 ; but the speedy death of the emperor probably occasioned that abandonment of the attempt which contemporary writers ascribe to super- natural hinderances. The edicts seem then to have been renewed which excluded the Jews from the city, except on the anniversary of its capture, when they were allowed to enter the city and weep over it. Their appointed wailing-place remains, and their practice of wailing there continues to the present day. From St.
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The Jews" Wailing-Plaee," m me werieni wall of the * Haram iuclosure.
James, the first bishop, to Jude 11, who died A.D. 136, there had been a series of fifteen bishops of Jewish de- scent; and from aiarcus, who succeeded Simeon, to jMa- carius, who presided over the Cliurch of Jerusalem un- der Constantine, there was a series of twenty-three bish- ops of Gentile descent, but, beyond a bare" list of their names, little is known of the Church or of the city of Jerusalem during the whole of this latter period.
In the centuries ensuing the conversion of Constan- tine, the roads to Zion were thronged with pilgrims from aU parts of Christendom, and the land abounded in monasteries, occupied by persons who wished to lead a religious life amid the scenes which had been sanctified by the Saviour's presence. After much struggle of con- flicting dignities, Jerusalem was, in A.D. 451,"declared a patriarchate by the Council of Chalcedon. See Pathi- ARCiiATE OF JERUSALEM. In the theological contro- versies which followed the decision of that council with regard to the two natures of Christ, Jerusalem bore its share with other Oriental churches, and two of its bish- ops were deposed by Monophvsitc fanatics. The Svnod of Jerusalem in A.D. 53G confirmed the decree of the
Synod of Constantinople against the Monophysites. See Jerusalem, Councils of. In the same century it found a second Constantine in Justinian, who ascended the throne A.D. 527. He repaired and enriched the former structures, and built upon Mount Moriah a magnificent church to the Virgin, as a memorial of the persecution of Jesus in the Temple. He also founded ten or eleven convents in and about Jerusalem and Jericho, and estab- lished a hospital for pilgrims in each of those cities.
In the following century, the Persians, who had long harassed the empire of the East, penetrated into Syria, and in A.D. G14, under Chosroes II, after defeating the forces of the emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm. Many thousands of the. inhabitants were slain, and much of the city, including the finest churches^ that of the Holy Sepulchre among them — was destroy- ed. When the conquerors withdrew they took away the principal inhabitants, the patriarch, and the true cross; but when, the year after, peace was concluded, these were restored, and the emperor Heraclius entered Jerusalem in solemn state, bearing the cross upon his shoulders.
The damage occasioned by the Persians was speedily repaired. But Arabia soon furnished a more formida- ble enemy in the khalif Omar, whose troops appeared belbre the city in A.D. 636, Arabia, Syria, and Egypt having already been brought under the Moslem yoke. After a long siege the austere khalif himself came to the camp, and the city was at length surrendered to him ill A.D. 637. The conqueror of mighty kings entered tlie holy city in His garment of camel's hair, and con- ducted himself with much discretion and generous for- I )earance. By his orders the magnificent mosque wliich still bears his name Avas built upon Moimt Moriah, upon the site of the Jewish Temple.