With King David in the Old City of Jerusalem This Sunday we continued our exposure to the local catholic communities as we joined an Armenian Catholic Church for Mass. The church is also the fourth Station on Via Dolorosa here in Jerusalem. It means that the pilgrims praying the Stations of the Cross stop here to reflect on the moment when Jesus met his mother Mary. From what I can gather it is not a parish church as the whole neighborhood is Muslim. The church is just a few steps from Ecce Homo Convent were we are staying. I think that it is rather a shrine. The Mass was celebrated by a bishop and what got my attention the only part that wasn’t sung was the homily. As there were a dozen of us from the course the bishop picked up that he had some souls not very familiar with the service and gave a part of his talk in English. We all thought it was very sensitive of him. Even if the Mass was in Armenian and the way of celebrating was so different to our Masses I could pick up easily what was going on. Probably those who still remember the Old Latin Mass would recognize even better. The Mass is celebrated by the whole congregation (including the priest) facing East. I means that for most of the service people can see the priest’s back. The altar is incorporated into what looks like a small house in the church. After the Mass we all walked into the crypt where they have the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I must say that the chapel is amazing. Praying with the Armenian people we remembered the Armenian Genocide which occurred when two million Armenians living in Turkey were eliminated from their historic homeland through forced deportations and massacres between 1915-1918. An estimated 75 percent of the Armenians on these marches perished, especially children and the elderly. Those who survived the ordeal were herded into the desert without a drop of water. Being thrown off cliffs, burned alive, or drowned in rivers. An estimated one million Armenians perished by 1918. As I was looking at some elderly people in the church I wandered if they were among the survivors who had to leave their homeland.
After the Mass some of us walked to what is called now Mt Zion. In the Old Testament Mt Zion was another name for the Temple Mount where the Jewish temple once stood. However when the Temple was destroyed by Romans in 70 AD the Christians started congregating where Jesus had his Last Supper and where the Apostles received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In this way they wanted to highlight that God was present now with is New People the Church. When we got there we went to sped some tie praying in the Upper Room of the Last Supper. Unfortunately it is not allowed to say Mass there at present but still I was at awe reflecting that in this room Jesus gave his Church the Eucharist and the Priesthood. As a priest myself I was overwhelmed standing where these two events which constitute who I am took place.
After this moving time we went for a walk to visit a Christian cemetery where Oscar Shindler is buried. I guess most of us are familiar with his efforts to save many Jews during the World War II. The story was presented in the movie called “Shindler’s list.” The rocks on his grave are the Jewish expression of gratitude for what he did. In our tradition we place flowers and candles on the grave of our loved ones, Jews place rocks. A rock is a symbol of eternity and firmness and these are the qualities of the memory of the living. From the practical point of view in this dry and extremely hot environment no one can expect flowers to last longer than for a couple of hours.
After the Mass some of us walked to what is called now Mt Zion. In the Old Testament Mt Zion was another name for the Temple Mount where the Jewish temple once stood. However when the Temple was destroyed by Romans in 70 AD the Christians started congregating where Jesus had his Last Supper and where the Apostles received the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. In this way they wanted to highlight that God was present now with is New People the Church. When we got there we went to sped some tie praying in the Upper Room of the Last Supper. Unfortunately it is not allowed to say Mass there at present but still I was at awe reflecting that in this room Jesus gave his Church the Eucharist and the Priesthood. As a priest myself I was overwhelmed standing where these two events which constitute who I am took place.
After this moving time we went for a walk to visit a Christian cemetery where Oscar Shindler is buried. I guess most of us are familiar with his efforts to save many Jews during the World War II. The story was presented in the movie called “Shindler’s list.” The rocks on his grave are the Jewish expression of gratitude for what he did. In our tradition we place flowers and candles on the grave of our loved ones, Jews place rocks. A rock is a symbol of eternity and firmness and these are the qualities of the memory of the living. From the practical point of view in this dry and extremely hot environment no one can expect flowers to last longer than for a couple of hours.
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