If you go to Jerusalem, you will want to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It has been said that Jesus Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected on the site. In the early part of the 4th century A.D., Helena, the mother of the first Christian Emperor Constantine, purportedly discovered the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. Since that time, the sites have been protected by a church built over them and crowned it, Christendom’s most sacred site.

From the 4th century on, the church that was built upon them has opened its doors to the Christian faithful. What might surprise you is that this holy Christian site is opened and closed by two men of two Muslim families for over 850 years. Every morning, at 4:30, Adeeb Joudeh walks from his apartment outside the walls of the Old City to bring a cast-iron key to the church, just as his forebears did before him. The key itself is fairly heavy and resembles a 12-inch long iron wedge. There is another key which is broken; it was entrusted to the Joudeh family over 850 years ago. The one in use now is 500 years old.

Once there, Joudeh hands the key to Wajeeh Nuseibeh, who climbs a wooden ladder inside the church to help him unlock the upper part and the lower part of the enormous door. Then he returns the precious key to Joudeh. This ritual is reversed every evening at 7:30, after hundreds of tourists and pilgrims have left the church.

So, why are two Muslims in charge of opening and closing Christianity’s most sacred place? Jerusalem’s history has been a tale of three religions. For centuries, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have coexisted in relative peace. However, over the years, different sects of Christians couldn’t trust one another to share the church. 1,400 year ago, the Christian patriarch Sophronius entrusted the key to Joudeh’s family. Christians were then granted the freedom to worship. Since then, Christian leaders asked a family of trusted Muslims to protect the shrine.

So many sects of Christianity which include: Catholic, Greek, Armenian, Coptic, Syriac, and Ethiopian Orthodox monks have gotten into physically attacking one another over who deserved the rights and privileges of the site. That is why the two Muslim families have kept the key.

Thanks to hundreds of years of interfaith trust, Orthodox and Catholic Christians have shared the church to worship as they please. Two Muslim families guarding Christianity’s most sacred site for centuries proves that peace can coexist between religions in a city where tension fills the city.