Thousands of Steps

The Wailing Wall

One of our course members was wearing his fitness monitor this morning. According to him we reached 10,000 steps while we were still walking through the Old City on our way back to the college. We left at 8:15 and returned at 1:15. It was a great morning.

The Western Wall Tunnel

Our first visit was to the Western Wall Tunnels. The Western Wall or the Wailing Wall, as it is sometimes known, is the western wall of Herod’s Temple platform. When Herod decided to expand and beautify Solomon’s Temple he expanded the precincts considerably.  By his time there were numerous pilgrims arriving for the three main Jewish feast days and a large space was needed to accommodate them all. Think of St. Peter’s Square (although it’s really not square) and the mobs that gather there when the Pope does something important. Herod accomplished this by cutting away part of the mountain and building up the other end. After the destruction of the temple by the Romans which sat on top of this platform, the temple was no longer in use and houses began to be built right up to the standing walls. They were on streets built on archways in order to raise them up otherwise they would be like sitting in the bottom of a moat. Now one can go down below and walk under this street through the arches upon which it was built.

The Pool of Bethesda

We walked to the Pool of Bethesda where Jesus healed the man who had waited years for someone to help him into the healing waters. This is immediately next to the Church of St. Ann, mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is supposed to have been built on the site of the birth of Mary. The grotto beneath the church commemorates this event. It beautiful and peaceful.

The Grotto of St. Ann's Church

Our next visit was to the Jerusalem Archeological Park to view the excavations of the south wall of the temple platform. Seeing the actual stones from Herod’s time brings the past to life.

The Eastern Wall of the Temple

Following this we walked along the eastern wall of the Temple platform where one can really get a sense of the size of this platform. As we did this we were actually walking through a cemetery. People used to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem in hopes of dying there so they would be ready for the apocalypse. This walk overlooks the Kidron Valley and up to the Mount of Olives. One can see the Garden of Gethsemane and several other important locations as well as another vast graveyard that works its way up the Mount of Olives.

Looking up at the Mount of Olives
That which appears to be stones
are actually graves by the
thousands.

Part of the group continued with a tour of the archeological site at the Temple. The steps leading up to what was once perhaps called the Beautiful Gate are formed of the bedrock upon which the structure stands. There is archeological evidence that these steps were the same as used by Jesus when he went to the Temple.

This afternoon the group was joined by the pilgrims from Canada who arrived today. The object of this afternoon’s walk was to the Armenian Cathedral for Vespers. We entered the city through the New Gate which leads directly into the Christian Quarter and provides a more peaceful passage. Our usual entry into the Old City has been through the Damascus Gate and the ensuing souks and their vendors and customers who, while providing entertainment, make the passage a little difficult to navigate. The service was lovely.

Looking across the Kidron Valley
 to the Garden of Gethsemane

Those who wished were then treated to a return walk on the walls of the Old City. It is an incredible experience to think one can actually still walk on these walls after hundreds of years. Returning the the College the total steps for the day logged in at 16,000 +.

Following Mass and dinner this evening, the dean of the cathedral spoke to us about the work of the Diocese of Jerusalem and the Middle East and about the troubles Christians are facing in this Holy Land.