Mt. of Olives

“As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.” (Psalms 125).

My next few posts will discuss the mountains surrounding Jerusalem and their importance. I’ll begin with the Mt. of Olives.

Mt. of Olives is the best place to start one’s journey in Jerusalem. It is the best place to get a bird’s eye view of the Old City of Jerusalem and explain the history of this magnificent unique city.

Mt of Olives is very important as this is the place that Jesus ascended to heaven and this is the place he will return. It is from here that Jesus would enter Jerusalem (from the east) to visit Temple Mt. that he loved so much. As we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we will walk down to Gethsemane at the foot of Mt. of Olives, and then climb up to the Church of Dominus Flevit (the Lord wept…). This Church was built by the famous Italian architect Antonio Barluzzi. He became known as the "Architect of the Holy Land" by creating, among many others, the pilgrimage churches at the Garden of Gethsemane, on Mount Tabor (considered to be the Mount of Transfiguration), on the Mount of Beatitudes (the site of the Sermon on the Mount. He typically inserts symbols in his buildings. In this case the Church was fashioned in the shape of a teardrop with four bottles reminding us of women collecting the tears of Christ. This is the only Church that praying direction is to the west and the reason being that when the Lord wept and prophesized about the destruction, he was facing the Holy Temple westwards.

At the pinnacle of the mountain, we can see the Russian Church of the Ascension and the ascension slab of stone that today, is located in a mosque. This is the place that some believe to be the earthly spot where Jesus ascended into Heaven forty days after his resurrection. It houses a slab of stone believed to contain one of his footprints.

We can also see the Church of the Pater Noster, a church that was 1st built by Queen Helena (the mother of Constantine the Great, a Roman Emperor) above the grotto where Jesus and the disciples sat and where he taught them the very famous prayer: “Our Father in Heaven”.

For the Jews, this place is also a very important place. The most ancient cemetery in the world is located on Mt. of Olives and it is still active. For more than 3,000 years the Jews have been burying Jews in this cemetery. Some of the more famous tombs to be found in this cemetery are those of Absalom (in Hebrew: Avshalom) the son of King David, and the Prophet Zechariah, as well as two other prophets: Haggai and Malachi.

You’re welcome to enjoy this video and I’d like to thank Lamb & Lion Ministries for this video.