The Other Holy Land: Jordan and Jerusalem
An Anastasia - Trinity Church Pilgrimage
Tuesday, 14 April - Saturday, 25 April 2009
Tuesday, 14 April 2009: Depart NYC for Amman, Jordan or
Wednesday, 15 April: Depart Paris for Amman, Jordan.
Wednesday, 15 April: Arrive at Jordan's Queen Alia Airport and drive to Amman
After clearing customs at the Airport, we will drive along the Desert Highway to the capital city of Jordan, Amman. Constructed in the 16th Century by the Ottoman Turks to transport Muslim pilgrims on Hajj to Mecca, the Desert Highway today is Jordan's main North-South corridor. Once we check into our hotel and unpack, we will enjoy dinner and the lights of Amman.
Thursday, 16 April: Jerash and Ajlun
Often called the "Pompeii of the East", Jerash retains all the magic and beauty of a wealthy provincial city of the Roman Empire. Built by the armies of Alexander the Great during the 2nd Century B.C., it was incorporated into the Roman Empire by Pompey in 63 B.C. and reached its peak of wealth and influence under Pax Romana during the 2nd Century A.D. Along with Amman and eight other cities, Jerash belonged to the Decapolis, a league of Greco-Roman cities often mentioned in the Gospels. The magnificent temples, theaters, colonnades, mosques and churches are a gateway through time that testifies to over 1000 years of uninterrupted existence spanning the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Omayyad and Abbasid periods and introduces us to the historical and cultural mélange that is the Holy Land. After visiting Jerash, we will lunch together nearby at the famous Lebanese Rest House. After lunch, we climb the western hills to experience the outstanding views and architecture of the Ajlun Fortress. Built in 1185 by Izz ed-Din Ousama, this gem of Islamic military architecture played a major role in Saladin's strategy of containment and defeat of the Crusaders.
Friday, 17 April: The Desert Castles
East of Amman is the desert. Yet dotting this vast expanse of sand, dark limestone and flint wastes are a series of fortresses, hunting lodges and caravansaries. These dramatic structures are still radiant with of the half-memory of a luminous, silky Eden teeming with antelope and turbaned traders. The Roman Emperors Septimus Severus (A.D. 193-211) and Diocletion (A.D. 284-305) built garrisoned outposts. With the Islamic Arab conquest of 636 A.D., many of these settlements were restored and many more added. Their use continued up until W. W. I by the Mamluks, Ottomans and Lawrence of Arabia. We will visit Qasr al-Kharaneh, Qusayr Amra, Qasr al-Azraq, Hammam al-Sarah and Qasr al-Hallabat. Then we leave the desert and encounter the mysteriously abandoned Roman city of Umm ij-Jimal, built of blue basalt.
Saturday, 18 April: Dead Sea Highway Lot's Cave, Kerak Castle and Petra
We depart Amman to the West and travel along the newly constructed Dead Sea Highway to drive along the foot of the Moab Mountains and gaze across this great salt sea into the Promised Land. Remember Lot's wife? Before lunch, we will visit Deir Ain Abata - the Sanctuary of Lot's Cave, where Lot fled with his two daughters after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Clinging to the steep mountainside and lost since the 8th Century A.D., this Holy Place with its monastery complex, church, mosaics and paved cave has only recently been re-discovered. Then we ascend over 3,280 feet to lunch in the fortified city of Kerak. A linchpin in a chain of fortresses stretching from Aqaba to Turkey, Payen the Cupbearer constructed this Crusader castle in 1136. After lunch we will explore its towering walls and the extensive underground passages that enabled Sir Reynaud de Chatillon to resist numerous sieges by the Muslim Arabs throughout the 12th Century. Finally, we will head south along the fabled King's Highway. Egyptian Pharaohs, Roman Legions, Nabatean traders and Muslim pilgrims have all plied the King's Highway, and Moses led the Twelve Tribes north along this road en route to the Promised Land. Our day ends at the hotel in Petra.
Sunday, 19 April: Petra
Hidden from Western eyes until its "discovery" during last century by the young Swiss explorer, John Burckhardt, Petra is over 9,000 years old. This "rose-red city half as old as Time" was cut into the living stone of the surrounding mountains by the Nabateans. About 150 B.C., Hellenistic culture profoundly influenced this trading people and led to their adoption of Greco-Roman concepts of art and architecture. Growing interference from Roman Empire and the great earthquake of 19 May 363 A.D. finally ended the grand life of this desert shangri-la. Yet the Great Treasury, temples, tombs and tricliniums continue to bear witness to the Nabateans' admiration of Hellenistic culture. We will thread our way through the mysterious Siq and spend the entire day enjoying and exploring the exquisite classical facades and buildings of Petra. After lunch, those planning to climb Jebel 'Aroun to Aaron's Tomb will limber their legs by climbing up to the Monastery and the sacrificial High Place.
Monday, 20 April: Petra and Aaron's Tomb
In the morning, some will make their way up the heights of Jebel 'Aroun to the white domed Tomb of Aaron. Here Muslim tradition remembers Moses' eloquent and faithful brother Aaron who, like Moses, died before entering the Promised Land. Those not climbing Jebel 'Aroun may spend the morning exploring Petra and visiting the High Place and Monastery. We will lunch at our hotel, and the hardy will have the chance to return to their favorite sites in Petra.
Tuesday, 21 April: Umm ir-Rasses, Madaba, Mt. Nebo and Amman
We rise early to travel north along the Desert Highway through Edom and Moab. Along the way, we visit the rare and enchanting mosaic maps of the Holy Land in the Byzantine churches of Umm ir-Rasses and Madaba. These maps help us remember a time when Christianity flourished in Transjordan and was vitally connected to the Mother Church in Jerusalem. The floor map at Umm Rasses provides us with a rare 6th Century view of Christ Jesus' Empty Tomb in Jerusalem. The Holy Land floor mosaic at St. George's Church in Madaba contains perhaps the sole map of Byzantine Jerusalem with the Cardo, the Nea Church and Emperor Constantine's grand Church of the Holy Sepulchre all fully visible. Nearby Madaba, we enjoy Mt. Nebo. Here, Moses gazed onto soft wind-blown hills of the Promised Land never to cross to the other side. We dine at Kan Zaman and spend the night in Amman.
Wednesday, 22 April: Jordan Baptismal Site, Jerusalem the Golden
Our day begins very early with a visit to the recently excavated Byzantine shrine commemorating John's Baptism of Jesus. After preparing ourselves spiritually to enter into the Promised Land there, we proceed to Jerusalem by way of the Allenby Bridge and the Judean Desert. En route to the Allenby Bridge, we will make a brief visit to the Jofeh Community Rehabilitation Center, an outreach of the Holy Land Institute of the Deaf. Here we will enjoy a late breakfast before proceeding to the Promised Land. Once we have checked into our hotel to freshen up and lunch, we drive to Mount Scopus with its views of both the Holy City and the Judean desert for an overview of historic Jerusalem with its walls built by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538. We then visit the Church of Our Lord's Ascension and the Church of Pater Noster ("Our Father" in Latin; commemorating the Lord's Prayer) on the Mount of Olives and then walk the Palm Sunday road down the Mt. of Olives to the Garden of Gethsemane with its ancient olive trees, the Church of All Nations and the Tomb of Mary, the Mother of our Lord. Afterwards, we stand in the plaza below the Jewish Holy Place of the Wailing (Western) Wall and the Muslim Holy Place of the Dome of the Rock. The Wailing (Western) Wall is one of the exposed containment walls of the foundation platform needed to support Herod's Temple, and Jews from around the world pray and worship here.
Thursday: 23, April: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jerusalem
We begin our day with a visit to the Haram Al Sharif on the Temple Mount and visit the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock with its golden dome, mosaic interior and sapphire blue tiles. Built in 691 by the first Imperial Arab Muslim dynasty with the help of Christian artisans, the Dome of the Rock represents a triumph of Islamic architecture and is the third holiest site in Islam. Proceed to Bethlehem After lunch at Abu Shanab in Bethlehem, we return to Jerusalem, where the afternoon is free to explore the Old City, its shops and its streets on your own. For those who wish, we meet at 2:45 pm in the Armenian Quarter to visit SS. James' Monastery for vespers and for a peek inside the last remaining walled quarter of Jerusalem. We will dine together.
Friday: 24 April: Way of the Cross and Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Jerusalem
We start early to process and pray the Stations of the Cross along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City. The Way of the Cross leads to the Empty Tomb, and we will celebrate the Lord's Supper together in the Chapel of Abraham in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Bishop of Jerusalem, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, grants a unique privilege to Anglicans to celebrate the Eucharist in this chapel, located directly above Golgotha, the site of Christ Jesus' Crucifixion. We lunch in Lutheran Hospice nearby, once the site of the immense Crusader Hospital run by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem during the Middle Ages. Afterwards, we enjoy a special tour of the Holy Sepulchre. The later afternoon is free to shop in the bazaars of the Old City. Festive farewell dinner at Al Zahra restaurant.
Saturday: 25 April: Allenby Bridge, Jordan and Paris and NYC
We depart Jerusalem early to cross Jordan River by way of the Allenby Bridge. This temporary military bridge served as the sole crossing point between Israeli-controlled territory and Jordan for twenty-seven years. We then proceed directly to the Amman Airport for departures to Paris and points west.
