Cenacle

This article is about the location of the Last Supper. For the Parisian literary group, see Cénacle. For the improper noun, see cenacle.

The Cenacle in the building on Mount Zion

The Cenacle (from Latin cenaculum), also known as the Upper Room, is the term used for the site of The Last Supper. The word is a derivative of the Latin word cena, which means dinner.

Traditional site

Traditionally, Christians have believed that the Cenacle lies in the upper floor of a building on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem; this building is now just outside the Dormition Church, behind the Franciscan house. The present room has gothic vaulting of the style particular to 14th century western France and Cyprus, and nothing visible has the claim to authenticity, even if the history of the site betrays an attachment to the place which is explicable only in terms of the importance the site had in the 1st-century.

In the lower floor of the building is a stone sarcophagus, which a tradition, originating in the 12th century, claims to be the tomb of David (hence the sarcophagus is named King David's Tomb); the Bible itself says David was buried elsewhere - in the city of David, and the authenticity of the Mount Zion claim is disputed by archaeologists.

The old walls of the King David's Tomb, underneath the traditional Cenacle room, could belong to a pre-Byzantine assembly building marking the place where the original Upper Room once stood.

History

The Cenacle in the building on Mount Zion

The Cenacle in the building on Mount Zion

In Christian tradition, this was the site where the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples of Jesus on the day of Pentecost and where the Last Supper took place.

According the archaeologist Bargil Pixner, 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 are still extant: the North, East and South walls 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 shortly after 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.

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.

Other sites

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.

External links

• "Church of the Apostles found on Mt. Zion" - article from the May/June 1990 issue of Biblical Archaeological Review
• The Judeo-Christian Synagogue and the Tomb of David
• The Development of the Judeo-Christian Synagogue