During the last leg of the hike to the dig site, I caught this sunrise photo. That's the Old City wall on the left, and our excavations are in the shadows below. It's about 5:50 a.m.
The Dirt Manager takes a break. His sweatband and suspenders make his job a lot more comfortable than it would be otherwise. I have been asked several times if he is a farmer!
One of my jobs on the dig site is to lay out breakfast every morning. We take a break at 8:30 a.m. to eat. This is what we have every day: Pita bread (and occasionally other breads too), hard-boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, sliced white cheese, sliced salami-like mystery meat (I never had a single slice!), feta cheese, yogurt, pickled olives, and fruit. Occasionally we had halvah or cookies.
After a month of this, we are dreaming about American breakfasts!
Time to take a break and eat!!
We walk through the Armenian Quarter of the Old City every day. The Armenian church allows our directors to park in their parking lot (important so breakfast can be delivered), and the Armenian Museum allows us to store our pottery finds on their premises. This is the entry gate to the Armenian Quarter of the Old City built in the early 12th century.
After finishing work for the day, we went to the Cathedral of St. James, part of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Inside the courtyard are several 12th-century paintings, including this one at the Armenians' traditional site for the tomb of Abraham. (The more commonly accepted traditional site is at the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hevron. We would like to have seen that site, but it is in Palestinian territory and the location of much unrest.)
The cathedral was finished around 1185. The entrance includes an ornate wrought-iron gate.
We were asked not to take photos inside (although some tourists ignored that request), so here are two photos from the internet. It was dark, very ornate, and quite mystical.
We were there specifically for the Sunday services, which lasted about 30 minutes. It was like stepping back many centuries in time. Everything was in Armenian or some other language we couldn't identify. The priests and acolytes never interacted with the visitors, but filed in and stood in rows. There was incense, chanting, and unaccompanied singing. I love the sound of liturgical melodies and male voices, so this was a real treat for me. One interesting side note: The list of rules for visitors included the usual requests for modesty, no photos, and silent respect. But we were also asked not to cross our legs or put our hands in our pockets.
See the next post for our visit to the Tower of David.
We made it back to the hotel in time for James Tabor's lecture of Jesus and Sepphoris. Sepphoris, located just three miles from Nazareth, was a big Roman construction project at the time of Jesus. James thinks that Jesus and his family certainly would have worked in Sepphoris, and some other scholars agree.
"Ornate" doesn't seem quite adequate. How interesting to be there during a service.
ReplyDeleteIs this Catholic or Orthodox? It looks Orthodox, but the website says it's under the direction of the Catholicos of Armenia. I guess I don't know what a "Catholico" is.
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