Chapel of The Holy Acension
The Chapel of the Holy Ascension was built in 392 CE, destroyed by the Persians during their invasion of Jerusalem in 614, was subsequently rebuilt by Crusaders, and later captured by Salah al-Din in the year 1187 CE. "It contains what is traditionally the last footprint of Jesus on earth before he ascended into heaven." The Venerable Bede wrote of the Mount of Olives in the 8th century CE: "On the very top of it, where our Lord ascended into heaven, is a large round church, having round about it three chapels with vaulted roofs. For the inner building could not be vaulted and roofed, by reason of the passage of our Lord’s Body; but it has an altar on the east side, sheltered by a narrow roof. In the midst of it are to be seen the last Footprints of our Lord, the place where He ascended being open to the sky; and though the earth is daily carried away by believers, yet still it remains, and retains the same appearance, being marked by the impression of the Feet. Round about these lies a brazen wheel, as high as a man’s neck, having an entrance from the west, with a great lamp hanging above it on a pulley and burning night and day. In the western part of the same church are eight windows; and as many lamps, hanging opposite to them by cords, shine through the glass as far as Jerusalem; and the light thereof is said to thrill the hearts of the beholders with a certain zeal and compunction. Every year, on the day of the Ascension of our Lord, when Mass is ended, a strong blast of wind is wont to come down, and to cast to the ground all that are in the church." In the 4th Century CE, Helena, the mother of Constantine, visited the Holy Land and selected locations associated with various events mentioned in the Bible. She selected one of the summits of the Mount of Olives as the ascension location. Today the Paternoster Church is built above Helena's structure.