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| 29 Tishri 5762 03:34Tuesday October 16, 2001 |
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CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: Jesus' final journey By Allan Rabinowitz (July 12) - On Friday afternoon in the Old City of Jerusalem, groups of Christian pilgrims carry heavy wooden crosses along the traditional route of the Via Dolorosa. They stop at the various Stations of the Cross as they head toward the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where a chapel encloses the hill of Golgotha. What a contrast they make - as they pray, plead, cry, and read texts at the stations - to the rows of souvenir shops, whose owners try to coax them in to buy icons, statues, antiquities, film, scarves and T-shirts advertising the nonexistent Hard Rock Cafe Jerusalem. It was during the Crusades, when waves of pilgrims seeking blessings and penance sailed to the Holy Land from Italian city-states, that the current route of the Via Dolorosa became firmly established. During that time, holy Christian processions reached their height, and the locals raised to an art form the concept that one man's pilgrimage is another man's profit. Since that period, almost a millennium ago, these uneven stone streets have echoed with the footsteps of thousands upon thousands of Christian pilgrims. The first section of the route runs parallel to the northern side of the Temple Mount. Although the first station, marking the trial of Jesus by Pontius Pilate, is situated along the way, the whole street, from the eastern entrance to the Old City at the Lions Gate, has become associated with the Via Dolorosa. So we'll enter at the Lions Gate. This gate, also known as St. Stephen's Gate, is part of the city's 16th-century Ottoman walls. Legend has it that the two lions decorating the outside of the gate were placed there by the Ottoman ruler Suleiman to remind him of a dream he had in which he was warned that lions would devour him if he failed to build walls around the Holy City. Actually, the figures are of panthers, from an early Mameluke relief. This gate was one of the IDF's main entry points into the Old City during the Six Day War. Just inside the Lions Gate, to the right, are the Bethesda Pools and St. Anne's Church, in a delightfully green courtyard. Built in 1140 by the Crusaders above a crypt, St. Anne's is a lovely Romanesque church marking the home of Mary and her parents Joachim and Anne. Its amazing acoustics make even a whisper reverberate. An Arabic inscription above the main entrance notes the church's transformation into a Muslim theological school in 1192, shortly after Saladin ousted the Christians from the city. The Bethesda Pools are mentioned in John 5:2 as a "pool with five porches" near the "Sheep Gate," where Jesus healed a crippled man. Located directly outside the first-century city wall, the pool may have been used for healing by pagan Roman soldiers stationed at the adjacent Antonia Fortress. Its traditional healing role was maintained through to the time of the Emperor Hadrian (around 135 CE), when a temple was built on the spot. Today, it is difficult to discern the line of the pools within the jumbled ruins of later churches built on the site. But the carved bedrock walls of a pool dating back to the First Temple - probably used for water storage - are visible at the north end of the pool. AT THE beginning of the Via Dolorosa itself, over 100 meters up the stone-paved road to the west, we also see the beginning of the complexities and challenges of identifying it, and of disentangling it from a Herodian fortress and a Hadrianic street. The first station is actually situated in the Umariyya Boys' School, identified by its wide staircase. This school sits on the escarpments that formed the foundations of the Antonia Fortress, built by Herod the Great to protect and oversee the Temple precinct. It was long assumed that Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea who was based in Caesarea, lived in this fortress when visiting Jerusalem. It was here, presumably, that he judged Jesus. Nearby are several sites traditionally associated with that drama. In the courtyard immediately across the street, or rather alley, are the Chapel of the Flagellation and the Chapel of the Condemnation, whose names are self-explanatory. However, some scholars have recently claimed that as ruler of the country, Pontius Pilate would have stayed in the palace of Herod, near today's Jaffa Gate. Along one corner of the Antonia Fortress was the Struthion Pool, from where an adjacent city gate was guarded. Part of that pool can still be seen inside the Convent of the Sisters of Zion, just up the street from the Chapel of the Flagellation. The numerous maps and drawings available in the orientation area help make sense of the confusing puzzle of findings. Down some stone stairs by the pool itself is a bedrock ledge that would have probably been visible during the days of Jesus, along with vaulting arches above the pool which supported a street and plaza built by the Emperor Hadrian in 135 CE. Climbing up the stairs to view that pavement (called the Lithostrotus), also located within the convent, one can view stone carvings which may depict the gambling games often played by Roman soldiers. These markings have traditionally been linked to the Roman soldiers' mockery of Jesus (John 19:2-3). Just outside the convent, on the Via Dolorosa itself, stands the Ecce Homo Arch, traditionally where Pilate stood and said of Jesus, "Behold the man" ("Ecce Homo") (John 19: 5). Nearby is the Second Station, where Jesus was given his cross. But the arch is really part of a three-arched gateway to a plaza in Hadrian's rebuilt pagan Jerusalem, which he renamed Aelia Capitolina, after a god and himself. Thus, neither the Lithostrotus or the arch associated with this section of the Via Dolorosa dates back to Jesus's day. Also once here was a pool that bordered on another fortress. From the Byzantine period onwards, the route of the Via Dolorosa shifted several times, as did the number of stations. The modern route continues west from the Ecce Homo Convent to the corner of Rehov Hagai, where the Third Station is located. This station marks the spot where Jesus fell under the weight of his cross. The Armenian Catholic Church built a small chapel here in 1856. This pattern is repeated at the other stations: sites and incidents, whether or not they specifically appear in the New Testament, were identified, and a church or shrine was established there. THE FOURTH Station, left on Rehov Hagai, is where Mary purportedly stood watching her son pass by. The Fifth Station, where the Via Dolorosa turns right up a hilly, stepped street lined with shops, is one of the stations linked to a specific New Testament passage, in which Simon of Cyrene, a pilgrim to Jerusalem, was forced by the Romans to help Jesus carry the cross (Matthew 27:32). Before turning right to follow the route, the visitor should note the interlocking patterns and colors of the stones in the building up ahead on Rehov Hagai. This distinctive pattern is typical of buildings built by the Mamelukes, originally Muslim warrior-slaves, who ruled Jeru salem from the 13th through 15th centuries. Unique Mameluke buil dings can be seen along the continuation of the Via Dolorosa as it rises west to the top of a hill. Along this section of the street is the Sixth Station, where a young woman named Veronica (Vera Icone, "true likeness") wiped Jesus's face with a cloth, upon which his image remained. At the T-intersection, the Seventh Station, where Jesus again fell, is marked by a granite pillar. A left turn on Rehov Habad and then another right turn brings the pilgrim to the Eighth Station, where a stone on the left marks the spot where Jesus told a group of lamenting women to "not weep for me, but rather for yourselves and for your children" (Luke 23:27). After doubling back to Rehov Habad and turning right, the visitor will find long, wide steps to the right, leading to a winding street that skirts the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and reaches a Coptic church, marking the Ninth Station, where Jesus fell a third time. The remaining five stations, marking sites where Jesus was nailed to the cross and subsequent spots and incidents to his burial, are all contained within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre - which is a topic within itself. Even if the modern route of the Via Dolorosa deviates from historical accuracy, the power of the sanctified spot can nonetheless provide the pilgrim with a religious experience that creates its own kind of authenticity. As Jerusalem scholar Jerome Murphy-O'Connor writes, "The Via Dolorosa is defined by faith, not by history." St. Anne's Church and the adjoining Bethesda Pools are open 8 a.m.-noon, 2-6 p.m. (to 5 p.m. in winter); closed on Sunday. These same hours apply to the Chapels of the Flagellation and the Condemnation, while an adjacent museum with archaeological findings significant to Christianity has different hours; for details call 02-628-0271). The Sisters of Zion Convent is open daily 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and 2-5 p.m. (4:30 in winter), closed Sunday. Allan Rabinowitz is a licensed tour guide. He can be reached at allan@jpost.co.il Previous Next Tourism
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