In Jerusalem, on the Church of the Holy Scripture, the sight of Jesus’s crucifixion, there is a wooden ladder layed next to a window. It is clearly extremely old, as it is made of wood. Now, despite how much you want to move it so you can get a better view of the window, moving it would probably start a riot, or a war between Christian Denominations. Let me explain:

After the Crucifiction of Jesus, Christianity began to spread around the world. However, as it spread, disagreements began to form, creating several denominations. Meanwhile, Jerusalem had been taken by Muslim forces, and later, the Ottoman Empire. However, in order to keep the Christian population happy, the Ottoman’s in 1757 gave the Church to 6 Christian denominations: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox churches. It also made the Status Quo agreement, where nobody could change anything in the church unless all 6 denominations agreed.

Sometime in the 1800’s, the ladder appeared in the area owned by the Armenian’s. There are some explanations on what it might have been for: Some say that the Armenian’s used it to hoist water from the ground, so they won’t have to go outside to pay the Turkish entrance fee, which trapped the monks inside for months or even years. Or, it could have just been used by a worker, and forgot to take it away.

It would have been easy, so why not remove it? Well, because of the Status Quo agreement, they can’t move the ladder without everyone else agreeing. As it turn’s out, this agreement is taken way to seriously. For example, a Ethiopian monk was sitting on a chair on the roof. In order to get some shade, he slightly moved the chair, which violated the Status Quo, and a literal fistfight broke out! So, putting it simply, you cannot move the ladder, unless the other denominations agree, which they probably won’t, so they can gain more power in the church.

Despite that, people still sometimes are stupid enough to move the gosh darn ladder! In 1998, a Protestant pulled the ladder through a window to show how stupid the Status Quo was. However, he felt bad about it and returned it 2 weeks later. Also, in 2009, someone moved the ladder while cleaning the window, but returned it after he was done.

If you did move the ladder, the Christian denominations would definitely argue, and might possibility begin a riot, if not a war. The ladder shows that, as said by Pope Paul IV, the ladder was a symbol of Christian division.