A Lenten article by Will Alkass
For the months of March and April I would like to share with our church congregations a very topical subject, to coincide with the most important event in the Christian calendar, that of Lent and Easter. A few years ago, my wife and I were privileged to have the unique experience of walking in the footsteps of Jesus Christ in the city of Jerusalem along the Way of The Cross, stopping at each of the fourteen 'Stations'. The route which Jesus had to follow on his last journey is not without controversy, regarding both the authenticity of the exact sites and the locations of the each event (which are usually referred to as Stations). Many churches across the world have a display of these fourteen Stations depicted in many different shapes and sizes, often forming a marvellous work of art using different artistic methods and materials.
The route illustrated in the photos below, is the one followed today by thousands of pilgrims in the Holy City, starting at the Church of the Flagellation and ending in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, The Holiest of Holies. (You can click on a photo to enlarge it and then scroll back and forth through the stations).
Owing to the intervening centuries of suffering, neglect, indifference and destruction, no one knows for sure what the Via Dolorosa looked like during the time of Jesus. More recently, the onslaught and greed of commercial exploitation has resulted in shops lining the whole route, with goods spilling onto the narrow alleyways trying to entice visitors with all sorts of handicrafts and memorabilia (crosses, tapestries, books, photos etc) not to mention the restaurants and cafes studded along most of the route. And to add insult to injury, a mosque was built a few meters from the entrance to the Church of The Holy Sepulchre! (see my personal comment below).
Perhaps the most realistic visualization of the stations along the Via Dolorosa that one can hope for is a collection of photos taken by a French traveller and photographer Louis de Clercq in 1860 which are reproduced below
The contrast between my modern photos (see note 3) and those of Le Clercq, with some 160 years separating them, is very obvious to see; so I think we should leave it to the men in Hollywood and their fanciful imaginations, to come up with the scenario of what things could have really looked like two thousand years ago!
A Personal View
I have to admit that my actual experience fell rather short of my expectations, as one would have hoped that walking along the Way of The Cross and visiting the Church of The Holy Sepulchre would be the ultimate spiritual experience. However, as stated earlier, the many distractions along most of the Way as well as the crowds inside the Church cannot fail but to distract you and reduce significantly the associated and unique feelings and emotions.
NOTES
(1) The earliest use of the word "stations", as applied to the accustomed halting-places along the Via Sacra at Jerusalem, occurs in the narrative of an English pilgrim, William Wey, who visited the Holy Land in the mid-15th century and described pilgrims following the footsteps of Christ to Golgotha.
(2) Constantine Ist converted to Christianity and destroyed a temple of Venus in Jerusalem and where a tomb was found that people believed was that of Jesus and the site of the Golgotha. This became the location for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The church is located in the heart of the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem and has been the main pilgrimage site for over a thousand years. Old Jerusalem is divided into four quarters, mostly defined by their inhabitants and by their traditions and architecture, with some overlap. These are: the Armenian Quarter, The Christian Quarter, The Jewish Quarter and the Muslim Quarter.
(3) The first 9 modern photos were taken by me and the rest were borrowed from the internet.