|
|
|
  |
| Sunday, 21 November 2004 |
 |
|
 |
Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
|
In the footsteps of Christ.... : City of Zion by Carol Aloysius Stephen's Gate This is the gate that leads to the mount of Olives and Gethsamane. It was from Israeli paratroopers fought their way through this gate during the six-day war in 1967 to capture the old city.
The Tomb of virgin Mary: On her death in the middle of the first century, Mary is believed to have been interred here by the disciples. The present monument is a 12th century Crusader edifice built on Byzantine foundations and owned by the Greek Orthodox church. The Antonia fortress: The second Temple of Herod the Great. We are now about to re-enact the last scenes of the life of Christ. Very early on Good Friday morning, Jesus, having been condemned by the Sanhedrin, was led from the house of Caiphus to the praetorium at the Antonia. Within the precincts of the Antonia, Jesus was mocked, scourged, crowned with thorns and condemned to death. Today the site is occupied by a Muslim school, a Franciscan convent and the convent of the sisters of Zion. The courtyard of the school is believed to be the site where the private segment of Jesus's trial took place ( first station of the cross). In the compound of the Franciscan convent there are two chapels of the Flagellation marking the traditional site where Jesus was scourged and the chapel of the Condemnation marking the site where Jesus was condemned to death. The Convent of the sisters of Zion contains the most impressive remains of the original pavement about which St John wrote 20 centuries ago, where Pontius Pilate moved his tribunal to be near the unruly mob waiting outside the Antonia Gate. This pavement is the actual courtyard of the Antonia where Jesus began His Way of the Cross, to Calvary. Via Dolorosa: Winding up through the Muslim Quarter and then the Christian quarter, we come to the Via Dolorosa or Way of Sorrows, the route that Jesus took to Calvary. A hundred of us now walk in His footsteps following the path He took as He carried the cross from Pontius Pilate's judgement hall. We too carry a cross, albeit a much lighter one, in groups of ten, pausing at each of the 14 stations to allow the other groups to carry the cross. The first two stations are located within the site of the Antonia. Seven are located in the narrow streets lined by tiny shops built into the walls. The last five are located within the church of the Holy Sepulchre. We are now standing at the 14th Station of the Cross. This is the Holy Sepulchre, the Tomb of Jesus, carved out of rock by Joseph of Aramthea a believer. We walk down the narrow stairs beyond the Greek Orthodox church. The actual tomb is inside the Sepulchre with a raised marble slab covering the rock on Jesus's body as laid at the church of the Holy Sepulchre, the most sacred place in Christianity. At the rear stands a tiny optic church where we pilgrims kiss the walls of the tomb. The tomb is near Golgatha, or Calvary the place of the crucifixion.. Calvary. A large rock rising 45 feet from the ground with a skull like appearance. Here there are two chapels, one believed to be the place where Jesus was crucified belongs to the Greek Orthodox church. The other believed to be where Jesus was stripped of his garments and nailed to the cross. This church belongs to the Roman Catholics. About one third of the two chapels rest on the actual Rock of Calvary, which we saw by kneeling under an altar. The Upper room: We climb a narrow staircase and come to a large room which our guide tells us is the same room where Christ ate His last supper with His disciples and established the first Communion Service. In the same room, Jesus appeared twice to His disciples after His Resurrection and it is here too that the disciples received the gift of the tongues on Pentecost Day. The Western Wall (Wailing Wall): Our last visit to places of religious and historical significance in the Holy Land. The holiest shrine of the Jewish world, revered as the last relic of the last Temple that Herod Built. The Western Wall that exists today, is a portion of the retaining wall that Herod built around the second temple in 20 B.C and which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. But the Shehina (Divine Presence) of the Almighty is believed to have never deserted the Wall and is hence regarded as the holiest of all Jewish sites. The area immediately in front of the Wall is now a huge open air synagogue, divided into two sections, a small section in the south for women and a larger section in the north for men. Modern day Jews come here to lament the dispersion of their people and weep over the ruins of the Holy Temple. We see black robed men wearing hats and women also clad in black, rocking back and forwards on their heels, bowing their heads in prayer as they recite the Torah, occasionally stopping to press themselves against the Wall and kiss the stones of the old wall. An elderly woman standing on the open esplanade filled with women, points to the sky and tells me, "When you pray here, your prayers go directly to heaven." Jerusalem: A city of blood, tears, and war. Besieged more than 50 times, conquered 36 times and destroyed ten times, it is no longer the shining city of gold as it was twenty centuries ago. But to millions of people, it continues to remain a symbol of hope with the promise of Peace. |
|
| News | Business | Features
| Editorial | Security
| Produced by Lake House |
Although Suleyman the magnificent called it the Gate to the valley of
Jordan, the name never stuck and was soon replaced after the first
christian martyr who was stoned to death nearby.
