Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "We are entering the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher. In the heart of this basilica is the aedicule of the Anastasis, that is, of the Resurrection. Inside is the tomb of Jesus, the empty tomb, because here Jesus rose on the third day from burial." Br. Enrico Maiorano takes us to the Holy Sepulchre to meet Joseph of Arimathea, who offered his tomb and took care of Jesus' body at the moment of burial. Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "We are only a few meters from Calvary, the place where Jesus was crucified. At the time of Jesus, this whole area was a burial ground, with several tombs dug into the rock. We know from the Gospel that the tomb where Jesus was buried in was new tomb, and it belonged to Joseph of Arimathea." Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "Joseph was precisely from Arimathea, a town northwest of Jerusalem. He was a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish authority at the time for legal and religious matters. According to Luke's Gospel, Joseph did not agree with the decision to kill Jesus. Matthew and John add that he was even a follower of his. All four Gospels agree that Joseph went in person to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus, removed it from the cross, anointed it with aromatic oils and buried it in a tomb of his own, dug into the rock. Everything took place quickly because the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest, was about to begin." Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "Joseph is probably one of the few to touch the body of the dead Jesus. Burying the dead is a work of mercy and at this moment Joseph of Arimathea gave proof of his great love, of his care for this man, Jesus of Nazareth." Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "A suggestion that Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople expressed in a prayer written specifically about the deposition of Jesus: 'A Joseph protected you when you were a child. Another gently lifts you from the cross. In his hands you are more abandoned Than a child in its mother's hands. He lays in the lap of the rock The relic of thy spotless body'". Br ENRICO MAIORANO, ofm cap. Student Biblical Sciences and Archaeology - Jerusalem "Joseph offered a new tomb to bury Jesus, and we venerate today here in Jerusalem that very tomb which became empty again. Sepulcher is a Greek word that has to do with memory. In fact, the tomb is the place of memory. But while at all the tombs of the world one goes to remember a dead person, only here one comes to remember a living person".