DAY 3 (Fri., Aug. 12)

            The morning of the 12th I awake to start our third and final day of the tour.  Again, the weather is perfect.  Around 8:30 our cars ar­rive and we begin the day's tour by driving across the Valley of Kidron and up the slopes of the Mount of Olives.  Driving through the small vil­lage of Bethpage, we reach the summit and stop in front of the "Chapel of the Ascension."  This famous spot is a place of worship for both the Christian and Muslim faiths, as the Islam doctrine agrees with Christianity rela­tive to Christ's ascension.  However, they don't believe in His resurrec­tion — they think someone who looked like Him was the one crucified.  The chapel itself is only a circular, one room building about the size of a gazebo and appears to be of Muslim architecture, although we are told it was built by the Crusaders.  Inside, on the floor, is the rock from which Christ is believed to have ascended.  Our guide points out the irregular markings on the surface of the rock, which are supposed to be Christ's footprints.  Here, as in all mosques, is the prayer niche lending evidence of Islamic worship.  Surrounding this small, domed chapel is an earthen courtyard, in turn, surrounded by a thick wall.  From this wall, we gain a grand and sweeping view of Jerusalem.  Across the valley we see the rugged, time-honored city wall, the Golden Gate (now sealed), and St Stephens Gate with the Dome of the Rock looming dominantly amongst the many towers, steeples and minarets.  It is this view that is usually reproduced on the postcards and also in the book "Worlds Greatest Religions" by Life as the most picturesque, expansive, and panoramic view of this famous city.

    Driving back across the valley, we arrive at the St Stephens Gate.  From here we walk down the street called Via Dolorosa (Italian for "Way of Grief") to the "Ecce Homo" Arch, where Pilate presented Jesus to the angry mob.  (Ecce Homo, by the way, means, "This is the Man".)  Actually this famous arch, yawn­ing across the narrow street, has been found not to be the actual arch of Christ's time, but one built later by Hadrian of Rome and only similar to the original one.  Here, on one side we visit the site of Pontius Pilate’s house (now a religious school of some kind).  On the other side of the street we are shown the Church of Flagellation, marking the spot where Jesus was scourged.  Here, in the 12th century the Crusaders found a column believed to be the original flagellation post and moved it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Right next to the Church of Flagellation, we enter the Church of the Condemnation, honoring the spot where Jesus received his cross.  On the floor of this church are sections of the original paving of Pilate's court yard and here, carved into the rock slabs, we saw the markings of a Roman game of chance.  Next we go into the Ecce Homo Church where the original arch has been preserved and is now the honored background for a Catholic altar. Going down in the rooms below this church (which, as I remember, is also a Convent), we see more of the original paving of Pilate's court yard and here again were Roman games carved into the stone.  The Sister taking us through this church explaining its many interesting aspects tells us that Bishop Sheen had been here taking pictures for a TV pro­gram, which he will show, in the States sometime in September.  Leaving the Ecce Homo Church, we again enter the street of Via Dolorosa, where we resume tracing the "Fourteen Stations of the Cross."  The first two we had already visited —— where Christ is condemned and where He bears His cross.  The 3rd Station is where He fell for the first time under the weight of the cross—— the 4th is where He met His mother —— the 5th is where Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus carry His cross —— the 6th is where Veronica wiped Jesus' face with her veil —— the 7th is where He fell the second time at the Gate of Judgment or Gate of Death (here the names of all condemned prisoners were written) —— the 8th is were He told the women not to weep for Him but to weep for themselves —— the 9th is where He fell the third time —— the 10th is where He was stripped of his garments —— the 11th is where they nailed Him to the cross —— the 12th is where He died —— the 13th is where he was taken down from the cross —— the 14th is where He was buried.  These last five Stations are located inside the massive Church of the Holy Sepulchre — the others simply mark the spots along the unconcerned and busy streets.

    Something of great interest to me was, while progressing along the Stations of the Cross, a group of Arab Catholics from Lebanon are following behind us and at each station, were holding and chanting the prescribed services.

     Coming to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, I am impressed, not only by its size and apparent age, but by its crude stage of preservation —— as we enter the main door, we first must make our way through the many beams and bracings holding up this section of the wall.  On the inside, in every chamber, we are confronted with more rough timbers and joists reinforcing the walls, columns and ceiling.  You have prob­ably read of the great problem that haunts this most famous church.  ("Time^” had an article about it a couple of months ago.) —The Roman Catholics, the Greek Orthodox and the Armenians basically own the church equally.  Their ability to reach an agreement as to its repairs and restoration is paralyzed by the fear of one or the other becoming dominant in its control.  Consequently, any rebuilding is at a stalemate except for these bare essentials.  This is in many respects a unique church.  For one reason, the worshipping here by several faiths (Coptics and Syrians added to the above) create many and varied impressions.  Each faith has a prescribed section in which to hold its respective services.  Thus, crowding each spot of religious significance, such as the Tomb, the Stone of Anointing and the spot of Crucifixion, are many religious articles belonging to the various faiths.  Most impressive was the statue of the Virgin Mary, located near the cross.  This elab­orate statue was made in Florence, Italy, and cost five million dollars to build, as it is studded with diamonds, rubies, amethysts, pearls and emeralds.  While still in the Catholic chapel, another interesting experience is having some rosaries blessed by the priest. At the request of some of the fellows back in Riyadh, I had purchased them previously.   The ceremony of having them blessed and the significance of this is something new to me.  Here, also, we see the original flagellation post, which is now used periodically for certain Catholic ceremonies.  This church is a great education in itself of the variety of the Christian religions.

Leaving the church we walk again through the busy city streets and out of the old city through the Damascus Gate.  Within a few blocks of the gate we come to an inconspicuous place called the "Gordon's Garden Tomb."  This comparatively recent finding is where the Protestants be­lieve Calvary and the Tomb of Jesus is located.  Entering through the iron gate, we find ourselves in a natural setting of a restful garden.  Coming from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where it is crowded, dark and the air heavy with incense, this garden seems to be the most unaf­fected and pleasant place in the world.  Here a very cor­dial and friendly woman who is one of the administrators of the grounds meets us. She shows us first the site of "Golgotha" or Calvary.  This gaunt cliff, popularly known as the "Place of Stoning" or "Skull Face," bears a strik­ing resemblance to a human skull.  This, indeed, would seem a. proper place for the crucifixion.  Walking down through the garden, we come to an area of neat excavation, exposing a rock cliff in the side of which is carved the tomb.  Whether or not this is the actual tomb where Christ was laid; it is as I had always pictured it.  We enter the tomb and see the area of the Tomb Bed which could very well have been the temporary resting place of Christ's body.  In describing the whole area I find myself at a loss of words - - - to say the least, it was very impressive - - above all, the naturalness of everything here was dominant. Sadly, we must return to the hotel to eat lunch and prepare to depart.  As we are already packed and the plane is late, we have a few minutes to relax in the hotel lobby, while one of the Amy fellows from Taif plays and excellent piano.

    As we receive word that the aircraft is approaching, we climb aboard our cars for the last time for the ride to the airport. There, after bidding farewell to our good friend our guide and enjoying the last few minutes of the cool, refreshing breezes, we board the aircraft for our long journey back to Arabia.  I believe all of us are filled with re­gret that we cannot stay longer and see more - - - but we are all bringing back fond memories of a "once in a life time" experience.  I personally feel thankful that I was so fortunate as to have been here.  Thusly, most of us fall quickly asleep, as our plane drones on into the dusk over the barren lands again, on towards the heat and humidity of the Arabian night.

    In retrospect, I am sure that I have made some mistakes in this paper - - - You will just have to blame it on my poor memory, the fact that we visited so many places in such a short time, and my lack of background both historical and biblical.  I just wish that I were a more competent writer so that I might have done a better job in relating this fabulous trip.  Also, I have intentionally omitted several striking as­pects of the conditions of the lives of the people as I saw them, the Military tension under which they live, etc.

    In ending, I might explain one grave, heartbreaking and disappoint­ing feature of my trip. All during the tour I had my camera busily click­ing, constantly loaded with color film, with the idea in mind of taking many pictures as possible, so that I would be able to show them to all of you when I return - - - I was getting some terrific shots, not only the many scenic ones, but candid shots of human interest - - - BUT, much to my dismay, on the second day of the tour, I found that the dozens of pic­tures I was taking, were not being recorded on the film - - My camera was broken !!!   I need say no more - - you can imagine how I felt.  For this reason I am going to try to return to Jerusalem, maybe sometime next spring - - For the sake of bringing back the pic­tures and, also, because of my fascination with this land — I hope so.