Day 5 – Mt. of Olives, Mt. Zion, & St. Anne’s
Our day began on the Mount of Olives where we visited the sites attributed to the Ascension, Jesus teaching his disciples the Lord’s Prayer, and then descended half way down the Mount of Olives to the church attributed to Jesus weeping over Jerusalem where we had beautiful vistas and pictures of the Temple Mount and the Old City.
From there we descending to the bottom of the hillside to the Garden of Gethsemane and the Church of All Nations. There are Olive Trees dating back to the time of Jesus – over 2000 years old!
From there we visited St. Annes – the oldest Christian Church remaining in the city built by the Crusaders. After the Muslims took over they didn’t tear down this church because of the acoustics; they used it for a school for students studying the Koran. Today it is a Christian Church again. Every group goes in and sings at the altar to experience the incredible acoustics. This is always a highlight for me. It’s hard to sing because I’m so choked up and overcome with emotion.
After lunch we went to Mount Zion where we visited a place attributed to where the Upper Room would (might) have been. Lastly we visit the church attributed to the High Priest’s (Caiaphas’) House where Jesus would have been on trial before being handed over to Pilot. They claim this is where Jesus would have been flogged, put in a dungeon, and where Peter denied Jesus.
Once again, in the afternoon there was free time for people to chill or to walk into the old city and explore. In the evening a group of us went to the Razzouk Tattoo parlor which has been family run in the Old City since 700AD (1300 years old). Many of us got the Jerusalem tattoo as a certificate of pilgrimage. 22 of our group in all are getting/got tattoos. Half tonight, half tomorrow night.
It was another full and fascinating day.
-Shalom
