Children about the way of the cross of jesus christ. Way of the cross

Lesson 1. The Feast of the Renewal of the Temple of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ (The Resurrection of Jesus Christ is a Proof of His Divinity) I. The Feast of Renewal, that is, the consecration, of the Temple of the Resurrection of Christ, which is taking place now, is established as follows. Place, where

The Way to Golgotha ​​Then the soldiers took Jesus to the Judgment Seat, stripped Him, and put on Him a purple robe, a crimson garment worn by nobles. Then they made a crown of thorns and put it on His head. They gave Jesus a reed in his right hand and, mockingly kneeling before Him,

Way of the Cross Following the same street and passing under the arches of the collapsed tower erected by Herod in honor of Mark Antony, you see on the left side, in the outer wall of the Musselim's house, the lower wide step of the semicircular porch; the rest of the steps were transferred to Rome along with

Via Dolorosa begins in the Muslim quarter near the gate of St. Stephen, or the Lion Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, at the gate of the Muslim religious school of El Omaria.

First station - here Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate.

(Matthew 27: 22-23,26: Pilate says to them: what will I do to Jesus, who is called Christ? They all say to him: let him be crucified. The governor said: what evil did he do? But they shouted even more strongly: let him be crucified Then he released Barabbas to them, and after beating Jesus, he delivered him up to be crucified.)

In the old days, here on the territory of the Anthony Tower, there was the residence of the Roman procurator (praetorium), where the trials of the accused were held.

Now there is nothing left of Anthony's tower. In its place is the Catholic convent of the Sisters of Zion. In his courtyard there are two chapels: the Condemnation and the Scourging. The Chapel of the Condemnation is erected over the place of the condemnation of Christ. The floor slabs have survived from that time.2

Second station

Here Jesus was scourged, dressed in a crimson shroud, laid crown of thorns and here he received the cross.

(Matthew 27: 27-31: Then the governor's soldiers, taking Jesus to the praetorium, gathered the whole regiment on Him and, undressing Him, put on Him a purple robe; and, having plaited a crown of thorns, put it on His head and gave Him in His right hand reed; and, kneeling before Him, mocked Him, saying: Hail, King of the Jews! and spat on Him, and taking the reed, struck Him on the head. His garments, and led Him to be crucified ...)

The dome of the Chapel of the Scourging is symbolically decorated with a mosaic crown of thorns. From the monastery across the Via Dolorosa is the Ecce homo arch. Here Pontius Pilate took the condemned Jesus and showed the crowd with the words "Behold a man!"

Third station

This place is marked by a small chapel, since 1856 it belonged to the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate, but in the first half of the 20th century it was under Polish patronage. In 1947-48 it was restored with donations from the Polish military. The relief above the chapel door depicts Christ, exhausted under the weight of his burden.

Fourth station

Above the entrance there is a bas-relief depicting a meeting.

Fifth station

Here the road to Calvary begins to climb. It is likely that the Roman soldiers, seeing how exhausted Jesus was, began to fear that He would not have enough strength to reach the place of execution. At this time, on the way, they meet a certain passer-by Simon Cyrenian, who is forced to carry the cross of Christ.

(Matthew 27:32: While leaving, they met a Cyrenean named Simon; they made him carry his cross.)

The Jew Simon came from the Libyan city of Cyrene, and his sons were famous and respected people in Jerusalem.

According to some legends, after everything he saw on the way to Golgotha, Simon became followers of Jesus.

This place is marked by a Franciscan chapel, and on the right in the wall you can see a stone with a depression, which is considered to be a trace of the hand of Jesus leaning against the wall, having freed himself from the cross.

This stone is polished by the hands and lips of pilgrims. In fact, the building belongs to a much later time and the stone cannot be recognized as genuine.

Sixth station

The face of Christ, the Savior Not Made by Hands, was imprinted on the kerchief, who later worked miracles. It is now in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

The sixth stop is marked by the chapel of St. Veronica, and a piece of a column embedded in the wall marks the place where the house of Veronica was supposedly located.

Seventh station

At the site of the second fall, there is the remainder of the column, and the Franciscan chapel is located nearby. It is assumed that while leaving the city, Jesus stumbled on the threshold of the Doomsday. Through these gates, those condemned to death were taken out of the city.

They were called judgments by the fact that before them was sentenced in last time the verdict was read out, after which it was no longer subject to appeal.

By the way, near the threshold of the Judgment Gate, a section of the wall with a narrow opening widening upward was found. It was enough for a person to bend into it. This passage was used to enter the city at night when the city gates were locked.

Because of its shape, this gate was called the "eye of a needle". It is she who is mentioned by the Savior in the famous parable: “it is more convenient for a camel to pass through the ears of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God” (Luke 18:25)

Eighth station

Many people followed Jesus, and he turned to the women who mourned him: "Cry not for me, daughters of Jerusalem, but for yourself and your children," thereby predicting the imminent destruction of Jerusalem.

Luke 23: 28-31: Jesus, turning to them, said: Daughters of Jerusalem! do not weep for Me, but weep for yourself and for your children, for the days are coming in which they will say: Blessed are the barren ones, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have not fed! then they will begin to say to the mountains: fall on us! and the hills: cover us! For if they do this to a green tree, what will happen to a dry tree?

Here is the chapel of St. Harlampius, and on the wall there is a stone with a Latin cross and the inscription NIKA, which symbolizes the eighth stop.

Ninth station

Tenth station

The tenth station is the removal of clothes.

At the entrance to the Temple there is a chapel of Exposure (Reese Division Limit), where Jesus' clothes were torn off before the crucifixion.

(Matthew 27: 33-36: And, having come to the place called Golgotha, which means: Place of execution, they gave Him vinegar mixed with bile to drink; and, having tasted it, did not want to drink. Those who crucified Him divided his clothes by casting lots ; and, sitting, watched Him there.)

The first thing that amazes, eyewitnesses write, when you find yourself in front of the Temple of the Lord, is the size of the square.

Watching Holy Saturday convergence Holy Fire, it seems that there are huge spaces.

In fact, the buildings of the Christian quarter are very densely surrounded by the Temple, which makes it difficult to get a complete picture of its architectural forms.

Eleventh station

(Matthew 27: 37-42: and placed over His head an inscription indicating His guilt: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with Him: one by right side and the other to the left. Those who passed by cursed Him, nodding their heads and saying: Destroying the temple and creating in three days! save yourself; if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise, the chief priests with the scribes and elders and Pharisees, mocking, said: He saved others, but He cannot save Himself; If He is the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him ...)

This place is marked with an altar. Above the altar is depicted Jesus nailed to the cross.

Twelfth station

(Mf Some of those who stood there, hearing this, said: He is calling Elijah. And immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave Him to drink; or Elijah to save Him. But Jesus, again cried out with a loud voice, gave up the ghost. But the centurion and those who watched Jesus with him, seeing the earthquake and all that happened, were terrified and said: Truly He was the Son of God.)

The place where the cross stood is marked with a silver disc under the altar. Here, through the hole, you can touch the top of Golgotha.

Thirteenth station

(John 19:38: After this, Joseph of Arimathea - a disciple of Jesus, but secret out of fear from the Jews, - asked Pilate to remove the body of Jesus; and Pilate allowed. He went and removed the body of Jesus.)

The place where the body of Christ lay is indicated by a Latin altar. Under glass, a wooden statue of the Sorrowful Virgin with gifts from pilgrims. The words "Stabat Mater dolorosa" - "The mourning mother stood" are written here. The body of Christ was laid by Joseph and Nicodemus on the anointing stone for anointing with incense before burial.

Fourteenth stop

(Matthew 27: 59-61: And, taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in a clean shroud and laid it in his new tomb, which he carved in the rock; and, rolling a large stone to the door of the tomb, departed. Mary Magdalene was there and another Mary who sat opposite the coffin.) Above the Holy Sepulcher, a cuvuklia is installed.

Here Joseph of Arimathea puts the body of Jesus in the crypt, and the Romans close the entrance with a huge stone. This is where the resurrection took place.

By the way, a marble chapel is now called a kuvuklia. It covers the cave of the Holy Sepulcher (where Jesus was buried) and is divided into two parts: the chapel of the Angel and the Holy Sepulcher itself.

Two windows in the chapel of the Angel serve to transmit the Holy Fire to all those who pray, which annually falls on Great Saturday before Easter.

Traditionally, on Holy Saturday, the patriarchs of the Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches enter the kuvuklia.

The Patriarch of the Greek Church enters the cave of the Holy Sepulcher and prays for the sending of fire. The Patriarch of the Armenian Church remains in the chapel of the Angel. It is his responsibility to ensure that the Greek patriarch does not use natural means to light the fire.

When the fire lights up, the Greek patriarch brings out a burning lamp, from which the Armenian patriarch lights candles (bundles of 33 candles, according to the number of years of Christ's earthly life), then both priests go out to the believers.

Of course, this is a purely symbolic route. Because Jesus, bending under the weight of his torture stake and brutally urged on by the Roman legionaries, walked through the streets of Jerusalem that existed before the first Jewish war. Via Dolorosa, on the other hand, is a street in a completely different city, named after its Roman builder - Elia. And in honor of the main Roman deity - the Capitoline. Aelius is the family name of the emperor Hadrian, who built a city for Roman soldiers on the site of the Jerusalem ruins. Where not for long, but still it was possible for the Jews to live.

However, the Christian tradition firmly linked the stops of Jesus Christ on the Way of the Cross with 14 points named in the Gospels and legends. 9 of which are on the street itself, 5 on the ground. The number of these stops (or “stops”) varied until it was finally defined as 14. And let Jesus actually walk not this way at all. What difference does it make where the believers stop in order to remember in prayers about the wild cruelty towards the Gentiles. And about the mercy of the woman who wiped the face of the condemned. And about the grief of His mother, who saw the mockery of Him, and about the final of the path.

To this day, not only praying monks walk and walk along this street, but also numerous and diverse pilgrims.

Who are these monks?

These short-cropped holy fathers in robes belted with ropes and hoods are from the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. One of the oldest Christian institutions in the land of Palestine. In 2017, the Custody celebrates the 800th anniversary of the presence of the Order of St. Francis in the Holy Land. The Custodian Brothers are guardians of Christian traditions and monuments. Their weekly procession with prayers reminds believers of Christ's way of the cross. And also that it was the Franciscans who began to organize such processions back in the XIV century.

Pilgrims.

Some christian churches located on Via Dolorosa are usually closed and can only be visited by joining the Franciscan procession.

If you want to walk the Road of Sorrow on your own, pay attention to the walls. The places of all "standing" are marked with dark bronze discs with numbers on them.

Along Via Dolorosa: following the path of the cross of Christ.

Why is the beginning - from the Muslim school, which is near?

School has nothing to do with it. The place in which it stands is important. Beneath it are the remains of a fortress built by Herod the Great for the glory of Mark Anthony. Mark Antony is one of the three rulers of Rome. Thanks to Antony, Herod received royal power in Judea. The fortress looked directly at the Temple, which was convenient for controlling Jewish sentiments.

Stop I: Condemnation of Christ.

In the fortress of Anthony there was a Roman garrison and a praetorium - the seat of the prefect of Judea. Here the Roman horseman Pontius Pilate first saw the "troublemaker and false prophet." Here he sentenced him to death.

How to get there?

From the central bus station - tahana mercasit - excursion bus No. 99 goes to the Lion's Gate.

By bus number 1 you can get to the Shechem Gate and from there you can walk to the Lion's Gate. To the left of the Umaria school, Via Dolorosa begins. Here, a little later than 15.00 on Fridays, you can see the procession of the Franciscans. Franciscans enter Via Dolorosa through the passage under the stairs of the Umaria School from the West Tunnel under the Opened to them in 1996 at the request of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Muslims perceived it as an act of aggression and an attempt to seize land. Because of this, there were several clashes that took the lives of 80 people.

Stop II: scourge, crown and cross

The place where the Roman soldiers tortured Christ before the execution, where He, already crowned with thorns, raised on his shoulders the instrument of his own execution, is marked by the Catholic chapels of the Scourging and Condemnation. From nunnery The Sisters of Zion stretches over the street a stone arch. Remains of Roman stone slabs found here, long time were considered the court of Pilate's praetorium, and the arch was part of the fortress of Anthony, allegedly it was under it that Pilate brought Christ to show the people. In fact, both the slabs and the arch are remnants of buildings from the time of Hadrian.

The Scourging Chapel has very beautiful stained-glass windows.

In the building of the Monastery of Flagellation there is a Museum "Studium", where you can see archaeological finds Byzantine times and frescoes from Gethsemane.

Opening hours:

Chapel of the Scourging:

• 7 days a week, from 08:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 18:00.

Museum Studio: Monday - Saturday, 9:00 am to 11:30 am.

Basilica of St. Anna:

• Monday - Saturday: 07:30 to 11:45 and 14:00 to 18:00.
• In winter, it closes an hour earlier.
• Closed on Sunday.

The Orthodox monastery is closed for visits.

Stop III: first fall.

The place where Jesus could not withstand the weight of the cross for the first time is marked by a small chapel, erected by the Armenians in 1856 and rebuilt during World War II with donations Polish army... Inside it is an exposition of finds from the times of the Second Temple and a very piercing sculptural image of the fallen Jesus.

How to get there?

Corner of Via Dolorosa and Al Wad streets.

Stop IV: Meeting with Mother.

Here the Mother of God, standing by the road, saw the Son. In memory of this, an Armenian catholic church"Grieving Mother" - on the site of the former Byzantine temple. Preserved mosaic floor of that period with "traces" of the shoes of the Mother of God.

Stop V: Help.

Here Via Dolorosa turns left and there is a Franciscan chapel in memory of the help that Simon of Kyrenia gave to Jesus - the Romans, perhaps irritated by the too slow progress to the place of execution, forced random person to provide assistance to a convict who is exhausted. Of course, in Christian tradition the figure of Simon is interpreted in a different way - in particular, there is an opinion that he was a follower of Christ, because neither a Roman nor a Jew would agree to drag the cross. Father Alexander Men saw a symbolic meaning in this: Simon, willingly or unwillingly, was the first to fulfill the words of Jesus: "Whoever wants to follow Me, deny himself, and take up his cross" the burden is not alone, but sharing it with the Lord).

How to find?

Above the door of the chapel is an inscription in Latin: “Simoni Cyrenaeo Crux Imponitur” (“Simon laid the Cyrene cross upon himself”). To the left of the doors, above the bronze disc, is a relief depicting a Franciscan cross and crossed arms.

Stop VI: Veronica's handkerchief

Here a woman who left the house took pity on the convict, glancing at his face, covered with blood, sweat and dirt, and wiped him off with her handkerchief. And then I saw that a miraculous "portrait" of Jesus appeared on the fabric.

The Chapel of the Younger Sisters of Jesus now stands where the house of the merciful woman, St. Veronica.

How to find?

A half-column set into the stone wall marks the place where Veronica wiped the face of Christ. Directly above it is a bronze disc with the number VI.

Stop VII: Falling again.

Probably, the Roman legionaries could not allow that the way of the cross was too easy for the "criminal", and soon refused the help of Simon of Cyrene, again placing the cross on Jesus. And he could not cross the threshold of the Judgment Gate - through them they led out of the city those who were awaiting execution, so as not to desecrate the city with torment and the blood of the unfortunate.

Where is?

Here Via Dolorosa intersects with Sukhan ze Zayn Street, where the Arab market is located.

Stop VIII: Reaching out to women

After a flock of Roman soldiers, who urged Christ on with kicks and blows, there were weeping women. It’s all a fact that they were crying about the fate of the Son of Man, and each of them knew who this tortured man was. Perhaps, sadness about the fate of their people in general made them shed tears: more than once or twice they saw this savage spectacle on the streets of their city: Roman legionaries beating and torturing the sons of Jerusalem. And Jesus found the strength to turn to the daughters of Jerusalem and ask them to weep not for His lot, but for the lot of their own and their children. It was a prophecy: Jerusalem did not have long to stand, and new soldiers in exactly the same Roman loricas would soon knock out on the local pillar: “The X legion is standing here. There are no Jews here and there will never be any more. "

How to find?

According to the mark on the wall of the Greek monastery - there is a Latin cross in a circle and inscribed: "NIKA".

Stop IX: the last fall.

The third time Jesus fell where he now stands at the gate Coptic Church a fragment of a Roman column with a painted cross. it former church St. Helena, now a monastery of the Coptic Patriarchate.

How to get there?

To see this place, you need to go from Sukhan ze Zayn to the stairs to the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

Church of the Holy Sepulcher: Completion of the Path of Sorrow.

The next five stops are at the Temple.

• X - at the Reese Division Limit (at the entrance to the Temple, where Christ was stripped before execution).
• XI - at the altar. Here Jesus was nailed to the cross. Above the altar there is a fresco depicting a reclining cross with a nailed Jesus.
• XII - under the altar. A silver disc marks where the cross entered the ground. Through a special hole you can touch the top of Golgotha.
• XIII - Descent from the cross. Here the body of Christ was awaiting the rite of chrismation. It is designated by an altar with an ornate sculpture of the Mother of God, carved out of wood.
• XIV - provisions in the coffin. Here the body of Christ was carried to the crypt, and the Romans blocked the entrance. As if a stone could stop the resurrected Son of Man. In memory of this, a marble chapel rises above the Tomb.

Visiting hours:

• Spring and summer: 05:00 to 20:00.
• Autumn and winter: 04:30 to 19:00.

The order of services in the Temple:

Armenian Church - night liturgy: from 03:00 to 06:00.

Catholic Church - liturgy: from 06:00 to 09:00.

Greek Church (Orthodox).

7.00 - Matins (in winter).
8.00 - Matins (Summer). 11.00 - Lunch (in winter).
12.00 - Lunch (Summer) 23:00 - 03:00 Night Liturgy (Greeks serve).