Itinerary

Day 1 Friday 23 March

Travel to the Holy Land

Our pilgrimage begins this afternoon with a Eucharist in Southwell Minster before travelling to London Heathrow for an overnight scheduled flight to Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv, Israel.

Day 2 Saturday 24 March

Caesarea Maritima, Megiddo, Tiberias

We arrive at day-break to be met by our Lightline representative and guide and taken for breakfast. We drive up the coast to Caesarea Maritima, the capital of Palestine for almost 600 years. The city, built by Herod the Great between 22 and 9 BCE and dedicated to Caesar Augustus as a seaport on the Mediterranean coast of Judea, comprises of a great artificial harbour enclosed by two massive stone breakwaters, a massive Herodian aqueduct, and a theatre seating 4,000 people where a Latin inscription was found bearing the name Pontius Pilate. Both Paul and Peter visited Caesarea and Philip made his home there. Megiddo, situated at the head of the most important pass through the Carmel range of mountains, was an Israelite stronghold and is the “royal box in one of the great theatres of history.” Numerous armies have fought in the Jezreel Valley and Armageddon (Mountain of Megiddo) has become the symbol for the battle to end all wars. The complex site has over twenty superimposed cities. We will have the opportunity to walk through the elaborate shaft and tunnel system installed to bring water into the city without those besieging it realising. In the early afternoon we arrive at our hotel by the Sea of Galilee to relax for the rest of the day.

Day 3 Sunday 25 March

Jesus’ lakeside ministry and Banyas (Caesarea Philippi)

We spend part of today around the Sea of Galilee. At Chorozain, condemned by Jesus for its lack of faith, there is a partially restored black basalt synagogue. We visit the beautiful octagonal Church and garden of the Mount of Beatitudes which conveys an impression of immense tranquillity. Its shady gallery is a great place from which to view the Sea of Galilee, scanning virtually all the key locations of Jesus’ Galilean ministry. We walk down the Mount of Beatitudes through the olive grove to the Heptapegon, ‘the place of seven springs’, to the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes with its celebrated mosaic of two fish flanking a basket of loaves. A little further on is the Church of the Primacy of Peter, a modern Franciscan Chapel built on the walls of a late C4 CE building. From there we drive up the Golan Heights through Druze villages to Caesarea Philippi. Originally a place sacred to the god Pan and one source of the River Jordan, it is where in 20 BCE Herod the Great dedicated a temple of white marble to the honour of Caesar Augustus. On Herod’s death Philip the Tetrarch expanded it into the capital of his territory. Somewhere in the vicinity of the city Jesus asked his disciples the famous question, “Who do you say that I am?”

Day 4 Monday 26 March

Sepphoris, Nazareth & Mt Carmel

This morning we visit Sepphoris dating mainly from the Roman and Byzantine periods. Herod Antipas rebuilt the city after the Jewish revolt was quelled and it is entirely possible that Joseph (and Jesus) worked on the re-building travelling daily from their home town of Nazareth, only a short distance away. At Nazareth we visit the modern Basilica of the Annunciation, two interconnected churches one above the other and the near-by Church of St. Joseph, below which is a cave identified by pious tradition as his workshop. From here we walk through the bustling streets to the Greek Orthodox Church of Mary’s Well with its spring of fresh water. Later we drive over the majestic promontory of Mount Carmel, taking the scenic road, and viewing the finest examples of rock tombs with their rolling stones in the country. We reach the top of the ridge, the traditional site of Elijah’s contest with the prophets of Baal. Returning to Tiberias, after viewing a restored fishing boat from the first century AD, we cross the Sea of Galilee in a more modern day Jesus boat.

Day 5 Tuesday 27 March

Capernaum, Jericho, Qumran, The Dead Sea and Bethlehem.

We walk along the lakeside path to Capernaum, the ancient fishing and trading city, and explore the C4 CE synagogue built on the foundations of the synagogue that Jesus taught in. Opposite is Peter’s house which Jesus made his second home. We drive south along the Jordan Valley to Jericho, the lowest and oldest city on earth, strategically located on the border between the desert and the lush green oasis. Herod the Great first leased the oasis from Cleopatra who had been given it by Mark Anthony. Churches commemorating the garden with olive trees and cypresses this perfect example of a monastery in the Judean desert has always been famous for its hospitality. This evening, driving through Jerusalem, we enter Bethlehem via the enormous 9m Partition Wall for a two night stay.

Day 6 Wednesday 28 March

Bethlehem, Beth Sahour and Bethlehem International Centre.

As we are staying on Manager Square we are privileged to make an early visit to the Church of the Nativity, below which is the cave venerated as the birthplace of Jesus. Though the gospels make no mention of it in C2 CE Justin and the Protoevangelium of James speak of the cave in which Jesus was born. The church dates from 339 CE and is the oldest building having continuous Christian worship in the world. Nearby is the serene Milk Grotto, a complex of beautiful chapels commemorating the place where Mary is meant to have spilt her first breast milk and many couples facing infertility come to pray for the birth of a child. We visit the Bethlehem International Centre founded by the the Palestinian theologian, Rev’d Dr. Mitri Raheb who we hope will be available to speak to us. In the afternoon we will visit Shepherds Fields to celebrate the Eucharist in one of the shepherd’s caves.

Day 7 Thursday 29 March

Jewish Quarter, Western Wall, Temple Mount and City of David

This morning we walk through the Jewish Quarter of the city passing remains from the Herodian period and the Roman Cardo Maximus, the main north-south artery of Byzantium Jerusalem before arriving at the Western (Wailing) Wall. This is the holiest place for the Jewish faith where Jews pray and lament the destruction of the Temple built by Herod the Great in 20 BCE. From the Western Wall Plaza we make our way through the security gates on to Temple Mount itself. Haram-esh-Sharif is the third most important Islamic site in the world and was the site of the Jewish Temple in Jesus’ day. The jewel of Jerusalem architecture, the Dome of the Rock, graces a vast esplanade whose quiet spaciousness is the antithesis of the congested bustle of the surrounding narrow streets. From Temple Mount we make our way to the City of David, the original city of Jerusalem, conquered by King David 1000 years before Christ. In 997 BCE David needed a capital independent of tribal structures so he brought the Ark of the Covenant, the religious symbol uniting the Twelve Tribes, into the city and made Jerusalem his capital. We explore Warren’s Shaft, a rock-cut sloping tunnel leading to a vertical shaft through which a bucket could be dropped by a rope into a pool fed by the Gihon Spring providing secure access to water when under siege. Some 250 years later as Jerusalem was at risk of attack from the Assyrians, King Hezekiah cut another tunnel to bring water into the west side of the city. Hezekiah’s Tunnel, from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam, is in the shape of a huge “S” and measures 538 m. Those who wish can walk through the narrow tunnel, knee deep in water, emerging at the Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed the man born blind.

Day 8 Friday 30 March

Yad Vashem, Bethany, Mt of Olives, Gethsemane and Mount Zion.

This morning we visit the moving and shocking Yad Vashem dedicated to the memory of the holocaust victims. From Yad Vashem we drive to Bethany on the Jericho Road a mile or so above the Mount of Olives, the village where Jesus’ friends Martha, Mary and Lazarus lived, to visit the tomb of Lazarus. The most spectacular panorama of Jerusalem is from the esplanade above the Mount of Olives some 100m above the city. Descending Olivet on foot we visit the Church of Pater Noster on a site associated with Jesus teaching the disciples the Lord’s Prayer, and the tear shaped Church of Dominus Flevit, designated as the place where Jesus wept over Jerusalem. We continue singing down the Mount of Olives to Gethsemane with its ancient olive trees where Jesus was betrayed. The Church of All Nations built in 1924 is located on the traditional site of the garden in which Jesus collapsed and prayed before his arrest. We drive around the walls of the Old City to St. Peter in Gallicantu where tradition has it that Peter denied Christ. By the side of the church are the recently excavated steps and path which is the likely route the soldiers would have led the captive Jesus into the City of Jerusalem on the night he was betrayed.

Day 9 Saturday 31 March

The Old City, Via Dolorosa and The Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Making our way through the colourful streets and markets of the Muslim Quarter we visit the loveliest church in the city, the Crusader Church of St. Anne. According to Byzantine tradition the crypt enshrines the original home of the Virgin Mary and her parents Joachim and Anne. Next to it are the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda, where Jesus healed the man crippled for 38 years. From here we go on to celebrate the Eucharist at the Convent of the Sisters of Sion built on the foundations of the Antonia Fortress, named after Mark Anthony and built by Herod the Great to protect and control the Temple. Within the convent is the pavement at ground level at the time of Jesus upon which are carved games played by the Roman soldiers. After our Eucharist we walk the Stations of the Cross on the Via Dolorosa, the traditional way through the Suk followed by pilgrims over the centuries to Calvary within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This ancient church also covers the place of the resurrection of our Lord, marked by an edicle, which we will be able to enter. At the beginning of the C1 CE the site was a disused quarry outside the city walls. Tombs similar to those found elsewhere and dating from C1 BCE and C1 BC had been cut into the vertical wall left by the quarrymen. The authenticity of the site is supported by the tradition of the Jerusalem community which held liturgical celebrations at the site until 66 CE. This afternoon we visit a tomb within a quiet garden venerated by many as the tomb of Christ and popularised by General Gordon in 1883. He thought he recognised the shape of a skull in the hill behind the tomb.

Day 10 Palm Sunday 1 April

Abu Ghosh and Kireath Jeream and our journey home.

En route to Ben Gurion Airport we call at the beautiful village of Abu Ghosh which the Crusaders located as Emmaus, the scene of one of Jesus’ resurrection appearances. This is one of the few places in Israel where Jews and Arabs live together in perfect harmony and so it is fitting that we should have our last act of worship in this place. The Crusader church has a slightly tragic air with peeling frescoes, precious relics from a time when Eastern and Western churches were in harmony. In the next village is the stunning Church of Notre Dame de l'Arche de l'Alliance (Our Lady of the Ark of the Covenant), built in 1924, and said to occupy the site of the house of Abinadab where the Ark of the Covenant is said to have rested for twenty years until King David took it to Jerusalem. It is built on the site of a fifth-century Byzantine church and is recognizable by the roof-top statue of Mary carrying the infant Jesus in her arms and standing on the Ark of the Covenant. We continue to the airport for our late afternoon flight to Heathrow.