Jarom in Jerusalem: Israeli Museum, Christian Field trip and the day after.

The next day several of us went to the Israeli Museum. They have a ton of stuff there, we were limited by time so (to complete an assignment) we only ended up looking at certain things. We did check out some of the art, however. Maybe we’ll end up going back, I don’t know. Many of the things we’ve studied in class were there, from inscriptions from the 8^th century BCE referring to the house of David, to ivory found in a city described in the Bible as having a palace of Ivory, to seals with important names on them, to a “steel” sword found in the time of when Nephi lived, to buried silver coin caches (probably what Lehi had at his “land of inheritance”) to scripture (Deuteronomy 6) written on tiny metal scrolls on a locket, and many other things. I suppose it was cool to see what sort of things ancient civilizations had, and later that day we headed back home for dinner.

One day this week we had our Christian church field trip. We went through this gate in Jerusalem that I’ve never gone through before, and we first visited Terra Sancta- a Catholic church maintained by the Franciscan order (as all holy land churches are) where monks live. There were some candleholders from the 13^th century there, some hand-made pews and confession booths, and some amazing artwork. Our director talked a little about how churches are made to make you look up toward heaven- and this one certainly did. There was artwork around the sides of the church depicting the last week of Christ’s life. We waited for Spanish monk to come and explain more. Eventually he did and someone translated for him into English as he explained some of the things there. One thing special about this church is there is a good chance Orson Hyde stayed here on his visit to the holy land and his name is in a door where he stayed (Apparently people who stayed there wrote their names on a certain door.) Anyway, it was fun, and he showed us a really old door used to keep invaders out of the church.

Next we went to St. Marks- a possible site for the last supper. The room they believe was the “upper room” is actually down stairs because over time the city has risen so much (each generation builds on another.) The church was a small Syrian Orthodox one. They have a painting there which they believe was painted by Luke, I believe, and people come from all over to venerate the thing. There was this very interesting lady there in charge who was very, er, very brash and loud and apparently you’re not supposed to cross your legs in the church and every time someone did she’d yell at them loudly not too cross their legs. Anyway, she told us about some miracles that had taken place in church since she’d been there: she certainly seemed like a faith filled lady.

St. John the Baptist was another church we went to where the Knights Hospitallers was made. There was the medieval Church on top which was built by monks; several knights traveling to Jerusalem got sick and were nursed back to health there, so they decided to start the Knights Hospitallers and help other pilgrims be nursed back to health. There was a nice lady there who was excited to explain all the many paintings in her broken English. Also, we got the key to go downstairs to the 5^th century Byzantine church built on a 1rst century Roman plaza.

Next we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulture which I’ve visited several times, but this time I had some interesting things pointed out to me by our teacher. Basically all Christian Faiths except for Protestants believe this was the sight of Christ’s death and Resurrection. The church is built over “Calvary” which is in and to your right up the stairs to see both a Catholic and Eastern Orthodox shrine. Down below again strait from entering the doors there is the stone of unction, where Christ’s body was prepared. The stone is about a 7 foot by 2.5 foot stone that people put oil on or anoint as they did Jesus’ body. Below “Calvary” you can go to where Adam’s grave was. According to tradition when Christ died his blood went through the rocks and landed on Adam’s bones, saving him from the fall. So they have that crack and his tomb. We also went down below to a quarry where they found a Roman cross and venerated it as the true cross. There are paintings and shrines all over this very extensive church. We as a class entered into the sepulture where people believe Christ was buried. It sort of looks like a big square mausoleum that you have to crouch down to get in there. There is architecture from all the back to Byzantine times I believe. Also, we got to see the sword of the King who conquered Jerusalem, like 900 years old, in a case in a room where usually only monks or priests go. It was a good experience, and while maybe it’s not the right spot (too close or inside Jerusalem city walls) it is a holy place for millions of believers and it became an important spot to me.

We then went to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, although not to the tower or church but to the Cloister to have lunch at lunch. A cloister was where monks lived and worked. WE just had lunch there and rested pretty much. But we came up with some good jokes: Why was the monk scared of the convent? He was cloister-phobic! What do you call a sleepwalking monk? A Romin’ Catholic!

Finally we went to Alexander Nevsky’s- a church with very large paintings depicting the life of Christ. I believe it’s Russian Orthodox. They have a gate in the wall that some scholars in the past said was the eye of the needle Christ said a rich person would have to go though to enter the Kingdom of God. But, they’ve decided the wall dates from after the destruction of Jerusalem, and there really isn’t any evidence for that theory anyway- Christ was actually talking about a needle. Also they had a rock Jesus apparently tripped on. The place was very ornate. There was also a very cute nun there- I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that. This church is also one of last stations of the via dolorosa- the traditional path Christ carried his cross.

The next day we had a free day and me and some friends went to Damascus gate where down below they’ve excavated a Roman plaza that existed shortly after Christ’s time. It was neat but not super big. Later we went to The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer but this time climbed the big tower and visited the chapel. It was beautiful but not nearly as ornate as other churches because it was Lutheran. Also climbing up the tower gave a great view of Jerusalem. After that we went to the Olive wood carving street again.