We then drove down the mountain and visited two sites, the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of all Nations. This is of course is where Jesus is said to have spent time teaching and prophesying to his disciples and later where he would be on the night of his betrayal. The Garden of Gethsemane is a nice little olive grove on the side of a slope about half way down the Mount of Olives. It is less than an acre in size. Inside the iron-fenced area is a grove of olive trees. Some are young trees but 8 or 9 trees are said to be over 2000 years old and frankly they look it. The trunks are now hollow and look wizened and ancient but the crowns are fully leafed-out and they look like they still produce olives. It is claimed that these ancient trees were there when Jesus hung out in the grove. In the corner of the grove, on the other side of a walkway is a stone which is said to be the stone that Jesus sat upon when he preached, and the site of his arrest. That stone is also built into the side of the Church of all Nations, which was consecrated in 1924. Many nations including Canada contributed to the building of the church and each have a mosaic displayed on the grounds. Canada’s is inside on the right-hand side of the church.
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| This olive tree is said to have been there in Jesus' time |
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| The rock that Jesus preached from built in to the church |
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On the Mount of Olives
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This is the inside of The Church of All Nations which the designer, Antonio Bartuzzi
designed to be dark like the Agony of Christ |
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The beautiful front door of The Church of All Nations
on Mount of Olives
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Next we went to Bethlehem, which is in the Palestinian controlled area. We had to go through the border at a well-fortified gate and the Israeli guards there were armed to the teeth. Prior to entering we had to drop off our Israeli guide and after coming through the border we picked up a Palestinian guide. The deal is that no Israeli nationals are allowed to guide in the Palestinian territory. Our new guide was a Palestinian Arab Christian and she was excellent, but the whole process of switching guides and traveling across the tense border was a little unnerving.
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| Well armed Israeli border guards |
Now before we go on, I must tell you what really surprised me on my pilgrimage and I will come back to this again and again. The Roman Catholics rarely have their churches situated in the best spots on these holy Christian sites. What the frick? Is Gym mad? How can the powerful Holy Roman Empire not control these sites? Well come to Israel and see it for yourself! And no, I am not talking about Protestant interlopers, God forbid. Protestants are too late to the party. What I am talking about is the other Catholics (Greek) and the very early Christian sects that the Disciples started throughout the Middle East. They all basically have rival claims to the Holy Land, and believe me, there are some nasty scraps still going on. Gym has RC roots and I had thought that the Crusaders had made a difference in the Holy Land, but obviously the other guys these tug-o-wars were news to me, but they very interesting to learn about.
The Church of the Nativity is actually three churches and the Greek Orthodox have the best site in this case (as in most other cases). The manger as we know it, actually sits under the Greek Orthodox Church. The Roman Catholics and the Armenians have tacked their churches on either side of the Greek Orthodox one. The three churches are connected and although the star representing the spot where Jesus was born, sits underneath the Greek Orthodox church, the Roman Catholic church called the Church of St. Catherine is much nicer in my opinion. Check our pictures out and I am sure you will agree with me.
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| Nativity Square with the Church of Nativity in the background |
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Door of Humility - main entrance to Orthodox Church of Nativity.
It is about 4 feet tall and everyone enters the Orthodox church through this door. |
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| From the back of the Orthodox Church which sits over the holy site. |
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The Orthodox Church is a mess of overhanging chandeliers
and under the apse is the Manger site in the Grotto |
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Inside the Roman Catholic curch called Church of St. Catherine.
I am biased but it is nicer than the gawdy Church of Nativity |
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| Inside the Grotto of the Nativity on the RC side. Watch your head. |
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St. George in bronze
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Tree of Jesse installed in Church of St. Catherine by Pope
Benedict in 2009. It depicts the family tree of Jesus from
Abraham and the tree is of course an olive tree. |
We dumped our Palestinian guide off before going back into Israel and went through the border again, where they used mirrors to look under the bus. Then, we roused our Israeli guide out of a coffee shop and continued on back to Jerusalem. There we had lunch at a swank hotel and fortified ourselves for the afternoon hike through the Old City.
After lunch, we left the bus at the Jaffa Gate on the west side and started our walking tour by entering into the Christian Quarter. Old Jerusalem is broken up into quarters with a Christian Quarter, Muslim Quarter, Armenian Quarter and Jewish Quarter. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in the Christian Quarter. After successfully negotiating a maze of very narrow cobblestone alleyways, we found the front of the church. It was hot and sticky, and the Old City is not a happy place for people that have mobility issues. The stone alleyways are uneven and there are lots of stairs of uneven height throughout. However, it was a good workout!
Standing in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre it looks peaceful enough. But trust me, it is not a peaceful place, which is very strange for a holy place as significant as this is. The Holy Sepulchre has six rival claimants! Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Scyriac Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox all have claims on the site and horror of horrors, the Greek Orthodox Church seems to have the best ‘real estate’ inside the church including the Tomb of Jesus!
All the groups with claims to the Holy Sepulchre have agreed not to agree for over 160 years. In 1853 they established a ‘status quo’ and now if anyone moves a chair, leaves a door open or touches anything in a common area, a brawl breaks out. I am not kidding! Google it! There is a ladder that can be seen standing on a window ledge above the front door, which has been in that common area since the status quo was established. No one has moved it since 1852. And we have a picture of it.
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| Jaffa Gate |
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In front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre note the ladder
leading up to the window from a landing on the second floor,
it has not been moved since 1852 because of an agreement not agree
between the Roman Catholics, Greek Orthodox and the other
Orthodox faiths that maintain joint custody here |
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| Beautiful artwork depicting The Anointing of the body of Christ |
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| Supposed slab of marble that the body of Christ was anointed upon |
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| Tomb of Jesus which is maintaned by the Greek Othodox |
Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are the last five Stations of the Cross. And I can see why some of the older Popes don’t carry the cross up to the 12th Station of the Cross, which is the Rock of Calvary. You have to climb to the second story of the building and up some high stairs where there appeared to be no railing and then duck your head at one point. In fact, I do not know how they get the cross through there. Once there though, as you proceed through the last five stations of the Cross, you will see some of the most impressive works of art that any six religious sects have ever assembled in one place. I hope some of my pictures captured some of the splendor.
After leaving the church we stumbled into the Jewish Quarter and saw how markedly different it was from the Christian Quarter. We were told that there are two reasons for this: one is that the quarter has been largely re-built since 1967 when the Israeli paratroopers took that segment from the Jordanians in the Six Days War and the other is that there has been much recent investment in that part of the Old City by North American Jews who are buying real estate there and funding archeological digs. We then went down to the Wailing Wall where they were beginning to set up for some kind of a ceremony. We went up right beside the Wall but I did not feel right about leaving a message or making any display even though I grew up beside a synagogue and my sister went to kindergarten at the Hebrew school.
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| Wailing Wall and a couple of Israeli guards |
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Wailing Wall - lady's and men's sides
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We left the Old City through the Dung Gates and drove back to Ashdod. We took a day off from the pilgrimage after that to go visit Masada and the Dead Sea on Friday, May 6, 2011. Since that whole day did not involve any religious sites it is the subject of another entry, which will follow this one.
On Saturday, May 7, 2011, we returned to an intensive tour of all things related to the middle years of the life of Jesus, having covered the beginning and the end of his life in Bethlehem and Jerusalem two days before. We started the day in Haifa and we drove to Nazareth in the northern part of Israel. Jesus actually grew up in Nazareth and although there is not much written about the life of Jesus between the time he was born and the time he was 30 years old, it is believed he grew up in the town of both Joseph and the Virgin Mary where he apprenticed as a carpenter under Joseph.
The Church of the Annunciation is the nicest Roman Catholic Church that I visited on my pilgrimage. It is supposed to be built over the site where Mary received news from the Archangel Gabriel that she was to be the mother of Jesus. The church has 2 levels and on the lowest level is the Grotto of the Annunciation. The upper level is the church that has an opening in the floor over the grotto. Over the grotto is a tower that looks like a lighthouse. The tower rises above the grotto forming the highest point in the church. Natural light from the windows high above in the tower, shine down through the floor of the church onto the grotto. Both levels can be accessed via wide stairways. When we arrived there was a group of Spanish people singing in the grotto and the acoustics are so good in there that you could hear them clearly from anywhere in the church. As in the Church of all Nations numerous nations from around the world have contributed to Church of the Annunciation and works of art are exhibited inside and outside the church that were submitted by these countries. Some of these are very odd, such as where Mary and the infant Jesus are portrayed with the racial features of the contributing nation or where the artwork kind of sucks, like that which was submitted by both Canada and the U.S.A. Please note that Gym does not claim to be professional art critic but you look at these and tell me what you think.
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| Church of the Annunciatio from afar |
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| Front Entrance |
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| Looking back and up through front stained glass windows |
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Looking down into the grotto from behind a railing which is
built around a hole in the church floor. This hole is also below the tower. |
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| The tower from below |
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| Inside the church |
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| The mosaic contributed by Canada (worst overall) |
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| The mosaic contributed by U.S.A. (second worse) |
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| The hole in the church floor opening to the Grotto of the Annunciation |
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Japan's contribution - nice but what is with the kimono. The race of Mary does
not seem to fit with what we were taught but no one really knows what she looked like.
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Adjacent to the Church of the Annunciation is the Church of St. Joseph’s Carpentry, which is supposedly built over the site of Joseph’s workshop. This is also a nice little church and you can descend into the archeological remains of what is said to be Joseph’s home, which is next to the grotto where the workshop is supposed to have been located. On the side of the church is a relief depicting Jesus as a young boy, a very rare depiction anywhere in the world.
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| Church of St. Joseph's Carpentry |
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| Inside the nice little church (service in progress but no big deal) |
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| Grotto of St. Joseph's wrokshop where Jesus learned carpentry |
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A vaery rare depiction of Jesus as a boy with Mary and Joseph on the side
of the church |
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Archeological digs between the Church of the Annunciation
and the Church of St. Joseph's carpentry which may be Nazareth of Jesus' time |
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Nice statue outside
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It is interesting to note that although there is no conflict between Roman Catholics and Greek Orthodox in Nazareth because the two churches believe the Annunciation took place a few blocks away from each other, the Israeli Arab Muslims that live in Nazareth are causing headaches for the Franciscans that built the Church of the Annunciation. The Muslims continue to buy up all the property around the Roman Catholic site and have indicated their intentions to build a mosque, which would be taller and grander than the Church of the Annunciation (see the sign below). Fortunately the Israeli Government stepped in to block the construction of the mosque.
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A friendly sign put up by a local Israeli Muslim. It says, "And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam,
it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers." As you can see it is in the neighborhood right below the Church of the Annunciation.
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On down the road we passed through Cana where Jesus performed his first miracle, and what a miracle it was. I hope that I can get someone to perform a similar miracle at my daughter’s wedding some day. Wine is expensive! There is a small church at the site but we had lots of ground to cover and we just drove slowly by and tried to get a photo. Most of us were unsuccessful.
We were on our way to the River Jordan and the supposed site of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Now this is an interesting site because, the access to the river is owned and controlled by a kibbutz. This is a nice kibbutz though. It doesn’t charge you to go to the river. It does however cost a shekel to go to the washroom and you have to pass through their department store-sized, souvenir shop to get out the exit. Smart, eh? The site is cool though and when we arrived a group of born-again Christians was having a great time getting baptized in a strange sort of way. They were doing belly flops into the river in their baptismal gowns (provided by the kibbutz). I have two cool side notes: we saw a bit of rare Israeli wildlife in the river; and, the kibbutz cashier had spent the winter working at the Cross-Iron Mills Mall in Calgary (yes, we could not resist the sales pitches). The Linda picked up some delicious but kind of heavy preserves that are one-of-a-kind. That would not be the last kibbutz we were to help out that day.
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| River Jordan and we have to go through a kibbutz mall to see it. |
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| Gym getting water from the River Jordan |
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A bunch of 'born agains' doing baptismal belly flops with gowns
purchased from the kibbutz. |
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| Gym and Mrs. Gym |
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| Rare Israeli wildlife eating a bagel |
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Grey Raven
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We got back on the bus and traveled on up the shore of the Sea of Galilee and through the city of Tiberias, which dates back to Roman times. It is named after the Roman Emperor of Jesus’ time.
We had worked up an appetite by then and the plan was to satiate our hunger at our second kibbutz of the day. Ginosar Kibbutz is a most interesting place. When we arrived there, 30 buses had unloaded their groups for lunch, and I thought, how in Hades were we going to get any service? Well we got into their dining hall, and I should not have worried. There were no line-ups and in spite of the number of lunches they were serving, it was the most efficient process I have ever seen. As it turns out, NOF GINOSAR is a vacation resort with several hundred rooms on the Sea of Galilee. It has a big beach, a nice pool and beautiful grounds. They also serve great kosher salads, pickles and hummus.
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Ginosar Kibbutz - a great kosher lunch
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After lunch we went to the third of my top three Roman Catholic Churches in the Holy Land, The Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes. This church reminds me of something in New Mexico (check out the pics) and was built where Jesus was to have performed the miracle of feeding 5000 people with 3 fish and 5 loaves. Notwithstanding the usual trinket shop, the site was not cheesy. I can say now that the Franciscans were consistent in their construction of beautiful places of worship in the Holy Land during modern times. The guide also said that the Franciscans preserved much of the art that survived from churches built on the site in ancient times.
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| Symbols of Loves and Fishes in the Floor of the Church of the Loaves and Fishes |
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| Inside the church |
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| outside the church |
The final stop on my pilgrimage was at Capernaum. Jesus lived with St. Peter here and performed a few more of his miracles. However, here is another site where the Eastern Orthodox Church got there first. Sadly, they built a horrendous looking church over St. Peter’s house on the shores of the Galilee. As our scholarly Hebrew guide explained, their church looks like a UFO. Although I agree with him when you look at it from the outside, on the inside it is reminiscent of the Roman Catholic Church of the Annunciation, because it is built over the featured ruins. In this case the central part of the church is open to the supposed house of St. Peter, which can be seen by looking into the window in the floor at the middle of this typical Orthodox octagon-shaped place of worship.
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| The gates to Capernaum |
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| The ruins of Capernaum with the synagogue in the background |
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| Our Israeli guide Ran (Ph.D. in Archeology) in the synagogue |
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| Inside the Orthodox Church built over the site believed to be the House of St. Peter where Jesus stayed and where Jesus preformed a miracle to cure the mother-in-law of St. Peter |
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| Looking under the Orthodox Church at the House of St. Peter from the outside. |
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| The Sea of Galilee not far from St. Peter's house. It looks very much like the Okanagan Lake in size and character. The Golan Heights are in the background. |
This was the end of Gym’s pilgrimage. I was tired and the Linda was delirious, but we’d seen it all and I was satisfied that we had left no stone unturned. We returned to Haifa and rested. In the morning we weighed anchor for Turkey.
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