The Coptic Chapel
Explore the Coptic Chapel
Location – Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Map Coordinates - 31.778460, 35.229556
The Edicule that stands in the Rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has three chapels – The Chapel of the Angel, with a fragment of the traditional rolling stone, the tomb of Jesus, and then on the far side of the building is the small Chapel of the Coptic Church – the Orthodox church of Egypt.
There are about 75 Orthodox denominations around the world, and the Coptic Church is one of the oldest. This little chapel has been here for four-and-a-half centuries – since 1573 AD, and the Coptic church holds worship services on this spot every Sunday morning. Almost every Christian today in Egypt belongs to the Coptic Orthodox Church, which represents about 10% of the population of Egypt.
As you can see, it’s not a very large room - about the size of a small walk-in closet. Probably the most interesting thing about this little chapel is under the altar. If you look down there you will see an exposed portion of the original rock that surrounded the tomb of Jesus - the tomb that was built by Joseph of Arimathea.