What would John the Baptist say?

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Some pictures for John the Baptist on his birthday! 

Enlarge the photo above and see John baptizing Jesus in the River Jordan.

The gift shop at Kasr il Yahud, near Jericho, is full of souvenirs for pilgrims.

Sometimes I wonder how John would react if he could see the modern version of his desert  baptismal site,  complete with tourist buses,  Israeli army patrols,

refrigerated trucks bringing ice cream to the kiosk,

and groups of young North Americans being dunked by their pastor,
while being photographed and filmed,

to the accompaniment of guitars and songs.
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What do you think?
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(More blog pictures of Kasr al Yahud here.)
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Goodbye John, hello Francis

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Meanwhile, back in the Jerusalem Hills for a weekend visit, I discovered a new painting  had been added to the church at St. John of the Desert  Franciscan convent.*
The protective shield made it hard to get a good shot; on the other hand, it was good for Weekend Reflections.
Apparently it was necessary because pilgrims would kiss the icon and leave lipstick marks (or so I was told).  

I guess the resident hermit monk who painted it thought that the only red St. Francis needed on him was his stigmata on hands and side.

The older painting it replaced was quite unusual in that it showed John the Baptist holding a scroll written in Hebrew ("Behold the Lamb of God . . . "). 
You don't see much Hebrew on church walls.
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*Franciscans in Israel use the word convent not necessarily to refer to a women's religious community, but rather to differentiate it from a monastery.
Monks or nuns in a monastery live a more secluded life, while those in a convent [think "convention"]  are more apostolic and can work outside the walls.
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(Linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Happy birthday John the Baptist!

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Happy birthday (tonight and tomorrow) to John the Baptist!

Here is the pretty fence that keeps pilgrims from falling down toward the opening in the mountain from which flows spring water.
I took the picture from below, after drinking a few handfuls of the cold water. 
John most probably used the same spring, Ein Habis.
In Arabic it means the Spring of the Hermit. 

Above the spring is the opening to the grotto where John used to live, according to Christian tradition.
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You can see more pictures of the monastery in my previous posts about John.
To see John's happy birthday party in 2007 see here and here.
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Church doors, John, and a bench

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A blog-friend from Scandinavia came to visit today!
We walked down to the local monastery.
I took this shot through the church doors (while sitting in the church)  to catch a beautiful wooden bench resting on ancient stones.
(You can enlarge this photo a lot to see details.)

That's John the Baptist on the left with his message, in Hebrew.
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(A post for Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Where Mary visited Elisabeth

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E is for Ein Kerem, the beautiful village in the hill country of Judea, known as the birthplace of John the Baptist.
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In the photo, Antonio Barluzzi's Church of the Visitation.
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(For ABC Wednesday.)
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A grotto with a door

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For Monday Doorways meme here is a peek into the grotto in which John the Baptist may have lived.
Enlarge the photo and see Elisabeth and her son John painted on the wall.

And here we stand inside his cave and look out past the open door.
The Jerusalem Hills are round about.

The Franciscan monastery and church are built over the grotto.
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Birthday and birthplace of John

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Come, join the tourists.
Come into the Church of St. John the Baptist (or St. John Ba Harim) in the Jerusalem suburb of Ein Kerem.


The Franciscans built the present church in 1674 over the remains of the Crusader and Byzantine era churches.
 Further work was done in the 19th century.

Walk forward in the basilica and turn left. Go down a few stairs.


The grotto--the most revered part of the church!

Not because of the marble altar donated by Queen Isabella II of Spain.
Not just because of the lit-up "Benedictus," the first words spoken by Zechariah after the birth of his son and today recited daily in the morning prayers of Catholics.

The crypt is holy . . .


. . . because this is considered to be the exact birthplace of John.

Here--enlarge the photo and read the declaration yourself.

I'm guessing at the Latin but I believe it means "The precursor of the Lord was born here."

There will be a big celebration here--June 24 is considered by the Church the birthday of John the Baptist.

Happy birthday, Yochanan!

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(Linking to inSPIRED Sunday.)

Laying their life on the line

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Please click to enlarge and immerse yourself in the photo.

A peep into a Russian Orthodox convent and pilgrim hostel.

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The iconic scene: John baptizes Jesus in the Jordan.

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For ABC Wednesday J Day.

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Down to the river

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And I thought we Jews had a lot of holidays . . .

For the Roman Catholic Church and the churches in the Anglican Communion, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord is observed on the first Sunday after Epiphany. Ya'ani, today.
For one thing, it is meant to remind Christians that the public ministry of Jesus began with a consecration--his baptism by John in the Jordan River.
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Here are two pictures from our local monastery, which honors John the Baptist.
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Click on the photo to better see the water and the traditional icon for the day.

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While digging in the Internet I discovered a 5-minute movie trailer from Ten Thousand Films.

You can get a stunning aerial glimpse of the Jordan where it meanders and of the desert and of the dig going on at Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

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(If it takes long to load, try going straight to YouTube.)

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Here is what they write about the video:

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"An archaeological-detective story uncovering the pieces of the ancient mystery of where Christ was baptized. Christians around the world know Bethlehem where Jesus was born, and Jerusalem where Jesus died and was resurrected, but no one knows the location of his baptism. This being one of the three holiest places of Christianity.

Where was he baptized? Why was the site lost? How was it discovered and what was found there? The remarkable story of how the actual location of Jesus’ baptism had disappeared from human memory, lost in time for almost 1000 years; And the fascinating story of its rediscovery and the ongoing excavations taking place there. Only 5% of the area has been dug until today. Who knows what else lies beneath this place and what it could reveal about Jesus Christ and the birth of Christianity.

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The 53 minute documentary is concerned with the recent discovery of the baptism site of Jesus Christ in an area known as ‘Wadi al-Kharrar’ on the east bank of the river Jordan, the 'Bethany Beyond the Jordan' of the Gospels. A complex of unique churches, baptismal pools and monasteries are amongst the important discoveries uncovered so far.

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The area, since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, was a military zone and heavily mined making it impossible of access. However in 1994 after Jordan and Israel signed a peace treaty, archaeologists begun their excavations. . . ."

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Happy birthday St. John

On the Church calendar June 24 marks the Nativity of John the Baptist.
 He was born right here, in the Hills of Judea (aka the Jerusalem Hills), so we have many churches and monasteries with his name within easy walking distance.
You can see young John on the priest's vestments, holding and beholding the lamb.
Two years ago today I walked down to St. John in the Desert convent to see (and photograph) the special prayer service for the feast day.


Afterwards we were invited to the refectory to feast on good food and drink. To celebrate!

Visiting Spanish-speaking Franciscans clapped and sang to the music of the guitar out in the courtyard.
It was a happy time, a real birthday party.
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More about the prayer and the place in my post of last June 24.
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Shalom Abie, go in peace

Today, August 29, two deaths are being marked. For many Christians this is the day of The Beheading of St. John the Forerunner.

In Hebrew John is Yochanan HaMatbil, meaning John the baptiser. But, as I heard one professor say, he could also be called Yochanan HaMakbil, meaning John the parallel one. The lives of John and Jesus are woven together from birth to death and beyond, as this icon shows.
John said of himself, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord."

Today Israel buried Abie Nathan, dead at age 81. Parallels here also. His voice, too, was of one crying out in the wilderness. Before there was peace with Egypt and Jordan, before Israel had a peace movement, Abie was a peace seeker. Like John the Precursor, Abie followed his heart and did bold and daring new things. He flew a little plane solo to Cairo in 1966, he talked with Arafat when it was still against the law, and he served time in jail for it. He almost died from a hunger strike. As today's Ha'aretz article says, "He earned a reputation as a maverick peace activist who often took diplomacy into his own hands." Like John, he was prepared to put his head on a platter if need be.
Nathan launched a pirate radio station in 1973 with news in Hebrew and Arabic and good music and talk. For twenty years we listened to what came from the Peace Ship. Who doesn't remember the opening "From somewhere in the Mediterranean, this is the Voice of Peace. . ."
More about Abie and his humanitarian work around the world is here, in the Jerusalem Post.

When asked what he would want engraved on his tombstone, Abie Nathan said, "Nisiti." It means, "I tried."

To your health

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Wajdi, a very talented excavator at our dig, brought us this frozen bag of . . . of what??
In the heat it quickly melted and we were treated to glasses of CAROB juice.
My first time to drink carobs! A distinctive, special taste for sure.
Apparently the carob drink is traditional during the month of Ramadan which starts next week.

Today I took home some carob pods that had fallen from the tree on my street.
They are fun to play with as a rattle and fun to eat too.
You chew on the pod and discard the seeds.
Some use carob as a chocolate substitute. 

Last April the pods were pale green and soft.


The charuv (Hebrew name) or charub (in Arabic) tree is also know as Saint John's bread.

John the Baptist lived in caves right here in the Jerusalem Hills and was sustained by carobs, Christian tradition says.
The Talmud has a similar and amazing story about Shimon bar Yochai and his son which can be found here, at the second paragraph under Shabbat 33b.

Israeli bloggers Martha and ModraY have fascinating facts about the carob at their lovely blog "Flowers in Israel," if you still have strength to read more.
 By now you may be needing a sip of carob juice!
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Birthday of John the Baptist

Today is an important feast day for the Church. On June 24 the nativity of John the Baptist is celebrated. He was born in Ein Kerem, the village down in the valley. Before starting his public ministry, "The Forerunner" spent years in the wilderness, i.e. in my very own Jerusalem Hills.
This grotto and the spring just above it might well be where he lived and/or prayed.

Today the cave is part of the Franciscan monastery called Saint John in the Wilderness.

The service began up in the church and then continued on the steps to the grotto. This photo I took last year shows visiting Franciscan monks and priests singing the special liturgy. After the prayer, the birthday party for John began in the refectory and courtyard. It was a happy celebration!

(The church dome and the bell at sunset can be seen here in a SkyWatch post.)

Vs for Christians

" Voice of one crying in the wilderness." Matthew 3:13. Here at our local monastery John the Baptist baptizes Jesus. The Vulgate translation got it wrong. Should be "A voice cries: In the wilderness. . .".

  "Verily, verily, I say unto you . . . " Jesus speaks many verily verilies in the New Testament.

  Vicarious atonement--the redeeming of sinners by shedding blood on the cross. The Franciscan emblem shows the pierced hand of Jesus reaching out of the cloud, joining the bloody-from-stigmata hand of Francis of Assisi, and the Holy Spirit dove descending on both.

  Virgin Mary in the crypt of the Dormition Abbey.