XVII. Golgotha, Mary’s Sorrows

Since the seventeenth century if not before at 4:30 pm each day the Franciscans intone seven of the twenty verses of the ‘Stabat Mater.’

Unlike some historical sacred sites, which disappointingly turn out to be based solely on pious tradition and not on historical fact, most historians and archaeologists agree that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is located over the actual tomb of Christ.

In the center of the Holy Sepulchre Church, underneath the largest dome (recently renovated), is the Tomb of Christ itself, enshrined in a large, boxy chapel. The Armenians, the Latins and the Greeks offer their liturgical services daily inside the Holy Sepulchre. It is used for the Holy Saturday ceremony of the Holy Fire, which is celebrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.

To its rear, within an ironwork cage-like structure, lies the altar used by the Coptic Orthodox. Past that, inside a very rough hewn chapel, the Assyrian Orthodox celebrate their liturgy on Sundays.

To the right of the sepulchre is the Roman Catholic area, which consists of a large square chapel and another private chapel for the Franciscan monks. Immediately in the front of the Sepulchre is what would be the main area of the church for the congregation, which has been walled off and used by the Greek Orthodox. It features a large iconostasis, and two thrones for the superior and the Patriarch.


Past that, there is the entrance area, which features the stone of annointing upon which Jesus' dead body is believed to have been prepared for burial. Up the stairs to the right of that area, is the most lavishly decorated part of the Church, the Chapel where Jesus is believed to have been crucified. This area is maintained by the Greek Orthodox, while the Roman Catholics have an altar to the side. Additionally, there is a subterranan chapel which is owned by the Armenians, which commemorates the finding of the True Cross.


XVIII. Garden of Olives, Christ's Ascension

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James, son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. " Acts 1:9-14

Luke is the only evangelist who mentions that Mary belonged to the circle of people who witnessed Christ’s Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit. Among all those present Mary is especially mentioned as the Mother of Jesus.

Under the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine I (306-337) three major churches were built in the Holy Land, among them the Eleona built on the initiative of Queen Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine on the Mount of Olives. The place from where Jesus Christ is believed to have ascended to His Father is very close to the Eleona where a pious lady by the name of Pomenia had a church built to commemorate Christ’s Ascension, on the Imbomon (On the Hill). The crusaders built an octagonal frame with pillars and at its center an octagonal chapel. In this chapel the rock from which Jesus is believed to have ascended is venerated.

After Jerusalem was ransacked by Salah ad-Dîn the church became a mosque. However, Christians of all denominations have obtained permission to celebrate their liturgies on the Feast of Ascension in the mosque to the left.


 

XIX. Jerusalem – the Upper Room
The first Pentecost

Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James, son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas, son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers. Acts 13:2ff

The Upper Room was a familiar place to the apostles. Here they celebrated the Last Supper. It must have been a large room of a house belonging to wealthy and generous people who offered this room to Jesus and his company. After the city was destroyed in 70AD, this house also fell in ruins.

Mary was present at the coming of the Holy Spirit and this event was without doubt a highpoint in her life. That which already was revealed to her alone in a dialogue at the Annunciation is now experienced in community.

The feast to which Mary and the apostles gathered in the Upper Room was a great pilgrim feast called Scharwoth - the Feast of Harvest (Ex 23:16; 34:22).

The history of the Upper Room where Mary and the apostles received the Holy Spirit is a tragic one. The crusaders had incorporated this Upper Room in the Basilica St. Mary of Mt. Zion. Franciscans cared for this church for more than two hundred years until they were exiled in 1551 by the Ottomans.

Today the Upper Room is bare and open to all visitors. Its dimensions are 49' x 29 1/2'

XX. Mount Athos
The jealous Lady on the Holy Mountain

The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. Heb 11:38

The religious tradition that the Virgin Mary visited the Holy Mountain Athos (Haghion Oros) is confirmed by al Athos Fathers. The orthodox monks, Greeks, Russians, Bulgarians and Serbs, never portray their holy mount without a rendering of the Theotokos whose throne they place at the top of the mountain. She is the heavenly Lady and Protectress of the monks.


Mount Athos is situated in the entire third, eastern and most beautiful peninsula of Halkidiki, called the peninsula of Athos. It is the only place in Greece that is completely dedicated to prayer and worship of God.
For this reason, it is called the Holy Mount.



The Holy Mount is about fifty km in length, eight to twelve km in width and covers an area of about 350 square kilometers.
The borders of the monasterial city are defined on the ground by an imaginary line that starts from the location "FRAGOKASTRO" in the West coast and reaches the cape "ARAPIS" in the opposite end.
The natural beauty of the peninsula is extraordinary. The highest point of Mount Athos is like a huge cone, reaching 2033 meters in height. It’s a treeless crest that seems to lance the sky and its slopes are fully covered by ancient evergreens. All these help to create an area of incomparable natural beauty.

Mount Athos is the oldest monastic republic still in existence. Located on the Athos peninsula of Chalkidiki, in the Greek part of Macedonia, it was officially established in 963, when a monk named Athanasios the Athonite built the Monastery of the Great Lavra. However, anchorites had been living at the northern end of the Athos peninsula since the middle of the ninth century. In the centuries that followed, twenty monasteries were built, together with a number of smaller communities known as sketae. Nowadays, many monks live in kellia, kalyves, kathismata, and hesychasteria, which are various forms of small monastic communities or hermitages. The administrative centre of Mount Athos is the village of Karyes.

Medieval Athos tradition attests that Mary intended to sail from Jaffa to Cypress in order to visits Lazarus from Bethany. Due to his four-day supernatural experiences (cf. Jn 11:17), Lazarus suffered many persecutions and retired to Larnaca in Cypern where he also died. Mary, accompanied by John, set out on her voyage and on the way their boat was tossed by a severe storm and stranded at the peninsula Athos. They landed at the port of Clementos, at that time home of the Temple with the oracle of Apollo, now of the monastery Iviron. As soon as the Blessed Virgin Mary set foot on the island, all idols of the area began to speak commanding everyone to hurry to the port in order to venerate Mary. According to tradition all inhabitants of Athos asked to be baptized. Thereupon the Virgin Mary claimed the island as her property entrusted to her by her Son. At the same time she decreed that no woman may henceforth live on the island. As sovereign empress she ruled that all monks would be her subjects whose unconditional service she demanded.

From the fifteenth century it has been reported that the Christian sultan Mara, daughter of the Serb Prince George Brankoviç, wanted to visit Mount Athos. In 1433 she married Sultan Murad II. Her intent was to offer to the monks of the St. Paul monastery the precious gifts of the three wise men: gold, myrrh and frankincense. As she approached the monastery she heard a voice telling her: “Do not go any further because here rules another queen, the Queen of Heaven.” Though she did not see anybody, she followed the voice. The monks then came towards her to receive the gifts; Mara then returned to her boat.

The Athos monks experience the presence of Mary through their miraculous icons. For example the icons Panagia Portaitissa (The Blessed Virgin Mary as Custodian) from the Iviron monastery and Panagia Oikonomissa (Administrator) of Lavra always provided for the monks throughout the centuries. The icons Panagia Antiphonétria (the one who forbids) from the Kastamonitou monastery and Panagia Gerontissa (the senior of the monastery) provided the oil for all monasteries. The monks of the Serb monastery Chilandariou consider Panagia Tricherousa (Blessed Virgin Mary with three hands) their spiritual as well as economic superior. During meals this icon receives the best food. Likewise, the Bulgarian monks from the Zographou monastery consider the Panagia Epakuousa (the one who warns in advance) as their superior.

The orthodox monk considers the icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary as a visible incarnation of the one who is portrayed. She is present in the icon. The one who prays before this icon senses her presence; those who believe assign to these icons a miraculous character: they can speak, act and even move.
The most venerable object on Mount Athos is the belt of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is found at the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi; for the monks it is the only precious souvenir that survives from her earthly life. According to tradition, the Most Holy Theotokos three days after she fell asleep rose from the dead and ascended in body to the heavens. During her ascension, she gave her Holy Belt to the Apostle Thomas. Thomas, along with the rest of the holy Apostles, opened up her grave and didn't find the body of the Theotokos.

Holy Mt. Athos

Monastery of Vateopedi Holy Mt. Athos

The Holy Belt, according to the tradition, was made by the Blessed Virgin Mary herself with camel hair. The Empress Zoi, wife of Leo 6 the Wise, out of gratitude for her miraculous cure, embroidered the belt with gold thread, as it is found today, but divided in three pieces. Originally it was being kept in Jerusalem and later in Constantinople. There during the twelfth century under Manuel A' Komninos (1143-1180) an official holiday for the belt was established on August 31. In the end, Emperor John the 6th Katakouzinos (1347-1355), who had a special love toward the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, as is evidenced by many related accounts, donated the belt to the Monastery. Since then the holy belt is kept at the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi, in a silver case of newer manufacture which depicts the Monastery. On the bottom right border of the depiction the artist made the drawing of the donor Emperor Katakouzinos along with a sign which refers to his donation to the Monastery. Numerous are the miracles, that have taken place up to today with the holy belt.

XXI. Panaya Kapulu by Ephesus
Mary’s divine maternity

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Jn 19:25-27

Mary's House is Ephesus

In 431 the dogma of the Theotokos was defined at the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus. In 1931, commemorating the 1500 anniversary of the dogma, Pius XI introduced the Feast of Mary’s Maternity which was celebrated on October 11. However, the feast was already celebrated regionally from the seventeenth century on. Since Vatican II the feast was moved to January 1.

As to tradition, there is some testimony for Mary's temporary residence in or near Ephesus, but the evidence for her permanent home in Jerusalem is much stronger.

Arguments for Ephesus

Mary's Ephesian residence rests on the following evidence:

(1) A passage in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus reads "Wherefore also Nestorius, the instigator of the impious heresy, when he had come to the city of the Ephesians, where John the Theologian and the Virgin Mother of God St. Mary, estranging himself of his own accord from the gathering of the holy Fathers and Bishops. . ." Since St. John had lived in Ephesus and had been buried there, it has been inferred that the ellipsis of the synodal letter means either, "where John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived," or, "where John. . .and the Virgin. . .Mary lived and are buried."

(2) Bar-Hebraeus or Abulpharagius, a Jacobite bishop of the thirteenth century, relates that St. John took the Blessed Virgin with him to Patmos, then founded the Church of Ephesus, and buried Mary no one knows where.

(3) Benedict XIV states that Mary followed St. John to Ephesus and died there. He intended also to remove from the Breviary those lessons which mention Mary's death in Jerusalem, but died before carrying out his intention.

(4) Mary's temporary residence and death in Ephesus are upheld by such writers as Tillemont, Calmet, etc.

(5) In Panaghia Kapoli, on a hill about nine or ten miles distant from Ephesus, was discovered a house, or rather its remains, in which Mary is supposed to have lived. The house was found, as it had been sought, according to the indications given by Catherine Emmerich in her life of the Blessed Virgin.
 
Arguments against Ephesus

On closer inspection these arguments for Mary's residence or burial in Ephesus are not unanswerable.

(1) The ellipsis in the synodal letter of the Council of Ephesus may be filled out in such a way as not to imply the assumption that Our Blessed Lady either lived or died in Ephesus. As there was in the city a double church dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to St. John, the incomplete clause of the synodal letter may be completed so as to read, "where John the Theologian and the Virgin. . .Mary have a sanctuary." This explanation of the ambiguous phrase is one of the two suggested in the margin in Labbe's Collect. Concil. (l.c.)

(2) The words of Bar-Hebraeus contain two inaccurate statements; for St. John did not found the Church of Ephesus, nor did he take Mary with him to Patmos. St. Paul founded the Ephesian Church, and Mary was dead before John's exile in Patmos. It would not be surprising, therefore, if the writer were wrong in what he says about Mary's burial. Besides, Bar-Hebraeus belongs to the thirteenth century; the earlier writers had been most anxious about the sacred places in Ephesus; they mention the tomb of St. John and of a daughter of Philip, but they say nothing about Mary's burying place.

(3) As to Benedict XIV, this great pontiff is not so emphatic about Mary's death and burial in Ephesus, when he speaks about her Assumption in heaven.

(4) Neither Benedict XIV nor the other authorities who uphold the Ephesian claims advance any argument that has not been found inconclusive by other scientific students of this question.

(5) The house found in Panaghia-Kapouli is of any weight only insofar as it is connected with the visions of Catherine Emmerich. Its distance from the city of Ephesus creates a presumption against its being the home of the Apostle St. John. The historical value of Catherine's visions is not universally admitted. Mgr. Timoni, Archbishop of Smyrna, writes concerning Panaghia-Kapouli: "Every one is entirely free to keep his personal opinion." Finally the agreement of the condition of the ruined house in Panaghia-Kapouli with Catherine's description does not necessarily prove the truth of her statement as to the history of the building.

Arguments against Jerusalem

Two considerations militate against a permanent residence of Our Lady in Jerusalem: first, it has already been pointed out that St. John did not permanently remain in the Holy City; secondly, the Jewish Christians are said to have left Jerusalem during the periods of Jewish persecution (cf. Acts 8:1; 12:1). But as St. John cannot be supposed to have taken Our Lady with him on his apostolic expeditions, we may suppose that he left her in the care of his friends or relatives during the periods of his absence. And there is little doubt that many of the Christians returned to Jerusalem, after the storms of persecution had abated.

Arguments for Jerusalem

Independently of these considerations, we may appeal to the following reasons in favor of Mary's death and burial in Jerusalem:

(1) In 451 Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, testified to the presence of Mary's tomb in Jerusalem. It is strange that neither St. Jerome, nor the Pilgrim of Bordeaux, nor again pseudo-Silvia give any evidence of such a sacred place. But when the Emperor Marcion and the Empress Pulcheria asked Juvenal to send the sacred remains of the Virgin Mary from their tomb in Gethsemani to Constantinople, where they intended to dedicate a new church to Our Lady, the bishop cited an ancient tradition saying that the sacred body had been assumed into heaven, and sent to Constantinople only the coffin and the winding sheet. This narrative rests on the authority of a certain Euthymius whose report was inserted into a homily of St. John Damascene now read in the second Nocturn of the fourth day within the octave of the Assumption. Scheeben is of opinion that Euthymius's words are a later interpolation: they do not fit into the context; they contain an appeal to pseudo-Dionysius which are not otherwise cited before the sixth century; and they are suspicious in their connection with the name of Bishop Juvenal, who was charged with forging documents by Pope St. Leo. In his letter the pontiff reminds the bishop of the holy places which he has under his very eyes, but does not mention the tomb of Mary. Allowing that this silence is purely incidental, the main question remains, how much historic truth underlies the Euthymian account of the words of Juvenal?

(2) Here must be mentioned too the apocryphal "Historia dormitionis et assumptionis B.M.V.," which claims St. John for its author. Tischendorf believes that the substantial parts of the work go back to the fourth, perhaps even to the second, century. Variations of the original text appeared in Arabic and Syriac, and in other languages; among these must be noted a work called "De transitu Mariae Virg.," which appeared under the name of St. Melito of Sardes. Pope Gelasius enumerates this work among the forbidden books. The extraordinary incidents which these works connect with the death of Mary do not concern us here, but they place her last moments and her burial in or near Jerusalem.

(3) Another witness for the existence of a tradition placing the tomb of Mary in Gethsemani is the basilica erected above the sacred spot, about the end of the fourth or the beginning of the fifth century. The present church was built by the Latins in the same place in which the old edifice had stood.

(4) In the early part of the seventh century, Modestus, Bishop of Jerusalem, located the passing of Our Lady on Mount Sion, in the house which contained the Cenacle and the upper room of Pentecost. At that time, a single church covered the localities consecrated by these various mysteries. One must wonder at the late evidence for a tradition which became so general since the seventh century.

(5) Another tradition is preserved in the "Commemoratorium de Casis Dei" addressed to Charlemagne. It places the death of Mary on Mt. Olivet where a church is said to commemorate this event. Perhaps the writer tried to connect Mary's passing with the Church of the Assumption as the sister tradition connected it with the cenacle. At any rate, we may conclude that about the beginning of the fifth century there existed a fairly general tradition that Mary had died in Jerusalem, and had been buried in Gethsemani. This tradition appears to rest on a more solid basis than the report that Our Lady died and was buried in or near Ephesus. As thus far historical documents are wanting, it would be hard to establish the connection of either tradition with apostolic times.

Conclusion It has been seen that we have no absolute certainty as to the place in which Mary lived after the day of Pentecost. Though it is more probable that she remained uninterruptedly in or near Jerusalem, she may have resided for a while in the vicinity of Ephesus, and this may have given rise to the tradition of her Ephesian death and burial. There is still less historical information concerning the particular incidents of her life. St. Epiphanius doubts even the reality of Mary's death, but the universal belief of the Church does not agree with the private opinion of St. Epiphanius. Mary's death was not necessarily the effect of violence; it was undergone neither as an expiation or penalty, nor as the effect of disease from which, like her Divine Son, she was exempt. Since the Middle Ages the view prevails that she died of love, her great desire to be united to her Son either dissolving the ties of body and soul, or prevailing on God to dissolve them. Her passing away is a sacrifice of love completing the dolorous sacrifice of her life. It is the death in the kiss of the Lord (in osculo Domini), of which the just die. There is no certain tradition as to the year of Mary's death. Baronius in his Annals relies on a passage in the Chronicon of Eusebius for his assumption that Mary died A.D. 48. It is now believed that the passage of the Chronicon is a later interpolation. Nirschl relies on a tradition found in Clement of Alexandria and Apollonius which refers to a command of Our Lord that the Apostles were to preach twelve years in Jerusalem and Palestine before going among the nations of the world; hence he too arrives at the conclusion that Mary died A.D. 48. (Catholic Encyclopedia)

XXII. MT ZION
 

Explanation of the Icon on the left: Christ, standing behind the Theotokos, is her Son, Who has come to receive His Mother's soul into heaven; He holds in His left arm an infant in white, symbolizing the soul of the Theotokos; Christ appears in an aureole (elongated halo) depicting the Light of His Divinity. The Apostles are depicted on either side of the bier stand the Apostles; the group on the left is led by St. Peter who stands at the head of the bier; the group on the right is led by St. Paul who stands at the foot of the bier.

On this day the holy Virgin, Mother of God, went to her heavenly reward. … As the hour approached … the apostles and virgins asked for her blessing. She did so lifting her arm. Then Christ took her blissful soul, veiled her in a radiant robe and ascended with her. … The apostles however ordered that her body should be wrapped and be carried it to Gethsemane. … Then the Holy Spirit addressed them: “Behold, the Lord does not wish that her body should remain here on earth.” The Lord had promised his apostles that He would allow them to see Mary once more in her earthly body. Everyone waited for the fulfillment of this promise until 16. Misra (August 22). Mary’s time on earth lasted 60 years. (Coptic Synaxar, 21. Tûbah; January 29).

Whereas the western Byzantin-Orthodox churches commemorate Mary’s dormitio and her assumption into heaven on one day, the Christians of the Coptic and Ethiopian churches celebrate these events on two distinct days: January 29 and August 22. The reason for the later could possibly be the apocryphal text according to which Mary’s body and soul were separated for 206 days before they were united in heaven.

From the fourth century on the western elevation of Jerusalem has been erroneously called Zion. Originally, Zion was a fortress of the Jebusites which after its conquest by David was named City of David (2 Sam 5:7). With the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant and the building of the temple the East elevation of the city Morija was referred to as Zion (cf. Is 8:18; 18:7 etc). When Herod the Great ordered his palace to be built on the west hill, both names (David’s City and Zion) were transferred to this place.

According to Christian tradition the Upper Room and the Cenacle (location of the Last Supper and Descent of the Holy Spirit) was in the south-west part of David’s City. Very early the location of the last Supper was identified with the ‘Upper Room’ on Mt. Zion (cf. Mk 14:15). Bishop Epiphanius (315-403) reports that Emperor Hadrian went there around 130 AD but found that everything was destroyed “except for some houses and a small church of God … where the disciples after they returned from Christ’s Ascension went to the Upper Room, namely to Zion.”

In the fourth century, the Hagia Sion, a church with five naves was erected on top of this small church. The crusaders built another church which they called St. Mary of Mt. Zion. The chapel in the north nave was dedicated to Mary’s Assumption and the one in the south nave commemorated the Last Supper. Franciscans guarded this church until in 1552 they were tragically expelled by the Turks.

The Church of Dormition on Mount Zion was built at the beginning of this century on the remains of previous churches built during the Byzantine and Crusader periods.
On the apse of the Upper Church is a mosaic of the Panagia Hodigitria (The Blessed Virgin Mary – the One who shows the way). All altars are dedicated to the Heavenly Queen: Queen of the East, Queen of Pilgrims, Queen of Monks, Queen of the West, Queen of Prophets, Queen of Patriarchs. The crypt is dedicated to Mary’s dormition. Six medallions in the cupola show six women of the Old Testament who await their redemption through the intercession of Mary: Eve, Miriam (Num 12), Jael (Jud 5:26), Ruth, Judith and Esther. The side altars bear images of Mary’s assumption and of the mysteries of the rosary.
 

XXIII. Gethsemane
Mary’s Assumption into Heaven

"The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." Pius XII. Munificentissimus Deus. November 1, 1950, 44.
According to one of the oldest traditions of Mary’s Assumption rendered in the apocrypha Transitus A from the seventh century, Mary, whose body radiated a strong light, was buried by the apostles in a vault. At that very moment Mary’s body was assumed into heaven. Thomas, who arrived late for the burial, saw Mary being lifted upwards and prayed to her. As a sign of her favor, she dropped her belt for him to keep.

From the very beginning Christians wondered about the body of Our Lady after her dormition. Paschasius Radbertus in 866 recalling the silence of the biblical texts commented: “The feast of the Assumption commemorates only that Mary was assumed into heaven. … What happened to the body is secondary.”

The anonymous writer of “De Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis” is the first Western theologian who laid the foundation for the dogma of Mary’s Assumption with body and soul without taking recourse to the legendary apocryphal texts. He was of the opinion that Mary’s body did not undergo corruption. Many others, among them Peter Damian and Thomas Aquinas, joined him in this conviction.

For the majority of theologians (Bishop Willibald of Eichstaett, Isidor of Seville, Bede, the Venerable, Andrew of Crete, Germanos I of Constantinople, John Damascene, et. al.) of from the west and the orthodox churches Mary’s Assumption took place in Jerusalem.