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The Holy Land is part of the territories of the modern State of Israel (until 1948 — Palestine). It is a shrine of the three Abrahamic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The borders of the Holy Land stretched from the west from the Mediterranean coast to the deserts of Jordan and from Galilee in the north to the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. At the center of the Holy Land stands Jerusalem, an ancient walled city located in the Judean Hills west of the Dead Sea, the lowest point on earth.
Hebrew – ארץ הקודש, Éreẓ haQodeš
Greek – Άγιοι Τόποι, Agioi Topoi
Arabic – الأرض المقدسة, al-Arḍu l-Muqaddasa
The Holy Land is of great religious significance for Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baha'i Faith. It currently includes the territories of Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and parts of Lebanon. Israel is the Holy Land, and Jerusalem is the jewel of the Israeli crown. Jerusalem is the holy city for Judaism, the birthplace of Christianity, and the third of the holy cities for Islam.
The perception of the sanctity of the land for Christianity was one of the reasons for the crusades, during which Christians sought to conquer the Holy Land from the Muslims, who invaded and liberated it from the Byzantine Empire. The Holy Land has been a place of religious pilgrimage since biblical times, by Jews, Christians, and later Muslims.
The forefather of the Jewish people, Patriarch Abraham, came to this land in the 19th century BC (about 1850 BC) from Mesopotamia, from Ur of the Chaldees (Sumers) in the southern reaches of the Euphrates. At the call of God, he went from there through Harran (north of the Euphrates), from where the patriarch Jacob then came, the first named Israel (one of the etymologies is "The one who saw God", "who became face to face with God") (Gen. ch. 32, 28), according to which the entire Jewish people received the name Israel. God promised Abraham and his offspring the land of Canaan, named after its then inhabitants. According to this promise of God, this land is called the promised land, as the great Jew and great Christian Paul of Tarsus notes this (Heb. 11:9).
The descendants of Abraham, besides this promise, soon came from Palestine to Egypt, at the time of the Hyksos ruling (around 1700-1550 BC). The presence of Jews in Egypt is clearly attested during the time of the pharaohs Akhenaton (1364-1347) and Ramses II (around 1250), when the whole people served as slaves to this powerful pharaoh, being engaged in "plinfurgy" (brick production Exod. 5, 7-8) and building pyramids. Because of the heavy exploitation of Israel, the great Moses is a prophet called by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob during his wanderings in the desert, who saw the Burning bush under Mount Sinai (a well-known theme of Orthodox iconography, the Burning bush) and heard the voice of Yahweh from it: "I am Jehovah" and "the place where you are standing is Holy Land" (Ex. Z, 5), brought the Jews out of Egypt to the Sinai Peninsula (in the middle of the XIII century BC). Here, under the rocky Sinai and Horeb, Moses received the Law from God: the ten commandments and other religious, moral, and social rules of the Covenant, or rather the Union between God and Israel (Exod. 7 — 24).
After forty years of wandering in the desert, the people of Israel, led by Joshua the Son of Nun, settled in Palestine (around 1200 B.C.). The next two centuries cover the period of the Judges, and then comes the era of the Kings. Around 1000 BC, the powerful and glorious King David, a poet, musician and prophet, occupied Jerusalem, which later became the capital of Israel. Since that time, over the centuries, the Holy City of Jerusalem has become a symbol of all of Palestine as the Holy Land and a symbol of the Earth and all mankind in general.
Jerusalem was also an ancient Canaanite city. Even ancient Egyptian texts (around 1900 BC) refer to it as Urusalem. Around the same time that the patriarch Abraham came to Canaan, Jerusalem was the city of Melchizedek, king of Salem, whose name in the Bible means "king of righteousness and king of peace" (Gen. 14; Heb. 7), which again is a sign of a great future, that is, messianic eschatology. The oldest inhabitants of Jerusalem, beginning about 3000 B.C., were the Amorites and the Hittites, who were also called Jebusites; later David took away Jerusalem from them (this name most likely means the dwelling place of the world, but history shows that the world is such as the whole history of the earth and the human race). In Jerusalem, David built a royal tower on Zion, the highest point of the Holy City, and his son Solomon erected a magnificent temple of God on Mount Moriah. Legend has it that here the forefather Abraham, according to God's commandment, wanted to sacrifice his son Isaac.
In 1996, Jerusalem celebrated its 3000th anniversary – thirty centuries ago, King David moved the capital of his kingdom here. His son Solomon built the Temple on a mountain north of the city. After 400 years, Judea was conquered by Babylon, the city and the Temple were destroyed, the inhabitants were taken into captivity. After 70 years of exile, the Jews returned to Judea, rebuilt Jerusalem and built the Second Temple, which was one of the most magnificent buildings of its time. As a result of the anti-Roman uprisings of 66-73 and 132-135 the Second Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans, the Jews were expelled from the city. On the ruins of the former Jewish capital, the Roman city of Elia Capitolina, named after the Roman emperor, arose.
Over the years of its existence, Jerusalem has been invaded and destroyed more than 80 times. Its stones keep the memory of the Roman, Byzantine, Arab rule, the rule of the crusaders and the Mamluks. Nevertheless, Jerusalem have always been the center of spiritual attraction for the Jews of the diaspora, who repeated its name in daily prayers.
*Jewish Pilgrimage in Israel (Eretz HaKodesh) and Jewish shrines. Jews from all over the world, throughout the history of Israel, come to Jerusalem to visit the "Wailing Wall (haKotel)", the "cave of Machpelah" in Hebron, the tomb of Rachel and other Jewish shrines, as well as to see the place of the beginning... and how the Jewish people have developed in their historical homeland in such a short time after 2000 years of exile.
*Our company organizes individual Jewish pilgrimage tours meeting your wishes and finances, including dates of arrival and departure, the level of hotels booked, the number of free days, the tour program and each day separately.
The Old Testament prophets preached here, foretelling the coming of the Son of God into the world. The infant Jesus was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem and was met by the righteous Simeon. As a boy, the Lord repeatedly visited Jerusalem, surprising the scribes with His extraordinary wisdom. Having begun his messianic ministry, the Savior visited the Holy City several times, preaching the coming of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Holy Land for Christian pilgrims
During his last coming to Jerusalem, Jesus was royally welcomed. However, the jubilation of the crowd was short-lived. Met as a King, the Lord is soon given over to reproach and shameful death. Christ was crucified on Mount Golgotha. Placed in the tomb, Christ overcame death. The myrrh-bearing women who came to the Tomb did not find the body of the Teacher. The Lord who has risen from the tomb soon appears to the disciples, assuring them of the truth of His Resurrection. All these events that profoundly changed the history of mankind took place here in Jerusalem. From here, following the command of Christ, the preaching of the Gospel began throughout the world.
The Holy City of Jerusalem is the first place of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Here pilgrims gain the blessing to pilgrim. From here begins their journey in the footsteps of the Lord. The most important place of the pilgrimage program is the Church of the Resurrection with its great shrines: Golgotha, the stone of Anointing, the Life-Giving Sepulcher of the Lord. This temple is the main shrine of the Christian world, a place of salvation for the human race. Every Orthodox pilgrim tries not only to visit the Church of the Resurrection, to bow to its great shrines, but also to pray at the night Liturgy at the Tomb of the Resurrected Christ.
During their pilgrimage around Jerusalem, worshipers visit places of the last days of the earthly life of Jesus Christ. They come to Zion, where the Lord served the last meal with the disciples and established the sacrament of the Eucharist. They pray in the Garden of Gethsemane, where the Lord prayed to a bloody sweat and where He was taken by the soldiers. Pilgrims walk along the Way of the Cross – the road that the Lord walked to the place of His crucifixion – Golgotha. Following the apostles, the pilgrims ascend the Mount of Olives, from where the Risen Christ ascended to heaven.
The places associated with the life of the Mother of God are especially loved by pilgrims. They certainly visit the place of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the place of Her glorious Assumption, pray with tenderness at the Tomb of the Mother of God in Gethsemane. Following in the footsteps of the Mother of God, the pilgrims visit the Gorny Monastery in Ein Karem, where the Mother of God came after the Annunciation, and where She stayed for three months. In the same village, according to legend, St. John the Baptist was born.
The northwest of the Old City is the Christian Quarter. Its settlement began in the 4th century, when the Byzantine emperor Constantine erected the Church of the Holy Sepulcher over the ruins of a Roman pagan temple. The centers of Orthodox Christianity are Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Bethany. Bethlehem is located a few kilometers south of Jerusalem, Bethany — to the east. Nazareth is located 100 km north of Jerusalem, not far from the famous Sea of Galilee.
Pilgrims arriving in the Holy Land first go to Bethlehem, where they visit the Church of the Nativity. In the wall of the temple there is a marble-lined niche with a manger, where, according to legend, the baby Jesus lay. In Bethany, the foundation of the house and the tombstone of the tomb of Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus, are open to tourists. The spiritual significance of the pilgrimage to Nazareth lies in visiting the place where Jesus grew up and later made disciples among the fishermen.
The center of attraction of pilgrims is, for sure, Jerusalem. It is home to a number of places of worship of great importance. First of all, this is the Garden of Gethsemane, which witnessed the spiritual anguish of Jesus Christ. In the Garden of Gethsemane, there are eight old olive trees planted in the time of Jesus. Here is the Basilica of the Passion of the Lord, inside which is the rock of the Passion of the Lord. Usually pilgrims prostrate before this rock, pray and recall the passion of the Lord before he was seized by the Roman guards.
All pilgrims arriving in Jerusalem go through the Path of Sorrow 14 stops of the last hours of Jesus' life:
Jesus is sentenced to death;
Jesus takes up his cross;
Jesus falls down for the first time;
Jesus meets his Mother;
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross;
Veronica wipes the face of Christ with a handkerchief;
Jesus falls down a second time.
The Savior preaches to the women of Jerusalem;
Jesus falls down a third time;
Christ is being undressed;
Nailing to the cross;
Jesus Christ dies on the cross;
The body of the Savior is taken down from the cross;
The body of Jesus Christ is placed in the tomb.
At each of the 14 stops, pilgrims stop for prayer and reflection. At the end of the Way of the Cross is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This unique building stands where the events related to the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ took place. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is visited by Christian pilgrims of all denominations, i.e. Catholics, Orthodox, Monophysites, Arians, Nestorians, Protestants, Copts.
Christian pilgrimage tourism has a special place in the life of society:
1) spiritual and educational role (during the trip, pilgrims learn about the history of the places they visit, their role in the spiritual life of Russia; they get acquainted with the peculiarities of worshiping, the heritage of saints, elders);
2) General educational role (monasteries have always been cultural historical centers, many of them have museums on their territories that reflect the life and customs of various historical eras);
3) Missionary role (trips to holy places contribute to the churching of many previously non-religious people);
4) charitable role (during pilgrimage tours, pilgrims provide charitable financial assistance and make donations).
*The pilgrimage is purely religious in nature. Performed with the blessing of the Church, it is a kind of divine service, spiritual work, purification of the soul both for true believers who yearn to feel close to God, and for secular people who want to touch the history of the three world religions.
*Our Pilgrimage Office in Jerusalem offers individual Jewish pilgrimage tours for the three main Christian denominations: Orthodox pilgrimage, Catholic pilgrimage, as well as Gospel and Bible routes for Protestants, all meeting your wishes, including dates of arrival and departure, the level of hotels booked, the number of free days, the tour program and each day separately.
For Muslims, the holiness of Jerusalem is stated in the seventeenth chapter (sura) of the Qur'an, the first verse of which reads: "Praise be to him who transferred His servant from the inviolable mosque to the farthest mosque at night." The inviolable mosque means the mosque in Mecca, the farthest mosque is the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
According to Muslim legend, on the Temple Mount, the prophet Muhammad saw a ladder, one end of which rested against the Stone of the Universe (where the forefather of Muslims and Jews Abraham had to sacrifice his son), and the other end led to heaven. Climbing the stairs with the help of the angel Jibrail, Muhammad met in heaven with the prophets and Allah. When Muhammad began to climb the stairs to heaven, the stone of the universe began to rise with him, but Jibrail stopped the stone with his hand. A mark is visible on the stone, which Muslims consider the handprint of a deft angel.
THE DOME OF THE ROCK
The mosque is located in the center of the Temple Mount. The correct name is the Rock Mosque. Sometimes it is also called the Mosque of Omar, but in fact this mosque is not the place of prayer This is a memorial monumental structure built by order of Caliph Abd el Malik over the "cornerstone of the Earth" in 691. It is believed that the building was built on the ruins of a Byzantine temple, which is the reason for its shape.
The building, crowned with a golden dome, has the shape of an octahedron. The length of each side is 22.3 meters, the building has 36 windows, 4 gates in the cardinal directions. The western gate, according to legend, serves for the arrival of the prophets and their meetings with Muhammad. Near the eastern gate, according to Muslim tradition, the great Daud (King David) sat and administered his fair trial. The northern gate is considered the closest to paradise, so the deceased is placed near it so that to approach bliss. The southern gate is the closest to Mecca, and the faithful treat it with special reverence.
The height of the mosque of Omar is 56 meters, the height of the dome erected over the rock is 30 meters, its diameter is 20.5 meters. The dome was last restored in the early 1990’s by King Hussein II of Jordan. About 80 kg of gold was used to gild the dome, and restoration work cost one and a half million US dollars.
Inside the building is a sacred stone (stone of the universe) — a 13 x 17 m piece of rock, rising about two meters above floor level (744 meters above sea level). The stone, according to Muslims, bears the footprints of the prophet Muhammad and the hand of the angel Jibrail. According to legend, at the moment of the ascension of Muhammad, thunder struck, and the rock split. There is also a crack on the stone "in honor" of this event.
Under the stone is the “cave of the abyss”, or the “well of souls”. According to Islamic tradition, it is believed that the souls of all the dead will be gathered here on the Day of Judgment. The walls of the cave are covered with inscriptions indicating the places of prayers of the forefather Abraham, kings David and Solomon, Elijah the prophet, as well as the place where the angel Jibrail stood. Here, according to folk tradition, winds from all over the world gather and then scatter in different directions.
There is a hole in the ceiling of the cave. They say, in the period of the Jerusalem Temple the blood of sacrificial animals flowed through it.
The carved cabinet in the gallery of the mosque, which contains a hair from the beard of the Prophet Muhammad, enjoys special reverence among Muslims.
The inscriptions under the dome along the entire length of the frieze contain sayings from the Quran. One of the inscriptions indicates the date of completion of construction — 72 Hijri.
AL-AQSA MOSQUE
Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in the southern part of the Temple Mount. According to Muslim tradition, it is the place where the “most distant mosque” was located, where the Prophet Muhammad was transferred during his night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem. Al-Aqsa was built in early 8th century by order of Caliph Walid, son of Abd el-Malik. The mosque acquired its present appearance in the 11th century. A strong earthquake in 1035 destroyed the mosque, but it was restored as a rectangular building, elongated from east to west. This mosque has witnessed many tragic events. In 1128 the crusader king Baldwin II turned it into his palace. Only in 1178, Sultan Salah ed-Din (Saladin), having expelled the crusaders, restored the status of the mosque and installed the ancient minbar (pulpit) there, brought from the Syrian city of Aleppo.
The mosque then suffered from many natural disasters and human actions. In 1951, the then King of Jordan, Abdullah, was shot dead at the entrance to the mosque. His grandson, Crown Prince Hussein (who later became King of Jordan), was next to his grandfather and miraculously survived: the killer's bullet hit the medallion on the prince's chest.
The last tragedy occurred in 1969, when an Australian tourist set fire to the mosque.
Al-Aqsa was erected on the ruins of the Jerusalem Temple and the Byzantine church built by Emperor Justinian. The position of the mosque was dictated by the direction of the faithful, praying towards Mecca. The rock of the universe, the "Jewish stone", should not have been between the mosque and Mecca.
Interesting fact that the Prophet Muhammad himself defined the direction of prayer differently, and ordered the praying Muslims to turn towards Jerusalem. Well, both times and traditions change.
Nowadays, the Al Aqsa Mosque is a grandiose structure measuring 90 x 60 meters, with a majestic black dome and a large underground hall. There are fountains for washing feet in front of the entrance to the mosque. The entrance is on its northern side, there are seven gates here. The hall of the mosque is divided into three parts by two rows of columns. Some of the columns are made of Carrara marble, donated to the mosque in the mid-30’s of the last century by the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.
At the northern wing of the mosque is Maqom Aziz, the place from where Muhammad ascended to heaven on his horse Al-Buraq. In the southern part of the hall there is a mihrab — a niche in the wall facing Mecca. The distance from here to Mecca is exactly 1090 kilometers. Women enter the mosque through a separate entrance, the women's hall is located in the western part of the mosque.
* Adherents of Islam can make a pilgrimage to Muslim shrines, such as the city of Al-Quds, where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the seventh heaven from the rock of the Temple Mount. At this place, the mosque of Omar rises above Jerusalem, and to the south of it is the Al-Aqsa mosque.
*Our company offers individual pilgrimage tours to Muslim shrines Al-Quds, meeting your wishes, including dates of arrival and departure, the level of hotels booked, the number of free days, the tour program and each day separately.
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