Gethsemane
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- For the song "Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)", see Jesus Christ Superstar
Gethsemane (also spelled Gethsemani) was the garden where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus watched and prayed the night before he was crucified and suffered for the sins of the world (see Atonement). According to Luke 22:43–44, Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane was so deep that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Gethsemane was also where Christ was betrayed by the disciple Judas Iscariot.
Image:St mary magdalene church closeup2.jpg The garden identified as Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, now within the city of Jerusalem. Located by the garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony. The ancient church was destroyed by the Sassanids in 614. The church rebuilt on the site by the Crusaders was finally razed, probably in 1219. Also on the Mount of Olives, is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene with its distinct golden, onion-shaped domes (Byzantine/Russian Style). It was built by Russian Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother.
The name Gethsemane is given in the Greek of the Gospels (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) as Γεθσημανι (Gethsêmani). This represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil). It would appear from this that there were a number of olive trees planted around the area at the time. The Gospel of Mark (xiv, 32) calls it chorion, "a place" or "estate"; The Gospel of John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as kepos, a "garden" or "orchard". The garden today is filled with olive trees that might well be descendants of those from the time of Jesus.
The Garden of Gethsemane was a focal site for early Christian pilgrims. It was visited in 333 by the anonymous "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", whose Itinerarium Burdigalense is the earliest description left by a Christian traveler in the Holy Land. In his Onomasticon, Eusebius of Caesarea notes the site of Gethsemane "at the foot of the Mount of Olives", and he adds that "the faithful were accustomed to go there to pray".
[edit] External links
- Article on Gethsemane from LightPlanet
- Catholic Encyclopedia on Gethsemane
- Paul’s Knowledge of the Garden of Gethsemane Narrative, by Christopher Price
- FotoTagger Annotated Galleries - Gethsemane in the art and reality
- Article on the history of the Russian monastry itself
- -24k- SIstersde:Getsemani
fr:Gethsémani it:Getsemani he:גת שמנים nl:Gethsemane pl:Getsemani pt:Getsêmani sv:Getsemane
