ABSTRACT
As a sacred city, Jerusalem is the single most important place for Muslims, Jews and Christians, hosting significant sites for the three monotheistic religions. The established churches in Jerusalem have always been motivated – no less since 1967 than over previous centuries – by their concern to ensure their continued presence in the Holy Sepulchre and the surrounding areas. Various factors contribute to shaping the dynamics of the intercommunal relations in the Church of Anastasis. Jerusalem’s different Churches are separated by theology; that is, the communities of the Anastasis subscribe to different theologies. Ethnic differences play an important role in shaping boundaries between Jerusalem’s Christian communities and more specifically the custodian groups in the Anastasis. Within the Anastasis, denominational boundaries also manifest themselves spatially, as borders, in a continuous demarcation of its edifice. The Anastasi’s churchmen, for example, while caring for shrines holy to Christianity, participate in multiple imagined worlds.
