Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem after the death and resurrection of Jesus, early Christians began gathering in secret to commemorate his Ascension at a small cave on the Mount of Olives. The issuance of the Edict of Milan by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 313 made it possible for Christians to worship overtly without fear of government persecution. By the time of the pilgrim Egeria's travels to Jerusalem in 384, the spot of veneration had been moved to the present location, uphill from the cave, which had been integrated into the Constantinian Church of Eleona, dedicated by then just to Jesus' teachings about good
Chapel of the Ascension, Jerusalem wall. On the floor, inside a stone frame, is a slab of stone called the "Ascension Rock". The octagonal ædicule surrounds the Ascension rock, said to contain the right footprint of Christ. The section bearing the left footprint having been taken to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Middle Ages. The faithful believe that the impression was made as Jesus ascended into Heaven and is venerated as the last point on earth touched by the incarnate Christ. The mosque that stands southwest of the former Church of the Ascension, known as the "zawiya" of Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, consists of two edifices: the