On Good Friday, tall ladders to the cross

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It is now late afternoon in Israel.
This is the day my Christian friends call Good Friday, and this is the hour when they solemnly reflect on the taking down from the cross.
Very soon it will be Shabbat evening. 

It was in Friedberg, a small town in the rolling green hills of Styria, Austria, that I first saw  statuary such as this!

Please click a few times to enlarge the photos and get the beautiful details.

The church was first mentioned in writing in 1377.
In 1706 it was expanded and magnificent frescoes were added.

The Baroque pilgrimage church and its surroundings can be seen here.
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I try to imagine how you Christian readers out there experience the Triduum, the three saddest days, as you await the joy of Easter Sunday.   Blessings to you.
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(Linking to inSPIREd Sunday.)

Ashes and snow

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Jerusalem is entering into Lent today, Ash Wednesday,  with the imposition of ashes.
And tomorrow the Holy City will be getting snow, again!
Ashes and snow. 
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If you are looking for some Lenten inspiration, education, and even humor,  have some Coffee with Sister Vassa. 
Just click the "Reflections on Lent" playlist on her YouTube channel.
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Eucharistic Symphony DVD launch -- a liturgical patrimony

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On my way to the Tower of David free museum day last Thursday I first went in to see the new Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Book Shop near Jaffa Gate and say Mabruk (mazal tov) to the manager.
He invited me to come back in five hours  and attend the launch of a very special DVD.

A Greek Orthodox priest just happened to be standing under the book store sign that I wanted to photograph. 

The poster shows the DVD and give some details about the music and the project.
You can click and read the enlarged version.

A few minutes after 5:00 pm the VIPs from the Eastern churches began arriving.

 My ticket said

We are most honored to invite you
to the presentation and projection of excerpts of the DVD of the
September 22, 2012 Gethsemane Concert (World Premiere) of the
Eucharistic Symphony
for baritone and soprano soloists, mixed choir with four voices, flute and string orchestra and twelve Church representative singers
by Armando Pierucci, ofm.

The man with his hand on the arch  from the sound system crew had to climb that ladder several times, trying to convince the laptop with a blue screen to actually project the DVD.

The gathered  Greek, Armenian,  Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopian, Melkite,  Franciscan, and Latin clergymen sat patiently and politely waited.
Maybe they were praying for a computer miracle . . .

His Beatitude Theophilos III seems to be such a good man.
The official title of the Patriarch of Jerusalem is
His Most Godly Beatitude, the Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine, Syria, Arabia, beyond the Jordan River, Cana of Galilee, and Holy Zion, Theophilus III.

Here he stood with Swiss Veronique Nebel, prime mover for this "cultural project born in Jerusalem, inspired by liturgical pieces from twelve different Christian musical traditions, a call for increased mutual awareness between the churches and for the respect of religious freedom."

Following the premiere in Jerusalem the concert was given in Geneva at the United Nations, in the cathedral of Milan, and in Matera. 

You will enjoy hearing and seeing the premiere that was in the Garden of Gethsemane.

A short video recap of the performances in Geneva and Italy. 

Meet the composer/organist in this video.

An article from the Custodia is  here .

The composer, Armando Pierucci, a Franciscan Father, said "Music helps us rediscover our roots when Christians praised God with one voice."

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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)

Prayer for Christian Unity at the Cenacle

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Thursday my nun friends invited me to come along to  Day 5 of the annual  Week of Prayer for Christian Unity .
Every day a different church hosts the community and leads the ecumenical prayer service.

 But Day 5 was in the Upper Room, the Cenacle, which belongs to all Christians, so to speak, because here was the Last Supper and here the first Christian community gathered and experienced the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

 The only ones to have chairs were the clergymen from the various denominations.
(May be helpful to enlarge the photo.)

On the right is Father  Gregory Collins OSB, who led the service and preached, in ENGLISH! 
He is an Irish Benedictine monk of Glenstal Abbey and last year he became the Abbot of the Dormition Abbey on Mt. Zion (see my coverage of that Mass here).

 The ancient columns and capitals and the six rib-vaulted bays are beautiful to behold.
For Christians I can imagine the Upper Room has much spiritual energy.
And one floor below is the Tomb of David where Jews pray, so Christianity's roots are literally underneath.
At one point the hall was also made into a mosque as you can see in the first photo above with the Muslim prayer niche, the hanging mosque lamp, and the Arabic writing on the window.

Here is one of the two small doors into the Cenaculum.

UPDATE: A short video of the Unity Week's prayer services is now  here. 
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So for ABC Wednesday, C is for Christians communing in the Cenacle.
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And the architectural elements are linking to Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.
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Kasr al Yahud, post #3

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Here is my third successive post about the baptism site at the Jordan.
Please click once, then once again, to see any photo much enlarged.

 As we will see, there are many curious contrasts at Kasr al Yahud.
You get off your comfortable tour bus in the parking lot and maybe you will see an IDF army jeep there too.
It is a reminder that  you that you are 1) in the West Bank, 2)  just ten kilometers from Jericho which is in Area A where the Palestinian Authority has full control of security and civil administration, and 3) only a few meters across the river from Jordanian soldiers in watchtowers.

But no worries.  Just a few steps and you are greeted by this mannequin in the gift shop.

He is modeling the garment in which you might like to be baptized or to immerse in the Jordan.

Plenty of T shirts for sale too, like with  Holy Spirit doves, Israeli flags, and "I was baptized in the Jordan River."

Bring your white gown to the "Clothing cell."
This one is for "Woman's [sic]."

(Hey, this could be good for the Signs, Signs meme.)
I wonder how the translation fared in the other languages: Hebrew, Arabic, Russian, Greek.
But the sign shows you the wide diversity of pilgrims who come to Kasr il Yahud. 

Hey, are those shower heads on top?

It was kind of surreal for me to watch people walking around in these gowns, and under the flag of the Jewish State too.
If a Christian dies and is buried in this Jordan-dipped gown, now become shroud, it guarantees eternal life.
At least that is the Christian belief that our group's  Israeli Jewish guide told about.
I have never heard this from a Christian source.  Have you?

Follow the arrow to the "Water entry point."
The new structures you see are meant to provide shade and shelter  for groups that come to have Mass or Divine Liturgy there.

Finally we get down to the river's edge.
At this point it is 380 meters below sea level.
Can you see the Jordanian flag flying just across the narrow river?
There are churches and monasteries on the other side too. 

As we were leaving Kasr al Yahud, I saw three men unloading an ice cream truck in the sweltering heat.
Talk about contrasts!   Ice cream in the desert!
Imagine how things could have turned out different if John the Baptist, Jesus, Joshua, and Elijah had come up from the Jordan and found such luxury . . . .
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At holy water's edge

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The subject of City Daily Photo group's Theme Day today is "At water's edge."
I am happy to show you very special (some say holy) water--the River Jordan!

My photos are from the Israeli side; the other edge of the narrow river is already in the Kingdom of Jordan.
This place is called in Arabic Qasr al Yahud.
It is just east of Jericho.

The old traditions say that here John the Baptist baptized Jesus, that Joshua led the Israelites across the river into the Promised Land, and that the Prophet Elijah ascended into heaven.

I watched a Canadian group witnessing as to what had brought them to faith and to this holy place.
One by one they descended the stairs and their minister blessed them and dunked them.
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You can enlarge the photos; click and then click again on what opens.  It will make the little river look bigger, maybe.
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More information on Kasr al Yahud in this article.
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To see the other baptism site called Yardenit, favored by Protestants, where the Jordan flows out of the Sea of Galilee, please see these posts.
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To visit other bloggers posting their water's edge, go to the nice new City Daily Photo website.
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Ascension Day at Christendom's 2nd holiest site

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As I started telling you yesterday, Thursday was Ascension Day for the Orthodox churches.
It was my first time to see the very old Chapel of the Ascension on the Mount of Olives and to experience four different liturgies going on at once, each in a different language.

Photo opportunities were so plentiful, I don't know where to start!
Maybe we start with pictures of the processions, so you can have a better look at the interesting faces and vestments.

From time to time the Greeks or Armenians or Syrians or Copts would leave their area of the courtyard and walk in procession into the chapel.
(You remember, they are allowed to pray here but once a year by the Muslim owners, and each group sets up an awning or kind of tent for their hours-long liturgy.)

You always knew when a group was exiting the chapel by the rhythmic tapping of the kawas' ceremonial staff.
Since Ottoman Turk times, they lead the way and clear the way for the Christian clergy.
The Arab kaswassim will get a separate post in the coming days.
They are sort of like the Holy Land version of the Vatican's Swiss Guard.

Here come the Greek Orthodox.

(Click on any photo, and then again on the photo that opens, to enlarge it. Enjoy the rich detail.)


This Armenian was leading the choir of the seminary students.
There seems to be almost no spoken word in the Orthodox liturgies, only singing/chanting.

These star-shaped things with little bells were also beautiful to hear.

The very old Syrian Orthodox church still uses Aramaic (mixed with some Arabic) for their prayers.

Indeed, if you closed your eyes to the lay people in modern dress yesterday and just focused on the look and sound of the clergy, you could imagine you were far back in the earliest Christian centuries in Jerusalem.
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The Holy Sepulchre in the electronic age

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Coming out of the Holy Sepulchre this afternoon I was shocked to see this man out on a ledge.

First I thought "Don't jump!" and second I thought "Don't break that ledge!"
Especially since the Crusaders built it a long time ago and because it looks this beautiful when you look up to the sky.
(Enlarge the photo to appreciate the stonework detail.)

Then I saw they were only stringing cable and preparing the church for the widescreen coverage of the many ceremonies to be held tomorrow.

Inside, too, men were putting down little ramps so the thousands of pilgrims will not trip over the cables tomorrow.
With a little LUCK the workers will finish all the preparations in time for the Orthodox Holy Thursday.

In the parvis, the entrance courtyard of the Holy Sepulchre, the dais has already been built.
The Greek Patriarch will rise from the red and gold chair and wash the feet of those seated on the two benches.
This in commemoration of Jesus' washing of his apostles' feet on that first Maundy Thursday.
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According to the fine Holy Land Calendar of Christian Feasts & Events 2012 published by the Ministry of Tourism (which you can download in PDF !):

"Highlights of the feast in Jerusalem:
Washing of the Feet--
The Greek Patriarch in courtyard of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Head of the Franciscan Order in the Room of the Last Supper and later at the St. Savior Church.
The Latin Patriarch at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Anglicans, Armenians, Copts, Syrians, and Ethiopians in their respective churches. "

And that is only the morning program!
Go to the calendar to see what will happen in the afternoon, evening and night time.
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UPDATE: Haaretz now has 7 Reuters photos of the foot washing day at the Holy Sepulchre. Click here to see them.
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III did indeed wash the feet of 12 of his clergymen, there on the platform I showed you.
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UPDATE Oct. 2014: A video clip on the restoration and re-opening of the Chapel of the Franks.
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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity + the Chapel of Adam

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Apparently visitors to the Western Wall are not the only ones who write letters to God and stick them between the stones.

This nun in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is collecting some notes left by Christian pilgrims with her brush and dustpan.
Reaching the ones under the glass floor might be more complicated.
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Every year the various Churches have a week of prayer for Christian unity.
In the Northern Hemisphere this is in January.
In the Holy Land Christians wait until after Armenian Christmas, so this year the week of prayer is January 21-29.
Every day, the common liturgy is hosted by one of the cathedrals of the different communities.
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Jerusalem's Week of Prayer started, of course, at Anastasis (Church of the Holy Sepulchre), in the Calvary chapel, with the Greek Orthodox Office of “Apodeipnon”(Compline).
The following days were at the Anglican Cathedral of St. George, the Armenian Cathedral of St. James, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, the Latin Patriarchate’s Church, then the Upper Room (Cenacle).
Tonight all are invited to the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and tomorrow to St. Anthony’s Church, Coptic Orthodox.
The week ends on Sunday at the Greek Catholic Church of Annunciation.
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But getting back to our nun in the photo . . .
She tends the Chapel of Adam which lies directly under the chapels at the summit of Calvary, where the cross was raised.
The New Testament says that when Jesus gave up the ghost, "The earth shook and the rocks split."
The rock you see behind a glass in the wall, reflected* in the glass altar top, is indeed a cracked slab.
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Christian tradition maintains that Adam was buried at the base of the Rock of Golgotha.
When the rock split, a drop of blood from Jesus' wounds seeped through and touched Adam's skull, thus bringing redemption to the first sinner.
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And I thought it apropos for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity what Yad Ben-Zvi's guidebook notes:

"The Chapel, which is situated on the traditional burial place of Adam, exactly under the location of the crucifixion, was much sought after as a burial site by the Catholic Crusader kings. The Greek Orthodox, however, who were hostile to the Catholics, destroyed these tombs at the first opportunity, during the course of the renovations carried out after the great fire in 1808."

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(*The rock's reflection is for Weekend Reflections and the slight shadow of the nun's head on the wall is for Shadow Shot Sunday 2.)
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Glenn Beck's Restoring Courage rally

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The two men had to try at least twice to swing the heavy battery of lights up and into position.
I saw them setting up the stage and chairs yesterday in the plaza of the Jerusalem Municipality, Safra Square.

This venue was for the overflow crowd that couldn't get tickets for the sold-out Davidson archaeological park event near the Western Wall this afternoon.
Glenn Beck was giving a talk to over a thousand supporters, mostly Evangelical Christians who came from America for his "Restoring Courage" rally.
The video is up on YouTube.

I don't know this commentator but apparently a lot of Americans do. He has radio and TV stations.
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There were protests, both from Peace Now and the Left and from some of the Jewish religious establishment.
City Hall was criticized for providing top venues, holy places.
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So is Glenn Beck good for the Jews or bad for the Jews? See the CNN article.
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Many Israelis welcome the love and support of Christian Zionists.
But many Jews have a kind of (involuntary, perhaps) flinch reaction when they see so many smiling Evangelicals, especially so close to the Western Wall like tonight.
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From the Israeli press about Glenn Beck:
A funny recap in Haaretz
Jerusalem Post
Ynet
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UPDATE: A fellow local blogger was there at Safra Square the night of Beck's rally. See her pictures and comments at the excellent The Real Streets of Jerusalem blog.
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What's that on your head?

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Tonight the vigil of Pentecost begins.
The happy festival has to be one of the strangest on the Christian calendar.
Or so it appears to this Jew (and probably to quite a few Christians too).
Let's admit it--the mystery and the drama of the Church is fascinating.
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As we said in yesterday's post, Pentecost is all about the Holy Spirit.
The symbol of the Holy Spirit is the dove, especially the dove descending.
This dove above a picture of Mary is in the stairway to the Ethiopian chapel in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
And if you can get past the reflection, you can see two angels adjusting Mary's crown. (One of her names is Queen of Heaven.)
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Now we get to the best part!
The Book of Acts says

And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.

This tall painting in the Latin Patriarchate church actually shows these tongues of fire!
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And here, in Notre Dame de Jerusalem, is a picture of the famous icon of the Feast.
It is known as "The Descent of the Holy Spirit."
Again the tongues of fire, and even their source!

But who is that king below the Apostles and Mary?
The website of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America offers the interpretation of the icon and a good explanation of Pentecost (recommended!):

Below the Apostles, a royal figure is seen against a dark background. This is a symbolic figure, Cosmos, representing the people of the world living in darkness and sin, and involved in pagan worship. However, the figure carries in his hands a cloth containing scrolls which represent the teaching of the Apostles. The tradition of the Church holds that the Apostles carried the message of the Gospel to all parts of the world.

If you are one of the millions who celebrate this day, Happy Pentecost!
Thanks to the readers who responded to yesterday's photo with such very touching comments.
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400 year anniversary of King James Version

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It feels strange for me in Jerusalem to be enjoying the Good Life of culture this week, at the International Book Fair, during a week that has seen so many killed in Christchurch and Libya, and when yesterday evening a Grad missile fired from Gaza exploded in the city of Beersheba.

But I guess we have to make the best of life while we still have it.

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Yes . . . well, so the Book Fair is actually a big trade show for authors and publishers, held every two years.
But there are plenty of exhibits, lectures, and discussions for us regular people to enjoy too.
Admission is free and there are little freebies to fill up your bag.  They even give you a strong bag at the entrance! 

Many of the books are for sale, deeply discounted.  

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The 25th Jerusalem International Book Fair 2011  coincides with the  400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible.
On display is a facsimile the same size, binding, and type of paper as that of the original first printing of the KJV.
It is very big and looks very heavy!   (Reminded me of my University of Michigan days, shlepping the heavy Kittel/Stuttgart Biblia Hebraica to my Biblical Hebrew class every day, oi.)

Enlarge the photo and see if you can read it.  The print looks like  old German script, no?

So many Christians over  so many centuries kept on translating the original Hebrew.
On display was one poster for each of the versions, starting in 1380:
Wycliffe, Gutenberg, Erasmus, Tyndale, Coverdale, Matthew, The Great Bible, Stephanus Greek Text, The Bishop's Bible, and the King James of 1611.
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The folks manning the exhibit of bilingual Bibles said to tell my readers that you can get a free printed copy in Hebrew-to whatever your language is and also a free Scriptures CD-ROM.
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Back home I looked up the website of this 70-year-old UK-based organization.
Allow me to QUOTE  its stated object:

"God gave the Holy Scriptures to man as the one true source of light.  He chose Jewish writers as the instrument to pen His word and to carefully preserve it down through the centuries.  The Hebrew heritage of the Word of God is real, and a great debt is owed to the Jewish people for this most precious gift.  Out of gratitude to them and in partial repayment of our debt, The Society for Distributing Hebrew Scriptures exists to provide Jewish people worldwide with a free copy of the Holy Scriptures in bilingual format, i.e. in Hebrew and in the reader’s daily tongue."

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And you can be sure they tack on the New Testament to the back of every "Hebrew Scriptures" that they give away!
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Sorry for that little rant.  Tomorrow I promise to show you pictures from the Fair that are lighter and more fun.
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From Florida to Jerusalem

I was walking to the Italian Jewish Art Museum when I spotted this institution for the first time. 

I wasn't familiar with Southeastern University but I figured this must be another new Jerusalem branch of an American college, most likely Protestant, probably Evangelical. 

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Back home, I Googled and found  two opposing views of this school:

  Southeastern's Jerusalem campus website  vs.  an anti-"missionary" Jewish website

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As I have written many times, nothing is simple in Israel; life is always made complicated.

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Forgotten lentils

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"Another old man came to see one of the fathers, who cooked a few lentils and said to him, 'Let us say a few prayers,' and the first one completed the whole Psalter, and the other brother recited the two great Prophets by heart. When morning came, the visitor went away, and they forgot the food."

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(Source: the April 29 meditation at "Word from the Desert -- Meditations on the Orthodox Life from the Early Church Fathers, Ascetics, Saints and Righteous")

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Spelling it out

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I have lived as a working volunteer with a wonderful monastic community of contemplative Protestant nuns in Switzerland. During my years with the sisters I have lived their heavy and solemn feeling during the liturgies of Good Friday.
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Still . . . what is a blogging Jew to post on Good Friday?
Relations have improved in our times, and thank God for the State of Israel.
Historically, however, Holy Week has been a dangerous time for us.
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One knight in the First Crusade (1096) wrote, "Behold we journey a long way to seek the idolatrous shrine and to take vengeance upon the Muslims. But here are the Jews dwelling among us, whose ancestors killed him and crucified him groundlessly. Let us take vengeance first upon them. Let us wipe them out as a nation."
These Crusaders on their way to the Holy Land did indeed slaughter entire Jewish communities in Rhineland cities.
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Deicide was not the only charge. As recently as the early 20th century, pogroms erupted during Holy Week in Eastern European and Russia when rumors spread about Jewish "crimes." Inflamed by outlandish accusations such as the claim that Jews killed Christian children and used their blood to make matsa for Passover, unruly gangs searched out Jews to kill and maim.

Two crucifixes that I will never forget are NOT IN ISRAEL but in the Czech Republic.
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This famous statue on the bridge in Prague is topped by Hebrew (!) letters spelling "Kadosh kadosh kadosh Adonai tsevaot," -- "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts."
(Well, this photo is from my second visit in 2006. By then someone had thankfully removed one and a half letters from the name of God, making it no longer his name.)
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I was even more shocked when we found the explanation in the Jewish museum:
A long time ago some Jew was falsely accused of writing something wrong in a letter. He was arrested and as a punishment was made to pay for these gold Hebrew letters on the crucifix.
Normally the sign says INRI.
But not in the medieval cathedral of Nymburk in central Bohemia.
There it was spelled out quite clearly: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
And the blood drips.
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Yes, Good Friday is a difficult day for both Christians and Jews.
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Symbolic red

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Antependium: a decorative hanging for the front of an altar, lectern, or pulpit.
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Such linens and cloth hangings are also called paraments.
They "clothe" the furnishings in the chancel.
The liturgical colors of the paraments change, following the seasons of the Christian calendar.
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Red, the color of fire, is a symbol for the Holy Spirit; so on Pentecost the paraments are red, and also during ordinations of clergy.
Red is also the color of blood and of martyrdom--the color for any service that commemorates the death of a martyr.
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Red is used by some churches for Holy Week.
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Red is the April 1 theme for City Daily Photo's Theme Day.
Click here to view thumbnails for all participants
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Wishing the Christian readers a blessed Holy Week.
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