Like Dr Marcie Lenk she was both full of understanding of her topic but also wonderfully personable and was able to lead us through a whole series of steps to understand something better of the place ofJudaism within our Christian Journey and provided us all with some challenges to long held beliefs.
After lunch we headed off to Mt Scopus and the journey down the Kedron Valley to the Garden of Gethsemane. Our guide was Br Elio Passetto, a brother of Sion, who also helped explain the significance of the Mt of Olives in the story of the Gospels and the early Christian Community.
Looking back towards Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock
Later went to the other side of the mountain and looked out towards the desert (Jordan is in the distance)
He was quite brilliant in his linking First Testament prophecies to the activities leading up to the Passion and death of Christ as well as how the early Christian community developed within the same area, at least after the conversion of Constantine.
There are quite a number of Churches within the Mt of Olives area so that will need a return visit to get a greater appreciation of what the whole story means.
After our return to Ecce Homo and the evening meal we had a tour of the Lithostrotos, the area beneath the Convent, led by Sr Rita Kammermayer, another Sister of Sion. Again, an opportunity to see and understand so much more about the story of the place we are living in and it's place in the story of Jerusalem. Part of the building contains arches built by Hadrian in the 2nd century as well as stones from the Antonia Fortress that Hadrian built. There is a cistern which dates back before that time and it is all here under the building and open to anyone who wishes to visit and see these ancient ruins.
Now bed.
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