Funeral, Shiloah Pool and an Anglican Day!

Funeral of Armenian Patriarch

These past days the Armenian Christian Community here in Jerusalem was mourning the death of its Patriarch, Torkom Manougian, at the age of 93. The funeral was held some 10 days after his death. On Sunday there was a solemn procession wherein the coffin was taken from Jaffa Gate to St James Cathedral within the Armenian Quarter of the Old City. Apart from many Armenian clergy and seminarians, members of other Christian communities here in Jerusalem took part. Place of honour was reserved to the Custodian of the Holy Land since the Patriarch was taken care of in his last months of ailment at the Infirmary of the same Custody here at San Salvatore.

Funeral of the Armenian Patriarch -- near Jaffa Gate

I was quite impressed both by the singing (quite loud, I should say) and the amount of incense used. On Monday, the solemn funeral was held. I was not there on Monday but I’ve been told that the celebration was some three hours and over long. This then was followed by a procession to the Armenian cemetery and burial, which took another hour and a half.

Funeral of the Armenian Patriarch -- within St James Cathedral

City of David – Pool of Shiloah (Siloam)

Here we are in the oldest part of Jerusalem, since here we find the Canaanite settlement captured by King David some 3000 years ago. The excavations started in 1850 and are still going on. The site is found on the slope of Mt Zion, some meters away from Dung Gate and the Temple Mount.

The Royal Quarter, first constructed at around the 10^th century before Christ, we find a fortification wall for a palace on the ridge. There are also the remains of a house (called of Achiel, an aristocrat) built against the wall. This was all destroyed during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Judean and Babylonian arrowheads were found in the excavations as proof of this fierce battle. Some 51 royal seals (bullae) were found in one chamber here, meaning that it was some kind of office. One of these bears the name of Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, one of the royal officials of King Zedekiah, the king who lost Jerusalem to the Babylonians (Jer 37,3). Another seal bearing the name of Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur was also found here (Jer 38,1).

Moving on, we were facing the other side of the Kidron Valley onto the Arab village of Silwan. Just beneath this, there is what is called Warren’s Shaft, after the British engineer who rediscovered it in 1867. It is a tunnel which runs beneath the city of David to the Spring of Gihon (from earliest days the source of water for Jerusalem). This allowed the Jebusites to have access to water without exposing themselves to danger in time of war. Time ago, some held that David used this tunnel to capture the city, according to 2 Sam 5,8: “Whoever would smite the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft …” According to very recent archaeological findings have discredited this opinion.

Proceeding down further we come to Hezekiah’s Tunnel which leads to the Pool of Shiloah. The purpose of this tunnel was to channel water flowing from the Gihon Spring. The tunnel was constructed in about 700 BC by King Hezekiah to store the water within the city walls (2 Chron 32,3). This 500-m underground passage has water waste-high. Since we were on an excursion we chose not to do this tunnel but walked through a second tunnel which is without water (although slippery, just the same!).

The Shiloach Pool was discovered during excavations in 2005 (since the Byzantines could not find the original pool they built another one a little bit further up – they could it Siloam Pool). It was built during the Second Temple period and was used for purification rituals. There is general agreement that this is the pool where Jesus healed the blind man: “‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing”. (John 9,7). It’s a beautiful account of a person who chooses Christ above everything and everyone! Lord, that our eyes may be opened to be able to see!

The Pool of Shiloah (Siloam) where the healing of the blind man took place (John 9)

The Anglican Day

Together with an Italian Deacon, Don Marco Gentilucci, Tuesday we went to visit the Garden Tomb. This site began to be indicated as a possible site for the tomb of the Christ only in 1883 by an English General Charles Gordon. It all began because he saw a skull-shaped hill where, upon doing some excavations he found ancient tombs which go back to the 5^th century BC. As the tour guide says: “Several cynics suggest that the continued championing of the Garden Tomb has more to do with the fact that it’s the only site in Jerusalem that the Protestants, its owners, have any stake in”. Well, that might also be true!

However, what is interesting here is that the tomb is still very natural and the features mentioned in the Bible’s account of the tomb of Jesus can be seen here: cut of the solid rock (Matt 27,60); sealed by a large rolling stone – there is a channel outside the front wall (Matt 27,60).

The Garden Tomb -- on the outside

The Garden Tomb -- on the inside

The Garden is very well kept and it is also very well organized for groups to hold prayer meetings on site.

From here we walked up Nablus Road to the Anglican Cathedral of St George. It’s a simple, traditionally English Church with a nice stained-glass window in its apse and a beautiful large organ at the back of the Church.

Then we visited the Cave of Zedekiah: this is really an underground quarry from which stones where cut to build the Old City. There are a number of legends linked to this place. It is called Zedekiah’s Cave because it is said that King Zedekiah sought refuge here when the Babylonians besieged the city of Jerusalem. When he tried to escape he was caught here. Another legend says that Solomon cut the rocks for the first temple from here. For this reason it is also referred to as Solomon’s Quarries. It is a huge cave where you can truly see the very hard work of human hands! Who knows how many sweated it out here!

The "Big Hall" within Zedekiah's Cave

In the afternoon, I stayed in my room and listened to a talk on theology given by Archbishop Rowan Williams to the St Paul Theological Centre. For those of you who wish there is the possibility to listen to these talks. I found them very inspiring.  http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/articles.php/2631/archbishop-speaks-at-st-pauls-theological-centre