VISITED Holy LAND-2017
URI Peace Mission
pilgrimage group visited the Holy Land on 14th April to 23rd April, 2017. 56
members group includes Dr. Abraham Karickam, URI Asia Secretary General, Prof.
John Kurakar, Global council Trustee and Sri CNN Raj Bangalore. Wewalked in the footsteps of Jesus and his
followers in Galilee, the Mount of the Beatitudes, Jesus’ birthplace in
Bethlehem and visited the site of the transfiguration at Mount Tabor,
Jerusalem, Nazareth, the Dead Sea, and many more places.We also walked the
narrow streets of Old Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Nazareth. This special journey features
one night in Jordan, two nights in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, four
nights near Tiberias at a resort on the Sea of Galilee and three nights in Cairo,
Egypt. The details of peace journey
given below.
1-Madaba was an
important town in the early centuries of the Christian era. It was on the King’s
Highway trade route, it had its own bishop and it had about 10 other churches
with impressive mosaics. The remains of two of these churches are in the city’s
archaeological park. A conservative estimate is that the mosaic map would have
originally contained about 1,116,000 pieces of stone and glass. A team of three
workmen, working 10-hour days and directed by a superior artist, would have
needed about 186 days to assemble it.
In 746, about 200 years
after the mosaic map was constructed, Madaba was largely destroyed by an
earthquake and subsequently abandoned.The town was still in ruins and
uninhabited in the early 1880s when a group of Christians from Karak, 140km
south of Amman, decided to move there to escape conflict with Muslims in their
home town.The new settlers were removing debris from an old church in 1884, so
they could build a new one on the site, when they discovered the remains of the
map. They incorporated the surviving fragments into the new St George’s
Church.Madaba is now the fifth most populous city in Jordan and the
administrative centre for the territory south of Amman. St George’s Church is
northwest of the city centre.
2-Mount Nebo is one of
Jordan's most important Christian Holy Sites: this is the spot where Moses (or
Prophet Musa) is believed to have first seen the Promised Land that he would
never entered. The site became custody of the Franciscan order in 1932 who
excavated the
church and put Mount Nebo on the religious tourist maps. Pope
John Paul II visited this site in March 2000 before starting his spiritual
pilgrimage to the Holy Land with prayers in the basilica. Mount Nebo is now in
western Jordan. At 820 metres high, it looks down 1220 metres on the nearby
Dead Sea (which is about 400 metres below sea level).
3-Mt. Tabor sits at the
eastern end of the Jezreel Valley, 11 miles (17 km) west of the Sea of Galilee.
Its elevation at the summit is 1,843 feet (575 m) high. It is used in Scripture as a symbol of
majesty. Jeremiah 46:18 (NASB) “‘As I live,’ declares the King Whose name is
the Lord of hosts, ‘Surely one shall come who looms up like Tabor among the
mountains, Or like Carmel by the sea’” (cf. Ps 89:12). only one church dedicated to Jesus, Moses,
and Elijah. There may have been three chapels joined together into one building,
as in the present building. The current church was built in 1924 and belongs to
the Franciscans. Mount Tabor were part of a range of hills it would attract no
particular attention, standing as it does just 558 metres above sea-level. But
it is a single isolated peak, whose conical shape suggests that it could be
volcanic, though in fact it is not. It stands over 300 metres higher than the
surrounding land and this makes it singularly imposing. It is also noticeable
for the vegetation growing up its sides: holm-oaks, wild plants, and in spring,
lilies of different kinds. From its top, a broad level space where
cypress-trees grow in abundance, a beautiful panorama opens to view. Because of
this, Mount Tabor became a place of worship for the Canaanites, who worshipped
their idols on the hill-tops. It also made a good site for military
fortifications, as a watch-tower over the area. Traces of human presence on
Tabor go back seventy thousand years. At the Transfiguration, Jesus showed his
glory as God, and thus confirmed St Peter’s recent confession of faith: “You
are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16: 16; cf. Mk 8: 29 and Lk 9:
20). In this way he also strengthened the Apostles’ faith in advance, to face
his coming Passion and Death (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, nos. 555
and 568), which he had already begun to announce to them .The presence of Moses
and Elijah is highly significant: both of them “had seen God's glory on the
Mountain; the Law and the Prophets had announced the Messiah’s sufferings”
4- Nazareth is known as
"the Arab capital of Israel". In 2015 its population was 75,726. The
inhabitants are predominantly Arab citizens of Israel, of whom 69% are Muslim
and 30.9% ChristianIn the New Testament, the town is described as the childhood
home of Jesus,and as such is a center of Christian pilgrimage, with many
shrines commemorating biblical events.
5-Church of St Joseph
A fond tradition
asserts that the 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.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.
The Church of St Joseph
was built in 1914 on the remains of a Crusader church and over a cave system.
The first mention of the site occurs in the work of a 17th-century Italian
writer and Orientalist, Franciscus Quaresmius, who described it as “the house
and workshop of Joseph”.The apse of the church has three noteworthy paintings:
The Holy Family, The Dream of Joseph, and The Death of Joseph in the Arms of
Jesus and Mary.The church was established at the site where, according to Roman
Catholic tradition, the Annunciation took place. Greek Orthodox tradition holds
that this event occurred while Mary was drawing water from a local spring in
Nazareth, and the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation was erected at that
alternate site.
The current church is a
two-story building constructed in 1969 over the site of an earlier
Byzantine-era and then Crusader-era church. Inside, the lower level contains
the Grotto of the Annunciation, believed by many Christians to be the remains
of the original childhood home of Mary. Under Roman Catholic canon law, the
church enjoys the status of a minor basilica.[1] A historically significant
site, considered sacred within some circles of Christianity, particularly
Catholicism, the basilica attracts many Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern
Orthodox Christian visitors every year.
The first shrine was
probably built sometime in the middle of the 4th century[citation needed],
comprising an altar in the cave in which Mary had lived. A larger structure was
commissioned by Emperor Constantine I, who had directed his mother, Saint
Helena, to found churches commemorating important events in Jesus Christ's
life.
6-The Church of the Annunciation was founded around the same time as the Church of the Nativity (the birthplace) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb). Some version of it was known to have still been in existence around 570 AD, but it was destroyed in the 7th century after the Muslim conquest of Palestine.The second church was built over the ruins of the Byzantine era church during the Crusades, following the conquest of Nazareth by Tancred in 1102. The Crusader era church was never fully completed. Five Romanesque capitals carved by artists from northern France, and discovered during excavations in 1909, had not yet been installed in 1187 when news of Saladin's victory in the Battle of Hittin reached the city. Saladin granted permission to Franciscan priests to remain in Nazareth to oversee services at the church.
6-The Church of the Annunciation was founded around the same time as the Church of the Nativity (the birthplace) and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the tomb). Some version of it was known to have still been in existence around 570 AD, but it was destroyed in the 7th century after the Muslim conquest of Palestine.The second church was built over the ruins of the Byzantine era church during the Crusades, following the conquest of Nazareth by Tancred in 1102. The Crusader era church was never fully completed. Five Romanesque capitals carved by artists from northern France, and discovered during excavations in 1909, had not yet been installed in 1187 when news of Saladin's victory in the Battle of Hittin reached the city. Saladin granted permission to Franciscan priests to remain in Nazareth to oversee services at the church.
The Church of the
Annunciation, interior (about 1925).the announcement of the Angel Gabirel to
the virgin mary of the approaching virgin birth visit St. Joseph;s carpenter
and Marrys well’.In 1260, Baybars and his Mamluk army destroyed the church
during their attack on Nazareth.A small number of Franciscans managed to stay
in Nazareth until the fall of Acre in 1291. In the three centuries that
followed, the Franciscans were in and out of Nazareth, depending on the local
political situation, which was constantly in flux. Franciscan accounts of this
period document their expulsion in 1363, their return in 1468 and a massacre of
some of their members in 1542. Local Christian families with Franciscan support
helped take care of the church as well during this period.In this Basilica is a
gallery with mosaics representing some of the most important Marian devotions
in different countries. Among the Marian devotions in Spain include: The Virgin
of Candelaria, patron saint of the Canary Islands, the Virgin of Montserrat,
patroness of Catalonia, the Virgin of the Forsaken, patroness of Valencia and
the Virgin of Guadalupe, patroness of Extremadura.
7- Cana in Galilee is
celebrated as the scene of Jesus’ first miracle. It is actually the place of
his first two public miracles in Galilee — the changing of water into wine and
the remote healing of an official’s son 32km away in Capernaum. The
transformation of water into wine.On the first occasion, Jesus and his first
disciples turned up at a wedding feast, possibly that of a close relative of
his mother Mary. The wine ran out — perhaps because those additional guests had
not been catered for — and Mary turned to her Son to overcome the embarrassment
(John 2: 1-11).
“Woman, what concern is
that to you and to me?” he responded. “My hour has not yet come.” But she
persisted and her Son turned six jars holding more than 550 litres of water
(equivalent to more than 730 bottles) into fine wine.This miracle is
significant for Christian pastoral theology. Christ’s attendance at the wedding
feast, and his divine intervention to rescue the hosts from embarrassment, are
taken as setting his seal on the sanctity of marriage and, as the Catholic
Encyclopedia puts it, “on the propriety of humble rejoicing on such occasions”.
The incident is also seen as an argument against teetotalism.Jesus’ newest
disciple at the time of the wedding was Nathaniel, who actually came from Cana
of Galilee.
8-HAIFA
Haifa is Israel’s third
largest city, beautifully set on the slopes of Mount Carmel facing the
Mediterranean Sea, likened by some as ‘Israel’s San Francisco’. Although traditionally a working city, there
are a number of great things to do in Haifa including the Bahai Gardens, German
Colony, as well as a number of top museums. The city is also known across
Israel for its mixed population of Jews and Arabs who peacefully coexist and
the result is some amazing fusions of Arabic and Jewish cultures across the city.
Haifa is the third largest city in Israel, the capital of the North and serves
a population of hundreds of thousands (the city itself has 250 thousand
inhabitants).Haifa is one of the largest industrial centers in Israel and also
a hub for transport, trade, shipping and tourism. The city has institutions for higher
education and scientific research, theatre, auditoriums, museums and many
varied cultural and recreational facilities.
The city sits at the foot of the Carmel Mountains, on its Eastern, Northern
and Western slopes on the top of the range and around the bay area.Downtown
Haifa serves as a center for shipping, banking, foreign trade and wholesale
marketing. Within the downtown area is
the main port, railway lines (with branch lines to the port, factories in the
area and three passenger stations) which connects the city to the center of the
country, the south and the north and the main bus terminal for municipal and
inter-city bus transport.Haifa is rich in colorful, well maintained beaches from
the southerly approaches to the city and along up to Haifa Bay and Krayot
areas.Beaches have well looked after promenades, restaurants, pubs and various
public facilities.
9-The Stella Maris
Monastery or the Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel for monks is a
19th-century Discalced Carmelite monastery located on the slopes of Mount
Carmel in Haifa, Israel. Another Carmelite monastery of the same name
(Monastère Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel in French) is reserved for nuns and is
located higher up on Mount Carmel. The monastery's main church resembles the
shape of a cross. Its dome is decorated by colorful paintings based on motifs
from both the Old and New Testament: Elijah rising to heaven, David stringing
his harp, the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Family and the four evangelists. Latin
inscriptions of biblical verses are written around the dome.
The altar stands on an
elevated platform situated above a small cave associated with Elijah. The cave
can be reached from the nave by descending a few steps and holds a stone altar
with a small statue of Prophet Elijah. The altar above the cave is dominated by
a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus in her lap, known as "our
mistress the Carmel".New embossments dedicated to Carmelite figures are
hoisted on all four corners of the central hall. On the western wall of the
church is a large organ that is played during religious ceremonies and at
special church music concerts.The caves of Mount Carmel were well known to
Elijah, the Old Testamentprophet. Here he sometimes lived — and sometimes had
to hide.
On the northern slope
of Mount Carmel, near the Haifa beach, is a cave where the prophet is believed
to have meditated before his fateful encounter with the priests of Baal.In this
encounter, described in 1 Kings 18:1-40, Elijah issued a challenge to 450 pagan
priests. Before an assembly on the summit of Mount Carmel, he called on the
priests to seek fire from their god Baal to light a sacrifice.
10- CAPERNAUM-The
excavation site Capernaum is located on the northern shore of the Sea of
Galilee in the Holy Land. According to the Gospels it was here that Jesus
Christ first settled down during his public appearances in the Holy Land, thus
making Capernaum “his town”. Capernaum and the surrounding region soon
witnessed the appointment of the first disciples, numerous miracles and
parables by Jesus Christ in the Holy Land.“The small fishing village of
Capernaum, is of significant meaning to the history of Christianity. It was
here that important events in the public life of Jesus Christ took place. Thus
Capernaum is to be considered a jewel among the many historical and religious
sites of the Holy Land. Capernaum needs to be presented accordingly, in order
to reveal its secret to the open public.”This place is of special interest to
Christians because of its frequent mention in the history of Jesus Christ.
Peter, Andrew, James and John also lived here. It played a unique and important
part in Christ’s life and ministry, and in his outreach to the people of
Israel. The inhabitants of Capernaum, including various high ranking citizens,
were given unique and abundant opportunities to hear Jesus Christ’s message
firsthand and witness His awesome power and love.
11-SYNAGOGUE—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 (Matthew
8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10). The remains of what must have been a beautiful basalt
synagogue has been discovered by archaeologists. As expected for such a sacred
building, it was found 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-posssed 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 rulers of
this 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 70 A.D. Many years later, it was replaced
with a white stone synagogue (perhaps 250-300 A.D.) PETER’S HOUSE—Only a few
hundred feet from the synagogue, the stone house of the disciple Peter has also
been found at Capernaum. This is where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and
others (Matthew 8:14-16). Jesus may have lived with Peter while staying in
Capernaum. 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.
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 colors 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 fifth 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.”Mary, the mother of Jesus, made her way to
Capernaum with her other sons (Matthew 12:46, 48-49). It was here that Christ
uttered the memorable words, “Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? And he
stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and
my brethren!”
12-Tabgha
Tabgha, on the
north-western shore of the Sea of Galilee, is best known for Christ’s
miraculous multiplication of loaves and fish to feed a multitude.But it is also
remembered for Jesus’ third appearance to his disciples after his Resurrection,
when he tested and commissioned St Peter as leader of his Church.Two churches
commemorate these events, and pilgrims find the place a serene location for
meditation, prayer and study.Tabgha is at the foot of the Mount of Beatitudes,
about 3km south-west of Capernaum. The name is an Arab mispronunciation of the
Greek Heptapegon (meaning “seven springs”). Several warm sulphurous springs
enter the lake here, attracting fish especially in winter.This was a favourite
spot for fishermen from nearby Capernaum, and its beach was familiar to Jesus
and his disciples. It is easy to imagine Jesus speaking from a boat in one of
the little bays, with crowds sitting around on the shore.According to chapter
14 of Matthew’s Gospel, the miraculous feeding came after Jesus learnt that
Herod Antipas had beheaded his cousin, John the Baptist.Jesus “withdrew in a
boat . . . to a deserted place by himself”. Crowds followed and he had
compassion on them, curing their sick.In the evening he told the multitude —
5000 men, plus women and children — to sit on the grass. Then he took five
loaves and two fish, “looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves . .
. and the disciples gave them to the crowds”. After they had eaten, the
leftovers filled 12 baskets.
Nearby, on the Tabgha
beach, stands the Church of the Primacy of St Peter. This squat building of
black basalt, built in 1934, is where Jesus is believed to have made his third
appearance to his disciples after his Resurrection.As the event is described in
the 21st chapter of St John, 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.Church of the Primacy of Saint
PeterThe Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter is a Franciscan church located in
Tabgha, Israel, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It commemorates,
and allegedly marks the spot, of Jesus' reinstatement of Peter as chief among
the Apostles. The modern structure was built in 1933 and incorporates parts of
an earlier 4th century church. At the base of its walls, opposite the main
altar, foundations of the 4th century church are visible. In the 9th century,
the church was referred to as the Place of the Coals. This name refers to the
incident of Jesus' preparation of meal for the apostles, building a charcoal
fire on which to cook the fish. Also first mentioned in the year 808 are the
"Twelve Thrones", a series of heart shaped stones, which were placed
along the shore to commemorate the Twelve Apostles. The church survived longer
than any other in the area, finally being destroyed in 1263.[1] The present
Franciscan chapel was built on the site in 1933. This church was included in
the itineraries of Popes Paul VI and John Paul II during their visits to Israel
in 1964 and March 2000 respectively.
13- Sea of Galilee Boat
Ride
The Sea of Galilee is
one of the most beautiful spots in Israel and is of historical and spiritual
significance both to Judaism and Christianity. The city of Tiberias was the
center of Jewish study in the Land of Israel for many years, and the Galilee
was the primary location of Jesus’ ministry. An excellent way to see these
important sites on your trip to Israel – and to enjoy some sunny recreation
.Some of the boats are built from wood and resemble the boats used for fishing
during the lifetime of Jesus. While cruising around the waters, your guide will
point out famous Christian holy sites visible from here, such as Capernaum and
Bethsaida. You’ll see the peak of Mount Arbel with Migdal, home of Mary
Magdalene, at its foot.Sea of Galilee cruises run all day long and into the
evenings. You can sail on the lake in the middle of the day for maximum
sightseeing, or choose a sunset cruise for a romantic experience. At night, the
cruise ships turn into dance parties, playing Israeli and Western pop music,
traditional Arab tunes and even some waltzes. Take a picnic meal on the boat,
or eat in one of the fine restaurants in Tiberias or Ein Gev after
disembarking.
14- Mount of Beatitudes
The Mount of Beatitudes
is a hill in northern Israel where Jesus is believed to have delivered the
Sermon on the Mount. The traditional location for the Mount of Beatitudes is on
the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, between Capernaum and Gennesaret
(Ginosar). Its highest point is 58 metres (190 ft) below sea level, which is
approximately 155 metres (509 ft) above the surface of the lake.[1] The actual
location of the Sermon on the Mount is not certain, but the present site (also
known as Mount Eremos) has been commemorated for more than 1600 years. The site
is very near Tabgha. Other suggested locations have included the nearby Mount
Arbel, or even the Horns of Hattin.
Famous for being the
site wherein Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, the Mount of Beatitudes
in located in Israel's northern region, adjacent to the Hebrew town of Ginosar
and in close proximity to the Sea of Galilee .The mountain is named after the
blessings that mark the beginning of Christ's sermon. The beatitudes
(blessings), nine in number, are documented in the Gospels of Mark and Luke and
consist of Jesus' prayers for his followers. In the beatitudes Jesus describes
the kingdom of heaven, proceeding to count the characteristics a devout man
must have to enter it. Expressions now used in our day to day language such as
"salt o the earth" and "light of the world", as well the
cornerstones of our moral actions such as the injunction to "turn the
other cheek", "judge not lest you be judged" or the command to
practice the "golden rule", find their origins in the Sermon on the
Mount. The Sermon on the Mount thus serves as an important piece of literature,
not only for its scriptural significance if not also for the moral code that it
proposes.
Standing atop the Mount
of Beatitudes and observing the landscape at its feet, it becomes clear why it
was here, and not anywhere else, that Christ gave his famed sermon. As far as
practicality goes, the Mount of Beatitudes offers a unique combination of high
and low altitudes. While the mountain has two pointy tops that can be seen from
afar, it also features a plateau-like valley between the two horned tops, which
in Biblical times served as a kind of natural amphitheatre easily able to
contain the multitudes that came to hear the sermon.For geographical reasons,
the Mount of Beatitudes in located at the epicenter of Jesus' ministry with the
Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberias to its east, and Nazareth as well as
Mount Tabor to its south.
15-Jordan River
The river has a major
significance in Judaism and Christianity and, to a more moderate degree,
Islam,[citation needed] as the site where the Israelites crossed into the
Promised Land and where Jesus of Nazareth was baptised by John the Baptist.The
Jordan River runs through the land and history of the Bible, giving its waters
a spiritual significance that sets it aside from other rivers.The Jordan is
significant for Jews because the tribes of Israel under Joshua crossed the
river on dry ground to enter the Promised Land after years of wandering in the
desert.It is significant for Christians because John the Baptist baptised Jesus
in the waters of the Jordan.The prophets Elijah and Elisha also crossed the
river dry-shod; and the Syrian general Naaman was healed of leprosy after
washing in the Jordan at Elisha’s direction.Flowing southward from its sources
in the mountainous area where Israel, Syria and Lebanon meet, the Jordan River
passes through the Sea of Galilee and ends in the Dead Sea. A large part of its
320-kilometre length forms the border between Israel and Jordan in the north
and the West Bank and Jordan in the south.The river falls 950 metres from its
source to the Dead Sea. For most of its course down the Jordan Rift Valley, it
flows well below sea level. Its name means “Dan [one of its tributaries] flows
down”.From Jesus’ time until the mid 20th century, seasonal flooding in winter
and spring expanded its width to 1.5km. Dams in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and
Israel now preclude flooding. The place where Jesus was baptised by John the
Baptist is believed to be in Jordan, on the east bank of a large loop in the
river opposite Jericho.
16-Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city located on a plateau in the Judaean
Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. One of the oldest cities
in the world, Jerusalem was named as "Urusalima" on ancient
Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets, probably meaning "City of Shalem"
after a Canaanite deity, during the early Canaanite period (approximately 2400
BCE). During the Israelite period, significant construction activity in
Jerusalem began in the 9th century BCE (Iron Age II), and in the 8th century
the city developed into the religious and administrative center of the Kingdom
of Judah. It is considered a holy city in the three major Abrahamic religions
of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.Israelis and Palestinians both claim
Jerusalem as their capital, as the State of Israel maintains its primary
governmental institutions there while the State of Palestine ultimately
foresees the city as its seat of power; however, neither claim is widely
recognized internationally.
During its long
history, Jerusalem has been destroyed at least twice, besieged 23 times,
attacked 52 times, and captured and recaptured 44 times.[6] The part of
Jerusalem called the City of David was settled in the 4th millennium BCE.[7] In
1538, walls were built around Jerusalem under Suleiman the Magnificent. Today
those walls define the Old City, which has been traditionally divided into four
quarters—known since the early 19th century as the Armenian, Christian, Jewish,
and Muslim Quarters. The Old City became a World Heritage Site in 1981, and is
on the List of World Heritage in Danger.[9] Modern Jerusalem has grown far
beyond the Old City's boundaries.
According to the
Biblical tradition, King David conquered the city from the Jebusites and
established it as the capital of the United Kingdom of Israel, and his son,
King Solomon, commissioned the building of the First Temple. These foundational
events, straddling the dawn of the 1st millennium BCE, assumed central symbolic
importance for the Jewish people. The sobriquet of holy city (transliterated
‘ir haqodesh) was probably attached to Jerusalem in post-exilic timesThe
holiness of Jerusalem in Christianity, conserved in the Septuagint[14] which
Christians adopted as their own authority,was reinforced by the New Testament
account of Jesus's crucifixion there. In Sunni Islam, Jerusalem is the
third-holiest city, after Mecca and MedinaIn Islamic tradition in 610 CE it
became the first qibla, the focal point for Muslim prayer (salat),[18]and
Muhammad made his Night Journey there ten years later, ascending to heaven
where he speaks to God, according to the Quran.[19][20] As a result, despite
having an area of only 0.9 square kilometres the Old City is home to many sites
of seminal religious importance, among them the Temple Mount with its Western
Wall, Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque, and the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre. Outside the Old City stands the Garden Tomb.
Today, the status of Jerusalem
remains one of the core issues in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the
1948 Arab–Israeli War, West Jerusalem was among the areas captured and later
annexed by Israel while East Jerusalem, including the Old City, was captured
and later annexed by Jordan. Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during
the 1967 Six-Day War and subsequently annexed it into Jerusalem, together with
additional surrounding territory.[viii] One of Israel's Basic Laws, the 1980
Jerusalem Law, refers to Jerusalem as the country's undivided capital. All
branches of the Israeli government are located in Jerusalem, including the
Knesset (Israel's parliament), the residences of the Prime Minister and
President, and the Supreme Court. Whilst the international community rejected
the annexation as illegal and treats East Jerusalem as Palestinian
territoryoccupied by Israel,[22][23][24][25] Israel has a stronger claim to
sovereignty over West Jerusalem.[26][27] The international community does not
recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital, and the city hosts no foreign
embassies. Jerusalem is also home to some non-governmental Israeli institutions
of national importance, such as the Hebrew University and the Israel Museum
with its Shrine of the Book.
17-MOUNT OF OLIVE.
The Mount of Olives has
been an important burial place since Canaanite times. Kingdoms and empires have
come and gone and left their marks on this legendary hill. Today, it is an
incredibly popular vantage point with simply breathtaking views of the holy sites
of Jerusalem’s Old City.Pilgrims are drawn to sites important to all three
Abrahamic faiths, in particular those associated with Jesus’ last week on Earth
and where the End of Days was described to the Disciples. For Jews and Muslims
alike, the Mount of Olives is where the gates of heaven will open up on
Judgement Day.
18- CHURCH OF ASCENSION
The Chapel of the
Ascension is a shrine located on the
Mount of Olives, in the At-Tur district of Jerusalem. Part of a larger complex
consisting first of a Christian church and monastery, then an Islamic mosque,
it is located on a site the faithful traditionally believe to be the earthly
spot where Jesusascended into Heaven forty days after his resurrection. It
houses a slab of stone believed to contain one of his footprints. Shortly after
the death and resurrection of Jesus, early Christians began gathering in secret
to commemorate his Ascension at a small cave on the Mount of Olives. The
issuance of the Edict of Milan by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 313 made
it possible for Christians to worship overtly without fear of government
persecution. By the time of the pilgrim Egeria's travels to Jerusalem in 384,
the spot of veneration had been moved to the present location, uphill from the
cave. Saint Helena, mother of Constantine I, traveled to the holy land between
326 and 328. During her pilgrimage, she identified two spots on the Mount of
Olives as being associated with Jesus' life. The place of his Ascension, and a
grotto associated with his teaching of the Lord's Prayer. On her return to Rome
she ordered the construction of two sanctuary complexes at these locations.
According to legend, during the 5th century Saint Pelagia of Antioch lived here
as a hermit and penitent in a grotto.
After the fall of
Jerusalem in 1187 the ruined church and monastery were abandoned by the
Christians, who resettled in Acre. During this time Salah ad-Din established
the Mount of Olives as a waqf entrusted to two sheikhs, al-Salih Wali al-Din
and Abu Hasan al-Hakari. This donation was registered in a document dated 20
October 1188. The chapel was converted to a mosque, and a mihrab installed in
it. Because the vast majority of pilgrims to the site were Christian, as a
gesture of compromise and goodwill Salah ad-Din ordered the construction, two
years later, of a second mosque nearby for Muslim worship while Christians
continued to visit the main chapel. Also around this time the complex was
fortified with towers, walls, and guarded by watchman.[5] The shrine and
surrounding structures saw periods of non-use and disrepair over the next 300
years. By the 15th century the destroyed eastern section of the octagonal outer
wall was separated from the rest by a dividing wall and was occupied by peasant
houses and animal stables.[6] Though still under the authority of the Islamic
Waqf of Jerusalem, the edicule-turned-mosque is currently opened to visitors of
all faiths, for a nominal fee.
19-Church of the Pater
Noster
The Church of the Pater
Noster is a Roman Catholic church located on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
It is part of a Carmelite monastery', also known as the Sanctuary of the Eleona
(French: Domaine de l'Eleona). The Church of the Pater Noster stands right next
to the traditional site of Christ's teaching of the Lord's Prayer (Luke
11:2-4), a cave which formed the crypt and centrepiece of the 4th-century
Byzantine Church of Eleona. The ruins of the Eleona were rediscovered in the
20th century and its walls were partially rebuilt. Today, the land on which
both churches and the entire monastery are standing formally belongs to
France.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 colourful ceramic plaques.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).Cave is associated
with several teachingsThe Gospels suggest that Jesus taught the Lord’s Prayer
at least twice. Matthew 6:5-15 has this teaching as part of the Sermon on the
Mount in Galilee; Luke 11:1-4 has it while Jesus is on his way from Galilee to
Jerusalem.
The cave under the
Pater Noster Church certainly existed in Jesus’ time. Near the summit of the
mount, it would have been a secluded and sheltered place for a small group to
gather.The earliest reference to Jesus teaching in the cave is in the
apocryphal Acts of John, dating from the 2nd century, but it does not
specifically mention the Lord’s Prayer.When the Emperor Constantine built a
three-level church on the site in 330, it commemorated the Ascension of Christ.
This historic church was known simply as the Eleona (from the Greek word
meaning “of olives”).The cave is also believed to be associated with Jesus’
teaching about the destruction of Jerusalem and his Second Coming (Matthew
24,25).
20-Dominus Flevit
Church
Dominus Flevit is a
Roman Catholic church on the Mount of Olives, opposite the walls of the Old
City of Jerusalem. The church was designed and constructed between 1953 and
1955 by the Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi and is held in trust by the
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. During construction of the sanctuary,
archaeologists uncovered artifacts dating back to the Canaanite period, as well
as tombs from the Second Temple and Byzantine eras.The little teardrop Church
of Dominus Flevit, halfway down the western slope of the Mount of Olives,
recalls the Gospel incident in which Jesus wept over the future fate of
Jerusalem.This poignant incident occurred during Jesus’ triumphal entry into
Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, when crowds threw their cloaks on the road
in front of him and shouted, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the
Lord!”
Looking down on the
city, Jesus wept over it as he prophesied its future destruction. Enemies would
“set up ramparts around you and surround you, and hem you in on every side . .
. crush you to the ground . . . and they will not leave within you one stone
upon another; because you did not recognise the time of your visitation from
God.” (Luke 19:37-44)Within 40 years, in AD 70, Jesus’ prophesy was fulfilled.
Roman legions besieged Jerusalem and, after six months of fighting, burnt the
Temple and levelled the city.
21-Garden of Gethsemane
The garden of
Gethsemane, near the foot of the Mount of Olives, is named in the New Testament
as the place where Jesus went with his disciples to pray the night before he
was crucified.The garden, about 1200 square metres in area, was well known to
the disciples as it is close to the natural route from the Temple to the summit
of the Mount of Olives and the ridge leading to Bethany.The name in Hebrew
means “oil press”. Oil is still pressed from the fruit of eight ancient and
gnarled olive trees that give the garden a timeless character.
Beside the garden is
the Church of All Nations, built over the rock on which Jesus is believed to
have prayed in agony before he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and arrested.
About 100 metres north
of the church is the Grotto of Gethsemane, where Jesus and his disciples often
camped at night. In this natural grotto, it is believed, the disciples slept
while Jesus prayed.Near the grotto is the Tomb of Mary, where a Christian
tradition holds that the Mother of Jesus was buried after she “fell asleep” in
death.In the garden of Gethsemane, behind a fence of iron tracery with Byzantine
motifs, stand the gnarled trunks of eight hoary olive trees. They create a
spiritual atmosphere for visitors to the garden of Gethsemane, although the
flower beds and paths around them introduce an artificial element.The trees
also generate conjecture about their age. Were they silent witnesses to the
Agony of Jesus the night before he died?Israel has many ancient olive trees.
Two in the town of Arraba and five in Deir Hanna have been determined to be
over 3000 years old.
The present Gethsemane
trees, however, were not standing at the time of Christ. The historian Flavius
Josephus reports that all the trees around Jerusalem were cut down by the
Romans for their siege equipment before they captured the city in AD 70.The
Gethsemane olives are possibly descendants of one that was in the garden at the
time of Christ. This is because when an olive tree is cut down, shoots will
come back from the roots to create a new tree.In 1982 the University of
California carried out radiocarbon-dating tests on some root material from
Gethsemane. The results indicated that some of the wood could be dated at 2300
years old.
22-Mount Zion
Mount Zion, the highest
point in ancient Jerusalem, is the broad hill south of the Old City’s Armenian
Quarter.Its name in Old Testament times became projected into a metaphoric
symbol for the whole city and the Promised Land.Several important events in the
early Christian Church are likely to have taken place on Mount Zion: The Last
Supper of Jesus and his disciples, and the coming of the Holy Spirit on the
disciples, both believed to have been on the site of the Cenacle.In the Old
Testament period, Zion was the eastern fortress that King David captured from
the Jebusites and named the City of David (2 Samuel 5:6-9).A psalmist described
Mount Zion as God’s “holy mountain, beautiful in elevation . . . the joy of all
the earth” (Psalm 48).The Old Testament (1 Kings: 2:10) records that King David
was buried in the city of David, which was on the original Mount Zion.Because
the name of Mount Zion had moved to its present location, as described above,
Christian pilgrims in the 10th century developed a belief that David’s burial
place was there too.It was actually the Christian Crusaders who built the
present memorial on Mount Zion called the Tomb of King David. However, three of
the walls of the room where its empty cenotaph stands are apparently from the
synagogue-church used by the first-century Judaeo-Christians.Gradually this
memorial came to be accepted as David’s tomb, first by the Jews and later also
by Muslims.
23-Church of Saint
Peter in Gallicantu
Church of Saint Peter
in Gallicantu is a Roman Catholic church located on the eastern slope of Mount
Zion, just outside the Old (walled) City of Jerusalem. The church takes its
name from the Latin word "Gallicantu", meaning cock's-crow. This is
in commemoration of Peter's triple rejection of Jesus "... before the cock
crows twice." (Mark 14:30) The fabulous Saint-Peter-in-Gallicantu Church
is built in the slopes of mount Zion. It was built in 1931. According to tradition, this was the place of
the palace of high priest Caiaphas, where Jesus was brought to jail after his
arrest. Its name (Gallicantu, means the cock's crow) is given after the story
of Peter's triple denial of Christ and the cock crowing twice.
24-BETHLEHEM
Bethleem) is a
Palestinian city located in the central West Bank, Palestine, about 10 km (6.2
miles) south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000 people,It is
the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. The economy is primarily
tourist-driven.The earliest known mention of the city was in the Amarna
correspondence of 1350–1330 BCE during its habitation by the Canaanites. The
Hebrew Bible, which says that the city of Bethlehem was built up as a fortified
city by Rehoboam,[7] identifies it as the city David was from and where he was
crowned as the king of Israel. The New Testament identifies Bethlehem as the
birthplace of Jesus. Bethlehem was destroyed by the Emperor Hadrian during the
second-century Bar Kokhba revolt; its rebuilding was promoted by Empress
Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, who commissioned the building of its
great Church of the Nativity in 327 CE. The church was badly damaged by the
Samaritans, who sacked it during a revolt in 529, but was rebuilt a century
later by Emperor Justinian I.
Bethlehem became part
of Jund Filastin following the Muslim conquest in 637. Muslim rule continued in
Bethlehem until its conquest in 1099 by a crusading army, who replaced the
town's Greek Orthodox clergy with a Latin one. In the mid-13th century, the
Mamluks demolished the city's walls, which were subsequently rebuilt under the
Ottomans in the early 16th century.[8] Control of Bethlehem passed from the
Ottomans to the British at the end of World War I. Bethlehem came under
Jordanian rule during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and was later captured by
Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. Since the 1995 Oslo Accords, Bethlehem has been
administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Bethlehem now has a
Muslim majority, but is still home to a significant Palestinian Christian
community. Bethlehem's chief economic sector is tourism, which peaks during the
Christmas season when Christians make pilgrimage to the Church of the Nativity,
as they have done for almost 2,000 years. Bethlehem has over 30 hotels and 300
handicraft workshops.[9] Rachel's Tomb, an important Jewish holy site, is
located at the northern entrance of Bethlehem.
25-Church of the
Nativity, Bethlehem
The Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem is a major Christian holy site, as it marks the
traditional place of Christ's birth. It is also one of the oldest surviving
Christian churches.The birth of Jesus is narrated in the Gospels of Matthew and
Luke. Matthew gives the impression that Mary and Joseph were from Bethlehem and
later moved to Nazareth because of Herod's decree, while Luke indicates that
Mary and Joseph were from Nazareth, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem while they
were in town for a special census. Scholars tend to see these two stories as
irreconcilable and believe Matthew to be more reliable because of historical
problems with Luke's version.
But both accounts agree
that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. According to Luke 2:7
(in the traditional translation), Mary "laid him in a manger because there
was no room for them in the inn." But the Greek can also be rendered,
"she laid him in a manger because they had no space in the room" — we
should perhaps imagine Jesus being born in a quiet back room of an overflowing
one-room house.
The gospel accounts
don't mention a cave, but less than a century later, both Justin Martyr and the
Protoevangelium of James say Jesus was born in a cave. This is reasonable, as
many houses in the area are still built in front of a cave. The cave part would
have been used for stabling and storage - thus the manger.
History of the Church
of the Nativity
The first evidence of a
cave in Bethlehem being venerated as Christ's birthplace is in the writings of
Justin Martyr around 160 AD. The tradition is also attested by Origen and
Eusebius in the 3rd century.
In 326, Constantine and
his mother St. Helena commisioned a church to be built over the cave. This
first church, dedicated on May 31, 339, had an octagonal floor plan and was
placed directly above the cave. In the center, a 4-meter-wide hole surrounded
by a railing provided a view of the cave. Portions of the floor mosaic survive
from this period. St. Jerome lived and worked in Bethlehem from 384 AD, and he
was buried in a cave beneath the Church of the Nativity.The Constantinian
church was destroyed by Justinian in 530 AD, who built the much larger church
that remains today. The Persians spared it during their invasion in 614 AD
because, according to legend, they were impressed by a representation of the
Magi — fellow Persians — that decorated the building. This was quoted at a
9th-century synod in Jerusalem to show the utility of religious images.
Muslims prevented the
application of Hakim's decree (1009) 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 1009.
Baldwin I and II were crowned there, and in an impressive display of tolerance
the Franks and Byzantines cooperated in fully redecorating the interior
(1165-69). 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 (1854–56).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.
The Door of Humility, a
small rectangular entrance to the church, was created in Ottoman times to
prevent carts being driven in by looters, and to force even the most important
visitor to dismount from his horse as he entered the holy place. The doorway
was reduced from an earlier Crusader doorway, the pointed arch of which can
still be seen above the current door. The outline of the Justinian square
entrance can also be seen above the door.
The wide nave survives
intact from Justinian's time, although the roof is 15th-century with
19th-century restorations.Thirty of the nave's 44 columns carry Crusader
paintings of saints and the Virgin and Child, although age and lighting
conditions make them hard to see.The columns are made of pink, polished
limestone, most of them dating from the original 4th-century Constantinian
basilica.
Fragments of high-quality
wall mosaics dating from the 1160s decorate both sides of the nave. Each side
once had three registers, of which we know the details because of a description
made in 1628. The lowest depicted the ancestors of Jesus; the middle contained
the decrees of provincial and ecumenical councils; and the top has a series of
angels between the windows. The name of the artist, Basilius Pictor, appears at
the foot of the third angel from the right on the north wall.
Trap doors in the
present floor reveal sections of floor mosaics surviving from the original
basilica. The mosaics feature complex geometric designs with birds, flowers and
vine patterns, making a rich and elaborate carpet for Constantine's church.
Similar doors in the north transept protect another 4th-century mosaic that
shows the Constantinian apse was octagonal; these are sometimes opened on
request.
An octagonal baptismal
font in the south aisle dates from the 6th-century church of Justinian; it
originally stood near the high altar. The inscription reads, "For
remembrance, rest and remission of sins of those whose names the Lord
knows." Archaeologists have discovered an octagonal bed of exactly the
same dimensions over a cistern near the altar which provided the required
water. After the font was moved in the Crusader renovation, it became the focus
of various colorful legends: it was the well into which the star of the Magi
fell; the well where the Magi watered their horses; or the well to which
David's three heroes came.
The main altar at the
east end and the one on the south (Altar of the Circumcision) are the property
of the Greek Orthodox Church. The main altar includes an Orthodox iconostasis,
which is crowned with gilded angels, icons, gilded chandeliers and lamps. On
the north side of the high altar is the Armenian Altar of the Three Kings,
dedicated to the Magi who tied up their horses nearby, and in the north apse is
an Armenian altar dedicated to the Virgin Mary.The Grotto of the Nativity, a
rectangular cavern beneath the church, is the Church of the Nativity's focal
point. Entered by a flight of steps by the church altar, this is the cave that
has been honored as the site of Christ's birth since at least the 2nd century.
A silver star in the
floor marks the very spot where Christ is believed to have been born. The
star's Latin inscription reads, "Here of the Virgin Mary Jesus Christ was
born — 1717." The floor is paved in marble, and 15 lamps hang above the
star (six belong to the Greeks, five to the Armenians and four to the Latins).All
other furnishings date from after the fire of 1869, except for the bronze gates
at the north and south entrances to the Grotto, which are from Justinian's
6th-century church.Steps away from the birthplace shrine is the Chapel of the
Manger, owned by the Roman Catholics. Fragments of 12th-century wall mosaics
and capitals around the manger survive. Back in the upper church, a door in the
north apse leads to the Catholic Church of St. Catherine.
26-Milk Grotto of
Bethalehem-The Milk Grotto (officially Magharet Sitti Mariam, "Grotto of
the Lady Mary") is a serene grotto only a few minutes' walk from Manger
Square in Bethlehem.
This grotto, with a
Franciscan chapel built above it, is considered sacred because tradition has it
that the Holy Family took refuge here during the Slaughter of the Innocents,
before their flight into Egypt. Tradition has it that while Mary was nursing
Jesus here, a drop of milk fell to the ground, turning it white.The irregularly
shaped grotto is hollowed out of the soft white rock. A church was built here
by the 5th century, and mosaic fragments on the terrace of the grotto, with
geometrical motifs and crosses, are thought to belong to this time.
Both Christians and
Muslims believe scrapings from the stones in the grotto boost the quantity of a
mother's milk and enhance fertility. Mothers usually mix it in their drinking
water; would-be mothers place the rock under their mattress.There is also an
old tradition that identifies this as the burial site of the young victims of
Herod's Slaughter of the Innocents. (There is a chapel dedicated to them in the
caves beneath the Church of St.
27-Chapel of the
Shepherd's Field
The Shepherd's Field
Chapel is the name given to a religious building of the Catholic church that is
in the area of Beit Sahur southeast of Bethlehem in the West Bank in
Palestine.Some shepherds, amongst the most despised of the Jewish people, went
to adore Jesus. Dazzled by a great light, an angel brought them the tidings of
joy that the long-awaited saviour had been born. And they heard a host of
angels praising God who, by sending the Messiah to the earth, had shown His
greatness to the celestial court and given salvation to men.The Sanctuary,
designed by Barluzzi, stands on a rock overlooking the ruins. It has a
dodecagonal shape with five apses having an inclined plane, recalling the
structure of a field tent like the one used by the shepherds at that time. The
light that penetrates the concrete and glass dome, illuminating the interior
calls to mind the divine light that appeared to the shepherds.
28-Jerusalem
Jerusalem, a Middle
Eastern city west of the Dead Sea, has been a place of pilgrimage and worship
for Jews, Christians and Muslims since the biblical era. Its Old City has
significant religious sites around the Temple Mount compound, including the
Western Wall (sacred to Judaism), the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (a Christian
pilgrimage site) and the Dome of the Rock (a 7th-century Islamic shrine with a
gold dome). Jerusalem is totally unique – there is no other place like it. A
city of tradition, religion, and history, but also, increasingly, of modern
culture and heritage, it is a city with so much to offer that you could spend
years here and still not see everything.
29-Walking the Stations
of the Cross in Jerusalem
There were many things
I wanted to do in Jerusalem, and walking the Via Dolorosa, the Way of
Suffering, was high on the list. The circuitous route is believed by many to
follow the path that Jesus walked, carrying his cross, on the way to his
crucifixion. I’m not necessarily a religious person, but I am a history buff,
particularly antiquity and especially Biblical history. I don’t know why,
that’s just how I roll and I wanted to see the Stations of the Cross.
The best time to walk
the ancient path is early in the morning, before the crowds converge on the Old
City. When I walked it I was practically alone, but when I returned later large
tour groups made the walk almost impossible to navigate. Plus there is a
certain solemnity when alone, right after first light as you walk towards the
Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For those looking for a more organized
experience, free tours are available Fridays at 3:00 PM led by priests,
starting at the Monastery of the Flagellation near the entrance to the Lion’s
Gate. This guide though should help anyone navigate the twisty route following
the Stations of the Cross.
The Church of the Holy
Sepulchreis a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, a
few steps away from the Muristan. The church contains, according to traditions
dating back to at least the fourth century, the two holiest sites in
Christianity: the site where Jesus of Nazareth was crucified,[1] at a place
known as "Calvary" or "Golgotha", and Jesus's empty tomb,
where he is said to have been buried and resurrected.[2] The tomb is enclosed
by the 18th-century shrine, called the Aedicule (Edicule).
Within the church
proper are the last four (or, by some definitions, five) Stations of the Via
Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of Jesus' Passion. The church has
been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the fourth
century, as the traditional site of the Resurrection of Christ, thus its
original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis.
Today, the wider
complex accumulated during the centuries around the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of
Jerusalem, while control of the church itself is shared between several
Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements
essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. The main
denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Greek Orthodox,
Armenian Orthodox and Roman Catholic, and to a lesser degree the Egyptian Copts,
Syriacs and Ethiopians. Meanwhile, Protestants, including Anglicans, have no
permanent presence in the Church. Some Protestants prefer The Garden Tomb,
elsewhere in Jerusalem, as a more evocative site to commemorate Jesus'
crucifixion and resurrection.
30-Empty tomp of jesus
Christ
From the earliest
apostolic period, the reality of the empty tomb—the biblical truth that the
tomb of Jesus of Nazareth was found empty by His disciples—has been at the
center of the Christian proclamation. All four Gospels describe, to varying
degrees, the circumstances surrounding the discovery of the empty tomb (Matthew
28:1–6; Mark 16:1–7; Luke 24:1–12; John 20:1–12). But are there any good
reasons to think that these claims are historically accurate? Could a
fair-minded investigator conclude that, in all probability, Jesus’ tomb was
found empty on that first Easter morning? There are several arguments that have
convinced a good many historians that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was
indeed found empty on the Sunday following His crucifixion.
First, the location of
Jesus’ tomb would have been known to Christians and non-Christians alike. While
it is true that most victims of crucifixion were either thrown in a graveyard
reserved for common criminals or simply left on the cross for birds and other
scavengers to feed upon, the case of Jesus was different. The historical record
indicates that Jesus was buried in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of
the Sanhedrin, the very group that had orchestrated Jesus’ execution. Many
skeptical New Testament scholars have been convinced that Jesus’ burial by
Joseph of Arimathea is unlikely to have been a Christian fabrication. Given the
understandable hostility of the earliest Christians toward the Sanhedrin, whom
they felt were largely responsible for their Master’s death, it is unlikely
that Jesus’ followers would have invented a tradition about a member of the
Sanhedrin using his own tomb to provide Jesus with a respectable burial.In
addition, recent archaeological discoveries have demonstrated that the style of
tomb described in the burial accounts in the Gospels (an acrosolia or bench
tomb) was largely used by the wealthy and other people of prominence. Such a
description fits nicely with what we know of Joseph of Arimathea. Moreover,
when we couple these considerations with the fact that Arimathea was a town of
little importance that lacked any type of scriptural symbolism and that no
competing burial tradition exists, any serious doubt that Jesus was buried in
Joseph’s tomb is eliminated.
The significance of
these facts should not be overlooked as the Sanhedrin would then have certainly
known the location of Joseph’s tomb, and thus, where Jesus had been interred.
And if the location of Jesus’ tomb was known to the Jewish authorities, it
would have been nearly impossible for the Christian movement to have gained any
traction in Jerusalem, the very city where Jesus was known to have been buried.
Would not any of the Jewish religious leaders have taken the short walk to
Joseph’s tomb to verify this claim? Did not the Sanhedrin have every motivation
to produce Jesus’ corpse (if it were available) and put an end to these rumors
of a resurrected Jesus once and for all? The fact that Christianity began to
gain converts in Jerusalem tells us that no corpse had been produced despite
the Jewish religious leadership having every motivation to produce one. If
Jesus’ crucified body had been produced, the Christian movement, with its
emphasis on a resurrected Jesus, would have been dealt a lethal blow.
Second, the empty tomb
is implied in the early oral formula quoted by the apostle Paul in 1
Corinthians 15. While all four Gospels attest to the vacancy of Jesus’ tomb,
our earliest hint at the empty tomb comes from the Apostle Paul. Writing to the
church at Corinth in approximately AD 55, Paul quotes an oral formula (or
creed) that most scholars believe he received from the apostles Peter and James
just five years after Jesus’ crucifixion (Galatians 1:18–19). Paul states, “For
what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for
our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on
the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and
then to the Twelve” (1 Corinthians 15:3–5). When Paul writes “…that he was
buried, that he was raised…” it is strongly implied (given Paul’s Pharisaical
background) that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was empty. As a former
Pharisee, Paul would have naturally understood that what goes down in burial
comes up in resurrection; he accepted the idea of physical resurrection even
before his encounter with Christ. Given that Paul’s source for this creed was
most likely the Jerusalem apostles and their proximity to the events in
question, Paul’s citation of this oral formula provides strong evidence that
Jesus’ tomb had been found empty and that this fact was widely known in the
early Christian community. The oft-repeated objection that Paul was unaware of
an empty tomb is answered when we see that elsewhere Paul taught that Jesus’
resurrection was bodily in nature (Romans 8:11; Philippians 3:21). For Paul, a
resurrection that did not produce a vacant tomb would have been a contradiction
in terms.
Third, there appears to
be strong enemy attestation of the existence of an empty tomb. The first of
these comes from within the pages of the Gospel of Matthew itself where Matthew
reports that there was an acknowledgment of the empty tomb by the Jewish
leaders themselves (Matthew 28:13–15). They were claiming that the disciples
had come and stolen away Jesus’ body. Given the proximity of the writing of
Matthew’s Gospel to the event in question, such a claim would have been easy to
disprove if untrue. For if Matthew were lying, his report of the Jewish
response to the empty tomb proclamation could have easily been discredited as
many of the contemporaries of the events in question would still have been
alive when Matthew’s Gospel was initially circulating. But why would they
accuse the disciples of stealing Jesus’ body if the tomb still contained the
dead body of Jesus? The counter-accusation made by the Jews presupposes that
the tomb was empty.
That the Jews accused
the disciples of stealing Jesus’ body is corroborated by the Christian
apologist Justin Martyr in the middle of the second century (Dialogue with
Trypho, 108) and then again around AD 200 by the church father Tertullian (De
Spectaculis, 30). Both Justin and Tertullian were interacting with the Jewish
debaters of their day and were in a position to know what it was their Jewish
opponents were saying. They were not simply relying on Matthew’s Gospel for
their information. For both Justin and Tertullian mention specific details not
found in the Gospel of Matthew. In fact, all three of these writers cite details
not mentioned by the others. Based on these considerations, it appears that
there was an early Jewish acknowledgement of an empty tomb.
Fourth, all four
Gospels report that the tomb of Jesus was discovered empty by women. This point
is especially significant given the patriarchal nature of first-century Israel.
While it is true that, under very limited circumstances, women were allowed to
testify in a court of law, it is also the case that, in first-century Jewish
society, a woman’s testimony was worth far less than that of a man. If you were
making up a story in an attempt to persuade others that Jesus had been
resurrected, you would never have used women as your primary witnesses. Any
made-up story would have featured male disciples like Peter, John, or Andrew as
the discoverers of the empty tomb, as the testimony of men would have provided
much-needed credibility to the story.
Yet the Gospels report
that, while Jesus’ male disciples were cowering in fear, hiding from the
authorities, it was women who were the earliest witnesses of the empty tomb.
There would simply be no reason for the early church to concoct such a scenario
unless it was true. Why would the early Christians portray their male
leadership as cowards and place females in the role of primary witnesses? One
of these named female witnesses (Mary Magdalene) was said to have been
possessed of seven devils earlier in her life, thus making her an even less
reliable witness in the eyes of many. And yet, despite these evidential
handicaps, the earliest Christians insisted that the first witnesses to the
empty tomb were, in fact, women. The most likely explanation of this insistence
is that these women were the initial witness of the empty tomb and that the
earliest Christians were unwilling to lie about it despite its potentially
embarrassing nature.All four of these arguments help to provide cumulative
proof that the tomb of Jesus Christ was empty on the first Easter. Particularly
telling is the conclusion of historian Michael Grant, himself a skeptic of
Jesus’ resurrection, “…if we apply the same sort of criteria that we would
apply to any other ancient literary sources, then the evidence is firm and
plausible enough to necessitate the conclusion that the tomb was, indeed, found
empty.Of course, there is more to the story than merely an empty tomb. The
reason the tomb was found empty was that the man who was buried there had risen
from the dead. Jesus would not only vacate His grave but appear to numerous
people individually (Luke 24:34) and in groups (Matthew 28:9; John 20:26–30;
21:1–14; Acts 1:3–6; 1 Corinthians 15:3–7). And His resurrection from the dead
would be the sure proof that He was who He claimed to be (Matthew 12:38–40;
16:1–4)—the risen Son of God, our only hope of salvation.
31-CARDO
The Cardo was
Jerusalem's main street 1500 years ago.
The Cardo was originally paved in the 2nd century when Hadrian rebuilt
Jerusalem as a Roman polis called Aelia Capitolina. The Cardo was extended
south to the area of today's Jewish Quarter in the 6thcentury by the Byzantine
Emperor Justinian.In its day, The Cardo was an exceptionally wide colonnaded
street running through the heart (or cardo) of the city on a north-south axis,
connecting many of Byzantine Jerusalem's major institutions. Parallel rows of columns supported a red
ceramic tile roof and an arcade ran along, at least part of its eastern
side. Jerusalem's Cardo (cardos were
features of many Roman cities, especially in the Near East) is depicted on the
Madaba Map, the mosaic pavement of a 6th century Byzantine Church found in the
town of Madaba in Jordan. There is a replica of the Madaba Map on display in
the Cardo.
32-WAILING WALL
The Western Wall is a
surviving remnant of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which was destroyed by the
Romans in 70 CE. The Temple was the center of the spiritual world, the main
conduit for the flow of Godliness. When the Temple stood, the world was filled
with awe of God and appreciation for the genius of the Torah.Jewish tradition
teaches that all of creation began in Jerusalem.the Place of Weeping) is an
ancient limestone wall in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a relatively small
segment of a far longer ancient retaining wall, known also in its entirety as
the "Western Wall". The wall was originally erected as part of the
expansion of the Second Jewish Temple by Herod the Great, which resulted in the
encasement of the natural, steep hill known to Jews and Christians as the
Temple Mount, in a large rectangular structure topped by a huge flat platform,
thus creating more space for the Temple itself and its auxiliary buildings.
The Western Wall is
considered holy due to its connection to the Temple Mount. Because of the
status quo policy, the Wall is the holiest place where Jews are permitted to
pray, though it is not the holiest site in the Jewish faith, which lies behind
it. The original, natural and irregular-shaped Temple Mount was gradually
extended to allow for an ever-larger Temple compound to be built at its top.
This process was finalised by Herod, who enclosed the Mount with an almost
rectangular set of retaining walls, built to support extensive substructures
and earth fills needed to give the natural hill a geometrically regular shape.
On top of this box-like structure Herod built a vast paved esplanade which surrounded
the Temple. Of the four retaining walls, the western one is considered to be
closest to the former Temple, which makes it the most sacred site recognised by
Judaism outside the former Temple Mount esplanade. Just over half the wall's
total height, including its 17 courses located below street level, dates from
the end of the Second Temple period, and is commonly believed to have been
built around 19 BCE by Herod the Great, although recent excavations indicate
that the work was not finished by the time Herod died in 4 BCE. The very large
stone blocks of the lower courses are Herodian, the courses of medium-sized
stones above them were added during the Umayyad era, while the small stones of
the uppermost courses are of more recent date, especially from the Ottoman
period.
The term Western Wall
and its variations are mostly used in a narrow sense for the section
traditionally used by Jews for prayer, and it has also been called the
"Wailing Wall", referring to the practice of Jews weeping at the site
over the destruction of the Temples. During the period of Christian Roman rule
over Jerusalem (ca. 324–638), Jews were completely barred from Jerusalem except
to attend Tisha be-Av, the day of national mourning for the Temples, and on
this day the Jews would weep at their holy places. The term "Wailing
Wall" was thus almost exclusively used by Christians, and was revived in
the period of non-Jewish control between the establishment of British Rule in
1920 and the Six-Day War in 1967. The term "Wailing Wall" is not used
by Jews and increasingly many others who consider it derogatory.[1]
In a broader sense,
"Western Wall" can refer to the entire 488 metre-long (1,601 ft.)
retaining wall on the western side of the Temple Mount. The classic portion now
faces a large plaza in the Jewish Quarter, near the southwestern corner of the
Temple Mount, while the rest of the wall is concealed behind structures in the
Muslim Quarter, with the small exception of a 25 ft (8 m) section, the
so-called Little Western Wall. The segment of the Western retaining wall
traditionally used for Jewish liturgy known as the "Western Wall"
derives its particular importance to it having never been fully obscured by
medieval buildings, and displaying much more of the original Herodian stonework
than the "Little Western Wall". In religious terms, the "Little
Western Wall" is presumed to be even closer to the Holy of Holies and thus
to the "presence of God" (Shechina), and the undergroundWarren's
Gate, which has been out of reach since the 12th century, even more so.
The wall has been a
site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage for centuries; the earliest source
mentioning this specific site as a place of worship is from the 16th
century.[1] The previous sites used by Jews for mourning the destruction of the
Temple, during periods when access to the city was prohibited to them, lay to
the east, on the Mount of Olives[1] and in the Kidron Valley below it. From the
mid-19th century onwards, attempts to purchase rights to the wall and its
immediate area were made by various Jews, but none was successful. With the
rise of the Zionist movement in the early 20th century, the wall became a
source of friction between the Jewish and Muslim communities, the latter being
worried that the wall could be used to further Jewish claims to the Temple
Mount and thus Jerusalem. During this period outbreaks of violence at the foot
of the wall became commonplace, with a particularly deadly riot in 1929 in
which 133 Jews were killed and 339 injured. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War the
Eastern portion of Jerusalem was occupied by Jordan. Under Jordanian control
Jews were completely expelled from the Old City including the Jewish quarter,
and Jews were barred from entering the Old City for 19 years, effectively
banning Jewish prayer at the site of the Western Wall. This period ended on
June 10, 1967, when Israel gained control of the site following the Six-Day
War. Three days after establishing control over the Western Wall site the
Moroccan Quarter was bulldozed by Israeli authorities to create space for what
is now the Western Wall plaza.
33-MOUNT MORIAH
Mount Moriah in Old
City Jerusalem is the site of numerous biblical acts of faith. It is also one
of the most valuable pieces of real estate and one of the most hotly contested
pieces of real estate on earth. This is a profoundly sacred area to Christians,
Jews, and Muslims. Sitting atop Mount Moriah today is the Temple Mount, a
37-acre tract of land where the Jewish temple once stood. Several important
Islamic holy sites are there now, including the Dome of the Rock – a Muslim
shrine built thirteen hundred years ago – and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Mount
Moriah’s history begins in Genesis. In the twenty-second chapter, God commands
Abraham, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the
land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains
which I will tell you” (Genesis 22:2). The place God led Abraham was Mount
Moriah. Abraham didn’t fully understand what God was asking him to do in light
of God’s previous promise to establish an everlasting covenant with Isaac
(Genesis 17:19); nonetheless, he trusted God and by faith offered Isaac as a
sacrifice. Of course, God intervened and spared Isaac’s life by providing a ram
instead. Abraham thereafter called this place “The LORD Will Provide. And to
this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided’”
(Genesis 22:14). Because of Abraham’s obedience on Mount Moriah, God told
Abraham that his “descendants will take possession of the cities of their
enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed
because you have obeyed me” (vv. 17, 18).
Seventy years later the
temple was rebuilt on the same site by the Jews who returned to Jerusalem
following their Babylon captivity. Around the first century, King Herod made a
significant addition to this structure, which then became known as Herod’s
Temple. It was this temple that Jesus cleansed (John 2:15).However, in A.D. 70,
the Roman armies led by Titus, son of the Emperor Vespasian, once again
destroyed the temple. All that remains of the Temple Mount of that era is a
portion of a retaining wall known as the “Western Wall” or the “Wailing Wall.”
It has been a destination for pilgrims and a site of prayer for Jews for many centuries.
34-Al-Aqsa Mosque
Al-Aqsa, is the third
holiest site in Sunni Islam and is located in the Old City of Jerusalem. Whilst
the entire site on which the silver-domed mosque sits, along with the Dome of
the Rock, seventeen gates, and four minarets, was itself historically known as
the Al-Aqsa Mosque, today a narrower definition prevails,[note 1] and the wider
compound is usually referred to as al-Haram ash-Sharif ("the Noble
Sanctuary"),[3] or the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. Muslims
believe that Muhammad was transported from the Sacred Mosque in Mecca to
al-Aqsa during the Night Journey. Islamic tradition holds that Muhammad led
prayers towards this site until the seventeenth month after the emigration,
when God directed him to turn towards the Kaaba.
The mosque was
originally a small prayer house built by Umar the second caliph of the Rashidun
Caliphate, but was rebuilt and expanded by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and
finished by his son al-Walid in 705 CE. The mosque was completely destroyed by
an earthquake in 746 and rebuilt by the Abbasid caliph al-Mansur in 754. His
successor al-Mahdi rebuilt it again in 780. Another earthquake destroyed most
of al-Aqsa in 1033, but two years later the Fatimid caliph Ali az-Zahir built
another mosque which has stood to the present day.
During the periodic
renovations undertaken, the various ruling dynasties of the Islamic Caliphate
constructed additions to the mosque and its precincts, such as its dome,
facade, its minbar, minarets and the interior structure. When the Crusaders
captured Jerusalem in 1099, they used the mosque as a palace and the Dome of
the Rock as a church, but its function as a mosque was restored after its
recapture by Saladin in 1187. More renovations, repairs and additions were
undertaken in the later centuries by the Ayyubids, Mamluks, Ottomans, the
Supreme Muslim Council, and Jordan. Today, the Old City is under Israeli
control, but the mosque remains under the administration of the
Jordanian/Palestinian-led Islamic Waqf.
35-Church of Saint John
the Baptist, Jerusalem
The Church of Saint
John the Baptist in the Muristan compound of the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem
is a small Greek Orthodox church. It was founded in 450-460 by Empress Eudoсia
and restored after the destruction by Persians in 614. The current building was
erected over the Byzantine church by Amalfian merchants in 11th century and
became the headquarters of Knights Hospitaller after the Crusaders took the
city. The church was used as a mosque for some time in 16th century but then
reverted to Greek ownership. The building has 3 apses and a long narthex, its
dome is supported by 4 pillars.[1]
According to the Greek
Orthodox tradition the head of St. John the Baptist was buried in this
church.[2]
St. John the Baptist
Church in Ein Kerem is a Catholic monastery and church built above the cave
believed to be where the John the Baptist, who baptized Jesus Christ, was
born. St. John the Baptist Church was
built over Byzantine and Crusaders chapels which existed there before. In the
quart yard of the church are ceramic tile plates with the biblical text of
Zechariah gave thanks in song when his son, John the Baptist, was born. The
text from Luke 67-79, is written in 24 different languages.
36-VISITATION CHURCH
The Franciscan
Visitation church in the village of Ein Kerem (Karem), on the west side of
Jerusalem, is named after virgin Mary's visited to the summer house of the
parents of John the Baptist. Ein Kerem
is according to tradition the birthplace of John the Baptist. The Visitation church is located in the
village of Ein Kerem, west of Jerusalem .In Luke 1, the pregnant Mary visited
her pregnant cousin Elizabeth and stayed for three months (Lk 1:56). Upon
Mary's arrival, the unborn John the Baptist recognized the unborn Jesus and
"leaped with joy" in Elizabeth's womb (Lk 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 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.The present Church of the
Visitation incorporates a natural grotto that once contained a small spring.
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 after the
Crusaders left.
In 1679, the site was
bought by the Franciscans. After two centuries, they finally managed to get
permission from the Ottoman authorities to restore the church. The Lower Church
was restored in 1862 and the Upper Church was completed in 1955.
37-JERICHO
Jericho is a city in the Palestinian Territories and is located near
the Jordan River in the West Bank. It is the administrative seat of the Jericho
Governorate, and is governed by the Fatah faction of the Palestinian National
Authority.[2] In 2007, it had a population of 18,346.[3] The city was occupied
by Jordan from 1949 to 1967, and has been held under Israeli occupation since
1967; administrative control was handed over to the Palestinian Authority in
1994.[4][5] It is believed to be one of the oldest inhabited cities in the
world[6][7][8] and the city with the oldest known protective wall in the
world.[9] It was thought to have the oldest stone tower in the world as well,
but excavations at Tell Qaramel in Syria have discovered stone towers that are
even older
38-Qumran Caves
Qumran Caves are a
series of caves, some natural, some artificial, found around the archaeological
site of Qumran in the Judaean Desert of the West Bank. It is in a number of
these caves that the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered. The caves are recognized
in Israel as a National Heritage Site.
39-Dead Sea
Dead Sea, Arabic Al-Baḥr
Al-Mayyit (“Sea of Death”), Hebrew Yam HaMelaẖ (“Salt Sea”), also called Salt
Sea, landlocked salt lake between Israel and Jordan in southwestern Asia. Its
eastern shore belongs to Jordan, and the southern half of its western shore
belongs to Israel. The northern half of the western shore lies within the
Palestinian West Bank and has been under Israeli occupation since the 1967
Arab-Israeli war. The Jordan River, from which the Dead Sea receives nearly all
its water, flows from the north into the lake.
The Dead Sea has the
lowest elevation and is the lowest body of water on the surface of Earth. For
several decades in the mid-20th century the standard value given for the
surface level of the lake was some 1,300 feet (400 metres) below sea level.
Beginning in the 1960s, however, Israel and Jordan began diverting much of the
Jordan River’s flow and increased the use of the lake’s water itself for
commercial purposes. The result of those activities was a precipitous drop in
the Dead Sea’s water level. By the mid-2010s measurement of the lake level was
more than 100 feet (some 30 metres) below the mid-20th-century figure—i.e.,
about 1,410 feet (430 metres) below sea level—but the lake continued to drop by
about 3 feet (1 metre) annually.
The Dead Sea is
famously known for being one of the saltiest bodies of water in the world, and
certainly the deepest hyper-saline in the world, at a depth of 304 meters (997
feet). And the reason for this high salinity? The Dead Sea is a terminus for
the flow of rain and surface water, which means water flows into it but doesn’t
flow out: its water has no escape, but is trapped to evaporate. Soaring summer temperatures and year-round
hot dry climatic conditions lead to significant losses of water to evaporation.
The water has been losing its H2O content for 65,000 years, with the minerals
becoming more and more concentrated and salt prominent among them.
The lowest point on
Earth at 430.5 meters (1412 feet) below sea level, it is a majestic and
mysterious looking lake of light turquoise waters with salt crystals jutting
out of it, and golden-brown hills surrounding it. Are you asking yourself now:
“But wait, where is the Dead Sea located?” Well, it is located in the Jordan
Rift Valley, bordered by Israel to the East and Jordan to the West. Its
hyper-salty waters and mineral-rich mud are known for their many health
benefits, and many tourists and locals alike visit the hotels and spas on its
beaches for mud treatments and salt baths.
40-Taba Border Crossing
The Taba Border
Crossing is an international border crossing between Taba, Egypt, and Eilat,
Israel. Taba (Egyptian Arabic: طابا Ṭāba , IPA: [ˈtˤɑːbɑ]) is a small Egyptian town near the northern tip
of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with
neighbouring Eilat, Israel. Despite it consisting of little more than a bus
depot and a luxury hotel (complete with casino), Taba is a frequent vacation
spot for Egyptians and tourists, especially those from Israel on their way to
other destinations in Egypt or as a weekend getaway. It is the northernmost
resort of Egypt's Red Sea Riviera.[1] he Taba International Border, opened
April 26, 1982, is currently the only operational entry & exit point
between Israel & Egypt that handles tourists.
41-EGYPT
Egypt (, officially the
Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast
corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the
Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and
Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red Sea to the east
and south, Sudan to the south, and Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba
lies Jordan, and across from the Sinai Peninsula lies Saudi Arabia, although
Jordan and Saudi Arabia do not share a land border with Egypt. It is the
world's only contiguous Afrasian nation.
Egypt has among the
longest histories of any modern country, emerging as one of the world's first
nation states in the tenth millennium BC.[16] Considered a cradle of
civilisation, Ancient Egypt experienced some of the earliest developments of
writing, agriculture, urbanisation, organised religion and central government.
Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the
ruins of Memphis, Thebes, Karnak, and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this
legacy and remain a significant focus of archaeological study and popular
interest worldwide. Egypt's rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its
national identity, which has endured, and at times assimilated, various foreign
influences, including Greek, Persian, Roman, Arab, Ottoman, and European. One
of the earliest centres of Christianity, Egypt was Islamised in the seventh
century and remains a predominantly Muslim country, albeit with a significant
Christian minority.
With over 92 million
inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa and the Arab
world, the third-most populous in Africa (after Nigeria and Ethiopia), and the
fifteenth-most populous in the world. The great majority of its people live
near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres
(15,000 sq mi), where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the
Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely
inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most
spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo, Alexandria and
other major cities in the Nile Delta.
42-Tomb of Lazarus,
Jerusalem
The Tomb of Lazarus in
Bethany has long been venerated by Christians and Muslims alike, and a modern
church dedicated to the resurreIn the BibleBethany 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.
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 Chapel of the Ascension).
A village has been here
since at least Roman times, and nearby was an Iron Age settlement that is
believed to be the biblical Ananiah in the territory of Benjamin (Neh. 11:32)
that is called Bethany in the New Testament (Beth Ananiah = Bethany).
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 490 AD, 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 of the liturgy on Saturday in the seventh week of Lent:
This structure known as
the Lazarium 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.
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. Afer 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 (photo, right).
In 1952-55 a modern
Franciscan church dedicated to St. Lazarus was built over the Byzantine church
of St. Lazarus and Crusader east church of Sts. Mary and Martha. In 1965, a
Greek church was built just west of the Tomb of Lazarus.
43-Mary of Bethany
Mary of Bethany
'biblical figure described in the Gospels of John
and Luke in the Christian New Testament. Together with her siblings Lazarus and
Martha, she is described by John as living in the village of Bethany near
Jerusalem; in Luke only the two sisters, living in an unnamed village, are
mentioned. Most Christian commentators have been ready to assume that the two
sets of sisters named as Mary and Martha are the same, though this is not
conclusively stated in the Gospels, and the proliferation of New Testament
"Marys" is notorious.
Medieval Western Christianity
identified Mary of Bethany with Mary Magdalene and with the sinful woman of
Luke 7:36–50. This influenced the Roman Rite liturgy of the feast of Mary
Magdalene, with a Gospel reading about the sinful woman and a collect referring
to Mary of Bethany. Since the 1969 revision of that liturgy, Mary Magdalene's
feast day continues to be on 22 July, but Mary of Bethany is celebrated,
together with her brother Lazarus, on 29 July, the memorial of their sister
Martha.[2] In Eastern Christianity and some Protestant traditions, Mary of
Bethany and Mary Magdalene are considered separate people.[3] The Orthodox
Church has its own traditions regarding Mary of Bethany's life beyond the
gospel accounts.
44-Sycamore tree
andZacchaeus the Tax Collector
19 Jesus entered
Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he
was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was,
but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and
climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When
Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down
immediately. I must stay at your house today.”6 So he came down at once and
welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone
to be the guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up
and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions
to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back
four times the amount.” Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house,
because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek
and to save the lost.”
45-MOUNT OF
TEMPTATION,JERICHO
The summit of Mount of
Temptation, rising to a height of 350 meters above sea level and commanding a
magnificent and panoramic view of the Jordan Valley, is the site where Jesus
(pbuh) spent forty days and forty nights fasting and meditating during the
temptation of Satan, about 3 km northwest of Jericho.
A Greek Orthodox
monastery was built in the 6th century over the cave where Christ (pbuh)
stayed. This spot is another of the holy sites said to have been identified by
Queen Helena in her pilgrimage of 326 AD.The mountain; which from early
Christian times has been called the Mount of Temptation; was referred to as "Mons
Quarantana" by the Crusaders in the first half of the 12th century, and is
locally known as Quruntul mountain (from Quaranta meaning forty, the number of
days in the Gospel account of Christ's fast)."... Again, the devil taketh
him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the
world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get
thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and
him only shalt thou serve" Matthew (IV, 8-10).
To climb up the bare,
rocky slopes of Quruntul mountain might sound daunting, as the path leading to
the Monastery of the Temptation is very steep and difficult to ascend but is
well worth the walk, which is in fact a trek of only 15-30 minutes.
The nearly 30 to 40
caves on the eastern slopes of the mountain have been inhabited by monks and
hermits since the early days of Christianity.
46-Marah; or, The
Bitter Waters Sweetened
Then Moses led Israel
from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they
traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they
could not drink its water because it was bitter. That is why the place is
called Marah. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to
drink?” He cried out to the Lord; and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he
threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.Since primordial times,
people have struggled for basic natural resources, including water which is
such a crucial element of life. We find examples of this struggle throughout
the Bible. For instance, the biblical story in Exodus 15:22-27 tells how the
Israelites searched for clean water to be able to survive after crossing the
Red Sea into the wilderness. They arrive at a place called Marah – Hebrew for
“bitterness” – where they find water but discover that it is not fit for
drinking.
The name of the place
“Marah” can be interpreted simply as a literal reference to the “bitter” water.
But we can also read it as a figurative description of the situation and of the
mood of the people. Fleeing from the Egyptians and crossing the desert without
water, the Israelites find themselves in a difficult moment. Their grumbling
against Moses is also an expression of an inner bitterness, one that may be
borne of feelings of fear, frustration, hopelessness, and, it seems, a lack or
temporary loss of faith.
Today, in the Niger
Delta area people are also thirsty, searching for clean water in order to
survive, similar to the Israelites in Exodus. Their situation is “bitter” –
despite an abundance of water around them, they have no water to drink.
Searching for clean and drinkable water is a herculean task particularly for
women and children who often walk more than three kilometers to get water for
their families. Like many other blessed nations situated in sub-Saharan Africa,
Nigeria has abundant natural resources, particularly oil, which has made it
attractive to multinationals scrambling for its resources. Three decades of oil
exploitation have caused ecological devastation in the region. Water provided
by various rivers in the area has been polluted, making it undrinkable.
47- Sinai
The Sinai Peninsula or
simply Sinai (/ˈsaɪnaɪ/;[1][2] Arabic: سيناء Sīnāʼ ; Egyptian Arabic: سينا Sīna, IPA: [ˈsiːnæ]; Hebrew: סיני Sinai) is a peninsula in Egypt, situated between the Mediterranean Sea
to the north and the Red Sea to the south, serving as a land bridge between
Asia and Africa. It is the only part of Egyptian territory located in Asia.
Sinai has a land area of about 60,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi) and a population of
approximately 1,400,000 people. The bulk of the peninsula is divided
administratively into two of Egypt's 27 governorates (with three more
straddling the Suez Canal area).
The Sinai Peninsula has
been a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt (c. 3100 BC). This
comes in stark contrast to the region north of it, the Levant (present-day
territories of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Palestine), which, due
largely to its strategic geopolitical location and cultural convergences, has
historically been the centre of conflict between Egypt and various states of
Mesopotamia and Asia Minor. In periods of foreign occupation, the Sinai was,
like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by foreign empires, in
more recent history the Ottoman Empire (1517-1867) and the United Kingdom
(1882-1956). Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis (known in
Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression due to the simultaneous coordinated attack
by the UK, France and Israel) of 1956, and during the Six-Day War of 1967. On 6
October 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War to retake the peninsula, which
was the site of fierce fighting between Egyptian and Israeli forces. By 1982,
as a result of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979, Israel had withdrawn from
all of the Sinai Peninsula except the contentious territory of Taba, which was
returned after a ruling by a commission of arbitration in 1989.
Today, Sinai has become
a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and
biblical history. Mount Sinai is one of the most religiously significant places
in the Abrahamic faiths.
48-CAIRO
The origins of the present-day
Cairo can be traced back to the Egyptian capital of Memphis, which is believed
to have been founded in the early 4th millennium BC near the head of the Nile
delta, south of the present city. The city spread to the north along the east
bank of the Nile, and its location has commanded political power ever since. It
was there that the Romans constructed their city called Babylon. Muslim Arabs
who immigrated there from the Arabian Peninsula in AD 641 later called the site
Al Fustat. When a dissident branch of Muslims known as the Fatimid conquered
Egypt in 969, they established their headquarters in the city and called it
Al-Qahira (Cairo). In the 12th century Christian Crusaders attacked Cairo, but
they were defeated by a Muslim army from Syria, led by Saladin, who founded the
Ayyubid Dynasty in the city.
The Mamluke established
their capital in Cairo in the 13th century, and the city became renowned
throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe. Cairo declined after the mid-14th century,
however, when the epidemic of bubonic plague known as the Black Death struck
the city, decimating its population.
The Ottomans conquered
Cairo in 1517, and ruled there until 1798, when the area was captured during an
expedition led by Napoleon I of France. Ottoman rule was restored in 1801, but
by the middle of the 19th century Egypt's foreign debt and the weakness of the
Ottoman Empire invited greater European influence in Cairo. The Viceroy Ismail
Pasha, who ruled from 1863 to 1879, built many European-style structures in the
city and used the occasion of the opening of the Suez Canal northeast of Cairo
in 1869 to showcase the city for the European powers. However, much of the
development that took place during this period was funded by foreign loans,
which led to an increase in the national debt and left Cairo vulnerable to
control by Great Britain. The British effectively ruled Egypt from Cairo from
the late 19th century through the period after World War I (1914-1918), when
the foreign presence in Cairo began to diminish.
Cairo's population grew
rapidly in the in the war years, reaching 2 million by the outbreak of World
War II in 1939. Since that time the city has continued to boom in terms of both
population and development. Some of this population growth has resulted from the
influx of refugees from cities along the Suez Canal that were damaged in the
Arab-Israeli wars of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Many new residential,
commercial, and governmental structures have changed the city's landscape.
Tourist facilities have proven an important source of foreign revenue for
Egypt, and have thus drawn heavy investment from the government.
Cairo has also
benefited from Egypt's growing international prominence. The founding of the
Arab League in 1945 made Cairo a political capital, as has Egypt's ongoing
participation in the Middle East peace process. However, in 1981 the city
witnessed a tragic event when Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat was
assassinated at a military parade by Islamic fundamentalists within the
Egyptian army.
Also, Cairo is an
important centre for publishing and other forms of media. Its newspapers, which
include Al-Ahram (founded in 1875) and Al-Akhbar (1952), exert wide influence
within the Islamic world, as does Radio Cairo. The rich cultural life is
further enhanced by local theatre, cinema, dance, and music, in addition to the
city's vibrant community of journalists and fiction writers; Cairo residents
take great pride in the work of Nobel Prize-winning author and Cairo native
Naguib Mahfouz, whose fiction has provided a chronicle of the city.
49-EGYPT PYRAMIDS
Built during a time
when Egypt was one of the richest and most powerful civilizations in the world,
the pyramids—especially the Great Pyramids of Giza—are some of the most
magnificent man-made structures in history. Their massive scale reflects the
unique role that the pharaoh, or king, played in ancient Egyptian society.
Though pyramids were built from the beginning of the Old Kingdom to the close
of the Ptolemaic period in the fourth century A.D., the peak of pyramid
building began with the late third dynasty and continued until roughly the
sixth (c. 2325 B.C.). More than 4,000 years later, the Egyptian pyramids still
retain much of their majesty, providing a glimpse into the country’s rich and
glorious past. During the third and fourth dynasties of the Old Kingdom, Egypt
enjoyed tremendous economic prosperity and stability. Kings held a unique
position in Egyptian society. Somewhere in between human and divine, they were
believed to have been chosen by the gods to serve as mediators between them and
the people on earth. Because of this, it was in everyone’s interest to keep the
king’s majesty intact even after his death, when he was believed to become
Osiris, god of the dead. The new pharaoh, in turn, became Horus, the falcon-god
who served as protector of the sun-god, Ra.
From the beginning of
the Dynastic Era (2950 B.C.), royal tombs were carved into rock and covered
with flat-roofed rectangular structures known as “mastabas,” which were
precursors to the pyramids. The oldest known pyramid in Egypt was built around
2630 B.C. at Saqqara, for the third dynasty’s King Djoser. Known as the Step
Pyramid, it began as a traditional mastaba but grew into something much more
ambitious. As the story goes, the pyramid’s architect was Imhotep, a priest and
healer who some 1,400 years later would be deified as the patron saint of
scribes and physicians. Over the course of Djoser’s nearly 20-year reign,
pyramid builders assembled six stepped layers of stone (as opposed to
mud-brick, like most earlier tombs) that eventually reached a height of 204
feet (62 meters); it was the tallest building of its time. The Step Pyramid was
surrounded by a complex of courtyards, temples and shrines, where Djoser would
enjoy his afterlife.
After Djoser, the
stepped pyramid became the norm for royal burials, although none of those
planned by his dynastic successors were completed (probably due to their
relatively short reigns). The earliest tomb constructed as a “true”
(smooth-sided, not stepped) pyramid was the Red Pyramid at Dahshur, one of
three burial structures built for the first king of the fourth dynasty, Sneferu
(2613-2589 B.C.) It was named for the color of the limestone blocks used to
construct the pyramid’s core.
THE GREAT PYRAMIDS OF
GIZA
No pyramids are more
celebrated than the Great Pyramids of Giza, located on a plateau on the west
bank of the Nile River, on the outskirts of modern-day Cairo. The oldest and
largest of the three pyramids at Giza, known as the Great Pyramid, is the only
surviving structure out of the famed seven wonders of the ancient world. It was
built for Khufu (Cheops, in Greek), Sneferu’s successor and the second of the
eight kings of the fourth dynasty. Though Khufu reigned for 23 years (2589-2566
B.C.), relatively little is known of his reign beyond the grandeur of his
pyramid. The sides of the pyramid’s base average 755.75 feet (230 meters), and
its original height was 481.4 feet (147 meters), making it the largest pyramid
in the world. Three small pyramids built for Khufu’s queens are lined up next
to the Great Pyramid, and a tomb was found nearby containing the empty
sarcophagus of his mother, Queen Hetepheres. Like other pyramids, Khufu’s is
surrounded by rows of mastabas, where relatives or officials of the king were
buried to accompany and support him in the afterlife.
The middle pyramid at
Giza was built for Khufu’s son Khafre (2558-2532 B.C). A unique feature built
inside Khafre’s pyramid complex was the Great Sphinx, a guardian statue carved
in limestone with the head of a man and the body of a lion. It was the largest
statue in the ancient world, measuring 240 feet long and 66 feet high. In the
18th dynasty (c. 1500 B.C.) the Great Sphinx would come to be worshiped itself,
as the image of a local form of the god Horus. The southernmost pyramid at Giza
was built for Khafre’s son Menkaure (2532-2503 B.C.). It is the shortest of the
three pyramids (218 feet) and is a precursor of the smaller pyramids that would
be constructed during the fifth and sixth dynasties.
Approximately 2.3
million blocks of stone (averaging about 2.5 tons each) had to be cut,
transported and assembled to build Khufu’s Great Pyramid. The ancient Greek
historian Herodotus wrote that it took 20 years to build and required the labor
of 100,000 men, but later archaeological evidence suggests that the workforce
might actually have been around 20,000. Though some popular versions of history
held that the pyramids were built by slaves or foreigners forced into labor,
skeletons excavated from the area show that the workers were probably native
Egyptian agricultural laborers who worked on the pyramids during the time of
year when the Nile River flooded much of the land nearby.
50- EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
The Egyptian Museum in
Cairo contains the world's most extensive collection of pharaonic antiquities;
no visit to Egypt is complete without a trip through its galleries. The
original collection was established in the late 19th century under Auguste
Mariette and housed in Boulaq. The objects were moved in 1891 to the palace of
Ismail Pasha in Giza before being transferred in 1902 to the current building
at Tahrir Square, which is the first purpose-built museum edifice in the world.
Designed in the
Neoclassical style by Marcel Dourgnon, the Egyptian Museum boasts 107 halls
filled with artifacts dating from the prehistoric through the Roman periods,
with the majority of the collection focused on the pharaonic era. The museum
houses approximately 160,000 objects covering 5,000 years of Egypt's past.The
ground floor takes the visitor on a chronological tour through the collections,
while the objects on the upper floor are grouped according to tomb or category;
exhibits here include the treasures of Tutankhamun, wooden models of daily
life, statuettes of divinities, and a rare group of Faiyum Portraits. On
display on the second floor are also many of the New Kingdom royal mummies.
51- Nile Cruise boat
Programme
Participated Nile River
entertained programe on 22nd April,2017. 3-hour, buffet dinner cruise. Like
Cleopatra and Mark Anthony .we enjoyed a delicious Egyptian buffet dinner and
take in the evening’s entertainment with Egyptian song and dance — all with a
spectacular view of the longest river in the world alongside Egypt’s bustling
capital city
Prof. John Kurakar
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