We remember from childhood: Christ entered Jerusalem on a donkey through the Golden Gate. Today we cannot repeat his path: the gates are walled up - a blank wall. According to legend, they were laid by the Muslims, because they were afraid of the Messiah, who must enter through this gate. Pilgrims and tourists enter the holy city through the gate of St. Stephen, or as they are called - the Lion's Gate.
THE CRUSADERS INvented HER
Every pilgrim, and any idle tourist, once in Jerusalem, rushes to Via Dolorosa. Just about, here He was walking! Here I touched the wall with my hand!.. Now I will follow in his footsteps. No, it won't work. Via Dolorosa is a medieval notion, this route was paved by the crusaders, assuming that Christ was led by this very road. So “here I touched it, here I applied” - this is a game. Rather, an artistic device. But all the same, Via Dolorosa is a strong image that helps to feel the authenticity of the story. And for this it is not necessary to find traces of Christ on the stones of the ancient city. Even if he was led along Via Dolorosa, He walked a different road - ten meters lower! It is necessary to remove the archaeological layers, long and carefully, to get to the stones of the first century - they are deep under our feet. But all the same: for many centuries Via Dolorosa has been a path of sorrow. The path of prayer and reflection, for the sake of it it is still worth going to Jerusalem.
HE WAS HERE
Usually, the Orthodox walk past this place as if past an alien shrine. This is the Wailing Wall. But He was here. He preached here … No, of course, I'm not talking about us rushing to leave notes in an ancient Jewish relic. But you need to look at it, just to understand how the Jerusalem temple looked like in the time of Christ. There, it was there that He denounced the merchants, expelled them from the temple. By the way, where did they come from? One person, the high priest, could enter the Jewish Temple, and then three times a year on great holidays. So the expulsion took place not from the temple, but from a huge courtyard where the bazaar was noisy … And, the more important the holiday, the more people gathered, the more it looked like bedlam, which angered Christ.
Or here's another stunning symbol - the Zion Chamber. "Oh, the last supper was held here!" - tourists shout enthusiastically. No, it was also built by the Crusaders - a thousand years after the earthly life of Christ. So He didn't sit here, and is that important? More importantly, there really were twelve of them, and one of them turned out to be a traitor. And when they broke bread, thirty pieces of silver were already tinkling in his pocket. Farther. In the wake of Christ, any tourist goes to the Garden of Gethsemane. Oh, you should definitely go there. There are very impressive olives growing there today, old, ugly - God knows how old they are! But whether or not they saw how Christ asked the Father to let this cup pass by Him is not so important. It is more important to know that everything happened on this Earth. It was here that the soldiers seized Him in order to take him to the high priest Caiaphas.
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TO WHOM THE COCK SINGS
But a place has survived, which is recognized as the home of the high priest. There is a first-century staircase that leads to the Kidron Stream from the Zion Hill. Probably, it was on these steps that the Savior and the disciples descended after the Last Supper, and the arrested Christ was led along them. Now it houses the Catholic monastery of Peter and the Cock's Creek. Go there! Frightened Peter found himself in this courtyard after the arrest of the Teacher. He froze and went up to the fire to warm up, and when asked if he knew Christ, he said three times: “I don’t know this person”. Then the cock crowed. It is terrible to imagine what Peter felt! They say that until recently they kept a rooster within the walls of the monastery: with a heart-rending cry, it made the pilgrims shudder, reminding them that each of us can commit the sin of betrayal. There are very few pilgrims in the house of the high priest Caiaphas,which is strange: the ancient staircase is certainly genuine and the places are mesmerizing! But everyone, of course, is running to the main shrine of Jerusalem - the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. I heard the woman who entered with me say, “Is this Golgotha? So little?" I wanted to answer her: “She was bigger. Golgotha was buried by Constantine the Great. " And what exactly is "Golgotha"? Literally translated - "skull". According to legend, the skull of Adam was buried here, and the blood of Christ fell on it. Didn't you know? There are so many amazing things in the Temple of the Sepulcher! Few people, for example, know that there is a real Ethiopian village on the roof of the temple. With small houses. People live there. You can climb up there and wander, there is even a Coptic temple.how the woman who entered with me said, “Is this Golgotha? So little?" I wanted to answer her: “She was bigger. Golgotha was buried by Constantine the Great. " What is “Golgotha” anyway? Literally translated - "skull". According to legend, the skull of Adam was buried here, and the blood of Christ fell on it. Didn't you know? There are so many amazing things in the Temple of the Sepulcher! Few people, for example, know that there is a real Ethiopian village on the roof of the temple. With small houses. People live there. You can climb up there and wander, there is even a Coptic temple.as the woman who entered with me said, “Is this Golgotha? So little?" I wanted to answer her: “She was bigger. Golgotha was buried by Constantine the Great. " And what exactly is "Golgotha"? Literally translated - "skull". According to legend, the skull of Adam was buried here, and the blood of Christ fell on it. Didn't you know? There are so many amazing things in the Temple of the Sepulcher! Few people, for example, know that there is a real Ethiopian village on the roof of the temple. With small houses. People live there. You can climb up there and wander, there is even a Coptic temple. Didn't you know? There are so many amazing things in the Temple of the Sepulcher! Few people, for example, know that there is a real Ethiopian village on the roof of the temple. With small houses. People live there. You can climb up there and wander, there is even a Coptic temple. Didn't you know? There are so many amazing things in the Temple of the Sepulcher! Few people, for example, know that there is a real Ethiopian village on the roof of the temple. With small houses. People live there. You can climb up there and wander, there is even a Coptic temple.
WATER AND BLOOD
And also, if you ask the monk sitting at the entrance, he can show you the cistern of Queen Helena. This is a fantastic place. When she, an 80-year-old woman, came to the Holy Land, she did more than just archeology. She quickly realized that in this region, water is more expensive than gold. Therefore, she ordered to dig the cistern. There and now water is splashing, it is filtered, it lives its own life. And the main shrine of the Church of the Sepulcher was found by her - an elderly and not very healthy woman. Queen Helen found the Cross. That is, she supervised the excavation. Since then, Queen Helen is the patroness of archaeologists, scientists pray to her, ask for help in research …
Do you know what I thought while I was in the Temple of the Sepulcher? That He is as alone today as 2000 years ago. Although millions of people go to Him, scurry around the Temple like ants, stick around shrines, make selfies almost on the stone of anointing … Every now and then you can hear: “Let me put a cross so that everything would be good for me … cure my son from drinking … help your daughter to find a job …”The Chinese are shouting with cameras. The guides are cheerfully broadcasting something in all languages … And everyone thinks about themselves, about their needs - not about Him. Only when I saw how the young pilgrim in a handkerchief was crying softly at Calvary did I relieve myself: everything is fine! She pity Him, her tears are the best that I have seen in the Temple.
In general, if you do not necessarily strive to "attach to something," just spend a couple of hours walking around old Jerusalem - you really will not regret it. You will surely understand something about the Eternal City, through the streets of which Christ definitely walked …
Inna Shevchenko