Chronicles of Four Days

Thursday: Samaria

Today was our first excursion as part of a course in which we are going to visit a number of sites in Galilee, Samaria and Negev. This excursion took us to Samaria which is in the West Bank territories. This time round we had no problems at all travelling there. The lecturer for this course is Prof. Pietro Kaswalder OFM.

Our first stop took us to Jacob’s Well (Gen 33,18-19 ), very close to Shechem. This well is connected by tradition to the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at this well (John 4). Jesus offered her the living water and revealed to her that he is the Messiah that Samaritans were waiting for. Tradition gives this woman a name: Photina (from phōs, light). She, together with her two children, was martyred for her faith, either in Rome or in Nablus. In recognition for her witness the Holy See has donated to this newly-built Church (finished in 2007) a first-century jar which is displayed in the central nave. The Church is run by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate. There we met an Orthodox Monk, Abouna Justin. He told me that he was attacked about 17 times by Jews! In 1979 another monk was brutally murdered here. So, at the beginning of the Year of the Faith, the Lord wanted to present me with this great living witness of the faith: a simple man who remains in this place notwithstanding the very real threats to his life. The visit to the well was an obligatory stop for the Pilgrims, as it helped them recall their baptism. According to a witness of the beginning of the 4^th Century (Itinerarium Burdigalense – the Bordeaux Itinerary [the oldest known Christian itinerarium – 333/334]) here pilgrims used to be immersed in water, coming from the well. Justin of Nablus (2^nd Century) alludes also to this tradition.

Jacob's Well: where Jesus met the Samaritan Woman

From here we went to visit the remains of Tell Balata (Balata from Ballut: Oak tree or from Platanus: plane [sycamore] trees). Here was the city of Shechem (or Sichem), laying in a valley between Mount Gerizim (South) and Mount Ebal (North). The origins of this city take us back to the second millennium before Christ, when the Canaanites built a number of cities. In the Bible Shechem is the first place where Abraham stops on his way from Mesopotamia to Canaan (Gen12,6-7). There is also a mention of an oracle here. Later we are told that Jacob bought the land where he pitched his tent (Gen 33,18-19). In the Book of Joshua we then read that on Mt Ebal Joshua built an altar to the Lord and had all the people of Israel blessed by the priests, half of them standing on Mt Ebal and half of them standing on Mt Gerizim (Jos 8,30-35). It is also here that Joshua had all the people renew their commitment to the Lord, according to Jos 24, where we have the first profession of the faith. “We will serve the Lord, for he is our God” (Jos 24,18). Joshua erected a stone in remembrance of this covenant (v.26-27).  The interesting story around Abimelech (with Jotham going up Mt Gerizim and crying out to the people of Shechem) belongs also to here (Judges 9,7-15). It was also here that Jeroboam set his seat as King, after creating the Northern Kingdom. Among the remains is the Temple and the Stele. A small section of the walls is also visible.

Then we went over to Sebastiya (Sebaste), some 12 kilometers away (this town was founded in 25 B.C. by Herod the Great on the site of ancient Samaria. Here we saw the Church (later transformed into a mosque) where John the Baptist’s body was buried by his disciples after his martyrdom.  Afterwards we had the possibility of visiting the archaeological sites such as the acropolis, the Hellenistic tower and the Roman remains of the temple dedicated to Emperor Augustus, the basilica and the forum, the theatre and the colonnaded street.

A Palestinian Boy riding a donkey in the West Bank

Friday: Ecce Homo

Since the time of the Crusaders, Christian tradition has placed the beginning of the Via Crucis in the area of the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem where the Ecce Homo Convent of the Sisters of Sion is found. In this place, we recall Christ’s suffering at the hands of the Roman soldiers and his trial by Pontius Pilate. The name Ecce Homo refers to John 19,5 when Pilate presents Jesus wearing the crown of thorns and a purple robe to the crowd and tells them: “Behold the man!” Recent archaeological studies suggest that here we are just north of the Antonia Fortress built by Herod the Great around 30 B.C. It served to protect the city against attacks from the north as well as enabling the Roman soldiers to control the Temple area.

The Basilica of the Ecce Homo in Jerusalem

I also continued with my visit to the interesting Museum of the Studi Biblici Francescani (Flagellazione). An exhibit which struck my attention was the Liturgical Bread Stamps (circular or square), coming down from the 5-8^th Century A.D. The most common inscription on these stamps is IC XC Nika, meaning “Jesus Christ conquers”.

I visited also the place where the Orthodox believe was the house of St Joachim and St Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and, thus, where Mary is believed to have been born.

Saturday: Pilgrimage to Capernaum: the centre of Jesus’ Mission

The original Semitic name of the village was Kfar Nahum, the village (kefar) of Nahum (a person’s name). In both the Gospels and the writings of the historian Flavius Josephus, the name was translated into Greek as Kapharnaum, and this is how it was subsequently transmitted to modern languages.

The excavations done in 1968 at Tell Hum have brought to light the two public edifices, the synagogue and the traditional house of St. Peter, which correspond precisely to the geographic coordinates of the ancient Capernaum.

Capernaum, together with the whole lake, is a particular place of grace. It is the Galilean village most frequently visited and served by Jesus. Here Jesus selected his disciples and called them to him one by one (Mark 1,16-20), making them witness to his own greatness through his life and his works. Here Jesus announced the Holy Eucharist with his discourse in the synagogue on the Bread of Life (John 6).

Jesus lived here his daily life; here is where he took the decision to reside in the house of his disciple Peter, where he met his apostles, where he was sought by all those who wanted to receive his grace and healing from his own hands (see Mark 1,29-34; 2,1-12). Peter’s house became a new meeting point, the center of a new community that was established around him, after the rejection he had twice received in the synagogue.

Jesus always returned to Capernaum after his voyages in Galilee, a sign of how much he loved living in this city and making it the center of his mission.

The area surrounding the Sea of Galilee can be considered today to represent a unique sanctuary, for this is the land where Jesus lived and taught. He passed through these places so many times, walked in these very sites, and performed miracles here. His voice reverberated among the inlets along the shores of the lake, proclaiming the Word of God, and it almost seems as if it has been etched into this marvelous countryside.

It is here that on Saturday the Custody of the Holy Land wanted to celebrate this presence of the Lord Jesus by a beautiful celebration led by the Custodian, Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa OFM, wearing the insigna of a Bishop except for the crosier. For this Mass some 300 Christians participated coming from the surrounding areas. The homily was delivered by the

Catholic Melkite Archbishop of Galilee, Elias Chacour. He describes himself as a Palestinian, an Arab whose mother tongue is Arabic, a Christian and an Israeli citizen who is proud of each one of his identities. He told those present that the presence of Christians here was thanks to the Franciscans who have been in this land for more than 700 years. He also told the Franciscans not only to take care of the stones but also, and above all, of the Christians who witness to their faith among a majority of Hebrews and Muslims.

The Celebration at Capernaum, the town of Jesus,
organized by the Custody of the Holy Land

Some parts of the Mass and the singing were in Arabic. It was a joy to listen to these people singing and answering with a lot of enthusiasm. Afterwards all were invited for a small dinner on the side of the Lake. There was a very beautiful view of Tiberias all lit up! This was the first time that such a celebration was made on such a big scale. The Custodian said that this will become an annual recurrence.

Sunday: Yad Vashem

On the afternoon of Sunday, I visited the Holocaust Museum to memorialise the six million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis, and honour those who tried to save them. The name Yad Vashem was taken from Isaiah 56,5: a monument and a name. The history museum has a triangular design representing, in the mind of the Architect Moshe Safdie, the bottom half of the Star of David, because the Jewish population was cut in half as a result of this terrible tragedy. There is also the Hall of Remembrance where an eternal flame burns near a crypt containing ashes of victims brought from the extermination camps (the names of these 22 camps are written on the floor).

At the end of this visit, a number of emotions: certainly an emotion of shame and sorrow and heaviness: the same kind of emotion that I experienced when I visited the concentration camp at Dachau in Germany. Another emotion was a certain disappointment at how partial the planners of this Museum were. Not that the Church and some exponents are not to blame for a certain anti-semitism (of which we already find traces before Christ), however to present the Holocaust as the result of the teaching of the Church (there is a quote from St Augustine at the very beginning of the Museum) is absolutely not fair! Apart from this during this horrific tragedy of the Holocaust, there were many Christians who were put in concentration camps and eventually killed because of their faith and of their resistance to the Nazi Regime. And there were also many Catholic persons, particularly priests and nuns, who helped Jews to hide and thus saving their lives. Some of these are given a marginal mention in the museum. (If you want to read more: http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=472 and http://www.catholic.com/magazine/articles/catholic-martyrs-of-the-holocaust.) I want to be 100% clear: the holocaust of the Jews was the main project of the Nazi program and it is to be completely and unequivocally condemned. 

The Hall of Remembrance with the Eternal Flame.