Day Seven: Christianity

Our time today was spent studying Christianity. To that end, we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, among other places of Christian worship. At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, we witnessed several services and learned about the meticulous division of space in the building between various Christian sects – and how angry and even violent sects can be when another encroaches on their space. We saw a leader of one sect wearing sunglasses inside the church. Hana, our guide, told us he had been injured by a member of another sect in an altercation several years ago.

In the church, we also visited the Stone of Unction, where Jesus is said to have been prepared for burial. We touched the rock of what is supposedly Calvary (Golgotha) and entered the chamber that is purportedly the tomb where Christ was laid after his crucifixion. I say “supposedly” and “purportedly” because these sites were declared by Helena, the mother of the emperor Constantine, in the fourth century AD. While they could be the actual sites, the gap between events and “discovery” certainly leaves room for doubt. Even so, one could argue that the devotion and faith we saw many pour into these places represents a holiness of its own.

We next visited a Greek Catholic church and then an Armenian church before taking in the view from the Austrian hospice near Ecce Homo. For lunch we had our favorite hummus and falafel. We then left the Old City for the Mount of Olives, where we visited what is said to be the tomb of Mary and the Garden of Gethsemane.

(Picture: Altar in the Tomb of Mary and mosaic in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher)