Israel is a country in which millions of people have come for many decades to see with their own eyes the cities and places connected by the life trials of Jesus and his mother, touch the shrines and feel with their souls, standing at the Wailing Wall, their involvement in history, regardless from what nationality are you. Therefore, a trip to Israel in holy places is a very popular tourist destination.
Jerusalem
A city that has experienced times of boom and bust, has seen different cultures and civilizations and is a shrine to many thousands of people professing different religions - this is Jerusalem. Here Christ's atonement was accomplished. Any tour of the holy places of Israel begins precisely from here, from one of the ancient cities, the cradle of the three religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
The walls of the city in the 16th century were built by the Turks, and the stones from which they are built remember the times of Herod and the Crusaders. In place of the ancient city gate, the Golden Gate attracts the attention of tourists.
According to Jewish beliefs, the Messiah was to enter the city through this gate. Jesus through them made his entrance. Now the gates are walled up by Muslims so that the next Messiah cannot enter them. Many traditions are associated with this gate. Tourists and pilgrims guides always tell an interesting fact that
historical Jerusalem is located at a depth of 5 meters. That is, the streets of Jerusalem are in the basements.
Shrines of Jerusalem
The shrines of Judaism include the Temple Mount - Moriah, the holy place revered by the Jews - the Wailing Wall and the cave in Hebron. Muslim shrines include the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the Prophet Muhammad was transferred to Allah before ascending to heaven. For Muslims, this is the third spiritual city after Mecca and Medina. Christian shrines, in the first place, are places associated with the birth and life of Jesus Christ. In Jerusalem, Christ led sermons, in the Garden of Gethsemane he turned to the Father, here he was betrayed and crucified, here pilgrims come from all over the world to Via Doloroz. The trip is interesting for tourists who like traveling to historical places. However, a trip to Israel in holy places, at prices, is not always available during Easter and Christmas. Usually, during this period, the cost of a plane ticket and the maintenance of pilgrims and tourists becomes higher.
Temple Mount
In the Old Testament of the Bible, Temple Mount is referred to as the place on which the First Temple was built. It is here that, according to the prophecy, the Last Judgment on the Day of Judgment should be accomplished. An interesting fact is that Jews, Christians and Muslims equally claim this shrine. What just did not happen in 2000 years on this peak of Jerusalem! Jews and Christians who come to holy places in Israel consider themselves to be involved in the Temple Mount mentioned in the Bible.
The history of events over many hundreds of years has been amended. 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 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 forbidden, 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 Wailing Wall, which miraculously survived the 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 in a bale. By an unknown tradition, people put notes between stones in the Wall with various requests to the Almighty. Mostly tourists write them. When a lot of such notes are collected, they are collected and buried in a designated place near the Pancake Week.
The Wailing Wall for the people of Israel is not only a symbol of sorrow over ruined temples. Somewhere in the Jewish subconscious, it is more like a prayer carried through the ages, a prayer of an exiled people for returning from eternal exile, and a request to the Lord God for peace and unity of the Israeli people.
How to 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 stopped, in the IV century, the question arose of finding the burial place of Jesus. Now they began to destroy the pagan temples and temples introduced by Adrian in 135 - this is the story. Through many military expeditions called the Crusades, the shrine was liberated from the infidels. And after some time, Queen Elena found a place where the Savior was crucified. At the behest of the queen, the construction of a temple was begun at this place. In 335, the temple was consecrated. Historians speak of its beauty and grandeur. But less than 300 years later, he suffered from the Persians. In 1009, it was completely destroyed by Muslims, and only in 1042 it was restored, but not in its former glory.
Church of the Ascension of Christ
The most important and visited among the holy places of Christianity in Israel has always been the Church of the Ascension of Christ, or the temple of the Holy Sepulcher. Pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem, first of all come to bow to the stone on which Jesus was anointed, to the temple of the Holy Sepulcher. The place where the temple is built and operates now, 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, in which Jesus was buried. According to their customs, the Jews buried the dead in caves, in which there were several halls with niches for the deceased and an anointing stone, on which the body was prepared for burial. He was anointed with oils and wrapped in a shroud. A stone covered the entrance to the cave.
The temple with many halls and passages, including the Holy Sepulcher and Golgotha, is at the end of the road on which Jesus went to Golgotha. Traditionally, on Good Friday, before the Orthodox Easter, a religious procession walks along this path. The procession moves through the Old Town, along Via Dolorosa, which means “Path of Sorrow” in Latin, 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 process and worship.
Six Christian denominations, Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syrian, have the right to conduct divine services. Each denomination has its own part of the complex and the time allotted for prayers.
Gethsemane
A unique attraction of Jerusalem, which must be seen when visiting the holy places of Israel, is a garden located at the foot of Mount of Olives. According to the Gospel, Jesus Christ prayed here before the crucifixion. Eight centuries-old olives grow in this garden, which are believed to have witnessed this prayer. Modern research methods have made it possible, on the basis of radiocarbon analysis, to determine the real age of olives growing in the garden.
It turned out that their age is very respectable - nine centuries. Researchers concluded that all these trees are related to each other, as they have one parent tree, next to which Jesus himself may have passed. History has preserved the fact that during the capture of Jerusalem by the Romans all the trees of the garden were completely cut down. But olives have persistent vitality and from strong roots could give good shoots. Which also gives confidence that the current trees of the garden are direct heirs of the very ones that Jesus saw.
Place of Birth of the Virgin
Visiting 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 the parents of Mary, Joachim and Anna. Currently, this place is a Greek temple. Above the entrance doors of the temple there is an inscription: “The Birth Place of Virgin Mary”, which means “Place of the Nativity of the Mother of God”. To get into the house, you need to go down to the basement, as the current Jerusalem, as the guide said, is about 5 meters higher than the previous one.
Bethlehem and Nazareth
Pilgrims visiting the Christian holy places of Israel come to Bethlehem to go to the Church of the Nativity of Christ, erected on the site where Jesus was supposedly born.
The temple is over 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 infants killed by order 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 into it and 2 more churches: St. Joseph and the Archangel Gabriel. Over the past decade, the Old Part of Nazareth has been updated and restored the architectural beauty of narrow streets.
Other holy places of Israel
The usual program for tourists visiting the holy places of Israel is very eventful. Only in Jerusalem alone can you stay for weeks and discover something new every day. In order to somehow shorten the deadlines and meet the allotted time for the tour, the agencies organize trips to the holy places of Israel that are included in the tour on buses, accompanied by a guide-interpreter. Of course, stops are made, it is possible to take pictures as a keepsake. From the window of the bus you can see Mount of Bliss, 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 Mountain of Temptations and the Forty-Day Monastery, where Jesus fasted 40 days after the baptism. The next stop is at
the Jordan River, at the site of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist. And the sign that swimming is prohibited here does not stop the group of tourists.
The time allotted for a tourist trip is fast. 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 on the Promised Land, which is why pilgrims and tourists come here all the time to once again touch the holy places.