In the footsteps of God- The Via Dolorosa

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre from station 9

You skirt the Temple mount in the first part of the walk

It is the most celebrated walk in human history – its events have intrigued historians, baffled scientists and is re-enacted in its Christian encapsulation of the 14 stations every Easter. The ‘Via Dolorosa’ (meaning the ‘way of sorrows’)-when Christ walked and bled his last and the resurrection that followed, form the cornerstone of Christianity.

Most pilgrims start the walk from the Lion’s gate. We however start from Herod’s gate on the northern wall – an irony if you are a pilgrim, fitting perhaps if you are simply touring the city. King Herod ruled Judea (under Roman rule) between 37 BCE and 4 BCE. History documents him as a great builder and a murderer (even of his own wife and children) – the second description gets support in the Bible which accuses him of the murder of a multitude of infants when he heard of a King (Jesus Christ) being born in his land.

Statue of Christ in the Church of condemnation

Both gates though will lead you into the Muslim quarter of the old city which borders the Temple mount to the north and in part on the west. It is short walk in parallel to the northern wall, past fruit sellers, meat vendors, bakeries and other regular shops to the road straight up from Lion’s gate. Suzanna our guide now turns around to the group with a caution –“From here onwards we will only be climbing”. A few meters ahead is the point of the first two stations (Jesus is condemned to death & Jesus receives his cross). The site which is owned by the Franciscans houses the chapel of flagellation and the Church of the condemnation.  It is also where Herod’s fortress Antonia stood. Many believe the Pilate’s praetorium was in the Antonia – hence the spot for the first 2 stations. Apart from the few archaeological exhibits in the courtyard, there is nothing out of the extraordinary about the Church. With Latin Christians having built most of the Roman Catholic churches in Israel, the insides are quite familiar with tall cylindrical pillars, crowned by exquisite stucco work and high arches. The altars bear Latin inscriptions and the corners hold statues of Christ or some saint – in this case one of them is a statue of Jesus as a prisoner of the Jews with his crown of thorns.

Custodians of the Holy Land: You know if a site is owned by the Franciscan order by two symbols – the 5 crosses and the image of 2 hands crossing each other. The 5 crosses are said to be originally a crusader symbol, then used by the Franciscans – it denotes the 5 wounds of Christ. The two hands in the second symbol are that of Christ and St. Francis of Assisi. Both palms contain wounds (perforation) of crucifixion. The Vatican has entrusted the Franciscans to build and preserve churches on holy sites in the country since the 13^th century. They are known as ‘Custodia Terra Sanctae’. Read more at http://www.custodia.org/

The Ecce homo arch - where Pilate is believed
to have presented Jesus to the Jews
saying "Ecce homo" (Behold the man!)

We cross the Ecce homo arch and few carpet sellers and take a 90^o left onto El Wad Hagai (road) to get to the site of the 3^rd and 4^th stations – Jesus falls for the first time and Jesus meets his grieving mother. The site is a chapel belonging to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate. The front and the inside depict a cross bearing Christ on his knees. The fourth station is adjacent to where we are, so we complete both stations here itself. If the strain of the climbing is already taking its toll on you, this is perhaps a good time to stop for a rest – next door is an Armenian restaurant serving snacks and meals and happens to be right next to the 4^th station.

Inside the Armenian chapel

Incense - this one along with the bread (below)
was taken on the detour to the wailing wall

After this point, the city closes in on you. The road gets narrower and the Muslim quarter comes to life in a concoction of colours and odours of an old mart – a commotion of pilgrims making their way through a street market. Carpets in shades of red and brown hang from the walls of limestone, blue and white ceramics are on display in some shops, the fumes of incense mingle with the smell of hot bread -the circular bread (beigel) with sesame toppings being the most noticeable. Clearly, modern Jewish Israel hasn’t been able to suppress the roots of the Old city.

Carpets for sale

The fifth station (Simon of Cyrene help Jesus carry his cross) sits on a T junction. You can continue straight to the Western wall or turn right to continue on the Via Dolorosa. There is a small Franciscan chapel here to mark the spot that was built in 1229 (their first site in Jerusalem) - unfortunately it is closed. You might think that a group of 45 stopping here even for a couple of minutes to complete the station might be rather inconsiderate, but I guess the locals are used to this – there are many more like us stopping on way saying their prayers at every station. But it is important that you leave a small passage to allow people to pass through. From here, we take the steps up towards the sixth station (Veronica wipes the face of Jesus), the second of the less conspicuous stations (the others being the fifth, seventh and eighth). Here stands another chapel with gate closed – this time it’s Greek.  If you think the bazaars have been left behind, you’re wrong - religion and commerce continue their competition for space, and the competition carries us straight ahead into the Christian quarter and the Seventh station (Jesus falls a second time). Again another chapel, again another closed door – too many chapels too few priests I guess. At the Eighth station (Jesus speaks to the women of Jerusalem)as well, there is nothing extravagant – in fact there isn’t even a door here to the Greek Orthodox chapel behind the walls, just a postcard seller. 

Beigel

To me it resembles a ‘land grab’ of sorts, similar to those history has witnessed at the discovery of any expensive commodity like gold or oil. Now certainly, religion is no commodity – all religions have strong brands – strongly segmented masses, icons, symbols and jingles of association and the ultimate loyalty that brings forth martyrs and saints. Jerusalem is perhaps the holiest city in the world – a consecrated piece of land to Jews, Christians and Muslims. So it isn’t surprising that at every opportunity, members of all three religions with their internal factions took land and built grand buildings of prayer on each one of them. Of course, politics interfered quite often leaving things to disgrace rather than veneration. Today, on the 18th of December, as news channels report on the flaring up of the Israeli-Arab conflict, we in Jerusalem, a few kms from the West bank are walking peacefully through the city. There are no signs of any tensions or lack of safety. There at least appears to be harmony in the four quarters - a testament to Al-Quds.

The markers of the path - the tiled slab naming the path, the franciscan symbols and the roman numeral on the circular metal plate denoting the station. If you are ever confused/lost these are your crumbs of hansel

You have to retrace your steps back to the seventh station and take a right to move towards the ninth station. We are now in the Souq Khan el Zeit. The pandemonium is magnified, and a third sense is provoked with local music blasting away. We are suddenly jostled to one side by a procession – at the head is a priest in black carrying a large wooden cross and following him are a group of about 20-25 people- mostly women with scarves on their heads. They are obviously on the same path, but are in some sort of hurry. Behind them is another man yelling instructions in Arabic. He is one of the traders and is pushing a huge cart up the road – we part again. Looks like commerce is playing second fiddle here, but whose side are we on I wonder!

Make way for the cart

You need to take care not to miss the right turn that leads to the open stairs from the Souq – ask around, there are no markers here. The stairs take you to the ninth station (Jesus falls a third time) where we get our first glimpse of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. A Coptic Church marks the spot. It’s a few meters ahead and left to the terrace of arguably the most sacred Church in Christianity.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was originally built by Emperor Constantine in 333 AD after his mother (St. Helena) determined the location of Golgotha in 326 AD. Since then it was destroyed and rebuilt, but the foundations remain. It houses churches for the Catholics, Armenians, Syrian Orthodox, Greeks Orthodox, Coptics and Ethiopians. But the keys to the church are in possession of two Muslim families – Nuseibeh and Judeh. They open the Church every day – a tradition that has been followed since the 13^th century.

In the African village on the terrace of the Church of Holy Sepulchre

Depiction of the last 3 stations

The Rotunda with the top of the chapel housing the tomb

We move down past a few chapels into the main Church. Stations 10-14 are here in different parts of the Church. It’s Sunday, and prayers/masses are all around. Moreover, when there is mass, that part of the Church is cordoned off, so we cannot complete the stations in sequence. The most easily accessible is the 13^th station – a raised block of stone on which Christ was laid after he was taken down from the cross. Behind it is an exquisite mosaic depiction of the last 3 stations. We move towards the Rotunda, where the tomb of Christ sits in a stone cubicle structure in the centre.

Finish! Finish!

The ambulatory around it is packed with pilgrims – it’s a fusion of races, colour and language, possibly even citizens of politically opposite states – a sight that would make any leader of the Church proud. But the sight isn’t so comforting for us, the pilgrims, standing in the long line awaiting our turn to get into the little chapel. The chapel has a narrow entrance – one can pass in or out at a time. And as luck would have it, it is time for the Armenians to conduct mass. Pipe organs and a deep chorus of hymns fill the rotunda. It would have spooked me out if I was alone, but now in some way it completes the scenes of devotion before me. About half an hour later, the Armenian priests walk through the outer section of the ambulatory oscillating their thuribles and spreading the vapors of incense all around. The organ dies down. The route to the chapel is open once more.

The mosaic at Golgotha

The experience of the tomb is rushed – quite natural given the number of people waiting to get in. It simply doesn't give you time to let it all sink in. I move in under the dim light into the first part – the chapel of the Angels where there stands a part of the stone that covered Christ’s tomb. Up ahead is a priest dressed in black yelling ‘Finish! Finish!” between deep yawns. He has obviously had a long day. He finally signals to me to get it in – I have merely two minutes for the realization that the tomb of My God lies in front of me to hit my tired brain, before I hear the priest again. It all happened so fast, a wait for over an hour for an experience of two minutes!

The front facade of the Church
(our tour group in the foreground)

We then make our way down and back up another flight of stairs to the site of the Crucifixion – the stone of Golgotha. This time the crowd is smaller, but Suzanna issues a warning – “This is not a place for prayers. Touch the stone and move quickly”. But the crowd bought me enough of time to at least admire the mosaic on the ceiling and pillars depicting Christ’s last moments on earth alive in the flesh.  Again the experience ends in a flash – a quick kneel, stick your hand out to feel the stone and your off, out of the site and downstairs one more.

It was done, it took us no less than three and a half hours, but the Via Dolorosa was complete. It’s as one of the group mentioned a little later – “Your Easters will never be the same again”.

More pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotos_riaan/sets/72157632150873204/

TIPS

• You can join the Franciscan Clergy every Friday for the 14 stations
•  If you have the legs for it, you should start from the Mount of Olives and trace the steps of Christ across the Kidron valley and into the city of Jerusalem as well – the sights will astound you!
• If you are with old/sick/crippled people, you might want to go with a tour – the older/crippled people are generally allowed to sit out their turn or move up in line and coordination becomes easier with a lot of people around.
• Start early and finish early to appreciate the grandeur of the buildings especially the Church of the Holy Sepluchre– more so in the winters. Israel moves back its clocks and sunset is at around 4:30 pm.
• We toured the Holy Land with Purple Orchid (http://purpleorchidholidays.com/) – the guidance and arrangements were great, but it felt a bit rushed at times (like any tour would). If you have the time and the energy, you should travel through the entire Old city on foot – it is just 1 sq. km! And keep aside at least 3 whole days to explore all of Jerusalem.

References/Further reading

• Our guide on the tour (Suzanna)
• http://www.livius.org/he-hg/herodians/herod_the_great01.html
• http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/
• http://www.biblewalks.com/
• http://www.seetheholyland.net/via-dolorosa/
• www.helloisrael.net