It is believed that the Anointing Stone exudes myrrh, so many pilgrims consecrate their crosses and icons on the Stone and collect holy myrrh with handkerchiefs, healing from ailments.
At the foot of Golgotha, directly opposite the entrance to the Church of the Resurrection of the Lord, lies the oldest Christian shrine — the Stone of the Anointing.
According to legend, on this Stone, the lifeless Body of Jesus, taken from the Cross, was prepared for burial and anointed with myrrh.According to legend, two followers of Christ — Joseph of Arimathea, a former member of the Sanhedrin, and Nicodemus — laid the body of Jesus of Nazareth, removing It from the Cross, and performed the rite of Chrismation before placing it in the tomb belonging to Joseph.
All these evangelical events: The removal from the Cross, the Anointing with the World and the Position in the Coffin are depicted on a stylized mosaic panel on the wall behind the Anointing Stone.The wall was erected in the 19th century with the blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch Diodoros of Jerusalem as one of the borders between the confessional possessions.
The stone is covered with a polished slab of pink limestone, measuring 2.7 m in length and 1.3 m in width and 30 cm thick.There are 8 unquenchable lamps burning above the Stone: 4 Greek, 2 Armenian, 1 Catholic and 1 Coptic.Nowadays, the Stone of Anointing is owned jointly by four churches — Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian and Coptic, which keep the fire burning in unquenchable lamps, as well as in candelabra near the Stone.
Another must-visit shrine of ancient Jerusalem! The smell of myrrh from the stone is all over the Church of the Resurrection or the Holy Sepulchre...and then you feel it for a long time...
Temples! The seat of idolatry.. Dead bones, painted coffins, nothing to do with Christianity (real Christianity) it doesn't matter!
The Temple of Baal.