My Tryst with Jesus-14 Station to the cross

The Via Dolorosa is the road Jesus walked from the place of Pontius Pilate’s sentencing to Golgotha (the location of the crucifixion), and is the most sacred Christian by-way in the world. It gives an amazing feeling when one walks this road.   Of the 14 stations, which Christians have been walking for over a thousand years, the most famous are the Praetorian, where Jesus took up the cross, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  Each station is marked with a medallion indicating the station in Roman numerals. I was lucky to witness all the 14 Stations and would like to give the snapshot of these as below:

1^st Station , where Jesus was condemned to death

2^nd Station , where Jesus carries his cross. It was here where Pontius Pilate gave his famous order “Ecce Homo” (behold the man).

3^rd Station, where Jesus falls the first time

4^th Station is the place where Jesus met his mother

5^th Station, where Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry his cross

6^th Station is where Veronica had wiped the face of Jesus  creating the Veil of Veronica. The Veil supposedly was imprinted with the image of Christ after she wiped his visage.

7^th Station is where Jesus fell the second time

8^th Station is the place where Jesus met the women of Jerusalem

9^th Station is where Jesus fell the third time

10^th Station is the spot where clothes of Jesus were taken away

11^th Station, where Jesus is nailed on the cross

12^th Station, Jesus dies on the cross

13^th Station, The body of Jesus is brought down from the cross

14^th Station, Jesus is laid in the tomb.

Stations 10-14 are where the present day Church of the holy Sepulchre stands.  By tradition this is the holiest place for Catholic and Orthodox Christians and marks the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and Resurrection. It was completed in 335AD, and its basilica was constructed on the foundations of an ancient Roman temple to Venus (Aphrodite). The actual sepulchre is inside the Edicule, a two-room chapel underneath the church’s. There are separate prayer times for the various denominations.

Entrance to Church of Holy Sepulchre

The Holy Anointing : Immediately upon entering, the church opens up to the southern hall. On the floor lies the Stone of the Anointing or Unction. According to tradition, this is the spot where the church commemorates the preparation of the body of Christ for burial after he was removed from the cross. Christ's body was anointed with myrrh and aloes and wrapped in a clean linen cloth for the burial according to the Jewish tradition of those days. The slab is made from limestone marble and dates to 1808, replacing the previous 12th century slab when it was destroyed. On the outside wall of the Catholicon, behind the stone, is a large mosaic depicting the anointing of Christ for burial.

Latin calvary : To the right of the Stone of the Anointing are a series of steep stairs that lead up to the second floor—the tip of Golgotha. The first room is the place where Christ was nailed to the cross. This chapel is a Catholic Franciscan altar dedicated to the Nailing of the Cross (Station 11 of the Via Dolorosa).

The Rock of Golgotha (place of crucifixion) : Adjacent to this chapel is the second room—the Greek Orthodox Calvary—the spot where Christ was crucified and covers the actual Rock of Golgotha. For the other Christian Churches this is also known as Station 12 of the Via Dolorosa. The entire rock can be seen through the glass covering on either side of the altar, and beneath the altar is a small opening that allows pilgrims to touch the rock.

The Chapel of the Finding of the Cross, according to tradition, is the area where St. Helen discovered the True Cross during the course of the Church's excavations around 330 AD. She discovered three crosses. To discern which of the three crosses belonged to Christ, and which belonged to the thieves, a sick man was brought to touch each one in turn. He was miraculously healed by only one and this is the one that has since been distributed to all Christian Patriarchates across the world.

The Prison of Christ is a small dark area where those crucifying Christ put him temporarily before crucifying him

The Edicule :This structure preserves the location of Christ's tomb.  Though the cave here was carved away by a Muslim ruler 1000 years ago, a clear history remains that this has been the revered location of the tomb. Earlier the Roman emperor Hadrian erected a large platform of earth over the whole area for the construction of a temple to Venus.  Jerome adds to Eusebius' statement that a statue of Jupiter was on the site for 180 years (AD 140-320)  When Constantine converted the empire to Christianity, he had the pagan temples dismantled, the earth removed and a church built over the spot.

I had the most amazing experience here outside the aedicule. There was huge queue outside the aedicule and there was very little time left for us as the bus was to leave after some time and we were getting a reminder to leave quickly from our coordinator. While in the church, we met an Indian Father who was an office bearer in the church. He offered to take two of us in the aedicule because people in the queue will not like breaking of the queue and it would have been unfair to them. Our colleagues decided that our Christian friend can go and one of our senior colleagues desired to go. Obviously there was no two opinions on our Christian friend, I could not speak against my senior colleague although I desperately wanted to enter the tomb of Jesus. I could just murmur in little disappointment that I have seen the birth site of Jesus and I wanted to see the tomb of Jesus too. One of my other colleague said “it’s ok let’s wait for them outside”. I was disappointed. The Father took both of our colleague to the entrance of the tomb.I constantly looked at them. All of a sudden, the Father turned around and he rushed towards me. He caught hold of my arms and pulled me saying “hurry”. I can’t explain the feeling I had. We entered the Tomb and the Father went away. I could feel a heavenly presence for the first time. I just bowed down and touched the Tomb and we came out of the tomb. I felt as if my journey was complete –a feeling of fulfillment and joy inside me.