The Shepherds' Field

Our final destination was the church where Lia's father serves, the Monastery of the Shepherds' Field. Again, although it is technically and historically a monastery, for all intents and purposes it is now a parish church. And again, it was closed, but Lia's father managed to find someone to open it for us.

In building the new church (which you can see in the photo above), remnants of three churches from the fifth, sixth, and seventh centuries were found (you get the impression that that was a busy time!)

Here is the cave where the shepherds were keeping watch when they heard the angelic cry "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Lk 2:14 KJV). As a side note, this probably isn't an accurate translate of the Greek. The Greek probably means something more like "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace toward men of good will" which perhaps means something like "toward men with whom He is pleased."

The shepherds' cave and shelter later served as their tomb. Finally, as you can see in the photo above, the cave was converted into a church by St. Helena around 330 AD. The pilgrim Egeria testifies to this church in her letter from 380.

Skulls of monks from this monastery who were martyred by the Persian invaders in 614 AD.

The modern day church, built just recently and consecrated by the current patriarch, Theophilos III.

Finally, Lia took us to a nearby restaurant called The Shepherds' Tent, which is designed to look like a massive Bedouin tent. Of course, as is almost requisite it seems, we got into a big debate with the taxi driver on how much we should pay, despite having an agreement. He wanted to charge us four times what we originally agreed to. Anyway, after a lot of really unpleasant bickering, we settled the matter and went into eat something. In the photo above, you can see the sampler of traditional salads that we ordered.

After a great meal, Lia put us on the right bus back to Jerusalem. The bus stopped at the border into Israel, where we had to get off and show our passports to some bored, teenage Israeli guards with machine guns. For some reason, I was flagged and had to explain what I was doing in Israel, and then we were back on the bus and headed into Jerusalem.

To see all the photos from our fifth and last day, click here.

The next day, our flight was at 7:00 AM. Israeli security is really tight and requires you to be at Tel Aviv airport three hours before takeoff. Therefore, we had to catch a shuttle outside the walls of the Old City at 3:15 AM. We missed our narrow connection in Athens by one minute, and had to do a lot of bickering before getting on the next flight to Thessaloniki. Thank God, we arrived home safely, having had a wonderful trip. Our only regret was not having more time to make a trip up north to see Galilee, Mt. Tabor, Nazareth, and Capernaum, but I hope to do that on my next trip!

St. George al-Khader and the Herodium

After the Church of the Nativity, Lia suggested that we take a taxi to the monastery of St. George al-Khader. It was closed, but Lia's father, who is a priest at a parish in the area, called his friend who works there and arranged for him to open the church to us. Although it is called a monastery and was historically so, it is now quite small. I'm not sure if there are any monks living there.

Here, his friend is putting the bridle of St. George's horse on me three times, which is an old tradition and blessing.

After St. George's, the taxi driver suggested that we go to Herodium. Although in the West Bank, the site is operated by Israel and Lia, despite living almost within sight of it, had never been allowed to see it. For whatever reason, though, something had recently changed to allow Palestinians to visit the site, so Lia was excited at the possibility of going there.

As a side note, although I suppose it was obvious, I was startled to realize that Lia, when she travels back and forth to Greece, is not allowed to use the nearby Tel Aviv airport because she is Palestinian. Instead, she has to make a 7-hour bus trip each way to Amman, Jordan. Palestinians' travel is further complicated by the fact that Israel closes its border crossing points on the Sabbath, so Palestinians have to make sure not to go in or out on Saturdays.

Anyway, the site is yet another fortress built atop a hill by Herod. In the photo above, you can see us walking up the stairs that wind around the hill.

A view of the surrounding countryside from the top. One thing that struck my dad and me immediately in the West Bank was the visible signs of poverty, as compared to the adjacent Israeli-controlled territory.

A view of the inside of the fortress. In the bottom left in the shade is an interesting room. It was built by Herod as a Roman-inspired triclinium, but was adapted by the Jewish rebels against Rome (ca. 70 AD) and made into a synagogue. Many think that some early Christian gatherings in the first century were held in such rooms.

As we left the Herodium, we got a slowed down a bit by a Palestinian shepherd walking his flock.

The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem

The taxi dropped us off in front of the Church of the Nativity at around 11:30 AM, and, of course, tried to argue for more money than we had originally agreed upon. We gave him a 20% tip for waiting a bit longer than expected at the monastery and then walked away, despite his muttering.

Above, my friend Lia was waiting for us at the entrance to the church, which again is a small door that you have to crouch to get through. This was to prevent attackers from being able to stream through in large numbers and overwhelm the defenders.

There was a huge line along the right aisle of the church waiting to go down in a crypt underneath the altar area and venerate the cave in which Christ was born. Most surprising to me, there were actually quite a few Muslim women with head scarves also waiting in line. Lia told us that this was not unusual.

Fortunately, since I'm an Orthodox priest, we were allowed to by-pass the line and go immediately to venerate the cave, which you can see me doing above. There is only one small spot of the cave exposed which pilgrims kneel down to venerate.

Next to it is a small Nativity scene that Lia explained was traditional.

Here you see the iconostasis of the main part of the church, which belongs to the Orthodox. This church dates from 565 AD. The first church, constructed by St Helena around 330, was destroyed in the Samaritan Revolt in 529. Almost inexplicably, the Persians did not destroy the second church when they invaded in 614; tradition says this was because the Persian leader was moved by the images of the three magi wearing traditional Persian clothing.

Here you see the line along the right aisle waiting to go down into the crypt to venerate the place where Christ was born.

Here is the Roman Catholic church which lies adjacent.

A view of the Orthodox church from the back. In the foreground, you can see people standing around what a hole in the floor. These are trap doors which open to reveal part of the original mosaic floor from the first church, built in 330.

The above two photos show some of the mosaics along the sides.

Here is a tiny space in the front left corner that has been taken over by the Armenians. It was this spot, I believe, that caused the melee which broke out just days before we arrived (see this post).

Here we are in the courtyard in front of the entrance to the church. Opposite, you can see the mosque, which was then blasting prayers. Lia said it was quite typical for the Muslims to have a mosque directly across from churches of major significance.

Lia's uncle worked in a hotel and cafe located right in the courtyard of the church, so we sat down to have a coffee and catch up before heading out to see more of the area.

To see all the photos from our fifth and last day, click here.

[Note: I just added a short 3-minute video from the Liturgy at the Holy Sepulchre to this previous post.]

Mar Saba Monastery

On our fifth and final day in Jerusalem, we headed out to the Damascus Gate to try to find a bus to Bethlehem. During my first year here in Greek school, I was classmates with two Palestinians--a Christian girl and Muslim boy--who grew up together and were themselves close friends.

I had contacted her here in Thessaloniki before we left and it turned out that she was going to be in Bethlehem for the holidays, so we arranged to meet.

Getting to Bethlehem, even though it is only 10 km from Jerusalem, is something of an adventure, though, because it lies with the Palestinian-controlled West Bank. Of course, we were given conflicting information about the best way to get there, and we ended up taking one of the public buses (actually a van). Since it was Saturday, everything Israeli-controlled (including most of the public transportation system) was closed, but somehow there is a parallel portion of the public transportation system run by Palestinians, and that part was open.

So anyway we got on the van which drove us to the checkpoint for the West Bank and then left us. (Some had told us that the bus would go through the checkpoint and take us all the way into Bethlehem.) The van driver motioned for one of his cab driver friends to come over to van and offer us a deal to take us on into Bethlehem. This driver was willing to take us on this 5 minute ride for only 200 shekels (over $25), assuming, I suppose, that we were complete morons. As we walked away, his prices started dropping, but not fast enough.

So we walked through the checkpoint from Israel into the West Bank, which is a mass of very high walls, barbed wire, and machine guns. Above, you can see my dad looking at the graffiti on the walls. I distinctly remember one that read: "Jesus wept for Jerusalem."

Once we reached the other side, there was a huge flock of taxis waiting, and the drivers swarmed us. They offered to take us to all over the place--Mar Saba Monastery, St. George al-Khader Monastery, etc., again at outrageous prices. I wanted to go see Mar Saba, and we had some time before meeting my friend at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, but I couldn't get them to come to a reasonable price, so we asked someone to just take us into Bethlehem. One young taxi driver near the end of the queue volunteered and we were off; the other taxi drivers apparently didn't want to lose their place in line for just a quick, unprofitable ride into Bethlehem.

Once we were in taxi and off, the driver said: "Look, I've been waiting in that line since 6 AM this morning (it was 9:30 then) and I don't want to go back and wait again. How about I take you to Mar Saba for X?" I can't remember exactly how much it was, but after we bargained for a minute, it was a very reasonable price, and we were off.

The road out to the monastery reveals just how desolate the area is. It's just unadorned desert as far as the eye can see. My dad had the taxi driver stop at one point so that he could take a typical photo of the landscape (see above).

There's almost no way we would have found the monastery ourselves in a rented car. They were very narrow, winding roads, and I didn't see any signs in English.

Finally, we arrived at Mar Saba Monastery and the taxi driver agreed to wait for us. The entrance to the monastery is a very small door, and we met this monk (see above) on the other side of the door. Most of the 15-20 monks there are Greek, but we were introduced to one American monk from California. The monk who greeted us at the entrance was very interested in my story as an American convert priest who was studying in Thessaloniki, so I talked to him for awhile. He then pointed us toward the main church, where another Greek monk met us and gave us a tour. Again, this monk was most interested in my story, so I had to tell it again.

Here I am in the cave/cell of St. John of Damascus, where he wrote so many of the church's hymns, services, and treatises defending the faith.

On the left you can see some of the caves in the mountainside that were once home to hundreds of monks.

At bottom in the photo above is an edifice dedicated to St. Sabbas the Sanctified. His incorrupt relics were returned to the monastery by the Roman Catholics in 1965 after nearly 900 years in Italy (they were stolen during the Crusades).

The monastery has an interesting connection to Serbia's own Saint Sava. When St. Sabbas the Sanctified was near his end (6th century), he told the monks to watch for one day in the distant future when an archbishop, a man of God bearing the same name, would come from a far-off western land. The monks were to give this man St. Sabbas' pateritsa (abbot's staff) and an icon of the Panagia. Two hundred years later, St. John of Damascus added his own wonderworking icon of the Panagia Tricherousa (Three Hands) to this inheritance.

When St. Sava of Serbia visited the monastery of his namesake some 700 years after the St. Sabbas' death, the monks had still maintained the prophesy of their founder, and now found its fulfillment in St. Sava of Serbia. This is how the much-revered icon of the Panagia of Three Hands (through which the miracle of the restoration of St. John of Damascus' hand was accomplished) came to reside at the Serbian Hilandar Monastery on Mt. Athos.

Anyway, toward the end of our tour, we ran into an American tourist, who described himself as a doctor with Buddhist leanings. Our tour guide was quite dismayed at this and asked him several questions, which, although his answers were vague, made it seem like part of his family had been Orthodox.

Anyway, we went inside the main church together, and this man was quite moved when the monk showed us the display cases with row after row of skulls of the monastery's monks who had been martyred.

Finally, the monk treated us to a coffee and a loukoumi ("Turkish" delight) and then my dad and I hurried back to our taxi.

The Dead Sea and Jericho

After Masada, our van driver took us back up the west coast of the Dead Sea to a northern beach known as Kalia Beach. This is one of many private beach areas that have sprung up along the Dead Sea as interest has grown in the therapeutic effects of the water and its mud. I read somewhere that most of this privatization is illegal, yet the government does nothing about it.

The water is 33.7% salt and nothing can live in the Dead Sea. Because of the salt content, it is almost impossible for someone to sink. One can simply sit in the water (see top photo). My dad and I didn't go for a swim, but we did put our feet in. The water seemed pretty much the same as ocean water to me, except perhaps a bit more viscous.

Most of the other people from our group went into the water. In certain patches, you can find a deposit of the famous mud, which people then rub on their skin, as you see above. We were told that you then leave it on for 20 minutes and allow it to dry in the sun, and then wash it off again in the water. I was skeptical but interested, so I tried it on my feet for something to do. I was quite surprised that my feet actually did feel refreshed.

After the stop at the beach, we got back in the van and headed for Jericho, the lowest city in the world (in terms of meters below sea level). We crossed through a Palestinian check point and entered into the West Bank and our first stop in Jericho was the sycamore tree which Zacchaeus climbed up in order to see Christ (see above). Scientific testing of the tree has confirmed that it is indeed 2000 years old.

Afterwards, we were taken to a big, gaudy tourist trap for lunch and souvenir buying. With our free time, my dad and I went over to an archaeological site on a big mound, which is sifting through what was the historic center of the oldest continuously inhabited city on the planet. Again, however, since the material is so old, it was really next to impossible for non-experts like us to make out anything of what we were seeing. It was also interesting to note how poor the site was as compared to its counterparts that are run by the Israelis.

Overlooking the site is the Mount of Temptations, the site on which Christ fasted for 40 days and 40 nights at the beginning of His ministry. Behind me, in the photo above, you can see the Orthodox Monastery of the Temptation. In recent years, a cable car was built from Jericho up to the side of the mountain, but it's main purpose was to access a cafe with a view; easier access to the monastery is just a side benefit. Unfortunately, however, the monastery was closed when we were there and we had very little time anyway.

Our van driver took us by Hisham's Palace, an 8th century palace complex in Jericho dating from the time of the first Muslim rulers (see photo above), on the way back to Jerusalem. The final stop was the top of the Mount of Olives, from which we had a beautiful panoramic view of Jerusalem at night.

For more photos from the fourth day, click here.

Qumran and Masada

After only a couple hours sleep, we were up and out again to meet a van outside Damascus Gate at 7:00 AM. We had booked a day "tour" (basically just transportation in a passenger van) south to the Dead Sea. The first stop was Qumran, located on the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea. We arrived just as it opened at 8:00 AM and enjoyed the fact that there were relatively few tourists there.

It is almost certain that this site is connected with the Dead Sea Scrolls, which were found about 60 years ago in caves overlooking the settlement. They, and this settlement, date to around the time of Christ and provide important information about Jewish movements at that time.

Again, it is almost certain that the group that inhabited this site and produced the Dead Sea Scrolls were Essenes, a third major Jewish sect besides the Pharisees and the Sadducees (who are referred to in the New Testament).

At the site, the Israeli National Parks played a video which strongly suggested that St. John the Baptist had once been a "novice" in this monastic-like community, but left abruptly. This is based on one of the texts found in the caves which refers to a community meeting in which a certain "John," who left abruptly, was debated. While this theory was briefly famous (probably after some popularizer made this huge leap in order to gain a name for himself or sell a few books), the majority of scholars consider it unlikely.

Here is what appears to be a ritual bath.

Behind me you can see some of the caves in which the scrolls were discovered by accident by a Bedouin boy. The story of how the Bedouins sold these scrolls to collectors is fascinating. At one point, there were being paid for by the piece, so the Bedouins were actually tearing up whole scrolls into fragments in order to get more money. Scholars then spent years piecing them back together.

After Qumran, we headed down the west coast of the Dead Sea to its southwestern corner and the fortress of Masada. There, a huge plateau with sheer cliffs rises up, making it an ideal place for a fortress. Herod, a megalomaniacal builder and rather paranoid, built this fortress as a potential refuge in case the Jews should turn against him.

The photo above is of the cable car which zips you up and down.

Looking down from the top. It was actually sunny and hot up there (yes, on January 1), so my dad got a hat for some protection from the sun.

You get a sense here of the sheer cliffs which act as a natural protection for the fortress, in which Herod built not one but two palaces for himself.

Of course, Masada is most famous as the site of the last holdouts from the Jewish rebellion which destroyed the Second Temple and all of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Some 950 Jewish rebels (possibly belonging to the Sicarii faction of the Zealots) held out here until 73 AD, when the Romans laid siege to them for several months and actually constructed a ramp up the side of the cliff (see photo above). They then pushed a large wheeled siege tower up the ramp and used it to break through the walls. According to the popular version of the story, the Jews chose mass suicide rather than surrendering to the Romans.

In some of my photos you can made out square or diamond shaped figures in the sands. These are the remains of the several Roman army camps that were set up during the siege in 73 AD. Since sieges would last so long that the armies would build up impromptu towns with their own stores, etc.

During the fifth and sixth centuries, the Byzantines used the site as (you guessed it!) a monastery. It never seems to have been very big, though. These caves here (which served as cells) are pretty much the extent of the monastery, along with a small church nearby.

This is an interesting aerial 3D tour of the site.

For more photos from the fourth day, click here.