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members of a then existing local Christian community, it has been accepted as the "authentic" sep-
ulchre of Jesus.

In 135 A.D., following the Bar-Kokhba uprising in Palestine, the emperor Hadrian erected
this pagan temple of Venus over a spot in Jerusalem that the theologians have since claimed was
the site of the crucifixion and burial of the Savior. Were they right?

Many scholars today believe Hadrian hated the Christians so much that he decided to
DESECRATE the most holy place of their religion. However, as truth would have it, the emperor
was UPSET AT THE JEWS, not the Christians! The early church had nothing to do with the Bar-
Kokhba revolution because it didn't accept Kokhba's claims of being the promised Messiah.

In fact, there also is evidence to show that Hadrian considered Christ a holy man and a
god; and Aelius Lampridius mentioned a report that Hadrian proposed to the Roman Senate that
temples to Christ should be erected throughout the empire. The priests of Rome, however, were
afraid that the entire world would become Christian if this was approved; so the proposal was
squashed.

This doesn't sound like a man who would purposely desecrate a site of great importance to
the Christian faith.

So whose tomb was he desecrating?

The works of Josephus contain the answer. Prior to the Roman destruction of 70 A.D., Jo-
sephus visited this area of Jerusalem and mentioned a significant TOMB four times, using it as a
FOCAL POINT in his description of the war with the Romans. This "significant landmark" was
none other than the tomb of John Hyrcanus, the famous high priest ruler of the Jews who reigned
from 135 to 104 B.C.! This leader had the deep respect of most Jews and symbolized the quest for
Jewish liberation from their hated Gentile oppressors.

In his distaste for the Jews, WHAT BETTER PLACE for Hadrian to desecrate with the
Temple of Venus than this?

The years slipped by. In 306 Constantine came to the throne of the Roman Empire and, af-
ter seeing the famous vision of the flaming cross just before the Battle of Milvian Bridge, he be-
came touted as the first Christian emperor. From 312 onwards these visions became a regular part
of Constantine's life; and he began to think of himself as divinely selected to set up the Kingdom of
God on earth. All of his major decisions were guided by visions and dreams; and in 326, after he
had executed his wife and son, Constantine was led to believe that he should erect a church at the
place of Christ's death and resurrection in Jerusalem in atonement for his actions against his own
family.

In a dream or vision he was informed that the site of Hadrian's Temple of Venus was
where he should erect his Church of the Holy Sepulchre; and he dispatched his mother Helena to
the Holy City to determine where this site was.

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