Closer to Christ The Old City of Jerusalem

Closer to Christ
The Old City of Jerusalem
Published on Dec 24, 2016, 9:00 pm AST
By Omatie Lyder

SACRED SPOT: A visitor kneels on the spot in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where Christ is said to have been crucified.


RE-ENACTMENT: Pilgrims re-enact Christ’s walk through the street of Via Dolorosa (stations of the cross ) on their way to the Holy Church of the Sepulchre. —Photos: Roy Morris/Barbados Nation


BIRD’S EYE VIEW: Express editor-in-chief Omatie Lyder stands on the rooftop of the Austrian Hospice which offers a bird’s eye view of the holy sites of Jerusalem.


ON a chilly Sunday morning in early December, seven Caribbean journalists of diverse religious backgrounds (I was the only Hindu and there were no Muslims), were taken on a guided tour of the Old City of Jerusalem.

This is the legendary place where it is said normally healthy people are suddenly gripped by the Jerusalem Syndrome and do crazy things, like assume the role of prophet and preacher, and exhibit other eccentric manifestations, acting much like the weird characters we sometimes see in Port of Spain, especially on Friday nights on Independence Square.

It was the opportune start to a whirlwind week-long educational jaunt where we were invited by the Israeli Government to see Israel.

The packed programme, organised by the non-governmental organisation FuenteLatina, took us to Tel Aviv, the nurturing womb of impressive start-up industries: Nazareth, the “Arab capital of Israel”, where the largest Christian sanctuary in the Middle East—the Church of the Annunciation—is sited; Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum where visitors, overcome by the historical horror against Jews unleashed by Hitler, were seen weeping with still raw pain; Capernaum, where Christ is said to have lived for some time, and the Sea of Galilee where he “walked” on water, among other places.

Old City of Jerusalem

The Old City of Jerusalem, sacred to Jews, Christians and Muslims, is built of sandy-coloured stone and even new “modern” high-rise buildings outside the Old City must adhere to the city's strict building code.

This ensures the city remains and looks ancient, preserving its rich religious past.

Bright tropical colours would be a highly offensive eyesore.

The city attracts about two million visitors a year, and it would be more were it not for safety anxieties in the Middle East.

In fact, all the journalists related that the reaction to them informing their friends and acquaintances that they were visiting Israel was met with alarmed responses like “Be careful!”, “Watch those terrorists” and “Come back home in one piece”.

My take is “once to die” and should I have perished in the holy land of Israel, surely that would have been a passport to heaven?

Besides, none of us felt unsafe although there was hardly a soldier on the street.

Lifetime pilgrimage

Given that journalists are prone to cynicism, none of us caught the Jerusalem Syndrome, but we were certainly blown away by the experience, emotionally moved to be transported to biblical times when Jesus Christ is said to have walked the Earth, possibly treading on the same stones on which he would have borne the heavy cross; standing in awe on the spot where he was crucified on April 3, AD 33.

On the day we visited the Old City, we witnessed one group re-enacting Christ's excruciatingly painful walk, with stone-faced members taking turns at bearing a heavy wooden cross as they made their way between the stations to the ultimate destination—the Church of the Holy Sepulchre—no doubt fulfilling a once in a lifetime pilgrimage.

We went to the Dome of the Rock, the third holiest place in the Muslim faith; the Via Dolorosa—the stations of the cross—nine of which are on the path Christ carried the cross on his back, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre where he was crucified and buried.

It was in this Church that visitors like me lined up to kneel in the small boxlike ambulatory regarded as the site of the crucifixion.

As you kneel you can put your hand through a small hole beneath the altar, said to be the place where the cross to which Jesus was nailed, was raised.

If you didn't believe before, this was the moment of transformation.


Wailing in prayer


On the Jewish side of the city is the Western “Wailing” Wall, where men and women, separated by a barrier, pray fervently, not even an approaching rocket could shake their focus.

Jews have been praying at this site—the stones date back to the First Century BCE when King Herod the Great built a retaining wall around the Temple Mount, where tradition places Abraham preparing to sacrifice his son Isaac—for more than 3,500 years.

If you can find space on the wall, you can write a message on a piece of paper and insert it in one of the many crevices.

The wall is plastered with thinly folded paper, carrying the most intimate wishes of Israelis and visitors.

Ours are now among them.

At the end of the all-day tour, Seventh-day Adventist Stan Bishop, editor of The Voice in St Lucia, described it this way: “Visiting Jerusalem was beyond words, really. I was able to not just map out in my head some of the biblical contexts that we're used to hearing about, but actually walk through the place where some of those historic events took place, including Christ's journey there. In many ways, my visit there has already begun to inspire my general outlook on life, even though I previously thought I had the best possible outlook on life altogether. Simply put, Jerusalem has been one of the best blessings I was longing to receive.”

For the non-believer Jamaican freelance writer Paul Williams, “It was a fantastic moment for me to be in a place that I had read about so many times, but never thought I would visit. I love the ancient buildings, which catapulted me back into time, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was simply mesmerising.”

And Barbados Nation editor-in-chief Roy Morris—a Wesleyan—thought: “Visiting historic Israel, Jerusalem, Capernaum, Galilee and juxtaposing them against my Bible knowledge was priceless.”

Turns out even cynical journalists can become believers too!

Express editor-in-chief Omatie Lyder travelled to

Jerusalem from December 10-16 at the invitation of the

Israeli government.

Interesting story for a non believer .