Mount of Olives and Mount Zion

For the next couple of days we will be in and around Jerusalem.  We start the day today going east of Jerusalem to the Mount of Olives.

The Mount of Olives is a ridge situated just East of Jerusalem’s old town, very close to the site of the Temple. It was once covered in Olive trees so that's where the name comes from.

In the Old Testament, the Mount of Olives is explicitly associated with King David and Solomon. In the New Testament the Mount is significant because Jesus visits it several times: visiting Lazarus, the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, praying before his arrest, and his ascension. Jesus would have walked over the mount when traveling from Jerusalem to Bethany, a trip he made often.

According to the Bible, Jesus will stand on the Mount of Olives when he returns in glory. Jews have long believed that the Messiah will descend from the Mount of Olives in returning to Jerusalem so the area has long been a popular Jewish burial place with graves dating back 3,000 years.
Our first stop is the Basilica of Agony or the Church of All Nations where we will have Mass.  

Church of All Nations (Note the 12 domes)

Tradition has it that the Church of All Nations was built over the rock on which Jesus prayed that night.  The current church is the third on this site and it was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds from all nations.  It's also shared by many Christian denominations which is refreshing.  

This is another church designed by Antonio Barluzzi.  On the façade, the area over the portal has a mosaic depicting Christ as the mediator between God and mankind, on whose behalf he gives his very heart which an angel is shown receiving into his hands.  The four envangelists are atop each of the columns below that.


The inside was deliberately kept dark by Barluzzi since the Agony was at night and it keeps the atmosphere somber.  The ceiling is blue and star studded and the domes contain national symbols of rgentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain and the United States. The mosaics in the apses were donated by Hungary, Ireland and Poland.

Rock Where Jesus Prayed

In the center, the high altar overlooks a large slab of rock, which is said to be the very rock on which Jesus prayed in agony on the night of his betrayal.The rock is entirely surrounded by a crown of thorns in wrought iron donated by Australia.

Outside of the Church is the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus met with his disciples to pray the night before he was crucified. This is where Judas betrayed Jesus.

Olive Trees in the Garden of Gesthemene 

In Hebrew, the name means oil press and they still press the fruit of ancient olive trees that are here. They don't date back to the days of Christ, but the eight that are here are from the 12th century and are all from the same cutting perhaps dating back to the original trees. 

 


We then go to the top of the Mount to see the Chapel of the Ascension located on the spot where tradition says that Jesus ascended into heaven after the Resurrection. Four churches were built on this site but all that remains is an edicule or chapel which contains a rock said to have the right footprint of Jesus. The last church built here during the crusades was destroyed after the fall of Jerusalem and converted to a mosque. Eventually a larger mosque was built nearby so Christians could visit the Asension chapel.

Nearby is the Church of Peter Noster (Latin for Our Father). On this site, the emperor Constantine built a large church to commemorate the Ascension but it was destroyed by the Persians. During the crusader era, the area became associated with Jesus teaching the disciples the Lord's prayer. With the help of the Bishop of Denmark, they built a church in 1152, but it was destroyed by 1245. In the late 1800s, Aurélie de Bossi, the Princess de la Tour d’Auvergne, purchased the site and she built a cloister modeled on the Campo Santo at Pisa and founded a Carmelite convent. Since this French princess bought this land, its considered French territory.

Cloister

Cave under the Church

View of the Courtyard of the Church

Lord's Prayer

In 1910, they found the foundations of the Byzantine church which was built over a cave thought to be where the disciples heard the Lord's prayer. The cave is partially collapsed. They partially reconstructed the outside walls of the 4th century church starting in 1920. Reconstruction ended due to a lack of funds. The unroofed church has steps leading down into the cave.

Grave of the Princess

The 19th-century cloister is in a European style and has 62 multilingual plaques bearing the Lord's Prayer, from Aramaic to Japanese to Scots Gaelic. The tomb of the Princesse de la Tour d'Auvergne is on the south side of the cloister, they reburied her here in 1957.  

Dominus Flevit

Our next stop is the Church of Dominus Flevit (Latin for "The Lord Wept"). This is a small, modern Franciscan church built in 1954 designed by Antonio Barluzzi in the shape of a teardrop. From the church there is a beautiful view of the Temple Mount and the city of Jerusalem. Luke's gospel says that Jesus wept over the city as he approached it because the days would come when it would be destroyed. This is said to refer to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD.

Window Behind Altar

Like the other churches we've seen, this one two is built over the remains of earlier churches as well as a graveyard. The altar is unusually placed on the west side, but placed in this direction one has a view behind the altar of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre from the large window. At the foot of the altar, a mosaic of a hen gathering her chickens under her wings symbolizes Christ’s words “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” (Luke 13).

Jewish Cemetery

We travel along the Palm Sunday road passing the Jewish cemetery on the mountain which they think could have 300,000 graves. Sadly when the area was under Jordanian rule, they treated the cemetery poorly, putting roads through it and destroying many tombstones. Israelis on their way to bury the dead are sometimes stoned so they have had to hire security for funerals.


We have lunch on our own today.  That should be an interesting experience.'

After lunch we go head to Mt. Zion stopping first at the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu which is built over what is thought to be Caiaphas Palace.  Mt. Zion is located just outside the walls of Jerusalem near the Zion Gate or Jewish Quarter Gate.

So, let's start with Caiaphas.  Caiaphas was a Jewish high priest who pushed the Roman authorities into killing Jesus.  He presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus where Jesus was accused of blasphemy for claiming he was the Christ.  They turned Jesus over to Pilate for trial.

Entrance to Cell

Cell

So, it was at this location that Jesus was held overnight before his crucifixion.  This church is built on a hillside and has four levels.  At the lowest level is the prisoner's cell hewn out of rock which is only accessed from the guardroom above it.  So any prisoner would have to be lowered by rope into the cell and they could not escape without going back through that guard room.

They did not discover this pit until 1859 and when they did they found 3 Byzantine cross at the entrance and 7 red and 4 black crosses on the walls.  This was clear evidence along with the other artifacts that they found that this site was venerated by early Christians.

St Peter in Gallicantu

Rooster

Peter denies knowing Jesus

Doors depicting 11 apostles

Middle Church

In the courtyard of the High Priest, St. Peter denied that he was a disciple of Jesus three times, so the church dedicated to St. Peter commemorates that event, his repentance and his acceptance by Jesus after the Resurrection at the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter.  In Latin, Gallicantu means cock's crow.   So, the other two levels are an upper church and a middle church.  Since its built on a hillside, you actually enter at the Upper level and work your way down.  Atop the church, the steeple has a golden rooster.  And in the courtyard there is a statue depicting the denial.

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Notre Dame Cathedral also had a rooster atop its iconic spire.  The rooster is an unofficial symbol of France and it served as a lightning rod.  Inside were relics of St. Denis and St. Genevieve as well as  one of the thorns of the crown of thorns.  Miraculously as intense as that fire was, the rooster was   found after the fire with only a few dings.            

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This church has a similar history to so many places we've been on this pilgrimage. A major church built here in 457 was damaged in 529 during the Samaritan Revolt and destroyed in 614 by the Persians. It was rebuilt around 628 and destroyed in 1009 by Caliph Hakim. Rebuilt around 1100 by the Crusaders, it was destroyed in 1219 by the Turks. Then a chapel was built, but it was destroyed around 1300. The present church was completed in 1932 and its design is really stunning.

Upper Church with Stained Glass Ceiling

The ceiling of the church contains a stunning stained glass cross.  In the main church there are three large mosaics which depict Jesus being questioned, Jesus at the last supper, and Peter as the first pope.

Outside the church there are some ancient ruins including an ancient stepped street that would have been here during Jesus time and would have been on his path from the last supper to the Garden of Gethsemane. No doubt today that we are walking in the footsteps of Jesus.







Our next stop is Dormition Abbey which stands like a fortress on Mt. Zion. The site features a benedictine abbey and the Basilica of the Dormition. The current church building was built between 1900 and 1910 on land donated by the Turkish Sultan to Kaiser Wilhelm and then given to the German Catholic Society. After the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman troops in 70 A.D., a Jewish-Christian synogogue was built on Mount Zion, later designated as the “Church of the Apostles.” In the fourth century it was enlarged to become a small church. In the early 5th century, Byzantine Christians built there the great basilica of Hagia Sion (Holy Zion), destroyed by the Persians in 614. In the 12th century, the crusaders built an even greater church called Santa Maria in Monte Sion (Our Lady of Mount Zion), but it too was destroyed in 1187. The site was remained vacant until 1898.

Basilica of the Dormition

The churches were built over the home of Mary and the site of her death or dormition (falling asleep). Two stones said to be from Mary's home are part of the walls.

The church is shaped in the round with a Byzantine Madonna and Child mosaic in the apse over the altar with the figures of twelve prophets below them. Around the church are six side chapels decorated by beautiful mosaics depicting scenes such as Mary and the infant Jesus receiving pilgrims, Jesus’ family tree, John the Baptist on the shore of the Jordan River, St. Benedict – the founder of the Benedictine order, and other saints.

Spiral staircases lead down to the crypt, a round pillared room with a sculpture of Mary “asleep” in the center. Originally the gown of the figure of Mary was of chased silver and goldplated. After the war of 1948 and the occupation of the church only the wooden core remained. The ivory hands also had to be replaced and the nose in ivory had to be repaired.On the ceiling above her is the figure of Jesus waiting to receive her into heaven, surrounded by the women of the Bible: Eve, Miriam, Yael, Ruth, Esther and Judith. Beyond this main room, are several other chapels and altars donated by various countries.

Mary in Dormition

In part of the building that was the Byzantine Hagia Zion is King David's Tomb.  In the era after 1948 and before 1967 when Jews could not enter the city itself to worship at the Western Wall this site was considered to be the holiest site in Jerusalem for Jews not only because of its association with the legendary King, but also because it was the closest they could get to the Temple Mount.  Historians don't think David was actually buried here.   Symbolic of the difficulty that this land has had for millennia this site has been a Christian church, a mosque and a synagogue.

Almost directly above this tomb is the Cenacle or the Upper Room, the site of the Last Supper.   

Exterior of the Tomb/Cenacle

And above the room, the minaret of a mosque. Three holy sites in one place, but there is still some tension over the site so Mass is celebrated in the Cenacle only on occasion.  Its a heavily visited place.

The present day room may be the original location, but this is a building from 14th century with gothic arches instead of the much simpler room which would have been the site of the meal. Inside the room are stained glass from the time it was a mosque. The site was bought back from the Sultan at great expense in 1355.

The Cenacle

The apostles often stayed here when visiting Jerusalem. Its where he was the disciples feet and where the Last Supper took place. It is the place where the disciples gathered in fear after the death of Jesus and prayed. Jesus appeared here after the resurrection and showed Thomas his wounds to make him believe. Its also the site where the apostles received the Holy Spirit.
In May 2014, Pope Francis visited the Holy Land and was permitted to celebrate Mass in the Cenacle during his three-day pilgrimage. As if to acknowledge this privilege, the pope in his homily said: “It is a great gift that the Lord has given us by bringing us together here in the Upper Room for the celebration of the Eucharist” (May 26, 2014).

Today is Ida's birthday!