Garden of Gethsemane
The agony of Jesus began in the Garden of Gethsemane. Today, 2000 years later, the Garden is still here, located on the slope of the Mount of Olives and just below the Temple Mount where Jesus used to teach. Some olive trees in today's Garden date all the way back to the time of Jesus.
Brother Michael of the Church of All Nations said, "Gethsemane means 'olive-oil-press'. Here Jesus was pressed for our sins, was completely crushed for our sins."
When the disciple Judas betrayed Christ, he led the temple guards into the Garden of Gethsemane to arrest Jesus. They led Him to the house of Caiaphas, the High Priest across the Kidron Valley. Clair Pfann is a Lecturer of New Testament at the University of the Holy Land in Jerusalem. Pfann said, "As we're walking up these steps that lead from the Kidron Valley, behind us lies the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount. No more than a mile away was the walk from the arrest of Jesus [in Gethsemane] to the home of the High Priest."
The Church of All Nations
The Church of All Nations, officially named theBasilica of the Agony, is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It enshrines a section of bedrock in the Garden of Gethsemane that is believed to be where Jesus prayed on the night of his arrest (Matthew 26:36).
"The Garden of Olives" is about 1200 square meters in area and is situated to the right of the path up the mountain, extending between this path, and around the Basilica of the Agony, to the Jericho road. The modern basilica is built on the ruins of the fourth century church which St. Jerome and Etheria describe as standing on the spot where Christ prayed. Marauding Persians most likely destroyed the ancient church.
Early Christian pilgrims located the Garden of Gethsemane at the bottom of the slope of the Mt. of Olives opposite the Temple Mount. A Byzantine, Crusader-era and modern church were built successively on the site where it is believed that Jesus prayed to the Father hours before his crucifixion. The modern Church of All Nations has a beautiful mosaic on its facade.
Within the Church of All Nations is the "Rock of Agony" a possible location of Christ's prayers prior to the crucifixion.
Behind an iron fence with Byzantine motifs, eight gnarled olive trees can be seen as pilgrims enter the garden, creating the right spiritual atmosphere for a visit to Gethsemane. Though their actual age is unknown, they are very old and are some of the largest trees in Israel.
The Garden Tomb
The site that is today known as the Garden Tomb, near the Damascus Gate, was unearthed in 1867. While not all archaeologists agree about its date, many have described it as a Jewish tomb of the 1st century A.D. There are indications of a church structure, including early Christian crosses.
The Garden includes a tomb, a site for Golgotha, a winepress, and a water cistern. Scripture tells us that after Jesus was crucified, a rich religious leader of the Jews named Joseph (of Arimathea) was granted the Lord's body (Matthew 27:59-60).
The archaeological evidence found here indicates that this vineyard's owner was a wealthy man. His tomb was cut out of solid rock, with a large weeping chamber, and a channel for a rolling stone. All the features mentioned in the biblical account of Joseph's tomb can be seen at the Garden Tomb.
At one end of the Garden is a cliff face of a nearby quarry with the features of a human skull. The Bible tells us that Christ suffered outside the city gate at "the place of the skull" (Golgotha in Aramaic and Calvary in Latin). According to tradition, the quarry was used by the Jews as a place of execution by stoning. Christian tradition links this site to Stephen's martyrdom. The Romans carried out crucifixions along busy roads as a visual deterrent against rebellion. This ancient execution site at the intersection of trade routes to Damascus and Jericho, outside a main gate, would have been ideal.
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