joypeacehope: Highlights Of My First Few Days

Monday, August 11, 2008

Highlights Of My First Few Days

Three amazing days have been spent in Jerusalem venerating ancient holy sights, eating delicious food and getting to know interesting people of various faiths from all over the world.

Jaffa Gate Entrance To The Ancient Walled City
Day One:

My flight from TelAviv arrived at 4am in morning and by the time the taxi bus dropped me off at the front door of the hostel, it was 6am on Saturday morning and 6am on Saturday morning isn't a good time to be dropped off anyplace in Jerusalem and you may be asking, "How come?". Well, I'll tell you why; you see, Saturday is the Sabbath day and the Sabbath day is a very important day here and nobody works on Saturday, so not only was the chair behind the reception desk empty until 630pm Saturday night but the front door was locked as well and a special code was needed to open it and I didn't have the special code. So, while standing there, dumbfounded and tired, my stomach asked for some food, so I approached a group of taxi drivers to ask where the nearest restaurant might be and they informed me that restaurants aren't open on the Sabbath in Jewish neighborhoods and we were in a Jewish neighborhood and if I wanted breakfast, I would need to hire a taxi to take me the an Islamic neighborhood to have a bite to eat and he knew of the best place in Jerusalem to have an ethnic Islamic breakfast. With that line, he hooked me and not being totally savvy, nor totally nieve, I asked the friendly Islamic cab driver how much the trip would cost and he quoted me a decent price but these guys deal with tourists all day long and they know how to play them, which is what he proceeded to do to me. Enroute to the breakfast place, he asked if I would like to see an overview of the walled city from the highest vantage point in Jerusalem and I thought to myself, "Wow, it would be really interesting to see the ancient walled city of Jerusalem from the highest point in Jerusalem", and when I asked him, "How much?", his reply was, "I will make it worth your while and it won't cost that much". Well, because he was such a friendly and helpful soul, I thought to myself, "Oh, Gary, just trust him...", so off we drove to the top of the Mount of Olives, where I enjoyed a magnificent view of the ancient walled city of Jerusalem just as the morning sun began to bath the hazy landscape and cool air with shooting, soft rays of light. After our mountain top excursion, we had a breakfast of fresh baked bread with a side of a powdery spice I have never tasted before and Arabic coffee which was very tasty, spiked with yet another unusual, unidentifiable spice.

On the trip back to the hostel on Jaffa Street, the friendly taxi cab driver provided me with additional tips for the tourist and for all this I paid 180 sheckles, but the memories it created are worth it.

It isn't even 8am yet and I am back at the hostel, standing in the dusty doorway with my backpack leaning against the stone wall, wondering what to do next. After 10 minutes or so, my lucky break comes, when as a hostel couple exit the building, I grab the door and scurry inside and think proudly to myself, "What a brilliant move!". Feeling really good now about how the day is unfolding, I take yet another enjoyable hour to catch up on email communication using the lobby computer for guests. By now, I am pyched and ready for my next adventure which will involve scoping out on foot the general layout of the walled city.

I entered the city through the Jaffa Gate, one of the six gates in use today. Of all the gates, Zion's Gate is most used by the Jews to access the Wailing Wall, the New Gate and Damascus Gate are most used by the Muslims for their pilgrimage to the Dome of the Rock and the Jaffa Gate is most used by the Christians who come to venerate the holy Christian sites.

I would need to write a book, if I were to share all the experiences and thoughts of my first day in the ancient city of Jerusalem and because I really don't have the time or desire to write a book, I will endeavor to share just highlights of my daily adventures and I will start with the most significant encounter which was at the Church of the Holy Sepuchre. After having waited in line at for at least an hour, I finally arrived at the entrance to the tomb, which was adorned with a multitude of hanging golden lampatas, ornate icons and detail stone work. Stooping to enter, I was emotionally overwhelmed as I knelt beside the marble slab, spreading my arms over the breath of the burial bed and placing the side of my face against the stone on which Christ was laid, I began to quietly sob. The experience was over in less than a minute, so that others could enter and off I walked, stunned by where I had just been and by what I had experienced.

The Holy Sepuchre

Day Two:

Apparently, my biological clock wasn't quite acclimated yet, because I awoke at 530am, wide eyed and bushy tailed ready to enjoy the experiences of my second day in the Holy Land. I was especially excited today, because it was Sunday and I would be participating in a liturgy at, "The Church of the Holy Sepuchre". Arriving early, there were very few people in the church, which gave me yet another opportunity to venerate the tomb of Christ before participating in the Matins service and then the liturgy. The liturgy was beautiful as is typical of Orthodox liturgies but this one was a bit strange in that the Roman Catholics were holding a Mass just adjacent to where we were and the volume of their Mass ebbed and flowed with loud bell ringing and a constant Latin chorus. Additionally, tourist kept walking into the temple during the service to take pictures and to oogle at the architecture. All in all, it was a very strange scenerio, yet the priests seemed to take it all in stride and showed no indication of frustration. When the time came for communion, I had intended to go up and simply ask for a blessing, since I hadn't been to confession, but my intentions were thwarted when I realized the priest didn't understand what I was asking for and he was determined to feed me the sacraments, so, rather than make a scene, I accepted the sacraments and thanked God for His mercy to me.

After the service, I signed up for a walking tour of the Old City which was to last three hours. When the tour was about to start, we were informed (the two of us), that unless more people showed up, the tour would be canceled. Well nobody else showed up and the guide decided "What the heck, we'll do it anyway" and I am very glad he did, because we were able to get special attention and the tour ended up lasting five and half hours. Our guide was a retired American college professor of history and philosophy and boy, was he liberal, cynical and knowledgable. During the tour, he would make disparaging comments about Christianity, which I just couldn't let go by, which resulted in ongoing spirited debates throughout the tour and yet, by the time it was over, we had become endeared to one another. I did end spending the rest of the day with the other guy on the tour, (a reformed Christian from Switzerland), engaged in interesting conversation about the differences between Orthodoxy and Evangelicalism while we shopped at the Central Market.

The Birthplace of Christ

Day Three:

The highlight of day three was my excursion to Bethlehem. Prior to making the trip to Bethlehem by bus, my intention was to visit the site of the Upper Room where the Last Supper took place but somehow I got sidetracked and ended up at a place where the Roman Catholics claim the Dormition or Assumption of Mary took place. What is strange, though, is that two Benedictine orders within the Catholic Church maintain different burial sites and to this day, the Pope hasn't settled the matter. Orthodox tradition teaches that her Dormition took place at Gethsemene.

I had two options regarding my trip to Bethlehem, take a guided tour or just wing it on my own. Unfortunately, I made what could be called, an uninformed decision. What I didn't realize is that there is a big wall with armed guards, barbed wire and maybe even land mines between Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Bethlehem is within Palestinian Territory and consequently, the residents of one area can't cross over to the other area without special papers and clearance. Even though I have been vaguely aware of the political problems between Israel and Palestine, actually being here and seeing it first hand increases the sense of the tragedy of it all. Anyways, upon reaching this big ugly, imposing concrete and steel barrier, we had to disembark from our bus, which at this point, quickly made a u-turn and proceeded at mock speed back in the direction of Jerusalem. Somewhat stunned, I simply followed the herd through a series of steel doors and turn stiles until we reached a stark, brightly lit and barren room with guards who checked our papers from behind six inch thick glass windows. The presence of an x-ray detector was enough to indicate to me what needed to be done next; remove change, belts, watches and zippers from your clothing and proceed through the machine that is going to cause my genes to mutate, promote cancer and probably give me a heart attack someday. By this time, I concluded that this wasn't going to be a normal tourist excursion. After walking through what had the configuration of a "rat maze", I ended up on the other side of the big ugly wall in an area strewn with debris, rocks and scores of yellow taxi cabs with dark tanned, greasy looking men leaning against them holding big picture books of all the religious sites in Bethlehem. One of them came slithering over in my direction and I knew I was in for another high pressure "time to shake the shekles out of the tourist pockets", experience. Well, I had no idea, how well trained these guys are in the art of bribery, thievery and beggary. Having somewhat survived the first but not to be the last thrashing, I did make it to the birthplace of Christ but not without, somehow happening to pick up a hitch hiking "professional tourist guide" who kept showing me his credentials and assuring me of the absolutely necessity of a professional travel guide to assist me in my veneration of the birthplace of Christ. The beggars in Bethlehem increduously take coins, cash or credit cards. It didn't stop there though. The guide just happened to know a struggling gift shop owner with ten starving children at home who wanted to show me his goods. Well, by this time I was thoroughly truamatized and could only think of escaping back to the other side of the big ugly wall which I managed to do but not without having first, willingly given away my weight in shekles. My only consolation is that the poor of Bethlehem, somehow benefited from my forced spending spree. I must say, that, regardless of my unpleasant experience with the locals, having venerated the birthplace of Christ was worth it all.

No comments:

"Anathema To Him Who Divides And To Him Who Confounds"

This statement was made by the most reverend bishops of the
Fourth Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. As the mind of God was, so the seven holy councils of the first 800 years of the church spoke, establishing and confirming the great doctrines of the Christian church universal which stand firm and solid to this day and will for all eternity. In ignorance most Protestants and Romanists today aren't even aware of Byzantine history and the glorious reign of the church during the first thousand years of history after the coming of the Blessed One. If you knew that to not embrace the decrees and canons of these councils put you in an anathematized condition, would you not repent and return to the 'true faith' of your fathers? "Do not move the ancient boundary stone", so it states in the Proverbs and what happens when we do? We will be prosecuted and thus shall it be for us who violate these ancient decrees and canons of the Holy Ecumenical Councils.

Icon Of The Descent Into Hades

Jesus Christ stands on the doors of Hades and breaks them open. The doors are in the form of a Cross to remind us that Jesus shattered these doors through the power of the Cross. Christ is pulling Adam and Eve out of Hades or Sheol, the place of death. Notice the limp hand of both Adam and Eve. The limp hand symbolizes that it is through Jesus' power that they are taken to heaven out of this place of death. It is Jesus' death and that alone that has conquered death. Left of Jesus we see John the Baptist preaching about the one who is to come to Hades to save them. John the Baptist is Jesus' forerunner even in Hades. Next to John the Baptist is King David and King Solomon. Right of Jesus we find Abel, the first saint of the Old Testament. This icon is also called the Icon of the Resurrection.

Biography of Saint Basil, Fool for Christ

Saint Basil the Blessed, was born in December 1468 on the portico of the Elokhov church outside Moscow. His parents were commoners and sent their son to be trained as a cobbler. During Basil's apprenticeship, the master cobbler happened to witness an occurrence, which showed him that his apprentice was not an ordinary young man. A merchant had brought grain to Moscow on a barge and came in to order boots, specifying that they be made in a particular way, since he would not pick them up for a year. After taking the order, Saint Basil began to weep and said, "I wish you would cancel the order, since you will never wear them." Confused, the master cobbler questioned his apprentice, and he explained that the man would not wear the boots, for he would soon die. After several days the prediction came true.

When he was sixteen, the saint arrived in Moscow and began to display what is called "Yurodivy" or foolishness for Christ. In the burning summer heat and in the freezing Russian winters, he walked barefoot through the streets of Moscow. His actions were strange, for instance, he would topple kalachi and kvas stands in the marketplace. Angry merchants would throttle and beat Saint Basil, but he welcomed the abuse with joy and he thanked God for it. Soon after it would be discovered that the kalachi was poorly cooked, and the kvas was badly prepared. The reputation of St Basil quickly grew. People saw him as a holy fool, a man of God, and a denouncer of wrong.

Another story tells of a merchant who wanted to build a stone church in Moscow, but its arches collapsed three times. The merchant turned to the saint for advice, and he pointed him toward Kiev. "Find John the Cripple," he said. "He will advise you how to construct the church." Traveling to Kiev, the merchant sought out John, who sat in a poor hut and rocked an empty cradle. "Whom do you rock?" asked the merchant. "I weep for my mother, who was made poor by my birth and upbringing." Only then did the merchant remember his own mother, whom he had thrown out of the house. Then it became clear to him why he was not able to build the church. Returning to Moscow, he brought his mother home, begged her forgiveness, and built the church.

Preaching mercy, Saint Basil helped those who were ashamed to ask for alms, but who were more in need of help than others. Once, he gave away a rich imperial present to a foreign merchant who had been left destitute. Although the man had eaten nothing for three days, he was not able to beg for food, since he wore fine clothing. The saint harshly condemned those who gave to the poor for selfish reasons, not out of compassion, but hoping for an easy way to attract God's blessings. St Basil also visited the taverns, where he tried to see goodness, even in people who others had given up as lost, and to strengthen and encourage them by kindness.
Once Saint Basil even reproached Tsar Ivan the Terrible, saying that during the divine services the Tsar was preoccupied with thoughts of building a palace in the Vorobiev hills.

St Basil died on August 2, 1557. His body was buried in the cemetery of Trinity church, where in 1554, In an early icon, St Basil is portrayed as old, with white hair curling at his ears, and a short, curly white beard. He is completely naked, and holds a handkerchief in his hand. The veneration of St Basil the Blessed was always so strong that the Trinity temple and the attached Protection church were renamed for him as the famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. The saint's chains, his relics, are preserved at the Moscow Spiritual Academy.

RUSSIAN ICON "GUARDIAN ANGEL"

"Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven." Matt. 18:10 " Although we can not see them with our bodily eyes, we can see them clearly with the eyes of faith. Are we really so poverty stricken in sensitivity and spiritual awareness that we do not wish to believe anything except the easily visible world? Are our hearts so occupied with worldly vainglory that they love nothing which does not pertain to wealth and temporary pleasure?" The Guardian Angel pg. 10

Icon of the Holy Archangel Michael, Captain Of The Angelic Host.

Saint John Chrysostom The Golden Mouthed

St. Gregory The Theologian

St. Gregory the Theologian, when barely thirty years old, won acclaim throughout the region as a mighty warrior in the fight against paganism and heresy. He headed the reorganisation of the Orthodox Church which had been torn asunder by the heresy of Arianism from within and by the harassment of pagans without. In the course of this holy work, he achieved distinction as an orator, traditionalist, and a crusader that earned him the title of "Theologian" despite the opposition of Maximos the Cynic, who had been set up against him by the bishop of Alexandria. He was the instrument of God in unifying the Church into a cohesive unit that could withstand any internal or external pressure.

St. Basil the Great

St. Basil set Christian perfectionism as the goal of monastic life. The monks were to practice Christian virtues together, especially love; to practice obedience to a spiritual father; to practice chastity and poverty, and share the common goods of the monastery. After they achieved Christian perfection, they were allowed to come back to the world and help others to achieve Christian perfection. Thus, the monks had the mission of "social workers" as well. St. Basil's institutions, especially his Basileias, which was at the same time an orphanage, a "kitchen for the poor," and a school for the illiterate was in practice run by monks. This was St. Basil's way of utilizing the monastic movement to benefit the mission of the Church in the world.

Prayer of St. Ephram The Syrian 306-373

O Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, lust of power, meddling and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chasity, humility, patience and love to Thy servant. Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own errors and to judge not my brother; For thou art blessed unto ages of ages. Amen. (The church historian, Sozomen credits Ephrem with having written over three million lines of hymns, poems, homilies and biblical commentary). His works are known only within Orthodoxy. "The greatest poet of the patristic age and, perhaps, the only theologian-poet to rank beside Dante." — Robert Murray.