The Stone of Anointing, located just inside the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is traditionally believed to mark the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. This association, however, dates only to the Crusader era. The stone holds an important place in Christian pilgrimage, linking the site to the Passion narrative and the rituals preceding entombment, though some scholars debate whether it corresponds to the 13th Station of the Way of the Cross.

The stone’s current location is not original; it was installed during the reconstruction of the church following the 1810 CE fire that damaged large portions of the building. While not an archaeological artifact from the time of Jesus, it has acquired significance through centuries of devotional use. It represents a convergence of liturgical memory, architectural development, and contested custodianship among different Christian denominations. The Stone of Anointing illustrates how sacred topography is constructed and maintained, embodying theological and ritual significance within the broader history of the Holy Sepulchre.

circa 350 CE

The current stone does not date from the 1st century CE. Historical sources suggest that the practice of venerating the site where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial emerged gradually, shaped by the transformation of Golgotha and its surroundings into monumental Christian shrines under imperial patronage. After the destruction of the pagan temple built over the site during emperor Hadrian’s reconstruction of Jerusalem, Constantine’s basilica, completed circa 335 CE, established the Holy Sepulchre complex as a Christian locus sanctus. However, early accounts of the Constantinian church do not mention a distinct stone slab associated with the anointing of the body.

The slab that pilgrims now venerate is a comparatively late feature, first clearly attested in the 19th century CE. It was installed or moved to its current location during restoration works in 1810 CE, following a fire that damaged large portions of the church. Accounts by travelers in the 12th through 18th centuries describe the general area where Jesus’ body was believed to have been prepared, but the current polished stone is the result of modern interventions that formalized the site for devotional purposes. Thus, the “Stone of Anointing” as it is known today is as much a product of Ottoman-era restoration and the dynamics of denominational rivalry as it is of ancient tradition.

circa 350 CE

The stone lies just inside the entrance of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, beneath a row of hanging lamps donated by various Christian communities that administer the church under the Status Quo arrangement. It is a reddish limestone slab, smooth and rectangular, measuring approximately two meters in length and one meter in width. The stone is framed by a low ornamental border of polished stone and marble, installed to mark its significance and to protect it from the constant touch of pilgrims. Oil lamps and metal vessels suspended above the stone, belonging to different Christian denominations, reflect the ecumenical yet divided custodianship of the site. Pilgrims often bend to kiss the stone, rub it with cloths, or anoint it with oils, further reinforcing its tactile role in devotion.

The Stone of Anointing is a flat stone slab that contains a reddish hue throughout its texture. The stone sits about a half meter (foot and a half) off the floor and is surrounded by a stone encasement with decorative orbs sitting atop each corner. Tall candlesticks stand on each end of the stone.

The lamps that hang over the Stone of Unction, adorned with cross-bearing chain links, are contributed by Armenians, Copts, Greeks and Latins. It belongs jointly to the Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Armenian Orthodox, and dates back only to 1810 CE.

circa 350 CE

The devotional association of the Stone of Anointing lies in its connection with the burial customs described in the Gospels, particularly the washing and anointing of Jesus’ body prior to its placement in the tomb. Pilgrims from diverse Christian backgrounds, both Eastern and Western, treat the stone as a locus for ritual gestures that recall those acts. Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox traditions, in particular, emphasize the continuity of physical contact with the sacred, explaining the widespread practice of kissing the stone and sanctifying personal objects by touching them to it. Catholic pilgrims have also integrated the site into the Via Dolorosa pilgrim route, where the stone functions as a physical conclusion to the narrative of crucifixion and deposition.

Although the slab itself is a relatively late feature, it serves as a visible and tangible representation of the Gospel accounts and the central Christian belief in the death and resurrection of Jesus in the early first century CE. The act of anointing the stone with oil or wiping it with cloths is not a liturgical obligation but a popular devotional custom that continues to sustain its significance. In this sense, the stone embodies the interplay between material tradition and theological remembrance, making it one of the most frequently visited and venerated features within the Holy Sepulchre complex.

The wall behind the stone is defined by its striking blue balconies and tau cross-bearing red banners (depicting the insignia of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre), and is decorated with lamps. The modern three-part mosaic along the wall depicts the anointing of Jesus' body, preceded on the right by the Descent from the Cross, and succeeded on the left by the Burial of Jesus. The wall with the painting isn't part of the original building it was installed as a load-bearing wall for the structure above.

circa 350 CE

The Stone of Anointing has long been at the center of scholarly debate concerning authenticity, ritual invention, and the role of sacred space in Christian memory. Historians and archaeologists are nearly unanimous in noting that the present stone is not from the 1st century CE. Its installation after the 1810 CE restoration underscores the fact that the stone as an artifact is a devotional construct rather than a preserved element of Jerusalem’s Second Temple period landscape.

Patristic sources, such as Eusebius of Caesarea in his Life of Constantine, give detailed accounts of the uncovering and monumentalization of the tomb and Golgotha, but they make no reference to an anointing stone. Medieval pilgrimage narratives from the 6th through the 12th centuries describe places within the church where the body of Jesus was believed to have been prepared for burial, but again, they do not describe a fixed slab resembling the modern stone. Scholars argue that the creation of such a defined object of devotion reflects a later stage in the ritualization of the Holy Sepulchre, when communities sought tangible focal points to embody biblical events for pilgrims.

The issue of authenticity is therefore less a question of whether this particular slab was historically present, and more one of how Christian tradition constructs material witnesses to sacred history. Some researchers in liturgical studies emphasize that the stone represents the “ritual truth” of the Passion narrative, independent of its archaeological veracity. For them, the tactile engagement of pilgrims—touching, kissing, anointing—makes the stone a performative object of faith, regardless of its chronological origin.

Another dimension of scholarly debate involves the Status Quo arrangement that regulates the shared control of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre among Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian churches. The stone’s positioning at the entrance, along with the lamps of the different communities suspended above it, has been interpreted as a symbol of inter-denominational negotiation. Some scholars see it as an object where theological, ritual, and political dimensions intersect: the stone is both a devotional relic and a marker of jurisdictional compromise.

In modern pilgrimage studies, the stone is often analyzed as a case study in the creation of sacred authenticity. Even though the slab was installed in the 19th century CE, it continues to be embraced by millions of pilgrims as a genuine link to the burial of Jesus. This tension—between historical discontinuity and uninterrupted devotional meaning—illustrates how Christian sacred geography is sustained by faith and tradition as much as by archaeology or textual evidence.