AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 2, 2013

Transcription

1 1 TLIG PILGRIMAGE TO THE HOLY LAND AUGUST 25-SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. St. Paul to Corinthians 12:12-13 Israel land of the Bible land of Faith the Holy Land, is revered throughout recorded history as the cradle of monotheistic religion. In this narrow strip of land, amongst the barren hills and fertile plains, man s spirit learned to soar and from here a new message went out to all the world: and many peoples shall come and say, Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, the house of the God of Jacob; that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2:3-4 5,000 years of Holy Land history bear witness to the fact that this was never a quiet, peaceful region. Straddling the divide between Africa and Asia, wave after wave of conquerors poured into it, anxious to control the strategic trade routes linking the cities of the ancient world as well as its religious centres. With almost predictable regularity, control swung from one victorious power to the next. During the time of Roman rule in the Middle East, about 2,000 years ago, a momentous event took place. It was to shape history forever - the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amongst the people of Galilee and Jerusalem, in three short years, Jesus gained recognition as a teacher, prophet and performer of miracles. Through His death and resurrection, Christianity was born. His life and teachings spread to the ends of the earth, affecting millions of people. For the last 2,000 years, Christian pilgrims have visited the Holy Land. Bible in hand, they have sought out the places where Jesus walked and taught and prayed. From century to century, Christian shrines were often ravaged or destroyed in times of war, persecution and natural disaster. On our journey, we shall bear witness to the strength of faith which brought ruins back to life time after time for the love of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour - and for His most holy Mother whose magnificent yes brought hope to all humanity. Ein Karem In Luke 1, it is written that Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth and stayed for three months (Luke 1:56). Upon Mary's arrival, the unborn John the Baptist recognized the unborn Jesus and "leaped with joy" in Elizabeth's womb (Luke 1:44). Elizabeth exclaimed, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!" and Mary sang a hymn of thanksgiving known as "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as He said to our fathers." (Luke 1:46-55) the Magnificat. This event is the "Visitation" commemorated by the present church, which is believed to stand over the site where the event took place. Church of the Visitation 1 Sources for this booklet: atlastours.net; bibleplaces.com; biblewalks.com; christiananswers.et; goisrael.com; Israel Ministry of Tourism; newadvent.org; sacred-destinations.com; seetheholyland.net; Wikipedia.org According to tradition, Elizabeth and Zacharias had a summer house in Ein Karem. The present Church of the Visitation incorporates a natural grotto that once contained a small spring and a rock where traditionally the infant John the Baptist was concealed during the Massacre of the Innocents. The grotto became a place of worship in the Byzantine period, and the Crusaders built a large, two-storey church over it. The church collapsed

2 after the Crusaders left. In 1679, the site was bought by the Franciscans. After two centuries, they finally got permission from the Ottoman authorities to restore it. The Lower Church was restored in 1862 and the Upper Church was completed in Designed by Antonio Barluzzi, the upper church has a Tuscan-style painted ceiling and large murals depicting the titles with which Mary has been endowed Mother of God, Refuge of Sinners, Dispenser of All Grace, Help of Christians and the Immaculate Conception. The lower church is decorated with large frescoes of other Hebrew women of the Bible known for their "hymns and canticles." In the church courtyard, one wall is covered with ceramic tiles bearing the words of the Magnificat in 42 languages. Bethlehem Bethlehem was also associated in biblical history with Rachel (Genesis 35:16-19 and 48:7); in Judges, as the home of the young Levite who went to Michas and of the young woman whose death caused the expedition against the tribe of Benjamin. In the New Testament, as well as John 7:42 when the crowd questions whether the Messiah comes from Galilee, there are references to Bethlehem in the Matthew 2 and Luke 2 narratives of the birth of the Saviour in the city of David. As to the Saviour's birth having taken place in a cave near the village of Bethlehem, such cave stables were not rare in Palestine at that time. Origen wrote about a century later: "In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes, and the rumour is in those places and among foreigners of the Faith that, indeed, Jesus was born in this cave". The roads descending to the east of Bethlehem lead through the mostly Christian village of Beit Sahour, which includes the fields identified since ancient times with the shepherds: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." (Luke 2:8-10) Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria The old Hebrew name bêth lehem, meaning "house of bread", has survived till the present day. Two cities of the name are known from Sacred Scripture: Bethlehem near Nazareth and Bethlehem of Judea which is near Jerusalem and is usually celebrated both as the birthplace of David, and above all, of Our Lord. It is situated five miles south of Jerusalem at a very short distance from the high road. The Church of St. Catherine is a Catholic church and Franciscan monastery. It is said to be built on the site of Christ's appearance to St. Catherine of Alexandria and his prediction of her martyrdom (c. AD 310). She is buried on Mt. Sinai. The church is first recorded in the 15th century and may incorporate the chapter house of the 12th-century Crusader Augustinian monastery that stood on the site. Traces of a 5th-century monastery associated with St. Jerome also exist here. St. Catherine's Church was enlarged in 1881 with funds from the Emperor of Austria. The modern basilica has three aisles. To the north and west is the active Franciscan monastery. Outside the west door of the church is a

3 pleasant cloister, restored in 1948 by A. Barluzzi using columns and capitals of the 12thcentury monastery. The cloister includes a modern statue of St. Jerome; the church facade is topped with a statue of St. Catherine. Tomb of Eusebius - Jerome's successor as head of the monastery Chapel of St. Joseph and Chapel of Innocents Just to the right upon entering the Church of St. Catherine, steps descend into a complex of caves and rock-cut chambers, which contain a number of chapels located beneath the Basilica of the Nativity. Here rock cuttings and ancient tombs with some modern additions commemorate various people and traditions: Chapel of the Innocents the tomb of infants slain by Herod the Great (Matt. 2:16) Chapel of St. Joseph - dedicated to the husband of Mary Tombs of St. Paula and her daughter Eustochium, who made a pilgrimage with St. Jerome and later settled in Bethlehem Tomb of St. Jerome who translated the Scriptures from Hebrew and Greek into Saint Jerome was born Eusebius Hieronymous Sophronius in AD 347 at Strido, Dalmatia (on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea). He came from a wealthy, Christian family. His father sent Jerome to Rome to study and he became a proficient translator of Greek into Latin. As a young man leaving the confines of family life for the relative freedom he experienced in Rome, Jerome fell into a fast life. After several years of study he left Rome and travelled abroad to Asia Minor. He eventually arrived in Antioch. In 365 he was fully converted to Christianity. At this time he began his study of theology and the Hebrew language. Saint Jerome then lived for many years as a hermit in the Syrian desert where he continued his studies. He returned to Rome in 382 where he remained for three years attracting wealthy noble students including Marcella and Paula and their daughters, Blaesilla and Eustochium. He returned to the east where he died on 30th September 420 and was buried under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Milk Grotto Church A short distance south of the Basilica of the Nativity is a shrine called the Milk Grotto, on a street of the same name. An irregular grotto hollowed out of soft white rock, the site is sacred to Christian and Muslim pilgrims alike. It is especially frequented by new mothers and women who are trying to conceive. By mixing the soft white chalk with their food and praying to Our Lady of the Milk, they believe it will increase the quantity of their milk or enable them to conceive. Rows of framed letters and baby pictures sent from around the world to the Milk Grotto testify to the effectiveness of the milk powder and prayer. (The powder is available only to personal visitors at the shrine.) Milk Grotto church (Seetheholyland.net) According to tradition, while Mary and Joseph were fleeing Herod s soldiers on their way to Egypt, they stopped in this cave while Mary nursed the baby Jesus. A drop of Mary s milk fell upon the stone and it turned white. The grotto has been a site of veneration since the 4th century, the first structure being built over it around AD 385. From as early as the 7th century, fragments from the cave were sent to churches in Europe. The site was recognised by a proclamation of Pope Gregory XI in The Franciscans erected a church around the Milk Grotto in The people of Bethlehem and local artisans expressed their love for the site by decorating the shrine with mother-of-pearl carvings. In 2007 a modern chapel dedicated to the Mother of God was opened. It is connected to the Milk Grotto Church by a tunnel, enabling the addition of a further chapel in the basement. Latin (the Vulgate) Study of St. Jerome, where Jerome is said to have written and worked on his translation

4 Basilica of the Nativity Manger Grotto The first evidence of a cave in Bethlehem being venerated as Christ's birthplace is in the writings of Justin Martyr around AD 160. The tradition is also attested by Origen and Eusebius in the 3rd century. In 326, the Roman Emperor Constantine and his mother St. Helena commissioned a church to be built over the cave. the church (east to west), is situated under the choir; at the eastern end is a silver star with the inscription: Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est. Muslims in 1009 prevented the application of Hakim's decree ordering the destruction of Christian monuments because, since the time of Omar (639), they had been permitted to use the south transept for worship. The Crusaders took Jerusalem on 6 June Kings Baldwin I and II were crowned there and, in an impressive display of tolerance, the Franks and Byzantines cooperated in fully redecorating the interior ( ). A Greek inscription in the north transept records this event. The Church of the Nativity was much neglected in the Mamluk and Ottoman periods but not destroyed. Much of the church's marble was looted by the Ottomans and now adorns the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. An earthquake in 1834 and a fire in 1869 destroyed the furnishings of the cave but the church again survived. In 1847, the theft of the silver star marking the exact site of the Nativity was an ostensible factor in the international crisis over the Holy Places that ultimately led to the Crimean War ( ). In 1852, shared custody of the church was granted to the Roman Catholic, Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches. The Greeks care for the Grotto of the Nativity. Jericho This first church, dedicated on May 31, 339, had an octagonal floor plan and was placed directly above the cave. In the centre, a 4-metrewide hole surrounded by a railing provided a view of the cave. Portions of the floor mosaic survive from this period. The Constantinian church was destroyed by Justinian in 530, who built the much larger church that remains today. The Persians spared it during their invasion in 614 because, according to legend, they were impressed by a representation of the Magi that decorated the building. This was quoted at a 9th-century synod in Jerusalem to show the utility of religious images. The Nativity chapel, running in the same general direction as Jericho was a fenced city in the plain of the River Jordan, near where that river was crossed by the Israelites (Joshua 3:16). It was the most important city in the Jordan valley (Numbers 22:1; 34:15), and the strongest fortress in all the land of Canaan. It was taken in a very remarkable manner by the Israelites who made its walls tumble down, as detailed in Joshua 6. In New Testament times, Jericho stood some distance to the southeast of the ancient one and near the opening of the valley of Achor. It was a rich and flourishing town and celebrated for the palm trees which adorned the plain all around. It was visited by Our Lord on his last journey to Jerusalem. Here he gave sight to two blind men (Matt. 20:29-34; Mark 10:46-52), and brought salvation to the house of Zacchaeus the publican (Luke 19:2-10). The only surviving written history of Jericho is that recorded in the Bible. Excavations have yielded extraordinary finds that verify the biblical record is an eyewitness account of events that transpired there many thousands of years ago.

5 The Mount of Temptation, with a gravity-defying monastery clinging to its sheer face, is traditionally regarded as the mountain on which Christ was tempted by the devil during his 40-day fast. The summit of the mount, about 360 metres above sea level, offers a spectacular panoramic view of the Jordan Valley, the Dead Sea and the mountains of Moab and Gilead. Access to the summit is by a 30-minute trek up a steep path passing through the cliff-hanging monastery on the way or by a 5-minute cable car ride from Tel Jericho. As recorded in the Gospels of Matthew (4:1-11) and Luke (4:1-13) and fleetingly in Mark (1:12-13) the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert. While he fasted, the devil tempted him three times to prove his divinity by demonstrating his supernatural powers. Each time, Jesus rebuffed the tempter with a quotation from the Book of Deuteronomy. Then the devil left and angels brought food to Jesus. Tradition dating from the 12th century places two of the devil s temptings on the Mount of Temptation. The temptation to turn a stone into bread is commemorated in a grotto halfway up the mountain. The place where Jesus was offered all the kingdoms of the world in return for worshipping the devil is located at the summit. Monastery of the Temptation Monks and hermits have inhabited the mountain since the early centuries of Christianity. They lived in natural caves, which they turned into cells, chapels and storage rooms. A sophisticated system of conduits brought rainwater from a large catchment area into five caves used as reservoirs. A 4th-century Byzantine monastery was built on the ruins of a Hasmonean-Herodian fortress. The monks abandoned the site after the Persian invasion of 614. The present Monastery of the Temptation, reconstructed at the end of the 19th century, seems to grow out of the mountain. The northern half is cut into the almost sheer cliff, while the southern half is cantilevered into space. A medieval cave-church, on two levels, is built of masonry in front of a cave. In the monastery is a stone on which, according to tradition, Jesus sat during one of his temptations. In the valley of this mountain, Jewish priests and Levites travelled the winding road from Jericho to Jerusalem when it was their turn to minister in the Temple. In the time of Jesus, about 12,000 priests and Levites lived in Jericho. Qumran In 1947, young Bedouin shepherds, searching for a stray goat in the Judean Desert, entered a long-untouched cave and found jars filled with ancient scrolls. That initial discovery by the Bedouins yielded seven scrolls and began a search that lasted nearly a decade and eventually produced thousands of scroll fragments from eleven caves. During those same years, archaeologists searching for a habitation close to the caves that might help identify the people who deposited the scrolls, excavated the Qumran ruin, a complex of structures located on a barren terrace between the cliffs where the caves are found and the Dead Sea. Within a fairly short time after their discovery, historical, paleographic and linguistic evidence, as well as carbon-14 dating, established that the scrolls and the Qumran ruin dated from the 3rd century BC to AD 68. They were indeed ancient! Coming from the late Second Temple Period, the time when Jesus of Nazareth lived, they are older than any other surviving biblical manuscripts by almost one thousand years. One of the longer texts to be found at Qumran was a manuscript found in 1956 in Cave 11 and unrolled in Its surface is the thickest of any of the scrolls - it may be of calfskin rather than sheepskin, which was the more common writing material at Qumran. The script is on the grain side of the skin. The scroll contains twenty-eight incomplete columns of text. Each of the preserved columns contains fourteen to seventeen lines; it is clear that six to seven lines are lacking at the bottom of each column. The scroll's script is of fine quality, with the letters carefully drawn in the Jewish book-hand style of the Herodian period. The Tetragrammaton (the four-letter divine name), however, is written in the paleo-hebrew script. The Qumran Community

6 Like the scrolls themselves, the nature of the Qumran settlement has aroused much debate and differing opinions. Located on a barren terrace between the limestone cliffs of the Judean desert and the maritime bed along the Dead Sea, the Qumran site was excavated by Pere Roland de Vaux, a French Dominican, as part of his effort to find the habitation of those who deposited the scrolls in the nearby caves. The excavations uncovered a complex of structures, 262 by 328 feet, which de Vaux suggested were communal in nature. In de Vaux's view, the site was the wilderness retreat of the Essenes, a separatist Jewish sect of the Second Temple Period, a portion of whom had formed an ascetic monastic community. According to de Vaux, the sectarians inhabited neighboring locations, most likely caves, tents and solid structures, but depended on the centre for communal facilities such as stores of food and water. Following de Vaux's interpretation and citing ancient historians as well as the nature of some scroll texts for substantiation, many scholars believe the Essene community wrote, copied, or collected the scrolls at Qumran and deposited them in the caves of the adjacent hills. Others dispute this interpretation, claiming either that the scroll sect was Sadducean in nature; that the site was no monastery but rather a Roman fortress or a winter villa; that the Qumran site has little if anything to do with the scrolls; or that the evidence available does not support a single definitive answer. Whatever the nature of the habitation, archaeological and historical evidence indicates that the excavated settlement was founded in the second half of the 2nd century BC, during the time of the Maccabees, a priestly Jewish family which ruled Judea in the second and first centuries BC. A hiatus in the occupation of the site is linked to evidence of a huge earthquake. Qumran was abandoned about the time of the Roman incursion of AD 68, two years before the collapse of Jewish self-government in Judea and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70. The Dead Sea The Dead Sea is located in Israel and Jordan, about 15 miles east of Jerusalem. It is extremely deep (averaging about 1,000 feet/305metres), salty (some parts containing Matt 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in." The Late Second Temple Period: 200 BC AD 70 In 168 BC, the Maccabees (or Hasmoneans), led by Judah Maccabee, wrested Judah from the rule of the Seleucids - Syrian rulers who supported the spread of Greek religion and culture. The Jewish holiday of hanukkah commemorates the recapture of Jerusalem by the Maccabees and the consecration of the Temple in 164 BC. The Maccabees ruled Judea until Herod took power in 37 BC. Contemporary historian Flavius Josephus divided Judeans into three main groups: Sadducees The Sadducees were priestly and aristocratic families who interpreted the law more literally than the Pharisees. They dominated the Temple worship and its rites, including the sacrificial cult. The Sadducees only recognized precepts derived directly from the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and the existence of angels. The Sadducees were unpopular with the common people. Pharisees The Pharisees, unlike the Sadducees, maintained the validity of the oral as well as the written law. They were flexible in their interpretations and willing to adapt the law to changing circumstances. They believed in an afterlife and in the resurrection of the dead. By the first century AD, the Pharisees came to represent the beliefs and practices of the majority of Palestinian Jewry. Essenes The Essenes were a separatist group, some of whom formed an ascetic monastic community and retreated to the wilderness of Judea. They shared material possessions and occupied themselves with disciplined study, worship and work. They practised ritual immersion and ate their meals communally. One branch did not marry. In AD 6, Rome formed Judea, Samaria, and Idumea into one province governed by procurators. A Judean revolt against Rome in Ad 66 was quickly put down. Qumran fell to the Roman legions in ca. AD 68, the Temple in AD 70, and Masada in AD 73.

7 the highest amount of salts possible), and the lowest body of water in the world. The Dead Sea is supplied by a number of smaller streams and springs and the Jordan River. Because of its low elevation and its position in a deep basin, the climate of the Dead Sea area is unusual. Its very high evaporation produces a haze yet its atmospheric humidity is low. Adjacent areas to it are very arid and favorable for the preservation of materials like the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Bible's description, in Genesis 19, of a destructive earthquake near the Dead Sea area during the time of Abraham is borne out by archaeological and historic investigation. While no evidence remains of the five cities of the plain (Zeboim, Admah, Bela or Zoar, Sodom, and Gomorrah), their sites are believed to be beneath the waters at the southern end of the sea. During the Crusades, King Fulk and Queen Melisande purchased the village of Bethany from the Patriarch of the Holy Sepulchre in 1143 in exchange for land near Hebron. Melisande built a large Benedictine convent dedicated to Mary and Martha, extensively repaired the old church of Lazarus and rededicated it to Mary and Martha. She also built a new west church to St. Lazarus over his tomb; fortified the monastic complex with a tower; and endowed it with the estates of the village of Jericho. The convent of Sts. Mary and Martha became one of the richest convents in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Melisande's sister Joveta was elected abbess at the age of 24. After the fall of the Crusader kingdom in 1187, the nuns went into exile. The new west church was probably destroyed at this time, with only the tomb and barrel vaulting surviving; the 6th-century church and tower were heavily damaged but remained standing. The village seems to have been abandoned thereafter, but a visitor in 1347 mentioned Greek monks attending the tomb chapel. By 1384, a mosque had been built on the site. In the 16th century, the Mosque of al-uzair (Ezra) was built in the Crusader vault, which initially made Christian access to the tomb more difficult. However, the Franciscans were permitted to cut a new entrance on the north side of the tomb and at some point the original entrance from the mosque was blocked. Bethany Bethany was the home of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11:38-44), and his sisters Mary and Martha. Jesus often stayed in their home. It is also the setting for a number of other New Testament events. Jesus was anointed at the home of Simon the Leper in Bethany (Mark 14:3) and returned to Bethany after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Mark 11:11). According to Luke 24:50, Jesus ascended into heaven near Bethany, commemorated at the nearby Chapel of the Ascension. In , a modern Franciscan church dedicated to St. Lazarus was built over the Byzantine church of St. Lazarus and the Crusader east church of Sts. Mary and Martha. The forecourt of the Franciscan Church of St. Lazarus stands over the west end of the older churches, from which parts of the original mosaic floor are preserved. The west wall of the forecourt contains the west facade of the 6th- century basilica, with three doorways. The cruciform-plan church stands over the east end of the older churches. Trapdoors in the floor just inside reveal parts of the apse of the 4th-century church (the Lazarium), which was shorter than the 6th century church. The modern church bears a mosaic on its facade depicting Mary, Martha and Lazarus. The interior is decorated with polished stone and mosaics. The Tomb of St. Lazarus has long been venerated by Christians and Muslims alike, and a modern church dedicated to the resurrected saint stands on the site of much older ones. The modern entrance to the tomb is accessed by 24 very uneven stone steps. This probably was a rock-cut tomb, but very little of its original form remains. The rock probably collapsed under the weight of the large Crusader church built above it. The original blocked entrance can be seen in the east wall of the antechamber; this alignment suggests the tomb predates the Byzantine churches and may well be from the time of Lazarus. In 1965, a Greek church was built just west of the tomb and incorporates a wall of the Crusader church built over the tomb. Nearby are substantial ruins that belong to the Orthodox Patriarchate and are traditionally identified as the House of Simon the Leper (where Jesus was anointed) or the House of Lazarus. The remains of a tower belong to the Crusader monastery (c.1144). There is no record of a church in Bethany in the 4th century, although both Eusebius the historian and the Bordeaux pilgrim (333) mention the tomb of Lazarus in a vault or crypt. Around AD 490, St. Jerome recorded visiting the Tomb of Lazarus as the guest room of Mary and Martha, which is the Lazarium mentioned by the pilgrim Egeria in her account

8 of the liturgy. This structure was destroyed in an earthquake and was replaced by a larger Church of St. Lazarus in the 6th century. The church was mentioned by Theodosius before 518 and by Arculf around 680, and survived intact until Crusader times. Jerusalem The Church of St. Anne is renowned for its remarkable acoustics and reverberating echoes. The voices of even a small choral group can sound like a large congregation in a vast cathedral. The compound containing the Pools of Bethesda and the Church of St. Anne is owned by the French government and administered by the White Fathers. It also contains a museum and a Greek-Catholic (Melkite) seminary. The magnificent walls of Jerusalem's Old City were built by the Ottoman Empire under the direct supervision of Sultan Suleiman in The walls stretch for approximately 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) and rise to a height of 5 15 metres (16 49 feet), with a thickness of 3 metres (10 feet). Altogether, the Old City walls contain 43 surveillance towers and 11 gates, seven of which are presently open. St. Steven s (Lion s) Gate, also known as the Sheep Gate, is located in the east wall. The entrance marks the beginning of the traditional Christian observance of the last walk of Jesus from prison to crucifixion, the Via Dolorosa. Near the gate s crest are four figures of panthers, often mistaken for lions, two on the left and two on the right. They were placed there by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to celebrate the Ottoman defeat of the Mamluks in Legend has it that Suleiman's predecessor, Selim I, dreamed of lions that were going to eat him because of his plans to level the city. He was spared only after promising to protect the city by building a wall around it. This led to the lion becoming the heraldic symbol of Jerusalem. However, Jerusalem already had been, from Biblical times, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, whose emblem was a lion (Genesis 49:9). The Church of St Anne, built in 1140, is the best-preserved Crusader church in Jerusalem. According to an ancient tradition, it marks the site of the home of Jesus maternal grandparents, Anne and Joachim, and the birthplace of the Virgin Mary. Located just north of the Temple Mount, about 50 metres inside St. Stephen s or Lions Gate, the church stands in a courtyard with trees, shrubs and flowers. Its tranquility contrasts sharply with the bustling streets and alleys of the Muslim Quarter. The New Testament says nothing about the birthplace of Mary. However, an ancient tradition, recorded in the apocryphal Gospel of James which dates from around AD 150, places the house of her parents, Anne and Joachim, in Bethesda close to the Temple area. An earlier church built around 450 on the site of St Anne s was dedicated to Mary where she was born. The location of the Pools of Bethesda actually a series of reservoirs and medicinal pools is in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem s Old City, north of the Temple Mount and about 50 metres inside St. Stephen s or Lions Gate. In biblical times, the gate was called the Sheep Gate because this was where sheep were brought to the Temple for sacrifice. In archaeological digs conducted in the 19th century, Conrad Schick ( ), a German architect, archaeologist and Protestant missionary, discovered a large tank situated about 100 feet north-west of St. Anne's Church, which he contended was the Pool of Bethesda. Further archaeological excavation in the area, in 1964, uncovered the remains of the Byzantine and Crusader churches, Hadrian's Temple of Asclepius and Serapis, the small healing pools of the Asclaepeion, the other of the two large pools, and the dam between them. It was discovered that the Byzantine construction was built in the very heart of Hadrian's construction and contained the healing pools. These discoveries prove beyond a doubt that the description of this pool in the Gospel of John was not the creation of the Evangelist. It reflected an accurate and detailed knowledge of the site. The Gospel speaks of (a) the name of the pool as Bethesda; (b) its location near the Sheep Gate; (c) the fact that it has five porticos; with rushing water. All these details are corroborated through literary and archaeological evidence affirming the historical accuracy of the Johannine account.

9 Strong lines and thick walls give St Anne s a fortress-like appearance. Its simple dignity offers a space for prayer and contemplation without distraction. It is also unusually asymmetrical in the detail of its design: opposite columns do not match, windows are all different sizes and buttresses differ in thickness and height. The Healing at the Pools of Bethesda After these things, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool which is called in Hebrew "Bethesda," having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel of the Lord went down at certain times into the pool, and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made whole of whatever disease he had. A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time, He asked him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Arise, take up your mat and walk." Immediately, the man was made well and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat." He answered them, "He who made me well, the same said to me, 'Take up your mat, and walk.'" Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?" But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you." The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ( John 5:1-15) Jerusalem during the time of Jesus had many Gentile inhabitants, foreigners performing in the great theatre, conducting business in the many marketplaces, organizing the main events in the hippodrome, and serving in Herod's personal court as his bodyguard. After Archelaus was exiled in AD 6, the number of foreigners in the city greatly increased with the presence of the Roman army. As for the Jews, the variety of people was also immense. Many of them lived in the city as residents but Jews "from every nation under heaven" would gather for the feasts. If we were to walk through the streets of ancient Jerusalem, we would note variations in religious devotion including many who were set in their Hellenistic ways and not practising the keeping of the Law. Jerusalem, nevertheless, was a predominantly Jewish city. Its exceptional character was influenced by the fact that its magnificent Temple actually belonged to every Jew throughout the world. However, many religious devotions could only be performed in the Temple at Jerusalem and the great Jerusalem Council, the "Sanhedrin", was the only central reference point in the entire world for the interpretation of the Torah. (Note: "Sanhedrin" is simply a rendering of synedrion, the Greek word for council. ) This central status of Jerusalem for international Jewry had many financial benefits. Unlike cities in, for example, Syria, it received annual Temple dues from a large and organized "Dispersion", which created an immense cash flow. It is unlikely that this cash was held in safekeeping within the Temple vaults. The Temple no doubt served as a bank and put the cash back into circulation by lending and financing businesses. From the historian Josephus, we learn that Pontius Pilate caused a disturbance by "spending of the sacred fund called Corbonus on a water supply" (Jos: War 2:175). This action provoked a monstrous demonstration against his authority. It is interesting that the complaint was not because he had somehow managed to obtain money given to the Temple authorities, but that he had received money from the wrong fund. The water supply probably doubled the population within Jerusalem, from around 35,000 to 70,000, throughout the reign of Herod the Great. However, an estimated 2 million people worshipped at Jerusalem during the Passover.

10

11 Via Dolorosa: Stations of the Cross Praetorium of Antonia Fortress where Jesus was condemned now courtyard of Al-Omariya School 2 Chapel of Flagellation Chapel of Condemnation Convent of Sisters of Zion -Lithostrotos -Chapel of Ecce Homo 3 Armenian Catholic Chapel -where Jesus fell 1st time 4 Armenian Church of Our Lady of Spasms -where Jesus met His Holy Mother 5 Franciscan Chapel - Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross 6 Church of St. Veronica (Little Sisters of Jesus) - Veronica wipes the face of Jesus 7 Interconnected Franciscan Chapels -where Jesus fell 2nd time 8 Greek monastery of St. Charalambos -where Jesus consoles the women 9 Coptic Church where Jesus fell 3rd time "There lived a wise man, if we can call him a man - named Jesus. A wonder worker and a teacher of those who search after truth, he attracted crowds of both Jews and Gentiles. He was the Christ. Nevertheless, Pilate, at the urging of our leaders, sentenced him to death on the cross. His disciples remained faithful, however, and after three days he appeared to them alive. This and many other marvelous things had been foretold about him by the prophets. The Christian sect, named after him, still flourishes to this day." Flavius Josephus (1st Century AD.) The Via Dolorosa (Path of Sorrow or "Way of the Cross") is the route tradition says Jesus followed, from his condemnation by the Romans to the place where he was buried after the crucifixion. The path begins near Lions Gate (St. Stephen's Gate), in the Muslim Quarter, and ends within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the heart of the Christian Quarter. This route is marked by the 14 Stations of the Cross. "And as they led Him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. And there followed Him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23: 26-28). The name "Via Dolorosa" (or "Via Crucis") is relatively recent; it dates from the sixteenth century, when a name was sought for the stretch of road, between the fortress Antonia and Golgotha, along which Jesus walked bowed under the weight of the Cross. The present route, however, is somewhat different from the one Jesus walked. Of the fortress Antonia, for example, where He was judged before Pilate and where Herod the Great had his residence, only a few scraps of paving remain. This building, which stood near the northwest corner of the Temple, was the starting-point for Jesus' painful walk toward Golgotha (Calvary), which at that time was outside the walls of the city. Every Friday afternoon the Franciscans lead a pious procession winding through the streets that witnessed Christ's suffering. Station I The First Station is near the Monastery of the Flagellation, where Jesus was questioned by Pilate and then condemned. "Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands" (John 21: 1-3). The chapel, built during the

12 1920s on the site of a previous building erected by the Crusaders, is now run by the Franciscans, who set out from there each Friday for the traditional procession. The church possesses admirable stained-glass windows representing Christ Scourged at the Pillar, Pilate Washing his Hands, and the Freeing of Barabbas. Above the high altar, under the central dome, is a mosaic on a golden ground showing the Crown of Thorns Pierced by Stars. Station II The Second Station is near the remains of an ancient Roman construction known as the Arch of Ecce Homo, in memory of the words pronounced by Pilate at that place as he showed Jesus to the crowd. Only part of this triumphal arch, erected under Hadrian (AD 135) to celebrate the capture of Jerusalem, is visible nowadays. The left arch, which no longer exists, formed at one time part of a monastery of Islamic dervishes; while the right arch is still preserved today inside the Church of the Sisters of Zion. This church was built during the second half of last century on a site which has yielded the remains of ancient ruins, such as the already mentioned Roman arch, part of the fortifications and courtyard of the fortress Antonia and remarkable vestiges of the Roman-age street paving, the so-called Lithostratus. On some of the stones are the signs of an ancient dice game, which has given support to the hypothesis that this was the place where the Roman soldiers gambled for Jesus' clothes. Mention should be made, finally, of the Struthion Pool, an ancient water reservoir from the 2nd century BC, later roofed over by the Emperor Hadrian. Station III The Third Station commemorates Christ's first fall on the Via Dolorosa. The place is marked by a small chapel belonging to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate. It is a 19th-century building renovated and completed by Catholic soldiers of the Free Polish Army during World War II. Station IV The meeting between Jesus and his Mother is commemorated by a small oratory with an exquisite lunette over the entrance, adorned by a basrelief carved by the Polish artist Zieliensky. Station V An inscription on the architrave of one door recalls the encounter between Jesus and Simon the Cyrenian, who was given Christ's heavy Cross to carry to Golgotha (Calvary), the place of the Crucifixion. This episode is confirmed by the Gospels, except that of John. Station VI A church belonging to the Greek Catholics preserves the memory of the meeting between Jesus and Veronica, whose tomb may also be seen here. The holy relic of this meeting, during which, according to tradition, Veronica wiped Christ's face with a silk veil on which his features remained imprinted, has been kept, since the 8th century, in the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome. Station VII The place of Jesus' second fall is marked by a pillar, which rises at the crossroads between the Via Dolorosa and the picturesque and lively Market Street. VIII Station On the outer wall of a Greek Orthodox monastery is carved a small cross blackened by time. It was at that point that Jesus met the pious women. Station VIII The third fall of Jesus is commemorated by a column of the Roman Jesus and the Pharisees During the start of His ministry the body of Pharisees would have been interested to hear what Jesus had to say. They were interested to hear what any teacher in Israel had to say. The problem that they had with Jesus was His monumental claims and the authority with which He spoke. No man had ever spoken like this man and no man had ever won the favour of the masses so quickly and so thoroughly. He even went so far as to claim that He was the very reason for the Torah and the fulfilment of it. Their opposition against him grew to the point that they plotted His death. When Jesus was to be arrested the Pharisees were among those that came to take Him away: John 18:2-3 "Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons"

13 period at the entrance to the Coptic monastery. The last five Stations of the Cross are situated inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.

14 Zion Gate The Coenaculum The Zion Gate is located on the south western side of the Old City and is one of the gates leading to the Jewish quarter. charge and turning all of it into a mosque in Today Christians and Jews still share the building The Church of the Dormition The hill of Mount Zion, the highest point in ancient Jerusalem, is dominated by the Church of the Dormition. The location is identified in Christian tradition as the place where the Virgin Mary died or fell asleep, as the name suggests. The fortress-like building, with a conical roof and four corner towers, stands south of the Old City s Zion Gate. Nearby soars the bell tower of the Hagia Maria Zion Abbey (formerly the Abbey of the Dormition), a Benedictine monastery. The land was given in 1898 by the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid II to Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, who presented it to the Catholic Church. Construction was completed in During the Byzantine period, the Church of Hagia Zion, one of the three earliest churches in Jerusalem, stood on this site. Built by the Emperor Constantine, it was regarded as the Mother of all Churches. In AD 614 it was destroyed by the Persians. The Coenaculum commemorates the traditional location of the "upper room," where the Last Supper was held. The Last Supper is one of the most important events in the life of Jesus which took place in the upper room of a building in Jerusalem on the night before His capture. The room also brings to mind Jesus appearances after His Resurrection and the Coming of the Holy Spirit. The current hall of the Last supper is a 12th century Crusader structure, built on the upper level above the traditional place of the tomb of King David. Archaeological findings on the lower floor reveal an Early Roman level, supporting the possibility that this area was indeed the location of the room of the Last Supper. In 1335, 80 years after the collapse of the Crusader kingdom, the Franciscans, who had remained at their posts as Custodians of the Holy Land, bought the site from the Caliphate. They were involved in an argument with the Jews over David's tomb in the 15th century, only solved by the Muslims taking Mary and Jesus mosaic in the Church of the Dormition and life-size statue of Mary in death Like the Crusader church that preceded it, the current basilica is built on two levels with the high altar and monastic choir on the upper of these, and the crypt with its Marian shrine on the lower. Light from several large windows pours into the upper level, and colorful wall mosaics depict events from Christian and Benedictine history. High above the main altar is a mosaic of Mary and the infant Jesus. The Latin inscription below it is from Isaiah 7:14: Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. If the upper floor of the Church of the Dormition is luminous, the circular crypt

15 seems totally shrouded when first entered. In the centre, under a rotunda, is a simple bier on which rests a life-size statue of Mary, fallen asleep in death. The statue is made of cherry wood and ivory. The dome above the statue is adorned with mosaic pictures of six women of the Old Testament: Eve, Miriam, Jael, Judith, Ruth and Esther. The Dormition Church has a fine organ, which is often used for concerts. Two cities, Jerusalem and Ephesus (in present-day Turkey), claim to be the place where the Virgin Mary died. The Ephesus claim rests in part on the Gospel account that Christ on his cross entrusted the care of Mary to St. John (who later went to Ephesus). But the earliest traditions all locate the end of Mary s life in Jerusalem, where the Tomb of Mary is venerated at the foot of the Mount of Olives. Church of St. Peter in Gallacantu One of the most striking churches in Jerusalem commemorates the Apostle Peter s triple denial of his Master, his immediate repentance and his reconciliation with Christ after the Resurrection. Built on an almost sheer hillside, the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu stands on the eastern slope of Mount Zion. On its roof rises a golden rooster atop a black cross recalling Christ s prophesy that Peter would deny him three times before the cock crows. Galli-cantu means cockcrow in Latin. Peter s denial of Christ is recorded in all four Gospels (most succinctly in Matthew 26:69-75). Three of the Gospels also record his bitter tears of remorse. The scene of Peter s disgrace was the courtyard of the high priest Caiaphas. The Assumptionist congregation, which built St. Peter in Gallicantu over the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, believes it stands on the site of the high priest s house. Under the church is a dungeon thought to be the cell where Jesus was detained for the night following his arrest. A Byzantine church was built in AD 457. It was destroyed in 1010 and rebuilt by the Crusaders in 1102 (who renamed it to the present name). The church was in ruins again in 1320 and rebuilt in Matthew 26:57-75 Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered. But Peter followed him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end. Now the chief priests and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, This fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days. And the high priest stood up and said, Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But Jesus was silent. And the high priest said to Him, I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said to him, You have said so. But I tell you, hereafter you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest tore his robes, and said, He has uttered blasphemy. Why do we still need witnesses? You have now heard his blasphemy. What is your judgment? They answered, He deserves death. Then they spat in His face, and struck Him; and some slapped Him, saying Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you? Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a maid came up to him, and said, You also were with Jesus the Galilean. But he denied it before them all, saying, I do not know what you mean. And when he went out to the porch, another maid saw him, and she said to the bystanders, This man was with Jesus of Nazareth. And again he denied it with an oath, I do not know the man. After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you. Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, I

16 do not know the man. And immediately the cock crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times. And he went out and wept bitterly.

17 Beside the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, excavations have brought to light a stepped street which in ancient times would have descended from Mount Zion to the Kidron Valley. These stone steps were certainly in use at the time of Christ. On the evening of his arrest, he probably descended them with his disciples on their way from the Last Supper to Gethsemane. And, even if the House of Caiphas was situated further up Mount Zion than the present church, it would have been by this route that Jesus was brought under guard to the high priest s house. Ascension Chapel The Chapel of the Ascension in Jerusalem is a Christian and Muslim holy site that is believed to mark the place where Jesus ascended into heaven. The small round church/mosque contains a stone imprinted with the very footprints of Jesus. When He had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up his hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshipped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. Luke 24:50-51 He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid Him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Acts 1:9-11 Before the conversion of Constantine (312), early Christians honored the Ascension of Christ in a cave on the Mount of Olives, probably because of concerns for safety. By the time the pilgrim Egeria visited Jerusalem in 384, the place of the Ascension was venerated on the present open site, uphill from the cave. The first church was built here around 390 by Poimenia, a pious Roman lady. The original church was destroyed in the Persian attack of 614 but restored by Modestus. In 680, the pilgrim Arculf described the church as a round building open to the sky, with three porticoes entered from the south. Eight lamps shone brightly at night through windows facing Jerusalem. Inside was a central edicule containing the footprints of Christ "plainly and clearly impressed in the dust" inside a railing. Pilgrims were permitted to take some of the dust home with them. A 9th -century record notes that the church was served by three clergy and presbyters. When the Crusaders arrived, they rebuilt the Church of the Ascension as a roofed octagon (c.1150) and fortified the exterior. In 1198, after the fall of the Crusader kingdom, Salah al-din gave the church to two of his followers, who added a stone dome and mihrab. The ascension of Jesus is recognized in Islam, although it is not mentioned in the Qur'an. The building remained in use as a mosque for over 300 years. The building fell into ruin by the end of the 15th century and the east section of the octagonal surroundwall was walled off to form the asymmetrical shrine that stands today. A mosque and minaret were added next to the chapel in 1620 and the entire site remains in Muslim possession Pater Noster Church At the Church of Pater Noster on the Mount of Olives, Christians recall Christ s teaching of the Lord s Prayer to his disciples. On walls around the church and its vaulted cloister, translations of the Lord s Prayer in 140 languages are inscribed on colorful ceramic plaques. A giftshop sells postcards of each plaque and the associated Convent of Pater Noster website offers translations in more than 1440 languages and dialects. A long tradition holds that Jesus taught the Lord s Prayer or Our Father in the cave that forms the grotto under the church. When the Crusaders built a church here in the 12th century, they called it Pater Noster (Latin for Our Father). Pilgrims of the time reported seeing the words of the prayer inscribed in Hebrew and Greek on marble plaques. Excavations have uncovered a Latin version. Palm Sunday Road

18 Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King - Mark 11:1-10 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, saying to them, Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, Why are you doing this? say, The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly. They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, some people standing there asked, What are you doing, untying that colt? They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest heaven! Church of All Nations, officially named Basilica of the Agony The Church of All Nations, officially named the Basilica of the Agony, is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem next to the Garden of Gethsemane. The Catholic church enshrines a section of stone in the Garden of Gethsemane that is believed to be where Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest. Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to them, "Sit here while I go over there and pray." He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with Him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then He said to them, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me." Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will." Matthew 26:36-39 The modern church stands on the foundations of two ancient churches: a 4th-century Byzantine basilica, destroyed by an earthquake in 746 and a 12th century Crusader chapel, which was abandoned in The Basilica of the Agony was built from with funding from 12 different countries, which gave it its nickname: "the Church of All Nations." The domed roof, thick pillars, and floor mosaic give the church a Byzantine appearance. The architect of the building was Antonio Barluzzi, who also designed the nearby Dominus Flevit Church. The front of the church features a colorful façade supported by a row of pillars. The mosaic above the entrance depicts Christ as the link between God and humanity. Inside, the symbols of each country that contributed to the church are incorporated into the inlaid gold ceilings of each of 12 cupolas. The 12 cupolas rest on six monolithic pillars. The basilica's three aisles culminate in three apses at the east end, which are decorated with mosaics depicting biblical events in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the centre, the high altar overlooks the large slab of rock, which is said to be the very rock on which Jesus prayed in agony on the night of his betrayal. The Church of All Nations is run by the Franciscans, but an open altar in the garden is used by the Anglican community on Maundy Thursday (the day before Good Friday). Church of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary The Sacred Tradition of Eastern Christianity teaches that the Virgin Mary died a natural death (the Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep) like any human being; that her soul was received by Christ upon death; and that her body was resurrected on the third day after her repose, at which time she was taken up, soul and body, into heaven

19 in anticipation of the general resurrection. Her tomb, according to this teaching, was found empty on the third day. Roman Catholic teaching holds that Mary was "assumed" into heaven in bodily form, the Assumption; the question of whether or not Mary actually underwent physical death remains open in the Catholic view; however, most theologians believe that she did undergo death before her Assumption. At the base of the Mount of Olives is a Crusader church said to mark the Tomb of the Virgin Mary. Centred around a quarried-out tomb that may well date from the first century, the cave church is festooned with hanging lamps and is highly atmospheric. Biblical accounts provide no information about the end of Mary's life nor the place of her burial. Traditions about Mary's burial in this area of Jerusalem may be as old as the 2nd or 3rd century. Around 455, an ancient tomb here was isolated by quarrying out the surrounding rock. The process was similar to that carried out around the tomb of Christ under Emperor Constantine. The first written mention of a church on this site dates from the 6th century. A round church was built above the tomb by Mauritius Tiberius ( ) but destroyed by the Persians in 614. The church was rebuilt, and the pilgrim Arculf visited it in 680. He recorded that the church had two levels, both of which were round. The upper level had four altars; the lower level had an altar at the east end and the tomb of Mary on the right. A 9th century church record says that the site was served by 13 presbyters and clergy, 6 monks, and 15 nuns. When the Crusaders arrived, all they found were ruins. They rebuilt the church in 1130 and included a Benedictine monastery to make it the "Abbey Church of St. Mary of Jehosaphat." The monastic complex included early Gothic columns, red-on-green frescoes, and three towers for protection. Queen Melisande was buried in the lower church in When the Crusader kingdom fell in 1187, Salah al-din destroyed most of the upper church and used the stone to repair the city walls, but the lower church remained virtually intact. The site was taken over by Franciscans after the Crusaders left, and has since been shared by Greeks, Armenians, Syrians, Copts, Abyssinians and Muslims. The Tomb of the Virgin is venerated by Muslims because, during his Night Journey from Mecca to Jerusalem, the Prophet Muhammad saw a light over Mary's tomb. In addition, Caliph Umar prayed at Gethsemane in 638. Steps from the road descend into a square courtyard containing the upper church, which is little more than a c.1130 portal and pointed arch supported on eight marble columns. Inside, seven steps down, a wide 12th-century staircase of 47 steps is the tomb of Queen Melisande, once protected by iron bars; an arch with a lily-bud motif remains. Opposite her tomb is the vault for the family of her son, King Baldwin II. The walls of the stairs are 12th-century, and include 12th-century windows blocked up to keep out the Kidron floods. Melisande's body was moved in the 14th century to a place at the foot of the stairs, and her tomb was subsequently identified with Mary's parents Joachim and Anne. The tombs of King Baldwin's family were later identified as the tomb of Joseph. The lower church at the bottom of the stairs is a Byzantine (5th century) crypt, partly hewn out of rock and featuring original Byzantine masonry. The area is dimly lit and the walls are blackened with centuries of smoke, giving the place an air of great antiquity. The room is opulently decorated with icons and a forest of hanging lanterns. There is a built apse to the west and a longer rock-cut apse to the east, in which Mary's tomb is marked by a small square chapel. The altar inside the tomb conceals the remains of a bench tomb that may date from the 1st century. A niche south of the tomb is a mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church. Altars of the Greeks and Armenians also share the east apse; an Ethiopian altar and cistern occupies the west apse. Church of the Holy Sepulchre

20 The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is one of the most Holy sites in the Christian world, the site of the death and burial of Jesus. The early Christian community of Jerusalem appears to have held liturgical celebrations at Christ's tomb from the time of the resurrection until the city was taken by the Romans in AD 66. Less than a century later, in 135, Emperor Hadrian filled in the quarry to provide a level foundation for a temple to Aphrodite. The site remained buried beneath the pagan temple until Emperor Constantine the Great converted to Christianity in 312. He commissioned numerous churches to be built throughout the Holy Land, the most important being the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, begun in 326. Constantine's builders dug away the hillside to leave the rock-hewn tomb of Christ isolated and with enough room to build a church around it. According to contemporary Christian historians, the Rock of Golgotha was found when the temple foundations were cleared. The Church was formally dedicated in 335 with an oration by Constantine's biographer, Eusebius of Caesarea. In the course of the excavations, Constantine's mother St. Helena is said to have discovered the True Cross near the tomb. According to legend she actually discovered three crosses - those of the two thieves and that of Christ. To discern the one belonging to Christ, a sick man was brought to touch to each one, and he was miraculously healed by one of them. The Constantinian church was much larger than the one that stands today but had a simpler layout. It consisted of an atrium (which reused part of Hadrian's temenos wall), a covered basilica, an open courtyard with the stone of Golgotha in the southeast corner and the tomb of Christ enshrined in a small, circular edifice. The tomb of Christ was not completed until 384, well after the dedication of the church, because of the immense labour involved in cutting away the rock cliff in order to isolate the tomb. This building was severely damaged by fire in 614 when the Persians invaded Jerusalem. They also captured the True Cross but, in 630, Emperor Heraclius marched triumphantly into Jerusalem and restored the True Cross to the rebuilt Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church was reconstructed under the patriarch Modestus with no major changes to the original plan. In 638, the Christians were forced to surrender Jerusalem to Muslim control under caliph Omar. In a remarkable gesture for the time, Omar refused to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, saying, "If I had prayed in the church it would have been lost to you, for the Believers [Muslims] would have taken it saying: Omar prayed here." This act of generosity would have unfortunate consequences, however. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre continued to function as a Christian church under the protection of Omar and the early Muslim rulers but this changed on October 18, 1009, when the "mad" Fatimid caliph Hakim brutally and systematically destroyed the great church. Ironically, if Omar had turned the church into a mosque, Hakim would have left it alone. But instead, Hakim had wrecking crews knock over the walls and he attacked the tomb of Christ with picks and hammers, stopping only when the debris covered the remains. The east and west walls were completely destroyed but the north and south walls were likely protected from further damage by the rubble. The Christian community of Jerusalem could not afford repairs but, in 1048, Emperor Constantine Monomachos provided money for reconstruction, subject to stringent conditions imposed by the caliphate. The funds were not adequate to completely repair the original church, however, and a large part of it had to be abandoned. The atrium and the basilica were completely lost; only the courtyard and the rotunda remained. The latter was made into a church by the insertion of a large apse into the facade. This was the church to which the knights of the First Crusade arrived to sing their Te Deum after capturing Jerusalem on July 15, The Crusader chief Godfrey of Bouillon, who became the first king of Jerusalem, declared himself Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri, "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre." The Crusaders were slow to renovate the church, only beginning to make modifications in the Romanesque style in They first built a monastery where the Constantinian basilica used to be, having first excavated the Crypt of St. Helena. In 1119 the shrine of Christ's tomb was replaced. The coronation of Fulk and Melisende at the church in 1131 necessitated more radical modifications. The Constantinian courtyard was covered with a Romanesque church (dedicated in 1149), which was connected to the rotunda by a great arched opening resulting from the demolition of the 11th-century apse. A bell tower was added in Subsequent centuries were not altogether kind to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It suffered from damage, desecration and neglect, and attempts at repair (a significant renovation was conducted by the Franciscans in 1555) often did more damage than good. In recent times, a fire (1808) and an earthquake (1927) did extensive damage.

21 The three primary custodians of the church, first appointed when Crusaders held Jerusalem, are the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic churches. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syrian Orthodox acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures within and around the building. An agreement regulates times and places of worship for each Church.

22 The west wall of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (to your left as you face the entrance) contains 11th-century Greek Orthodox chapels built over the site of the Constantinian baptistery. The east wall has a small domed structure that was once the 12th-century Crusader entrance to the Church on Calvary. It later became the Chapel of the Franks. Immediately inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Unction, which commemorates the preparation of Jesus' body for burial. This limestone slab dates from 1808, when the prior 12th-century slab was destroyed. Behind the Stone, a mosaic depicting Christ's anointing for burial decorates the outer wall of the Catholicon. A stairway on the right just inside the entrance leads to Calvary (or Golgotha), the place where Jesus was crucified. The first chapel is the Catholic (Franciscan) Chapel of the Nailing of the Cross, which is Station XI on the Via Dolorosa. It features a 12th-century mosaic of Jesus being nailed to the cross on the vault and a Medici altar from Florence. Through a window in the south wall the Chapel of the Agony of the Virgin can be seen. Just to the left of the altar is a statue of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows, which is Station XIII (Jesus' body removed from the cross and given to Mary). Adjacent to the Catholic chapel is the Greek Orthodox Calvary, which contains the actual Rock of Calvary (Station XII) around which the church was built. The rock can be seen under glass on either side of the main altar. Beneath the altar, there is a hole that allows you to touch the rock itself. The slot cut for the cross is shown in the east apse along with those of the two thieves. Stations of the Cross through Jesus Death and Resurrection X Jesus is stripped of His garments - Chapel of Divestiture XI Jesus is nailed to the Cross shown on Mosaics XII Jesus Dies on the Cross - Greek Orthodox Chapel XIII Jesus is taken down from the Cross - the Stone of Anointing Altar marks where Mary received Jesus Body XIV Jesus is laid in the tomb - inside the Holy Sepulchre and the Chapel of the Angel where Mary Magdalene saw the Angel Walking to the west from the Stone of Unction, pilgrims arrive at the Rotunda or Anastasis, the area underneath the large dome referred to as the Edicule which is supported by scaffolding on the outside due to earthquakes. The current structure was built in after the severe fire of It replaced one dating from 1555, commissioned by the Franciscan friar Bonifacio da Ragusa. (The original 4th-century shrine constructed under Constantine was destroyed by the sultan Hakim in 1009.) The Armenians, the Latins and the Greeks serve Liturgy daily inside the Holy Sepulchre. It is also used for the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire, which is celebrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch. Inside, the shrine contains two small rooms. The first is the Greek Orthodox Chapel of the Angel, which features an altar containing a piece of the stone rolled away by angels at the Resurrection. In the wall by the entrance, steps lead to the roof of the Edicule. A low door on the opposite side leads to the tiny Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, which contains the tomb of Christ itself. This is Station XIV of the Cross and the holiest site in Christendom. Here a marble slab covers the place where the body of Christ was laid and from which he rose from the dead. A vase with candles marks the spot where his head rested. The slab was installed here in the 1555 reconstruction and purposely cracked to deter Ottoman looters.

23 Jacob s Well Present day Nablus was earlier known as Roman Neapolis and Shechem and is the site of Joseph s tomb. Abraham passed through Shechem coming from Ur (Gen. 12:6); Jacob bought a parcel of land at Jacob s Well (Gen. 33:19); the Samaritans originated here (2 Kings 17:24-41); and Jesus talked with the Samaritan woman John 4:1-24: Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that He was gaining and baptising more disciples than John although in fact it was not Jesus who baptised but His disciples. So He left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. Now He had to go through Samaria. So He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob s well was there and Jesus, tired as He was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me a drink? (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to Him, You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink? (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water. Sir, the woman said, you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered, Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. The woman said to Him, Sir, give me this water so that I won t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water. He told her, Go, call your husband and come back. I have no husband, she replied. Jesus said to her, You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is you have had five husbands and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true. Sir, the woman said, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem. Woman, Jesus replied, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. God is spirit and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. The Mount of the Precipice view from the brow of the hill The Mount of the Precipice (Mount Kedumin) stands out in the landscape, with its southern slope forming a vertical cliff above the Kesulot Valley and the Jezreel Valley. Following Christ s sermon at the synagogue in Nazareth in which he interpreted the laws of the book of Isaiah, he was removed from the city with the intention of casting him off a high rock. The Mount of the Precipice is believed to be the place though Jesus escaped his persecutors - Luke 4:14-28: Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through the whole countryside. He was teaching in their synagogues, and everyone praised Him. He went to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day He went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written: The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord s favour. Then He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him. He began by saying to them, Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. All spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. Isn t this Joseph s son? they asked. Jesus said to them, Surely you will quote this proverb to me: Physician, heal yourself! And you will tell me, Do here in your home town what we have heard that you did in Capernaum. Truly I tell you, he continued, no prophet is accepted in his home town. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed only Naaman the Syrian. All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Him out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in

24 order to throw him off the cliff. But He walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

25 Nazareth Church of St. Gabriel Mary s Well iconostasis was added in The Crusader's stones around the spring were left intact. The spring is located in the crypt of the church. Basilica of the Annunciation The towering cupola of the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth stands over the cave that tradition holds to be the home of the Virgin Mary. Here, according to the Catholic Church, the archangel Gabriel told the young Mary, aged about 14, that she would become the mother of the Son of God. And here Mary uttered her consent: Let it be done to me according to your word. The outcome of Mary s consent is carved in Latin across the façade over the triple-doorway entrance: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us (John 1:14). The massive two-storey basilica, in strikingly modern architectural style and colorfully decorated, became the largest Christian church in the Middle East when it was completed in It contains two churches, the upper one being the parish church for Nazareth s Catholic community. The cupola, which dominates modern-day Nazareth, is surmounted by a lantern symbolising the Light of the World. The Church of St. Gabriel is built over "Mary's Spring," a natural spring that feeds the nearby ancient well known as Mary's Well. At ground level, at the edge of the hallway, there is a gentle flow of water. This spring is believed by the Greek Orthodox to be the site of the Annunciation.. A 3rd-century church built over the spring was later destroyed by the Arab conquest of the 7th century and rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th century. From the 14th century, the church fell into increasingly bad repair, but there was always access to the chapel containing the sacred spring. The site was owned by the Franciscans and Greek Catholics for some time but, in 1741, the Greek Orthodox community gained permission from Dahir al-umar to take over the site. In 1750, the Orthodox community built the present church on the south side of the chapel with the spring. The wooden The lower level of the Church of the Annunciation enshrines a sunken grotto that contains the traditional cave-home of the Virgin Mary. The cave is flanked by remnants of earlier churches on the site. Its entrance is sometimes closed by a protective grille. Inside the cave stands an altar with the Latin inscription Here the Word was made flesh. The plan of two churches, one above the other and interconnected, was conceived by the Italian architect Giovanni Muzio. As well as preserving the remains of previous churches on the lower level, he allowed for the risk of earthquake by constructing the building in three separate sections of reinforced concrete. The soaring cupola represents an inverted lily opening its petals to the shrine below. The symbolism combines the lily, as an image of Mary s purity, with one of the Semitic meanings of the name Nazareth, a flower. A spiral stairway at the main entrance leads to the large and spacious upper church - the parish church for the Catholic community of Nazareth which is why the

26 inscriptions on the ceramic Stations of the Cross are in Arabic. The main entrance of the upper church is on the northern side, leading off a large elevated square overlooking the valley of Nazareth. Around the walls of the upper church are colorful representations of the Virgin Mary in a variety of materials, presented by many countries. Behind the main altar is a huge mosaic, one of the biggest in the world, depicting the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. The first church on the site venerated as Mary s home was built around 427. The Crusaders built a huge basilica on its ruins but this too was destroyed when the Crusader kingdom fell in In 1620, the Franciscans managed to purchase the site from the local Arab ruler but it was a further 120 years before they were allowed to build a new church. When that church was demolished to prepare for the modern basilica, extensive excavations took place. These revealed the remains of the ancient village of Nazareth with its silos, cisterns and other cave-dwellings. The most sensational discovery was of a shrine or synagogue-church dating back to before the first church was built. Scratched on the base of a column appeared the Greek characters XE MAPIA, translated as Hail Mary the archangel Gabriel s greeting to Mary. In December 2009 the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of a house from the time of Christ, on a property next to the Church of the Annunciation. The authority described it as the very first residential building found from the old Jewish village. Small and modest, the house consisted of two rooms and a courtyard with a cistern to collect rainwater. The remains of the house were found during an excavation prior to construction of the International Marian Center of Nazareth. They are to be conserved and displayed in the centre. St. Joseph s Church A fond tradition asserts that the 1914 Church of St. Joseph in Nazareth is built over the carpentry workshop of the husband of the Virgin Mary. The church (also known as the Church of the Nutrition and the Church of Joseph s Workshop) is a solid and unpretentious building. It stands very much in the shadow of the soaring cupola of the Church of the Annunciation on its southern side just as St. Joseph himself lived in the shadow of Jesus and Mary. But there is no evidence that the cave over which the church is built was Joseph s workshop. Even if this is the site of the Holy Family s home, the cave is unlikely to have been a carpentry workshop in the modern sense. The Gospels use the Greek word tekton, meaning builder or artisan, to describe Joseph. He most likely worked with both stone and wood, since stone was the common building material in the area. Joseph s work may have taken him away from his home. A likely place of employment was the Roman city of Sepphoris or Tzippori, which was being rebuilt by Herod Antipas at the time the Holy Family arrived from Egypt. The building site was a 50-minute walk from Nazareth. Mount of Beatitudes The Mount of Beatitudes, believed to be the setting for Jesus most famous discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, is one of the most beautifully serene places in the Holy Land. Overlooking the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, it offers an enchanting vista of the northern part of the lake and across to the cliffs of the Golan Heights on the other side. Within sight are the scenes of many of the events of Jesus ministry in Galilee, including the town of Capernaum 3 kms. away, where he made his home. Just below is Sower s Cove, where it is believed Jesus taught the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4:1-9) from a boat moored in the bay. The exact site of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28) is unknown. Pilgrims commemorate the event at the eight-sided Church of the Beatitudes, built on the slope of the mount and accessible by a side road branching off the Tiberias-Rosh Pina highway. The Mount of Beatitudes is also understood to be the place where Jesus met his Apostles after his Resurrection and commissioned them to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:16-20). The spacious slope of the Mount of Beatitudes (also known as Mount Eremos, a Greek word meaning solitary or uninhabited) would have provided ample space for a large

27 crowd to gather to hear Jesus. The 4th-century pilgrim Egeria records a tradition that may go back to the Jewish-Christians of Capernaum. She tells of a cave in the hillside at the Seven Springs, near Tabgha, upon which the Lord ascended when he taught the Beatitudes. Archaeologist Bargil Pixner says: The terrace above this still existing cave, called Mughara Ayub, must be considered the traditional place of the Sermon on the Mount. The hillcrest of Eremos indeed offers a magnificent view over the entire lake and the surrounding villages. The cragginess of this hill meant it was left uncultivated and enabled Jesus to gather large crowds around him without causing damage to the property of farmers. A Byzantine church was erected nearby in the 4th century, and it was used until the 7th century. Its ruins have been discovered downhill from the present church. The Church of the Beatitudes, an elegant octagonal building with colonnaded cloisters, blends into the slope rather than dominating it. It was built in 1938 for a Franciscan order of nuns, to a design by Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and partly financed by the Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. The eight sides of the light and airy church represent the eight beatitudes, and these are also shown in Latin in the upper windows. The centrally placed altar is surmounted by a slender arch of alabaster and onyx. Around it, the seven virtues (justice, charity, prudence, faith, fortitude, hope and temperance) are depicted by symbols in the mosaic floor. Tabgha Church of the Miracle of the Multiplication Tabgha an Arabic corruption of the Greek name Heptapegon (Seven Springs) is the traditional site of the Miracle of the Multiplication of the Loaves and the Fishes. (Matt. 14: 13-21) It is situated in a narrow, fertile valley. Of a 4th-century chapel; only a part of the foundations was uncovered but this was probably the shrine described by the pilgrim Egeria at the end of the same The Beatitudes - Matthew 5:1-12 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to Him, 2 and He began to teach them. He said: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. The Sermon on the Mount, a powerful summary of the fundamental teachings of Jesus, opens with his proclamation of the eight beatitudes. Jesus taught orally, rather than by writing. Matthew notes that he sat down before speaking, a typical Jewish position for teaching. Scholars suggest that Matthew s account is not a report of one, uninterrupted sermon given on one occasion. Rather, it is believed, Matthew took a core sermon and added various teachings given at different times. The sermon indicated how Jesus followers, described as the salt of the earth, should live so that they would be in right relationship with God and with others. For I tell you, he said, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:20) Jesus words appear calm and soothing when in fact his message was radical, demanding, authoritative, revolutionary and countercultural. Jesus was calling Israel to a new way of life....

28 century: In the same place (not far from Capernaum) facing the Sea of Galilee is a well watered land in which lush grasses grow, with numerous trees and palms. Nearby are seven springs which provide abundant water. In this fruitful garden Jesus fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. The stone upon which the Master placed the bread became an altar. The many pilgrims to the site broke off pieces of it as a cure for their ailments. During the 5th century, a large monastery and a church decorated with exquisite mosaic floors was built on the site. The complex included courtyards and many rooms used as workshops for a variety of crafts as well as for lodging for the monks and the many pilgrims who came to visit. It was destroyed in the 7th century and was buried beneath a thick layer of silt and stones. In the 1980s, after excavation, the church was restored to its Byzantine form, incorporating portions of the original mosaics. Church of the Primacy of Peter Nearby, on the Tabgha beach, stands the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter. This squat building of black basalt, built in 1934, marks the place where Jesus is believed to have made His third appearance to his disciples after His Resurrection. As the event is described in John 21, Peter and six other disciples had been fishing all night without catching anything. Just after daybreak Jesus stood on the beach, though they did not recognise Him. Jesus told the disciples to cast their net on the right side of the boat and the net filled with 153 fish. When the disciples dragged the net ashore, they found that Jesus had cooked them breakfast on a charcoal fire. The rock incorporated in the church floor is traditionally believed to be the place where Jesus prepared breakfast. It was known to medieval pilgrims as Mensa Christi (the table of Christ). "Feed my sheep" statue at Tabgha (Seetheholyland.net) After breakfast, Jesus challenged Peter three times with the question: Do you love me? Peter s positive response to this three-fold challenge cancelled out his three-fold denial of Jesus the night before his crucifixion. Then Jesus gave Peter a three-fold commission: Feed my lambs.... Tend my sheep... Feed my sheep. And he also indicated that Peter would die by martyrdom. Peter s primacy as head of the apostles was recognized after this event. Capernaum Archaeological Site and St. Peter s Church After our Lord s expulsion from Nazareth (Matt. 4:13-16; Luke 4:16-31), Capernaum became His own city. It was the scene of many acts and incidents of His life (Matt. 8:5, 14,15; 9:2-6, 10-17; 15:1-20; Mark 1:32-34, etc.). The Bible tells us that a Roman centurion built a synagogue here for the Jews (Luke 7:1-5). His servant was later healed from severe palsy by Jesus (Matt. 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10). The remains of what must have been a beautiful basalt synagogue have been discovered by archaeologists at the highest point in town. This is the synagogue where our Lord frequently taught (John 6:59; Mark 1:21; Luke 4:33). Here, Jesus cured a demon-possessed man (Mark 1:21-28) and delivered the sermon on the bread of life (John 6:25-59). He even restored the life of the daughter of one of the rulers of the synagogue (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41). The synagogue is near the lake and is built so that when the Jews prayed here, they faced Jerusalem. It was destroyed along with Jerusalem's temple, around AD 70. Many years later, it was replaced with a white stone synagogue (perhaps AD ). Only a few hundred feet from the synagogue at Capernaum, the stone house of the disciple Peter has also been found. This is where Jesus healed Peter s mother-in-law and others (Matthew 8:14-16). In the years following Jesus' death and resurrection, the house apparently became a house-church. Centuries later, Christians honored the site by building a church here. It was destroyed in a later conquest of the city. Literary sources and recent archaeological discoveries make the identification of the house of St. Peter in Capernaum virtually certain. The house was built at the very end of the Hellenistic period (first century BC). In the second half of the first century AD, some peculiar features set apart this building from all the others so far excavated in Capernaum. Here, in fact, the pavements received floors of lime several times. Many pieces of broken lamps were found in the thin layers of lime. One hundred and thirty-one inscriptions were found. They were written in four languages, namely: in Greek (110), Aramaic (10), Syriac (9), and Latin (2). The name of Jesus appears several times. He is called Christ, the Lord, and the Most High God. An inscription in Syriac mentions the Eucharist.

29 Artist rendition of the harbour of Capernaum based upon archaeological findings. The synagogue is the large two-storey building on the left side of the picture with the half moon window. (Biblical Archaeology Review, July/Aug 1999) There are also symbols and monograms, namely: crosses of different forms, a boat, the monogram of Jesus. The name of St. Peter occurs at least twice: his monogram is written in Latin but with Greek letters. In another graffito, St. Peter is called the helper of Rome. A third inscription mentions Peter and Berenike. This Peter, however, might be the name of a pilgrim. On several hundred pieces of plaster, decorative motifs appear. The colours employed are: green, blue, yellow, red, brown, white and black. Among the subjects one can distinguish floral crosses, pomegranates, figs, trifolium, stylized flowers and geometric designs such as circles, squares, etc. At the beginning of the 5th century, the house of St. Peter was still standing but it had been previously changed into a church. This we learn from Eteria, a Spanish pilgrim, who wrote in her diary: In Capernaum, the house of the Prince of the Apostles (St. Peter) became a church. The walls, however, (of that house) have remained unchanged to the present day. Some miracles of Christ that occurred at Capernaum are: Dead daughter of Jairus raised (Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41) Drove evil spirit from a man in the synagogue (Mark 1:21-28) Paralyzed man let down through the roof and healed (Mark 2:1-12) Jesus caused four of disciples to catch fish in a miraculous way (Luke 5:1-11) Through a fish, Jesus supplied tribute tax money needed by Peter (Matthew 17:24-27) Healing of the centurion s servant afflicted with palsy (Matt. 8:5-13) Healing of the son of a nobleman in the King s court (Herod Antipas) (John 4:46-54) Healing many other people and casting out demons, as all the city was gathered together at the door (Mark 1:29-34) Despite the extraordinary evidence our Lord presented to them, most of the people of Capernaum remained unrepentant disbelievers. Because they turned so strongly away from the uniquely gracious light, they were strongly judged. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required (Luke 12:48). Thus, along with nearby Chorazin and Bethsaida, Capernaum received a very stern warning from Jesus (Matt. 11:21-24). It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. Ultimately, the cities were all destroyed and Capernaum became virtually uninhabited ruins for centuries. Today, only a Franciscan Monastery and a nearby Greek Orthodox Church are to be found. The Yardenit Baptismal Site Yardenit is a baptism site located along the Jordan River in the Galilee region of northern Israel, which is frequented by Christian pilgrims. The site is located south of the river's outlet from the Sea of Galilee, near Kibbutz Kvutzat Kinneret, which owns and manages the site. According to Christian tradition, the baptism of Jesus (Matthew, 3: 13-17) actually took place in Qasr el Yahud, north of the Dead Sea and east of Jericho. For centuries, Qasr al Yahud was the most important baptism site for pilgrims and monasteries and guest houses were established near it. After the Six-Day War, Qasr el Yahud became a frontier area, located on the border between the state of Israel and Jordan. As a result, the Israeli Ministry of Tourism decided to establish this site in 1981 as a replacement site. "Yardenit" thus became the only regulated baptism site on the Israeli side of the river, until the reopening of Qasr el Yahud site in The site currently averages 400,000 visitors each year representing all faiths. Basilica of Transfiguration - Mount Tabor Mark Chapter 9:2-8 And after six days Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them, and his