Israel 2000 Pilmigrage to the Holy Land - St.Andrew's Church ; All Apostles Church ; The Church of the Visitation

 The Church of the Visitation, Ein Kerem 

 Ein Kerem, today a picturesque suburb in west Jerusalem, was known during the Byzantine period as The City of Judea as mentioned in the New Testament (Lucas 1, 39).  This was the birthplace of John the Baptist who heralded the coming of Jesus, and who baptized him in the Jordan River.  The Church of Visitation is located on a mountain slope and belongs to the Catholic Franciscan Order.  It was built on the site identified as the home of Elizabeth, mother of John, who was visited by her relative, Mary, the mother of Jesus (Lucas 1, 39-56).  In and around the church are remains dating back to the First Temple Period as well as the Roman and the Byzantine periods.  The identification of the site as the place of the visitation was consolidated during the Crusader period, and the fist church was built at the same time.  The place was purchased by the Franciscans during the 17th century, who restored it in 1862.  The existing church was built in 1955, following archeological excavations on the site.  The church, designed by prominent Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi, is elaborately ornamented and contains ancient remnants.  The church fa?ade is decorated with a beautiful mosaic describing the visit of Mary and in the courtyard are porcelain plaques inscribed with the words of Mary’s prayer – The Magnificant – “My soul magnifies the Lord…” (Luke 1; 46-56) in various languages.

 

 

 

St. Andrew’s Church, Jerusalem 

 The church is located west of the Old City, close to the railway station, on a hill that towers above the Valley of Hinnom.  It is owned by the Scottish – Presbyterians – one of the Calvinist fractions of the Protestant Church.  The church is named in memory of Andrew, one of Jesus’ Apostles, and national saint of the Scots.  The corner stone of the church was laid by Field Marshall Edmond Allenby in 1927,  and is dedicated to the memory of the soldiers who fell during the British conquest of the country during the First World War.  The church was designed by K. Holliday and combines eastern and western characteristics.  The church is one of the more beautiful buildings built during the British mandate period. 

The church decorations are minimalist and modest, some made or Armenian ceramic tiles.  The banners of the military units who fought here during the First World War are kept inside the church.  There is also in the church, a metal plate in memory of Robert Bruce King of Scotland (1274-1326) who requested that his heart be buried in Jerusalem, but was not so rewarded.  To the east, adjacent to the church, is the archaeological site of Katef-Hinnom, where burial caves from the time of the First Temple were uncovered.  Two silver plaques, inscribed with Priestly Benedictions, or the Aaronic Blessings (Numbers 6, 24-26), were discovered inside one of the caves.  These are the earliest biblical verses known as yet, which were written in the seventh century BCE.

 

 

 

All Apostles Church, Capernaum 

 Capernaum, on the shores of the Sea of Galilee was a center of Jesus’ activities in Galilee, and was even called “his own city” (Matthew 9, 1).  Capernaum was the home of Simon Ben Jonah, or St. Peter, brother of Andrew, who was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee and was appointed by Jesus “to shepherd his flock”. 

The people of Capernaum rejected Jesus and his preaching and therefore he cursed the place saying that its fate would be worse than that of Sodom (Matthew 11, 23-24; Lucas 10, 15).  The All Apostles Church belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church, successor of Christianity from the Byzantine period.  The church is exceptional in its five-domed structure, characteristic of Greek churches. It was built by Damianos, the patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1932 and is dedicated to the twelve apostles chosen by Jesus in the region of Capernaum.

 Archaeological excavations were conducted near the church, which exposed the remnants of Capernaum from the period of the Second Temple until Crusader times.  Due to the church’s proximity to the armistice lines between Israel and Syria, it was deserted from the time of the War of Independence and  until the Six Day War, when it was restored.

 

 

The First Day Cover – The Cenacle or Room of the Last Supper, Jerusalem 

 The room is located on the second floor of a building on Mount Zion, on the ground floor of which, according to tradition, is the Tomb of David, King of Israel. According to the New Testament, the Last Supper of Jesus, the Passover feast, was held in an “upper room”, the exact location of which was not stated (Mark 14, 12-16).  The place of the Last Supper was identified at this site from the early days of Christianity.  Late in the fourth century a large church known as Holy Zion (Hagia Sion) was erected on the site.  The present day hall was built during the Crusader’s rule in the 12th century and was given its current appearance in the 15th century.  During the 16th century it was turned into a mosque.  Today the hall is under authority of the State of Israel, which ensures free access and freedom of worship at the site for all Christian denominations.