The most important places of the holy land. Christian shrines and holy land

On the territory of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there are sixteen places of worship and chapels, most of which are associated with the Crucifixion, Burial and Resurrection, and with other shrines:

1. Anointing Stone - the place where Joseph prepared the body of Christ for burial.

2. The place of women from which the holy women and John watched the Crucifixion.

3. Calvary - the place of the Crucifixion and the location of the Cross

4. Tomb of Jesus in the center of the rotunda. The tomb of Jesus includes two separate rooms: the vestibule and the burial chamber. Modern Canopy allows you to save this plan. The tomb, originally carved into the rock, was then lined with marble by the architect Komninos.

5. Grave of Joseph of Arimathea , carved into the rock, is located at the back of the Canopy.

6. Place "Don't Touch Me" - the place of the appearance of Christ after His Resurrection and the appearance before Mary Magdalene, where He said to her: "Do not touch Me" (John 20: 17).

7. Flagellation Pillar, The Catholic chapel, in the center of which a large part of the column has been preserved, to which, it is believed, Christ was tied and suffered torment.

Joint liturgy of Orthodox bishops in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher during the Orthodox Congress held in Jerusalem in June 2000

8. Jesus Prison and Lamentation Chapel is located in the depths of the arcade of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where, it is believed, Christ was temporarily detained and His tormentors squeezed His feet with a board with two holes.

9. Chapel of the centurion (centurion) Longinos, located on the left side of the corridor surrounding the Catholic part of the temple. According to tradition, the centurion Longinos, a Roman officer who saw the Crucifixion, believed in Christ and died a martyr.

10. Chapel of the Lot. Here, according to tradition, after the Crucifixion, the soldiers "... cast lots for My clothes" (John 19:24).

11. Chapel of St. Helena and the grotto of the discovery of the Life-Giving Cross located in a natural rock - a crypt, into which 42 carved steps lead, where St. Helena discovered the Cross of Christ, nails and crosses of two robbers.

12. Chapel of the Flagellation and Crown of Thorns. Under the holy table of the chapel, a part of the column has been preserved, on which, according to tradition, a purple robe was put on Christ and a wreath of thorns was placed on His head (Matt. 27:27-29).

13. Chapel of Adam. Located under the elevation of Golgotha. According to ancient tradition, Christ was baptized over the grave of the skull of the first man Adam and thereby washed away the original sin. The place of Christ's baptism was called the Skull Place, or Golgotha ​​in Hebrew.

14.-16. Chapel of the 40 Martyrs and Brother of God Jacob , although not related to the Passion of Jesus, is architecturally related to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. It is located in the west of the Holy Court and was attached to the places of worship during the reign of Emperor Constantine Monomakh (11th century).

Funeral Ceremony in the prayer hall of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Greek minister of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher with the key to the Temple

In addition to the sixteen chapels described above, there are many others in the Temple that belong to various Christian communities, such as the Coptic, Syrian and Armenian chapels, dedicated to the history of the Passion of Christ and other saints. In general, the Temple and the places of pilgrimage located in it belong to the various Christian communities and patriarchates of Jerusalem. The years of struggle for possession of the Temple and its places of pilgrimage, which began after the departure of the crusaders in 1187, are a dark and difficult chapter in the Christian history of the Holy places of Palestine. Hatred, rivalry, fanaticism and frequent bloody skirmishes between Christian communities were used by the Mamelukes and later the Ottomans, turning the holy places of pilgrimage into a profitable bargain, selling them to the one who gave a larger ransom. This state of affairs continued until until the middle of the nineteenth century, and only after intervention of the Community of European States in 1857, the rival Christian communities came to an agreement by signing the famous Agreement on the Regime of Places of Pilgrimage, also known as status quo.

Jewish graves carved into the rock behind the sacred Canopy

Entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Holy Court in front of it

According to the old Christian tradition, the First Martyr Stephen was stoned outside the eastern wall of Jerusalem, near the town of Gethsemane in the Kidron Valley.

The modern monastery of St. Stephen was built by the Cypriot monk of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Archbishop Arkady.

Place of pilgrimage to the Monastery of the First Martyr Stephen in the Kidron Valley

Gethsemane

Gethsemane is located in the east of Jerusalem, in the bed of the Kidron stream, also known by the biblical name. valley of Jehoshaphat . Starting in Jerusalem, it flows through the Judean Desert, goes around the Lavra of St. Sava and flows into the Dead Sea. According to Christian tradition, in the Kidron stream, in the area of ​​Gethsemane, a terrible judgment will take place. This tradition is related to the name Jehoshaphat, which comes from the Hebrew Yahweh-Shafot, meaning God judges (Joel. 3, 2).

Gethsemane, according to the creators of the Gospel (Mat. 26, 36. Mark. 14.32. Luke. 22, 39. John. 18) is associated with the prayer of Christ before the cross, the betrayal of Judas and the arrest of Jesus. In other words, the Passion and the Way of the Cross of the God-man began from here.

In the fourth century, the events of the Passion and the Last Prayer of Jesus were topographically recorded and recognized as places of pilgrimage and cult centers.

Gethsemane and its places of pilgrimage

During the reign of Emperor Theodosius the Great (378-395), a Christian basilica was erected on the site of Jesus' dying prayer, the ruins of which can still be seen today inside the modern Catholic Church of All Nations (or the Church of the Passion of Jesus).

The olive trees that surround the area today also existed in antiquity, hence the name Gethsemane, which in Hebrew means the grinding of olives.

There is a belief that many of today's olive trees are the same age as Christ.

Tomb of the Virgin

Gethsemane is associated not only with the dying prayer and the Passion of Christ, but also with the tomb of His Mother of God.

Interior of the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin in Gethsemane

After the Fifth Ecumenical Synod recognized and legitimized the dogma of the divinity of the Virgin, from the middle of the 5th century, her grave became a place of pilgrimage.

Facade of the Church of the Tomb of the Virgin in Gethsemane

The modern huge crypt covering the grave is only the remains of a two-story church built by the emperor Marcianus (450-457) and the first patriarch of Jerusalem, Juvenal.

Tomb of the Virgin in Gethsemane

Pools of Siloam (Shiloah)

The pools of Siloam, located on the western side of the Kidron stream, on the territory of the modern Arab village of the same name, have been one of the most important reservoirs of drinking water for the inhabitants of Jerusalem since the biblical era.

Water from the Gihon spring entered the reservoirs through an underground water pipe, hewn out during the reign of King Hezekiah (Hezekiah). (2 Chronicles, 32:2-4).

King Herod (37-4 BC) transformed the basin area by adding public buildings and marble colonnades. The waters of the pools of Siloam are considered healing, and Christ sent a blind man to them to wash himself and be cured (John 9).

In 450, Empress Eudoxia built a three-nave Christian basilica here, the ruins of which have survived to this day. Although the basilica was destroyed by the Persians in 614, the pools continued to be considered a place of pilgrimage throughout the following centuries and to the present day.

Sheep source

The Sheep Spring is located in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem, near lion gate and the northern wing of the destroyed Jewish Temple. It was built during the Maccabean period (2nd century BC) in the form of a five-chamber reservoir, the waters of which were used for the needs of the Temple. The belief said that the waters of the source are healing, due to which a large number of sick people visited it in the hope of a cure (John 5:13).

After the founding of Aelia Capitolina by Adrian in 136, the site of the reservoir became an idolatrous cult center dedicated to the gods Serapius and Asclepius. The temples built in honor of these gods were interconnected by hundreds of medicinal baths.

In the Byzantine era, in the middle of the fifth century, the reservoir was recognized as a place of pilgrimage, and a three-nave basilica dedicated to the Virgin was built over it, since according to tradition, the house of Her parents, Joachim and Anna, was located here.

In the eleventh century, the crusaders built a new church over the Byzantine basilica and dedicated it to St. Anna. This church has survived to this day.

Vethesda with the Church of St. Anne of the era of the Crusaders

Pretorium

Pretoria, the official residence of the Roman procurator in Jerusalem of the era of Christ, was the fortress of Anthony, located in the northwestern corner of the courtyard, belonging to the architectural complex of the Jewish Temple. Here Pilate decided to execute Christ by crucifixion. In the same courtyard, the Roman soldiers mocked Him, put on Him a crown of thorns and gave Him a cross - this is how the Way of the Cross of the Passion of the Lord began.

Prison cells of the Roman Praetorium

Graphic restoration of Christ-era Pretoria

The ruins of Roman Pretorium are scattered in today's Jerusalem among three different Christian monasteries.

Part of the tiled floor of the praetorian courtyard, known as foxstrotus (pavement) (John 19: 13), kept in the Franciscan monastery Esce Homo. Another part of the lithostratus, underground cisterns built for the needs of the Jewish Temple and a three-door apse, known as "Behold the Man" ( Ekke Homo), are located in the convent of the Sisters of Zion. According to tradition, Pilate presented Christ from here to the Pharisees, who demanded His condemnation. In the third monastery - Greek Pretoria - various grottoes carved into the rock have been preserved. It is believed that one of them was used to temporarily detain Christ in Pretoria, and the other, lower one, served as a prison for the robber Barrabas.

The Catholic Church of Pretoria with the apse Se Man.

way of the cross

In addition to the theological significance of the Passion and the dying prayer of Christ during the Crucifixion, the Way of the Cross has a chronological and topographical significance. It includes all the Passion of Jesus in Jerusalem, from His arrest to His burial. In other words, the Way of the Cross was to start from the Garden of Gethsemane and end at Golgotha ​​and the Tomb.

Way of the Cross on Good Friday

However, since the eleventh century, Jerusalem Christians have defined this path as beginning with His condemnation in Pretoria and ending with the Holy Tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In modern Jerusalem, the route and duration of the Path, which does not exceed a kilometer, does not have to coincide with that which Christ did two thousand years ago, since the layout of the city underwent fundamental changes in the second and fifth centuries. However, the general direction of the Path remained almost unchanged. The Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) includes 14 stops along its length, which are associated with the events of the Torments and Passion of the Lord. The first two of them are located on the territory of Pretoria, the next seven are in the city, and the rest are on the territory of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 14 stops include:

1. Lysostrotos and Pilate's condemnation of Jesus

2. Receiving the Cross

3. The first fall of Jesus (according to tradition)

4. Jesus meeting his Mother (according to tradition)

5. The cross given to Simon from Kirinaika (according to the Gospel testimonies: Matt. 27: 32. Mark. 15: 21, Luke. 23: 26)

6. Veronica Wiping Jesus' Sweaty Face (Ancient Christian Tradition)

7. The second fall of Jesus (medieval tradition)

8. Jesus comforting the virgins of Jerusalem (Luke 23:18-27)

9. The third fall of Jesus (medieval tradition)

10. Jesus being undressed for crucifixion (John 19:30)

11. Nailing Jesus to the Cross

12. Jesus giving his soul (John 19:40)

13. Descent from the Cross and preparation for burial (John 19:40)

14. Burial of Jesus (John 19:41-42).

Orthodox ceremony with the participation of bishops from all over the world

Zion

The word Zion (Zion in Hebrew) is used by the Old Testament to name various areas of the Holy Land, such as: the Judean mountains (Psalm. 132.3), Mount Hermon (Deut. 4, 49), Jerusalem (Psalm. 76.2), etc. .

In the later Jewish tradition, the same name means the Kingdom of Judah, the whole land of Israel, the people of Israel and, most importantly, Jerusalem and the spiritual connection of the Jewish people with it, where, as the prophet Micah says, "... He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths,... "(Mic. 4, 2). At the same time, there was also an ancient Jewish tradition that identified the name Zion with the western hill of Jerusalem. The Church Fathers from the first Christian years recognized this tradition and associated it with many religious figures and events. According to Christian tradition, the following events took place on Zion Hill:

The Last Supper and the sacrament of Holy Communion, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and the creation of the first Christian church(Acts 2.). In other words, the Church Fathers saw how the words of the prophet Micah about the Teachings of the Lord come true on Mount Zion.

Later, in the 5th and 6th centuries, Zion was associated with other events such as: Denial of Peter, Assumption of the Virgin, Burial of Jacob, brother of God, Burial of biblical King David etc.

Mount Zion with Christian pilgrimage sites

Zion Patriarchal School

Chapel of the Last Supper and Descent of the Holy Spirit.

The most important and oldest (2nd century AD) Christian place of worship in the Holy Land is the chamber of the Last Supper, a two-story building in which The Last Supper and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles.

In the fourth century on top of Zion, on the spot upper chambers of the Secret supper, a large basilica was built, called the Church of St. Sion. The Sioni Basilica was destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt by Patriarch Modest and again destroyed by the Muslims in 966. After the departure of the crusaders, the chamber of the Last Supper was turned into a mosque by the Mamluks and was used as a Muslim temple for a long time.

Although today the chamber of the Last Supper belongs to Muslims, it is accessible to all Christians as a place of pilgrimage and prayer.

Panorama of Hill Zion and its Christian pilgrimage sites

Mount of Olives

The Mount of Olives (Har-ha-Zeitim in Hebrew or Tjabal-e-Tur in Arabic) is a mountain range 730 meters above the Mediterranean Sea, located in the east of Jerusalem. She is mentioned both in the Old (Zech. 14:4) and New (Matt. 24. Mark. 13. Luke 26. Acts 1:4-12) Testaments. Its three peaks: northern - mountain Scopus (Har Hatzofim in Hebrew) with the Jewish University built on it, the middle one, on which the hospital is located Augusta Victoria and southern e-Tour or the peak of the Ascension, where all Christian places of pilgrimage, churches and monasteries are concentrated, are associated for Christians with two important events in the life of Christ: Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 24, Luke 21) and Ascension. In the fourth century, on the site of the Sermon on the Mount, St. Helena built a large basilica, which they called Eleon Church. The ruins of this basilica are today inside the Catholic Church of Our Father (Pater Noster).

In 387, a large octagonal church was built on the site of the Ascension - Ascension Chapel, as the Byzantines called it, the luminous cross of which was visible to all Jerusalem. The Church of the Ascension was destroyed by the Persians and rebuilt by the Crusaders according to almost the same plan.

In 1187, it was turned into a mosque by Saladdin, and the places of pilgrimage around it were distributed to Muslim families in Jerusalem. In addition to these two most important pilgrimage sites, 24 other Christian institutions were built on the Mount of Olives in the 5th-6th centuries, among them churches, monasteries and hotels for pilgrims. One of the most important pilgrimage sites located today on the northern peak of the Mount of Olives are Greek Church of the Galilee Pilgrims (Viri Galilei, the meeting place of Christ with the Apostles after the resurrection (Matt. 28:10)), a Russian monastery with a church St. John Baptist newly built Greek Church of the Ascension, the pilgrimage site of the Ascension, which is still in the possession of Muslims today, Catholic churches Our Father (Pater Noster) and Cry of the Lord(Dominus Flevit), as well as Russian Monastery of the Penitent Magdalene, located in the west of the summit.

The majestic Orthodox church in the Lesser Galilee on the Mount of Olives

Bethagia

The place of pilgrimage Bethagia is mentioned in the Gospels as the starting point of the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem (Matt. 21:12; Mark 11:12) and is located in the eastern part of the Mount of Olives. From the 2nd century BC e. and during the Roman and Byzantine eras, a small village was located on this site, the inhabitants of which were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.

The town of Vifagia and its places of pilgrimage

Since the 4th century it has been consecrated as a Christian place of pilgrimage. The first church was built during the era of the Crusaders. The modern Greek Church of Bethagia was recently built by Archbishop Gregory of Tiberias.

A place of pilgrimage for Bethagius and a church built by Archbishop Gregory of Tiberias.

Place of pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Stoned Protomartyr Stephen

St. Stephen, deacon of the first Christian community in Jerusalem, was the first Christian to be stoned for his faith in Christ and Christianity (Acts 7). For this reason, he was canonized by the church as a saint and named the First Martyr. The place of his stoning and suffering (Beit Haskelah in Hebrew) was, according to Jewish tradition, in the northern part of Jerusalem, outside the city walls, near the rock of the prophet Jeremiah. The body of the stoned saint was buried by Christians, according to tradition, in his hometown of Gamla. At the beginning of the fifth century, when the tomb of the first martyr was discovered, his remains were reburied on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. A couple of years later, Bishop Juvenaly, the future patriarch of Jerusalem, transferred the saint's bones to the Garden of Gethsemane and buried them in the church built in his honor. In 460, Empress Eudokia, wife of Theodore II, built a large Basilica - Martyrium, on the traditional site of stoning, in which the remains of the saint were reburied for the third time. The Dominican fathers, who discovered the ruins of this basilica, in 1881 built a new basilica on them, located a few meters north of the Damascus Gate. The Orthodox place of pilgrimage to the First Martyr Stephen in Gethsemane is the place where Archbishop Yuvenaly built a church where the remains of the Saint were buried for the second time.

Ancient Christian Basilica of St. Stephen in Jerusalem (5th century)

Places of pilgrimage: the basilica dedicated to the visitation of Elizabeth by the Virgin Mary; Church of St. John the Baptist

These two places of pilgrimage belong to the Catholic Church and are located in the western part of Jerusalem in the small village of Ein Karem (Vine Spring). This hill, located today within the city, was called the hill country in the time of Christ (Luke 1:39). In the fifth century, over these two places of pilgrimage, the Jerusalem Patriarchate built two majestic three-aisled basilicas with colored mosaic floors, one of which was dedicated to John the Baptist and the other to the visitation of Elizabeth by the Virgin Mary. Later, new Catholic churches were built on the ruins of these two basilicas.

Ein Karem is also home to the Russian Orthodox Monastery of St. John the Baptist and a Greek church dedicated to the same

Monastery of Simeon the Righteous (Katamony)

The monastery of Simeon the Righteous is located on a hill called Katamon (or Katamony) (the name comes from the Greek kata monas (aside), since this hill was far from the city center). Medieval Christian tradition defines the location graves of Simeon the Righteous on the hill Katamon. His grave, carved into the rock and located in the building of the monastery church, is shown today.

Monastery and Church of Simeon the Righteous in Katamony

According to the same tradition, Simeon the Righteous participated in the translation of the Old Testament from Hebrew into Greek (the translation is known as the Septuaginta) and, knowing about the coming of the Messiah, asked God to give him the opportunity to see the Messiah before he died. His request was fulfilled, and it was he who pointed to the Mother of God with the baby Jesus in the Temple, saying “Now you release your servant, Lord, according to your word, in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared before the face of all peoples,...» (Luke 2:25-32). The first monastery and church in Katamony were built by the Georgian monks of the Holy Cross in the twelfth century. After their departure from Jerusalem, the monastery was abandoned and deserted. In 1879, the monk Abraham restored it by adding the tomb of Simeon the Righteous to the north wing of the church.

Jewish Temple and Wailing Wall

The famous Jewish Temple was built on the hill of Morya, which is located in the east of Jerusalem. The history of the hill of Moria as a Jewish cult center begins from the tenth century BC. e., when King David bought it from Ornan of Evoshey in order to build an altar-altar to Yahweh on this site (24:18-25). In 960 BC. e. King Solomon built the famous Jewish Temple on the site of the altar, which is the only cult center of Judaism. This first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. e. and a few years later, in 520 BC. e., rebuilt by Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:8-9).

King Herod (37-4 BC) rebuilt the Temple and erected a new, much more imposing one. The new Temple was built on a high and spacious fenced site. The outer walls of the Temple complex are what remains today of Herod's Temple. Wall of Tears - the most sacred place of pilgrimage for the Jews of the whole world - is nothing more than the outer western wall of this complex. The building of the Temple in the era of Christ consisted of the Temple itself, holy of holies, a large altar for sacrifices, spacious covered galleries and courtyards, facilities for purification, and many ancillary facilities.

Wailing Wall during prayer

Underpass along the Wailing Wall of the Christ era

In the eastern corner of the enclosure, Herod built a large building in the shape of a basilica, which was used as Central market and served as a meeting place for pilgrims. From the gallery of this basilica, the angry Christ drove the money changers and merchants (John 2:13). In 70 AD e. The temple was destroyed and burned by the legionaries of the Roman Emperor Titus. Since then, the place where the Temple stood remained abandoned and was not used until the Arab conquest of Jerusalem.

Mosques of Omar and Al-Aqsa

Sixty years after the Arab conquest of Jerusalem, around 643 AD. e., Caliph Marwan built a famous mosque over the ruins of the fence of the Jewish Temple, which received the name Mosque of Omar. In the center of the building is a huge rock, from which, according to Muslim tradition, Mohammed ascended to heaven. This rock was actually the threshing floor of Ornan of Evoshey, which King David bought to build an altar to Yahweh.

Mosque of Omar during prayer

Christian and Jewish traditions identify this rock also with the sacrifice of Abraham and with the great Altar-altar of the Jewish Temple.

Seventy years later, around 710 AD. e., another caliph, Abed el-Malik, built a large mosque over the northern part of the fence of the Jewish Temple El - Aksa. El Aksa was later thought to have been built on top of a Christian basilica known as Nea ("New" in Greek) built by Emperor Justinian.

Today, after the ruins of this huge Christian basilica in the eastern part of the Jewish Quarter were discovered, this assumption has become irrelevant.

The crusaders converted the mosque of Omar into a church dedicated to the Lord (Templum Domini), and the mosque of El-Aqsa was converted into the palace of the Jerusalem kings (Templum Solomonis or Palatium).

In 1118 in this palace of the Crusaders was founded Order of the Knights Templar (templars).

In 1187, Saladin returned these buildings to their original purpose - Muslim mosques, which, after Mecca, are the most sacred Muslim places of pilgrimage.

Interior of the Al-Aqsa Mosque

Holy Land: History and Eschatology

Holy Land called the territory of present-day Israel, or Palestine. Literally expression holy Land is found in the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 2.12) and in the book of the Wisdom of Solomon (12.3), where it is also called the earth most precious to God from all others (“the earth most precious to you all”) (Wisdom 12.7) .

The name is Palestine, in Hebrew Paleseth, means the land of the Philistines, who at the end of the XIII century BC. occupied this territory and gave it a name, which is later reported by the Greek historian Herodotus.

However, the oldest biblical name for this territory is Canaan(Judg. 4, 2), land of Canaan or land of the Canaanites(Gen. 11:31; Ex. 3:17). Somewhat later in the Old Testament it is called Israeli limits(1 Sam. 11:3) and land of the Lord(Hos. 9, 3) or simply Earth(Jer.). Therefore, predominantly Earth. Hence and in the modern colloquial language in Israel, it is called simply Erez, or haaretz = Earth(Ps. 103.14: "Hamotzi lehem min haaretz" = "to produce bread from the earth") .

In the New Testament it is called the land of Israel and the land of Judah(Mt. 2:20; Jn. 3:22), as well as promised land th, which Patriarch Abraham "received as an inheritance" from God ("he had to receive as an inheritance") and "by faith he dwelt in the promised land as in a foreign land" (Heb. 11:8-9). These last words contain the highest historical, metahistorical meaning of the Holy Land, but more on that later.

So Palestine is Earth biblical - earth sacred history and sacred geography three great world religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Consider it first from the point of view of geography.

Biblical scholars today refer to the large geographic area of ​​the Middle East, which includes Palestine, Syria, and Mesopotamia, with its appropriate term, the "fertile crescent." This geographic space is stretched out in the form of a certain Luke or arcs over the Syro-Arabian Desert and connects the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean and Red Seas. On the upper side of this geographic arc are the mountain ranges of Iran, Armenia and Asia Minor Tavros, and on the lower side - the Syrian and Arabian deserts. Four large rivers flow through the territory of this arc: the Tigris, Euphrates, Orontes and Jordan, and on its very border - the Nile River. The eastern end of the "fertile crescent" is Mesopotamia, and the western end includes the valley between the Judean Desert and the Mediterranean Sea and descends to the Nile Valley. Palestine is the southwestern tip of this large geographical area, linking Asia and Africa, and through the Mediterranean also Europe.

This key place at the junction of the old continents of our planet Earth has been inhabited since ancient times and is a center of civilization. For Europe, this territory was, in fact, primarily East. She was and has remained, since, undoubtedly, without this she is so Middle There is no East and Europe itself.

So Palestine, being a link between Mesopotamia and Egypt, was at the same time the connection and center of East and West. This Middle Eastern territory, or, in other words, the space of the Eastern Mediterranean basin, is the cradle of European civilization, and in its geographical and spiritual content is neither East nor West. Both geographically and spiritually, this territory was never closed, but was in constant contact with Arabia and Mesopotamia, through Iran (Persia) with India, then through Egypt and Nubia with Africa, as well as through Asia Minor and the Mediterranean islands with Europe. Consequently, Palestine was in constant contact with the civilizations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and from very early times with the Aegean and Hellenic-Roman civilizations and cultures. But how holy Land, Palestine has its own special biblical civilization, which included all three of the above.

Geographically, the Holy Land of Palestine itself is made up of different areas. In the central part, this is the Judean Plain, or, in biblical terms, Ezdrilon. It stretches from the Negev desert, or Negib, in the south, i.e. from the Sinai Peninsula, to Mount Carmel in the northwest, and to Mount Hermon in the north, that is, to the mountain range of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. The height of this central plateau reaches more than 1000 meters above sea level, and at the Dead Sea it drops to 420 meters below this level. To the west of the central part are lowlands descending to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, while the eastern part of Palestine is the valley of the Jordan River, which carries its waters from Dan (a spring under Mount Hermon) and the Lake of Galilee to the Dead Sea. The eastern side of this valley, called Transjordan (Transjordan), adjoins the Syrian and Arabian deserts.

The northern part of Palestine is called Galilee, central Samaria, and southern Judea. The length of this entire geographical territory is 230-250 km long and 60 to 120 km wide. Mounts Carmel and Tabor are located in Galilee, the Golan Heights beyond the Gennesaret Lake, Ebal and Gerizim in Samaria, and in Judea Nebi-Samuel near Jerusalem and Mount Zion in Jerusalem, and to the east of it the Olivet (Olive) Mount. There are other mountains on the Judean Hills.

The climate in Palestine is varied: Mediterranean, desert and mountainous, and so is the fertility of its land. It varies from abundance to scarcity, and therefore in the Bible this land is called both "the land, good and spacious, where milk and honey flow", and "the land empty, withered and without water" (Ex. 3, 8; Ps. 62.2 ). The geographical and climatic diversity of Palestine seemed to predict the complexity of its history, about which we will say a few more words.

The most ancient inhabitants of Palestine were the Amorites and Canaanites, who lived here around the 20th century BC. Then follow the Arameans, who lived in Palestine and Syria around the 13th century, from about the same time - the Philistines, after whom the land itself was named, as well as many other ethnic groups mentioned in the Bible.

Forefather of the Jewish people, patriarch Abraham comes to this land in the 19th century BC (about 1850 BC) from Mesopotamia, from Ur of the Chaldees (Sumers) in the southern reaches of the Euphrates. At the call of God, he sets off from there through Haran (north of the Euphrates), from where then came the patriarch Jacob, who was first called by the name Israel(one of the etymologies "The one who saw God", "who became face to face with God") (Gen. ch. 32, 28), according to which the entire Jewish people received the name Israel .. God promised Abraham and his offspring the land Canaan named after its then inhabitants. By this promise of God this land is named promised land, as the great Jew and great Christian Paul of Tarsus recalls (Heb. 11:9).

The descendants of Abraham, and besides this promise, soon descended from Palestine into Egypt, at the time when the Hyksos (Hiks) ruled it (c. 1700-1550 BC). The presence of Jews in Egypt is clearly attested in the time of the pharaohs Akhenaton (1364-1347) and Ramses II (c. 1250), when the whole people slavishly served this powerful pharaoh, being engaged in "plinfurgy" (brick production Ex. 5, 7-8) and building pyramids. In view of the heavy exploitation of Israel, the great Moses- a prophet called by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob during his wanderings in the wilderness, who saw under Mount Sinai I'll buy it on fire(a well-known theme of Orthodox iconography "Burning Bush") and a voice heard from it Yahweh: "I am Jehovah" and "the place on which you stand is the holy land" (Ex. Z, 5), brought the Jews out of Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula (in the middle of the XIII century BC). Here, under the rocky Sinai and Horeb, Moses received the Law from God: the ten commandments and other religious, moral and social institutions testament or more precisely Union concluded between God and Israel (Ex. 7 - 24).

After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the people of Israel, led by Joshua, settled in Palestine (c. 1200 B.C.). The next two centuries cover the period of the Judges, and then comes the era of the Kings. Around 1000 BC, the strong and glorious King David, a poet, musician and prophet, occupies Jerusalem, which later became the capital of Israel. From that time through the ages Holy City Jerusalem becomes the symbol of all Palestine as Saint Earth and a symbol of the Earth and all mankind in general.

Jerusalem was also an ancient Canaanite city. Even in ancient Egyptian texts (c. 1900 BC) it is referred to as Urusalem. Around the same time that the patriarch Abraham came to Canaan, Jerusalem was the city of Melchizedek, king of Salem, whose name in the Bible means "king of righteousness and king of peace" (Gen. 14; Heb. 7), which again is a sign of a great future , that is, messianic eschatology. The oldest inhabitants of Jerusalem, beginning about 3000 B.C., were the Amorites and the Hittites, who were also called Jebusites; later David took from them Jerusalem(this name probably means dwelling of the world but history shows that world his is such as the whole history of the earth and the human race). In Jerusalem, David built a royal tower on Sion, the highest place of the Holy City, and his son Solomon erected a magnificent temple of God on Mount Moriah. Here, according to legend, the forefather Abraham, according to God's commandment, wanted to sacrifice his son Isaac, and nearby is Mount Golgotha, on which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was sacrificed for humanity.

In the context of the Old Testament, Jerusalem, as we have already said, is understood as a symbol of the Holy Land and Israel as a people, and further - as a symbol of the whole earth and all mankind. Therefore, God, through the great prophet Isaiah, says to Jerusalem: “Will a woman forget her suckling child, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? But if she also forgot, then I will not forget you. me." (Isaiah 49:15-16). The strength of this covenant, or promise, of God, according to Holy Scripture, is the strength of God's love for man and the whole universe. This Yahweh transmits to Israel and through Jeremiah the prophet, thus anticipating his New Testament(= union) with mankind: "I have loved you with an everlasting love, and therefore I have extended favor to you" (Jer. 31:3).

Here, in connection with the idea of ​​Jerusalem as the Holy City and Palestine as the Holy Land, there is a certain Divine, more precisely, the Divine-human, dialectic. It is relevant even now, but more on that later, but first we will complete the digression into history.

In about 700, the Assyrians, having occupied the northern part of Palestine, besieged Jerusalem, but only the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC was able to capture and conquer the city. A month later, the military leader Nabuzardan destroyed the Temple and the Holy City and took the Jews into Babylonian slavery. Fifty years later (538 BC), the Persian king Cyrus captured Babylon and allowed the Israelites to return from captivity to their homeland. At that time both the Temple and the city were rebuilt under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Ezra. In 333 BC, Alexander the Great occupied Palestine, and the Hellenistic period began for it, lasting until 63 BC, when the Roman Pompey took possession of Jerusalem. Roman-Byzantine rule in Palestine lasted until the arrival of the Muslims in 637.

The great and glorious period of the Jewish kings in Jerusalem, covering about half a millennium, was a time of development and rise, but also the fall of the Holy City and the Holy Land - both material and spiritual. The Assyrian-Babylonian captivity stopped this development. Then came the periods of Persian, Greek and Roman domination over Israel and national-religious resistance, as narrated book of prophet daniel and Maccabees books. All this time in Israel continues the period of great and small prophets of God, beginning with the greatest figure in Israelite sacred history, the prophet Elijah the Tishbite, who was reflected in the person of the prophet John the Baptist at the time of Christ.

Appearance and activity prophets in the Holy Land and Jerusalem was a decisive event in the history of Israel and Palestine and unique in the history of all mankind. Jesus Christ is added to the prophets, Great Prophet from Nazareth of Galilee, the Son of God and the Son of Man - Messiah Who, by His death and resurrection in Jerusalem, expands the geographic and historical boundaries of the Holy Land and the Holy City, thus turning history into eschatology. The work of Christ is continued by the New Testament apostles, who comprehend and complete the Prophets, and turn the Old Testament tabernacle (synagogue) into a Church. Without the prophets and apostles, in the center of which is the Messiah Christ, Who unites them, fulfills and fills them with meaning, the history of Palestine and the entire Old Testament-New Testament civilization, and therefore our European civilization, is incomprehensible and inexplicable.

The appearance of Christ in the sacred history and sacred geography of Palestine was preceded by the period of the struggle of the Maccabees and the emergence of religious movements and groups in Israel, which were an expression of the attempts of the Israeli people to resist the influence of the Hellenistic and Roman religion and culture, syncritic and pantheistic in nature. At the same time, all this was a reflection of the Israeli and universal peoples' expectations(prosdohia ethnon), as the forefather Jacob - Israel predicted (Gen. 49:10; 2 Pet. 3:12-13). That was the time expectations of the Messiah - Christ, which is eloquently spoken of by many biblical and extra-biblical testimonies. This messianic expectation of Jews, Hellenes, and other peoples of the East was generalized in the first half of the 2nd century A.D. by Justin the Philosopher (who was from Samaria and lived in Rome) with the words: "Jesus Christ is the new Law and the New Testament and hope (prosdohia) all those who, of all peoples, are looking forward to divine blessings"(Dialogue with Tryphon the Jew, 11, 4).

The time of Christ in Palestine and Jerusalem is reflected in the Gospels and Acts of the Holy Apostles. Today's Holy places in the Holy Land, in most cases, they represent the geography of the biography of Christ, as St. Cyril of Jerusalem noted. Palestine and Jerusalem are the materialized (objectified) earthly biography of Christ, the earthly topography of His heavenly biography. This, among other things, is confirmed by modern archaeological research and finds on the territory of Palestine, which in recent years have been jointly made by Christian and Israeli archaeologists and biblical scholars.

The Roman conquerors destroyed many biblical monuments and traces of the Old Testament and Christian times in the Holy Land: the son of Vespasian, the military leader Titus, in 70, destroyed the Temple of Jerusalem (in 73, the fortress of Metsanda = Masada, known from the tragedy of the Jewish people, was also captured on the shore of the Dead Sea); in 133, Emperor Hadrian completely devastated Jerusalem and in its place founded the new city of Aelia Capitolina (with the temple of Jupiter on the site of the temple of Yahweh!).

Already during the first conquest of Jerusalem, Christians left the city and fled to Transjordan (Transjordan), from where, in the first half of the 2nd century, they slowly began to return to Palestine and Jerusalem. During the destruction of Jerusalem in 133 by the emperor Hadrian, the Jews were scattered into the diaspora (which for many of them began even earlier). In later centuries, they were forbidden to return to Jerusalem, and for them there was only one sad pilgrimage to Wailing Wall- the remnant of the last glorious temple of King Herod, which Christ visited and whose ruin with sorrow predicted (Matt. 23, 37-38; 24.1-2). However, the Jewish population still remained in Galilee, and during the Byzantine period there were dozens of synagogues throughout Palestine.

The number of Christians in Palestine has been constantly growing, and it has especially increased since the proclamation of the freedom of Christianity under Constantine the Great (the famous Milan Edict of 313 on religious tolerance). The Holy Empress Helena, the mother of Constantine, set out in the year 326 from Niš and Nicomedia to the Holy Land and began extensive work there to renovate the holy places. With the help of Constantine, she erected dozens of churches in Palestine, in the places of the Nativity (her basilica in Bethlehem still exists), the life, exploits and suffering of the Savior (the Church of the Resurrection on the Holy Sepulcher, with annexes, still exists). Recently, on the mosaic floor of one of the churches in Palestine, a map of this country was discovered with the temples of these first Christian emperors, Saints Constantine and Helena, imprinted on it. The later tradition of Zadzhbinarianism, among the Byzantine and Serbian rulers, and among the rulers of other Christian peoples, originates from the Holy Land. The construction of Helena in the Holy Land was continued by the Empress Eudoxia, wife of Theodosius II, as well as Emperor Justinian. Emperor Heraclius in 628 returned the Holy Cross of Christ, captured by the Persians, acquired in his time by the holy Empress Helen and revered by all Christians from time immemorial.

The pious pilgrimage to the Holy Land continued uninterrupted for centuries and, with the changes and difficulties brought by each historical era, continues to this day. (One of the oldest books on pilgrimage, "Description of the Journey to the Holy Places" of Eteria, IV century). The most significant and authentic holy places until now belong to the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Zion "Mother of all Churches" of God, and then to Roman Catholics, Copts, Protestants, etc.

In 637, the Muslim Arabs occupied Jerusalem, and then the heirs of the conqueror Caliph Omar, on the site of the Solomon and Justinian temples, erected two mosques that still exist today, which, like the two thousand-year-old Orthodox Church of the Resurrection and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher on Golgotha, the newly formed Jewish state of Israel did not touched. From the end of the 11th century to the 13th century, Western Christians, the crusaders, temporarily liberated Jerusalem, but at the same time heavily plundered it and other holy places, so that even the initiator of the crusades, Pope Innocent III, criticized them for plundering shrines, which Muslims respected at least to a certain extent. . However, the Pope overstepped this and supplied his puppet Uniate "patriarchs" throughout the enslaved Orthodox East.

From the Arabs, dominion in Palestine passed to the Seljuks, then to the Mamluks, and finally to the Ottomans. Only in 1917, Turkish power was finally removed from Palestine, and control was transferred to the British, who in a certain way helped the Jews in the formation in 1948 of the current state of Israel. At the end of the 19th century, the Swiss-based Zionist movement moved to Jerusalem. Shortly before this, tsarist Russia founded the Russian Palestine Society in Palestine to study the Holy Land, which was also done in their time by Western Roman Catholics and Protestants, whose biblical and archaeological schools in Jerusalem are now world famous. The Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate has its own "seminary of the Holy Cross" in Jerusalem.

And now in the center of attention of the inhabitants of the Holy Land and the whole world are, first of all, Holy places. In fact, the whole of Palestine is one big holy place. Here materialized (objectified) the centuries-old biblical history, to a certain extent, our entire Old Testament-New Testament civilization, the material and spiritual culture of Europe and the Europeanized peoples of the world. Enough has been written about these holy places in our time, and everything essential is basically known. Each of these shrines has its own special spiritual significance, a multifaceted heritage that can be felt and experienced only at the scene. It would be a really special personal story about each of the holy places and their relived history, but we won't dwell on that. We will only briefly say something about the historiosophical significance of the Holy Land and Jerusalem within the framework of the Judeo-Christian spiritual tradition, that is, on the basis of the biblical Christian vision. peace and humanity.

From the Bible, from the view of the Holy Land captured in it, it is clear that at first it was a "foreign land", a land of polytheists and pagans. Then God promised and gave her as an inheritance to Abraham and his offspring Israel, old and new. However, the inheritance of this "promised land", from a historical point of view, was changeable. In the very biblical narrative of the original days of the Holy Land, the historical authenticity of which is confirmed (the Bible is primarily a book historical, although her message is both metahistorical), contains one universal truth.

Namely - the Bible initially closely connects human and earth. First Man Adam "from the earth" - "Adamach" (= earthly!), and the name of the land itself "Adam"(Gen. 2:7; 3:19). But according to the Holy Scriptures, a person is simultaneously characterized as image of God, he is the bearer of the inalienable image and likeness of God, and as an individual, and as a society of the human race, and his vocation and mission on Earth to become son of God, and to make the earth Paradise - one's own, but also God's, a dwelling place and home. Thus, man was given the Divine (God-human) Economy. (The Greek word oikonomia is very well translated into Slavonic as Domostroy(House-building), just as the Greek concept of Ecology in Slavonic is translated as "Domo-logy", Domo-word- care and concern for the human place of residence and dwelling, about the house and dwelling, about the environment and living space, about "land of the living"; as if the Psalmist said: "I will please the Lord in the land of the living." - "I will walk before the face of the Lord on land of the living"(Ps. 114, 9).

According to the Bible, the Earth and the Cosmos were created in exactly the same way and for the same purpose as Paradise and for Paradise. The Bible tells us that man once, at the beginning of history, missed this first chance. But the same Holy Scripture says and testifies that this chance is not completely lost for a person. Man fell, but didn't die. This is the main message of the biblical covenant or union God with Abraham, and it was given just when Abraham was called from Chaldea to come and settle in Canaan, in the "promised land" of Palestine. This is the original promise given by God at the beginning of history, the guarantor of which is He Himself; Man, Abraham and Israel also participate in it, accepting this call and entering into union with God. And what happened to the fulfillment of this promise? Let's consider this question in detail.

Undoubtedly, there is some special dialectics, but not Platonic or Hegelian, but biblical, in that for a person the earth is both joy and sorrow, a source of life and death, blessed happiness and prosperity, but at the same time a source of curse, misfortune and loss. This is evident from God's very word to Israel: the land "in which honey and milk flows" is given to the people of Israel - a symbol of humanity - as an inheritance (Deut. 15:4), but at the same time it is indicated to this very people that they are on this land alien and settler, a temporary resident (Lev. 25:23). From a historical point of view, for centuries, Palestine for the Israelis, in fact, was such. And this is not just a metaphor. Moreover, it was the same for Christians. This Holy Land, which is a symbol of the Earth in general, is most often associated with Judaism and Christianity, but also with all of humanity, and they are just as connected with it. It is in this connection that a certain dialectic is concluded. Because the same God-given Holy Land is also necessary in order to rid from convulsive human attachment to the earth, to the earthly kingdom, and only to it, so that human life is not reduced only to the earthly and is not identified only with it. For the earth is not the salvation of man, but Human salvation for the earth.

The dialectic of this, or, more precisely and closer to the biblical language, the historical paradox of this, we can see in a couple of examples. Even the forefather Jacob - Israel gave the name of God to some key places of the Holy Land: Bethel - "the house of God" (Gen. 28:17-19) and penuel- "the face of God" (Genesis 32:30). In the same way, Jerusalem became the Holy City of God, "the navel of the Earth", according to the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek. 38.12), that is, the center of the world, and therefore Solomon built a temple to the Living God in Jerusalem, in which God loves to promise and manifest His glory. At the same time, meanwhile, the Holy Scripture says that sometimes, in the vicissitudes of human history, that is, due to human variability, there were temples in the same places, serving not the True God, but Baal and Moloch! The "holy place" turned into an "abomination of desolation" and the Lord of glory was crucified in the Holy City (Matt. 24:15; 1 Cor. 2:8). About all this tragic paradox so candidly do the prophets testify from Elijah the Thesbite to John the Baptist and the Baptist, to Christ Himself and the apostles.

In this paradox there are enough elements of that biblical apocalyptic, according to which the idea of ​​the Holy City is bifurcated and stratified. Polarize and oppose each other two cities: The Holy City - Jerusalem and the demonic city - Babylon (about this, after the Apocalypse and St. Augustine, F.M. Dostoevsky, Archpriest Sergei Bulgakov and others spoke a lot about this). In history, in fact, the temple of God and the "den of thieves", the Church of God and the tower of Babel are divided and contrasted (Matt. 21:13; 2 Cor. 6:14-16).

Yet this polarized, black-and-white, apocalyptic vision and perception of the world and human history in relation to the Holy Land and the Holy City is not the only vision and perception that we find recorded in the Holy Book of God. There is another vision, biblically deeper and more complete, biblically more realistic, and this is a genuine Old Testament-New Testament vision of the earth and man on it, as if through the prism of the Holy Land of Israel - Palestine and the Holy City - Jerusalem.

We are talking about eschatological seeing and experiencing the earth and human history on it. It must be emphasized that this eschatological vision and perception is not yet unhistorical or ahistorical. On the contrary, it is the biblical, Old Testament-New Testament eschatological vision opened and made possible true vision and understanding stories not as a cyclic return of everything to the beginning (even if it were a primitive "Paradise" or prehistoric "happy times"), as happens everywhere in the extra-biblical environment of the ancient world, but progressive, dynamic and creative vision and perception of the Earth and Man on it. Eschatological is not anti-historical, it is more than just purely historical. This is a metahistorical, Christocentric vision and perception of earthly reality and human history. Let us trace this briefly through the Bible itself.

If we go from Holy Scripture, from the Bible, as primarily Palestinian geographical and historical book, we will see that already in the title itself Canaan the promised land Abraham and his posterity (Heb. 11:9) are really more than mere geography and bare history. It is better to say: this name already contains and eschatological history, and eschatological geography Holy Land.

Namely, Abraham and then David were promised and inherited the land of Israel as meek(= sincere and honest before God and people). For the Bible says: "The meek shall inherit the earth" (Ps. 36:11). And yet, the forefather Abraham, and the king and prophet David, with all this inheritance land, lived on it with the consciousness and feeling that they were aliens and temporary settlers. (Ps.38, 13: "for I am a stranger (= temporary settler) with you and a stranger, like all my fathers"; Heb.11,14: "For those who say so show that they are looking for the fatherland") . The same words of the Old Testament are repeated by Christ in the New Testament: "Blessed meek for they shall inherit the earth" (Matt. 5:5). These Old and New Testament words about the inheritance of the earth are interpreted by Apostle Paul and Gregory of Nyssa as eschatological heritage e, that is, the heritage of Heavenly Earth and Heavenly Jerusalem (Gal.4, 25-30; Heb.11, 13-16; Conversation 2 on the Beatitudes of St. Gregory of Nyssa).

Such a paradox eschatological vision and perception is not a negation of history, but, on the contrary, is the comprehension and transformation of history, the fermentation of history by metahistory, that is, eschatology. This is a kind of judgment on history, but at the same time the rescue history from evil and sin, from mortal and perishable in it, this is the gospel truth that "a grain of wheat, falling into the ground", must die, but not in order to perish, but so that it "brings much fruit" (Jn. 12, 24).

It will be clearer to the Serbian reader if we recall that it was precisely such an interpretation of our human history and geography that was given by the Christian folk, Orthodox genius, when he called the Kosovo definition of the holy Prince Lazar choosing the kingdom of heaven. Recall what the Serbian folk song of the Kosovo cycle says:

"The gray falcon bird flew
from the shrine from Jerusalem"

The song further says that in reality it was the prophet Elijah (representative of God's prophets and apostles), and Jerusalem in reality is the Mother of God (a symbol of the heavenly Church); so that at a decisive moment in our history, the Kingdom of Heaven from Christ's Jerusalem appears to the martyrs of Kosovo. Consequently, not so much the "Jerusalem of today" from Palestine, but that Jerusalem on high, which is free and "mother to us all" (Gal. 4, 26; Heb. 12, 22). That Upper Jerusalem called Tsar Lazar and the Kosovo Serbs to make an eschatological choice in their history. Such a tradition of seeing and interpreting history and geography, cited in a Serbian folk song, came to the Serbs not only from Saint Sava (who, having taken monasticism, chose the Kingdom of Heaven, and thereby did no less for the history and geography of his people and country. he especially loved the Holy Land and "God's desired city of Jerusalem", visited them as a pilgrim twice), but this is a biblical, Old Testament-New Testament tradition, vividly present in the Serbian people and their historiosophical and spiritual understanding of life and destiny of man on earth.

Therefore, it is necessary once again to clearly state and emphasize that the eschatological vision and interpretation of biblical history and geography, that is, the Holy Land and its sacred history as a symbol of the whole Earth and our united chronotope(that is, the geographical and historical center of our civilization, or "the navel of the earth," as the prophet Ezekiel says), does not mean a denial of the history and geography of the Holy Land of Israel - Palestine, and through it our planet Earth. In reality, it's quite the opposite.

To summarize: in the center is true - biblical typological(mystical, hesychast, liturgical) perception and vision of the world, human and earthly history, visible and always considered in the transforming light of the Kingdom of Heaven. It was this vision that the first forefather Jacob had - Israel: ladder that connects Heaven and Earth (Gen. 28:12-18). This is a vision and perception of the earth and the history of the Adam family on it in the light of the presence of the Lord on this Earth and in history. Here we mean the first parousia Christ in Palestine, and that eschatological parousia The Kingdom of Heaven, as it is the same, but in the New Testament, Christ Himself speaks and testifies more fully (Gen. 28:12-18; John 1:14 and 49-52). The apostle Paul develops the same theme more extensively in his epistle to the Hebrews (chap. 7-9, 11-13), where he interprets the total sacred history and sacred geography of the old and new Israel in an eschatological manner. According to the Apostle Paul, this vision and understanding is expounded and demonstrated in liturgical practice by all patristic theological thought, exegesis, hymnography, historiosophy, and, above all, by the Holy Liturgy of the Orthodox Church itself.

So, if we combine the greatest Old Testament prophet Isaiah and the greatest Christian apostle John and link together their truly biblical, prophetic vision of the Holy Land and its history as a symbol of the whole earth and the history of the human race, then this will be the only biblical, Old Testament-New Testament vision, message and the gospel of the Christ-centered movement and feat transformation of this heaven and this earth into New Sky and new earth (Is. 65:17; Rev. 21:1-3), which, in essence, is one single all-cathedral Tabernacle(House, Church) God with people and people with God. Heaven on earth and earth in Heaven.

The Holy Land of Israel and the Holy City of Jerusalem belong to all mankind, both in the earthly and in the Heavenly Kingdom.

02 / 02 / 2004

Translated from Serbian by Andrey Shestakov

Israel is a country that millions of people have been coming to for many decades to see with their own eyes the cities and places connected by the life trials of Jesus and his mother, to touch the shrines and feel with their souls, standing at the Wailing Wall, their involvement in history, regardless depending on what nationality you are. Therefore, a trip to Israel to the holy places is a very popular tourist destination.

Jerusalem

A city that has gone through times of rise and fall, has seen different cultures and civilizations and is a shrine for many thousands of people of different religions - this is Jerusalem. Here the redemptive feat of Christ was accomplished. Any tour of the holy places of Israel starts from here, from one of the ancient cities, the cradle of three religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

The walls of the city were built by the Turks in the 16th century, and the stones from which they are built remember the times of Herod and the Crusaders. On the site of the ancient city gates, the Golden Gate attracts the attention of tourists.

According to Jewish beliefs, the Messiah was supposed to enter the city through this gate. Jesus made his entrance through them. Now the gates are walled up by Muslims so that the next Messiah cannot enter them. Many legends are connected with this gate. Guides always tell tourists and pilgrims an interesting fact that it is located at a depth of 5 meters. That is, the streets of Jerusalem - in the cellars.

Shrines of Jerusalem

The shrines of Judaism include the Temple Mount - Moriah, a holy place revered by the Jews - the Wailing Wall and a cave in Hebron. Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the Muslim shrines, where the Prophet Muhammad was transferred before ascending to heaven. For Muslims, this is the third most important city after Mecca and Medina. Christian shrines, first of all, are places associated with the birth and life of Jesus Christ. In Jerusalem, Christ preached, in the Garden of Gethsemane he addressed the Father, here he was betrayed and crucified, pilgrims from all over the world come here to Via Dolorosa. The trip is also interesting for tourists who love traveling to historical places. However, a trip to Israel to holy places, at prices, is not always available during the Easter and Christmas periods. Usually, during this period, the cost of a plane ticket and service for pilgrims and tourists becomes higher.

temple mount

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the Temple Mount is mentioned as the site on which the First Temple was built. It is here, according to the prophecy, that the Last Judgment on Judgment Day should take place. An interesting fact is that Jews, Christians and Muslims equally claim this shrine. What has not happened for 2000 years on this peak of Jerusalem! Jews and Christians who come to the holy places in Israel consider themselves involved in the Temple Mount mentioned in the Bible.

The history of the events that took place over many hundreds of years has made its own amendments. Now the mountain is surrounded by high walls with a perimeter length of about 1.5 km, and on the square above the old city there are Muslim shrines - the Dome over the Rock and the al-Aqsa mosque. Christians and Jews can be on the Temple Mount, but praying is strictly prohibited, as well as carrying books and religious things that are not related to the Muslim faith.

Wall of Tears

Those who come on excursions to the holy places of Israel will certainly come to the miraculously preserved ancient wall of the Second Temple. There are rules on how to behave at the Wailing Wall. So, if you face the Wall, men pray on the left, women on the right. A man must be sure to wear a kippah. According to an unknown tradition, people place notes between the stones in the Wall with various requests to the Almighty. They are mostly written by tourists. When quite a lot of such notes are collected, they are collected and buried in a designated place near Maslenichnaya Mountain.

The Wailing Wall for the people of Israel is not only a symbol of sorrow for the destroyed temples. Somewhere in the subconscious of the Jews, it is rather a prayer carried through the centuries, the prayer of the exiled people for the return from eternal exile and a request to the Lord God for the peace and unity of the Israeli people.

How did they find the place of the crucifixion of Christ

The Romans, who destroyed Jerusalem, set up their pagan temples in the new city. And only in the time of St. Constantine, when the persecution of Christians ceased, in the 4th century, the question arose of finding the burial place of Jesus. Now they began to destroy the pagan temples and temples introduced by Hadrian in 135 - such is the story. Through many military expeditions, called crusades, the liberation of the shrine from the infidels took place. And after some time, Queen Elena found the place where the Savior was crucified. At the behest of the queen, the construction of a temple was begun on this site. In 335 the temple was consecrated. Historians talk about its beauty and grandeur. But less than 300 years later, he suffered from the Persians. In 1009, the Muslims destroyed it to the ground, and only in 1042 it was restored, but not in its former glory.

Church of the Ascension of Christ

The most important and most visited among the holy places of Christianity in Israel has always been the Church of the Ascension of Christ, or the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem, first of all, come to bow to the stone on which Jesus was anointed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The place where the temple was built and now operates, at the beginning of the first century, was outside the walls of Jerusalem, far from dwellings. Near the hill where Jesus was executed, there was a cave where Jesus was buried. According to their customs, the Jews buried the dead in caves, in which there were several halls with niches for the dead and an anointing stone on which the body was prepared for burial. He was anointed with oils and wrapped in a shroud. The entrance to the cave was covered with a stone.

The temple with many halls and passages, including the Holy Sepulcher and Calvary, is located at the end of the road along which Jesus walked to Calvary. Traditionally, on Good Friday, before Orthodox Easter, the procession of the Cross takes place along this path. The procession moves through the Old City, along Via Dolorosa, which means in Latin "The Way of Sorrow", and ends in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Tourists who come to make a pilgrimage to holy places in Israel take part in this procession and worship.

Six Christian denominations, Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian, have the right to hold services in the temple. Each denomination has its own part of the complex and the time allotted for prayers.

Garden of Gethsemane

A unique landmark of Jerusalem, which must be seen when visiting the holy places of Israel, is a garden located at the foot of the Mount of Olives. According to the Gospel, Jesus Christ prayed here before the crucifixion. In this garden, there are eight centuries-old olive trees, which, it is believed, could be witnesses of this prayer. Modern research methods have made it possible to find out on the basis of the real age of olives growing in the garden.

It turned out that their age is very respectable - nine centuries. The researchers concluded that all these trees are related to each other, as they have one parent tree, next to which, perhaps, Jesus himself passed. History has preserved the fact that during the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans, all the trees in the garden were completely cut down. But olives have a strong vitality and from strong roots could give good shoots. Which also gives confidence that the current trees of the garden are the direct heirs of the very ones that Jesus saw.

Birthplace of the Virgin

A visit to the holy places in Israel includes a trip to the birthplace of the mother of Jesus Christ. Not far from the Sheep Gate, almost on the outskirts of the city, was the home of Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna. At present, there is a Greek temple on this site. Above the entrance doors of the temple there is an inscription: “The Birth Place of Virgin Mary”, which in translation is “The Place of the Nativity of the Mother of God”. To get into the house, you need to go down to the basement, since the current Jerusalem, as the guide said, is about 5 meters higher than the previous one.

Bethlehem and Nazareth

Pilgrims visiting Israel's Christian holy sites come to Bethlehem to visit the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Jesus was supposedly born.

The temple is more than 16 centuries old. Believers come to the temple to touch the star, installed in the place where the manger stood; visit the cave of Joseph and the cave with the burial of babies killed on the orders of Herod.

The next place of pilgrimage is the city where Jesus spent his childhood and youth. This is Nazareth. Here, in Nazareth, the Angel brought the Good News to the future mother of Christ, Mary. Pilgrims and tourists, visiting holy places, always go to it and 2 more churches: St. Joseph and Over the past decade, the Old part of Nazareth has been renovated and the architectural beauty of the narrow streets has been restored.

Other holy places in Israel

The usual program for tourists visiting the holy places of Israel is very rich. You can stay in Jerusalem alone for weeks and discover something new every day. In order to somehow compress the dates and meet the allotted time for the tour, the agencies organize included tours at no cost trips to the holy places of Israel in buses, accompanied by a guide-interpreter. Of course, stops are made, there is an opportunity to take pictures for memory. From the bus window you can see the Mount of Beatitude, where Jesus Christ delivered the famous Sermon on the Mount; drive through Cana of Galilee, where Christ turned water into wine. You can make a stop in the city of Jericho, which, according to experts, is more than 6 thousand years old.

Not far from the city is the Mount of Temptation and the Forty-Day Monastery, where Jesus fasted for 40 days after his baptism. The next stop is at the place where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. And the sign that swimming is prohibited here does not stop a group of tourists.

The time allotted for a tourist trip passes quickly. Impressions, photographs and some souvenirs will long remind you of the days spent in holy places. And, of course, recommendations to your friends and relatives: "Be sure to go to Israel." There are many places that I would like to see in the Promised Land, which is why pilgrims and tourists constantly come here to once again touch the holy places.

The history of the Holy Land, due to its very convenient geographical position connecting Egypt, Phoenicia, Syria, Iraq, Iran (ancient Mesopotamia) and the Persian Gulf, is interesting and rich in political, religious and cultural events. From the west it is washed by the Mediterranean Sea, while in the east there is a desert. Thus, located in the center of the region and being a bridge connecting Egypt and Mesopotamia, that is, Africa and Asia, the Holy Land, took an important place in the history of the ancient world. It was crossed by trade routes, for example, such famous ones as the Sea Route (Via Maris), along which everyone going from north to south, from east to west and vice versa passed. Due to its central geographic location, the Holy Land was also popular with all invaders from the north, south, east and west.

Roman map of Palestine known as Pointigeria, 4th century

Galilean ancient man

In various parts of the Holy Land, the oldest remains of people and animals dating back to the Paleolithic period (1.500.000 -15.000 BC) were found. However, the oldest human remains were found in the caves of Galilee and date back to 70,000 BC. e. They belonged to one of the dead-end branches of the development of the human race, located between the Neanderthal and the sapiens. Archaeologists called the Galilean man the Palestine ancient man. In addition, another new type of ancient man who lived during the Mesolithic period (15.000-7.000 BC) was found - the Natuf man (by the name of the El-Natuf rock on Mount Carmel). Natuf man cultivated the land, tamed animals, built small settlements, created a society and his own culture. In subsequent eras - the Neolithic and Chalcolithic (7.000-3.000 BC) - the Palestinian ancient man settled almost throughout the country, built such fortified settlements as Jericho, improved stone products, first used bronze and turned from a food collector into her manufacturer. In addition, he established contact with neighboring peoples and created his own culture. The road for a distinct Palestinian culture was opened.

Prehistoric caves of Mount Carmel

Upper Galilee mountain range with Biblical Mount Meyron

The first Semites, Canaanites, Indo-Europeans and Indo-Iranians

The first 750 years of the second millennium BC. e., from 2000 to 1230, the Holy Land was inhabited by peoples who came from many other places. Among them were Indo-Europeans, Indo-Iranians, and Semites from the north, west, and east. Among the settlers was Abraham with his tribe and herd of animals. Many of the waves of settlers continued the nomadic lifestyle of shepherds, while others, such as the Canaanites, united in settled communities, built fortified settlement-states, developed art and created their own cultures.

Biblical city of Megiddo, Armageddon of the apocalypse

Jews and Philistines

At the end of the thirteenth century BC. new waves of immigrants settled in Palestine and thereby changed its demographic map. Among them were the 12 tribes of Israel and a group of Sea Peoples who came from the Anatolia region, from the west and the Aegean region. The latter included the Philistines (Plishtim, according to the Old Testament, or Pellasgians, according to Greek sources), Achaeans, Danaans, Sicilians, and many others.

Hill of Ofla in the southeast of modern Jerusalem, on which the biblical Jerusalem was built

Schematic representation of Jerusalem during the reign of the biblical kings David and Solomon (9th century BC)

Ceramic sarcophagus depicting a Philistine (10th century BC)

The first Jews united in tribal tribes with local tribes, led by chief judges, as described in the Old Testament (1230-1050 BC). Later, all the tribes united, creating a United Kingdom under the rule of the biblical kings Saul, David and Solomon ( 1050-922 BC).

After the death of Solomon, around 930 BC. e., the united kingdom of Israel was divided into two: the Kingdom of Judah, which lasted until 586 BC. e. and the Kingdom of Israel, destroyed by the Assyrians in 721 BC. e. Another group, which was made up of the peoples of the sea, led by the most influential of them - the Philistines - founded on the Palestinian coast an alliance of five independent cities (pentapolis) (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron) under the leadership of the princes, according to the Old Testament (tyrants in Greek sources). Pentapolis, as an influential and independent association, existed for about two hundred years, until 1000 BC. e. King David, after repeated military clashes, dispersed the Philistine pentapolis and annexed all the cities to his united kingdom. Over time, the peoples of the sea merged with the local population and ceased their independent existence. Eight hundred years later, the Greeks and Romans named this country after the Philistines - Palestine.

Biblical city of Hatzor in northern Galilee

Assyrians, Babylonians, Samaritans and Persians

In 721 BC. e. the Assyrians destroyed the Kingdom of Israel in the north, and in 586 BC. e. the Babylonians subjugated the kingdom of Judah in the south. Jerusalem was destroyed and with it his famous Temple, which was the religious center of Judaism. The Assyrian and Babylonian invaders forcibly resettled large numbers of Jews in other parts of their empire, settling new peoples in place of the exiled. Most of the new settlers settled in Central Palestine and Samaria in particular, after which they were called Samaritans. A small number of Samaritans continue to live today in Neapolis (Shechem), in Samaria, concentrated around their holy Mount Gerizim.

In 549 BC. e. new invaders - now the Persians - took possession of Palestine and annexed it to the great Satrapy - Ever Nahara (river country), i.e. west of the Euphrates River. During the years of the Persian occupation, 549-532 BC. e., the Jews, the inhabitants of Palestine, as well as many other peoples of the Persian Empire, could lead a much freer lifestyle than under the previous rulers - the Assyrians and Babylonians. The moderate policy of the Persians allowed many exiled Jews to return to their abandoned homes, rebuild destroyed cities and settlements, and rebuild the Jerusalem Temple. In addition, during the approximately two hundred years of Persian rule, which correspond in time to the golden age of classical Greece, the inhabitants of Palestine established close ties with Greece and the Greek world. At the same time, the first Greek settlers, both merchants and ordinary settlers, began to arrive in Palestine and settle in the large trading cities of the Palestinian coast. Thus began the Hellenization of Gaza, Ashkelon, Jaffa and Akko (Ptolemais) - cities that in subsequent eras turned into great centers of Greek culture.

Greeks, Romans and Byzantines

Occupation of Palestine, beginning with Alexander the Great in 332 BC e. and its subsequent annexation to the Greek kingdoms, first by the Ptolemies and later by the Seleucids, further strengthened the connection of the Jews with the Greeks and the Greek world. Such a close connection led to fundamental changes in the religious, political, and simply everyday life of the Jews. Therefore, the inevitable conflict between the two peoples and cultures followed, resulting in the Maccabean rebellion and the creation of the semi-autonomous state of the Hasmoneans (167-63 BC). However, despite the religious and cultural differences between the two peoples, Judaism and Hellenism, Greek culture had a strong influence both in all areas of Judaism and in everyday life. In addition, the numerous movements of the Greeks in Palestine and the founding of Greek cities and cultural centers in the most important points of the country radically changed its ethnographic map. From now on, the Greeks will make up a large percentage of the population of the Holy Land and will influence the political and social...

Graphic restoration of Herod's palace at Masada (1st century BC)

The beginning of almost two thousand years of the Jewish diaspora, the creation of the First Christian community of Jerusalem, the foundation of the Roman Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem, the founding of the first Christian churches and the recognition of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire.

At the beginning of the fourth century, with the transfer of the Roman capital from Rome to Constantinople, a new period of religious upsurge and economic prosperity began in Palestine.

The events that influenced the course of the history of Palestine during the period of Byzantine rule (324-630) were: the recognition of holy places, the construction of magnificent Christian basilicas and churches by the Roman emperors who converted to Christianity, and in particular, Constantine the Great and his mother, St. Helena , numerous gatherings of pilgrims, the proclamation of the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the spread of Christian monasticism.

The intense and often violent religious disputes of the Christian inhabitants of Palestine, the devastating earthquakes and bloody riots of the Samaritans at the end of the fifth and beginning of the sixth centuries, although they left their mark, could not interrupt the era of prosperity and well-being of the inhabitants of the Holy Land. Only towards the end of the Byzantine period, with the devastating Persian invasion in 614, was Palestine severely weakened, becoming easy prey for the Arab conquerors in 630.

Muslim Arabs and Crusaders

With the surrender of Jerusalem by Patriarch Sophronius to Oman II the Conqueror, the Islamic period of Palestine (639-1099) began, and the Muslim Arabs became the rulers of the Holy Land. The new conquerors initially demonstrated their religious tolerance without interfering with the existence of the Christian religion and, in particular, monasticism. The situation worsened only towards the end of the eighth century, when the dynasty of the Abas caliphs came to power, who began mass persecution of Christians and forced most of the Hellenized population to change their religion and become Arabized. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, with the establishment of the crusader order, the situation worsened even more. On June 15, 1099, the crusaders captured the Holy City and founded the Kingdom of Jerusalem with borders that stretched almost along the whole of Palestine. The crusader state did not last long. With the victory of Saladdin, the sultan of the Ayub dynasty, over the troops of the crusaders in 1187, their Kingdom also ceased to exist. A small number of crusaders who remained in the Holy Land (as, for example, in Acre-Ptolemais) were finally expelled in 1291.

Palace of the Umai Caliphs in Jericho

Mamelukes, Ottomans and British

After the expulsion of the crusaders, Palestine again falls into the hands of the Muslims, however, now it is under the tyrannical rule of the Ayub (1190-1250) and Mameluk (1250-1517) dynasties. In 1517, the Turks of the Ottoman Empire, led by Suleiman the Magnificent, triumphantly entered Palestine, after which it became part of the Ottoman Empire, until 1918, when the British, who received a mandate from the League of Nations, came to power and ruled in Palestine until 1948.

Israelis and Palestinians

At the end of the Second World War and with the departure of the British troops, accompanied by bloody conflicts between Arabs and Jews, the State of Israel was created. So, after a two-thousand-year diaspora, the Jews were again able to return to their land and build their own national state.

Wars of 1967 and 1973 expanded the state borders of Israel to the Jordan River and the Dutch Heights in Syria, thereby deepening the gulf between Arabs and Israelis even more.

Today, the two peoples are trying to find a solution to coexistence in the creation of separate borders and governments.

Orthodox St. Tikhon University for the Humanities

Olympiad on the Fundamentals of Orthodox Culture:

"Holy Russia, keep the Orthodox faith!"

School tour, IV grade, 2016 – 2017 academic year

The work was done by ________________________________________________ Class __________

Time to complete the work 45 minutes

TASK 1. Choose the correct answer:

1. 2017 marks the 170th anniversary of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, which helped Russian pilgrims travel. It was founded in…

2. The city associated with the earthly ministry of Christ:

B. Jerusalem

V. Constantinople

3. In the place where the Palestinian city of Hebron is now located, the Old Testament patriarch Abraham had a manifestation of God in the form of three angels. In 1868, the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin), acquired for the Mission a site in Hebron with the main shrine of this place - ...

A. Jacob's Well

B. Mamvrian oak

V. Burning Bush

D. Noah's ark

4. Saints who suffered in the twentieth century for the faith of Christ are usually called ...

A. New Martyrs

B. righteous

V. reverend

G. saints

5. The Local Council of the Russian Church of 1917-1918 began its work in Moscow on August 28, when the twelfth Feast of the Theotokos was celebrated...

A. Exaltation of the Holy Cross

B. Transfiguration of the Lord

B. Christmas

D. Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

6. The Moscow Convent of Mercy, founded by the Martyr Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna at the beginning of the 20th century:

A. Diveevo monastery

B. Marfo-Mariinsky Convent

V. Optina Pustyn

G. Pyukhtitskaya monastery

7. The city in which in 2000-2003. a memorial church on the Blood was built in the name of All Saints, who shone in the Russian land, at the site of the murder of the Royal Family:

A. Yekaterinburg

B. Moscow

In Saint-Petersburg

G. Tobolsk

Icon of the Mother of God, found in the village of Kolomenskoye near Moscow on the day of the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II from the throne on March 2, 1917.

A. Vladimirskaya

B. Derzhavnaya

V. Iverskaya

G. Kazanskaya

9. In the 19th century, a palm gathering was held in Russia every year, during which funds were collected for the needs of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem and Russian pilgrims. The name of the palm collection is associated with the twelfth holiday, to which the collection was timed:

A. The Baptism of the Lord

B. The Entry of the Lord into Jerusalem

B. Easter

D. Christmas

The liturgical name of the day on which every year in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, on the eve of Orthodox Easter, the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire takes place.

A. Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

B. Holy Saturday

B. Week of the Cross

D. Triumph of Orthodoxy

TASK 2. Read a brief background on the era of persecution. Answer the questions.

After the revolution of 1917, an era of persecution of faith began in our country. Many Orthodox churches and monasteries were closed and destroyed.

In the Russian Empire (as of 1914) there were 54,174 Orthodox churches, 25,593 chapels, and 1,025 monasteries.

By the end of the era of persecution of faith (according to 1987 data), 6,893 Orthodox churches and 15 monasteries remained in the USSR.

The sign of the end of the era of persecution was the adoption in 1990 by the central government of a law on freedom of conscience and religion, in the work on which representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church were also involved.

2.1. How many sacred structures were destroyed in total between 1917 and 1987? ______________

2.2. For how many years did the era of persecution of faith in our country last? __________________

TASK 3. Read the text. Look carefully at the pictures from the cartoon, complete the tasks.

After the revolution of 1917, the Soviet Republic was formed on the site of the Orthodox Russian Empire, in which the Orthodox faith was persecuted. For believing in God, they were imprisoned, sent into exile, and even killed. The cartoon "The Extraordinary Journey of Seraphim" (Russia, 2015, director Sergei Antonov) tells the story of a girl whose father was shot for being a priest.

But despite the unspoken ban, many people remained faithful to Orthodoxy.

3.1. Look carefully at the pictures and write how people kept Orthodox traditions at that terrible time.	3.2. What Orthodox holidays are celebrated by the characters in illustrations No. 2 and No. 4?
____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________ ____________________________________________	No. 2 (Father gives the girl a red egg) - this holiday is called ... __________________________________________ No. 4 (a girl with her mother in the temple, they have willow twigs in their hands) - this holiday is called ... __________________________________________
№ 1	№ 2
№ 3	№ 4

3.3. When did persecution for faith begin in our country? ___________________________________________

3.4. What was the name of our country before the revolution of 1917? ____________________________________________

TASK 4. Sacred places in the Holy Land.

Find and highlight the names of holy places associated with biblical history in the search engine. Write them in the table opposite the descriptions of these places.