the only living creatures of the neighborhood-blackbirds, which catch the bits of dried fruits thrown to them. 27. The Mount of Temptation by Night. In the night, when a light burns in the grotto, the imagination is carried back 1854 years, when the Great Anchorite prepared His poor food, or prayed and meditated on His future deeds and destiny. More than once, probably, the devil came to tempt Him and make Him doubt whether the only possible way before Him was that which led through a shameful death on the Cross. 28. Kitchen of the Monks in the Grotto. The hermit monks are most abstemious; their diet consisting of black bread of a very coarse kind, beans, onions, garlic, and olives. They nevertheless find means to help the poor Bedouins in their necessities. 29. Refectory of the Grotto. The walls were once covered with frescoes, but of these scarcely anything remains. A door opens on a balcony whence there is a really charming and interesting view over the Jordan valley. Just in front is Jericho; further on a line of vegetation shows the direction of the Jordan, with the monastery of St. John. On the right is the Dead Sea, with the monastery holy Gerasimus, built, it is believed on the spot where the Virgin Mary rested on her way to Egypt (?). On the left is the Jordan valley with the road leading to Tiberias and the mountains of Samaria. 30. The part of the Grotto which according to tradition dates from the time of Christ. From early Christian times this part of the grotto was converted into a chapel and was venerated as the place where our Saviour set the example of retreat, fasting and penitence. "And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan and was led by the spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted by the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing; and when they were ended he afterward hungered." (Luke iv., 1-2.) 31. The Cupola of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This was many times destroyed by fire and rebuilt. As it stands at present it was erected at the cost of the Russian, French, and Turkish governments in 1869. The diameter of the cupola is 78.7 feet. On the western side of the Sepulchre Church the ruins of the Basilica of the Emperor Constantine were discovered some years ago by the Russian archimandrite, Antonin, and apparently also the foundation of a city gate, by which possibly our Saviour was led to execution. 32. One of the old Jewish Tombs near Jerusalem. An extremely low entrance leads to a small, very low room in the rock, wherein are many niches for corpses. In one of such niches, never before used, was interred the body of Christ, in a rock near Golgotha where Joseph of Arimathea, possibly, had his family tomb. The entrance was usually closed with a big stone, and it was impossible to enter or come out otherwise than by the small aperture seen on the study. Such are all the tombs of those times; there was no other style; and if at present the grave of our Saviour has the form of a box, it is because the rock over it has been broken off, partly for the necessities of worship, partly by the worshipers themselves for relics. 33. Mount Chattin. This is the summit of a rock on the way from Nazareth to Tiberias, remarkable as the scene of the last battle fought between the Crusaders and the Mussulmans, which decided the fate of Christendom in the Holy Land. Seven hundred years ago, on the 14th July, 1187, Saladin vanquished the Christians under the command of King Lusinian, who allowed himself to be enticed to this rock from a good position he had occupied on the road to Nazareth. After a march of twenty-four hours, during which the knights were harassed by heat, hunger, thirst, and constant alarms, the Christian army took up their position for the night on this field, and were at once surrounded by the enemy, so that by the following morning the issue of the battle was already decided. The heavily armed and wearied knights on their tired horses could not withstand the light bodies of Arabs, and were very soon forced to retire to the summit of the rock (shown on the sketch). Here the king, surrounded by the clergy, high officials, and officers, surrendered after a desperate defense. 34. The Hermits on the Jordan. These hermits, who are not numerous, live partly on the shore itself, partly on the sandstone hills some distance off, near the monastery of St. John. They excavate caves with two or three rooms in each, so small that it is difficult to turn round in them. These holes are usually covered with images, crosses, etc.; they are warm in winter and cool in summer. The only inconvenience is the great number of mosquitoes of all sizes, down to some so small as to be nearly imperceptible. Those who inhabit caves on the shores complain of toads, snakes and other reptiles. The occupations of the hermits are praying, fishing, and turning crosses of sandal-wood, or tying woolen chaplets, etc., these objects being gladly bought by worshipers visiting the Sacred River. 35. Portrait of a Hermit. Still a young man, of steady appearance. He has served in the Church of Golgotha, but was obliged to abandon it, in order to avoid the example of the other monks in their free manners with the female worshipers. 36. A Russian Hermit. Father Vassian from Kamenetz Podolsk, in South Russia, formerly a miller by profession, is waiting for an opportunity to build a good mill for some cloister, and afterward to die in peace near the Sacred River. He was particularly pleased with the chaplets on the sketch, which serve him for his prayers, three times a day, morning, evening, and midnight, when he gives 300 points to Christ, 300 to the Virgin Mary, 200 to the Angels, Archangels, Prophets, and Apostles, and 200 to all the Saints ! His belief is great and sincere, but the devil evidently tempts him, as he asked me in confidence, "If the Tsar would see his portrait, and possibly give him some gratification." 37. His Lodging. On the summit of a hill, with a small canopy over the entrance. Passing worshipers lay at his door some trifling gift, such as biscuits or copper money. St. John the Baptist probably lived in a similar hole. According to tradition he led a wandering life, and had two or three refuges on the other side of the river, more or less remote, according as his relations happened to be with the authorities. |