Page 10 - Holyland Magazine - 2010 Edition

he said, “The patriarch David died and was
buried, and his tomb is here to this very day”
(Acts 2:29). The first recorded Christian visitor Jerusalem underwent, the “upper room”
to David’s Tomb on Mt. Zion was Raymond
of Agiles, in 1100, and the first recorded
Jewish visitor was Ovadia, a rabbi from
Bartenura, Italy, in the late 15th century.
Since that time, David’s Tomb has been one
of Jerusalem’s most cherished prayer sites
for Jews, and an appropriate place to read
the psalms of the man whom the Bible calls
“Israel’s singer of songs” (2 Sam. 23:1).
There are archaeological indications that
David’s Tomb was once a synagogue. Greek
inscriptions found at the site include the
words “savior” and “mercy,” and so it is
thought that before Christianity and Judaism
went their separate ways, the synagogue
may have been used by the first Christians
in the Holy City.
Since at least the early 4th century, Christian
tradition has continually placed both the Last
Supper and the speaking in tongues (Acts
2:1-4) on Mt. Zion. Since the Middle Ages,
the room said to be the site of both events
has been shown on the second story of the
complex that houses King David’s Tomb.
10
As visitors climb the stairs, they sometimes
wonder how, with all the destruction
(Mark 14:15, Luke 22:12) could have
survived. The answer: The complex dates
to medieval times and is said to mark the
site of the room, rather than the room
itself. In the late 4th century, a huge basilica
was built on the traditional site of the events
of Acts 2:1-4 and the Last Supper. That
church was later destroyed (remains can
be seen in the basement of the Dormition
Abbey, another of Mt. Zion’s churches),
and between the 14th and 16th centuries,
the complex now housing King David’s
Tomb and the room of the Last Supper
assumed its present form at the site.
The room of the Last Supper contains a
Muslim prayer niche and windowpanes
with Arabic inscriptions, dating from periods
when Jerusalem was under Muslim rule.
The records show that Christians purchased
the premises in 1336. The site changed
hands numerous times thereafter, but the
Christians did their best to preserve the
ancient sacred traditions identifying it as
the scene of the Last Supper. This room
The domed roof of the Church of
St. Peter in Gallicantu rises from
the slopes of Mount Zion; to the
right of the dome, the fabled
Pinnacle of the Temple Mount's
southern wall can be seen, and the
Mount of Olives is in the distance. “Beautiful in its loftiness, joy of the whole
is the place to read the Gospel account of
Jesus presiding over the Last Supper, and
to worship as ancient Jerusalemites did in
the gathering recorded in Acts 2:1-4.
Though entirely devoid of ecclesiastical
trappings, it is considered by many
Christians to be one of Jerusalem’s most
spiritually invigorating sites.
Down Mt. Zion to the east is the Church
of St. Peter in Gallicantu, built over the
ruins of earlier churches and a Roman-era
mansion. Here, tradition says, stood
Caiaphas’ house, where Peter denied Jesus
three times before the rooster crowed (Matt.
26:34). The sanctuary is exquisite, but the
church’s most impressive element may be
the crosses carved into the stone opening
of a cave where Jesus is said to have been
imprisoned – evidence of early Christian
veneration of the site. And the experience
of walking up the flight of cracked stone
steps of an ancient street that may go back
to Jesus’ day is an unforgettable highlight.
On the church grounds, the Assumptionist
Fathers, the French Catholic order that
maintains St. Peter in Gallicantu, have
installed a 1:200 scale model of Byzantine
Jerusalem. The model helps visitors imagine
the grandeur of the city in those days.
Nearby is a plaza affording a stunning
panorama of the Mount of Olives, the
Temple Mount and the Hinnom Valley
recalling the words of the psalmist:
earth is Mount Zion…the city of the Great
King” (Ps. 48:2).