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Walking Where Jesus Walked

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company

Chapter One

Jerusalem is a holy site in three different religions: Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. And for all three it is an important site of pilgrimage. Faithful worshipers from all three want to go to the city because it is a kind of transparent place in which they can feel closer to the events which unfolded there. For Christians, the sensibility comes especially from the close association between the city and the dramatic scenes from the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Who would not want to worship where Christ had stood, walked, bled, and rose? Not surprisingly, Christian desire to be a pilgrim in Jerusalem goes back to the early church.

Doing so was not always easy in the early church, however, since, even in the initial New Testament period, the stability of the Jerusalem church got caught up in the growing tension between militant Jews and the Roman government. Tensions so escalated that the Roman army laid siege to Jerusalem in A.D. 70. By late in the year, the Romans had defeated all of the city's resistance, demolishing the Temple and razing the city. Only a few buildings in the city's southwest outskirts survived. The Roman army established a camp to the north of this remnant. Ancient historians report that the Jewish Christians who had fled earlier, perhaps across the Jordan, now returned and settled in this surviving neighborhood. By the end of the first century, Jerusalem was mainly a military installation with a small suburb attached. Imagine a town in the boondocks tacked on to an army base. At this time there was no reason to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

The next century brought even bigger changes. In the year 130 the emperor Hadrian visited the city. He decided that the site was in need of a dramatic renovation. He planned a new city, filled with the standard elements of Roman culture—including pagan temples. Adding insult to injury, Hadrian tried to compel the Jewish residents to give up their distinctive practices. The result was a guerrilla war eventually won by the Romans. When they were victorious, all Jews, including Jewish Christians, were banned from the city, and the emperor built his new city, whose Roman pagan character was clearly evident. For example, a new temple to Venus (Aphrodite) was built on top of the area that Christians traditionally had associated with Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. The Christians who formed the church that remained in the city in the second and third centuries appear to have been Gentile Christians who had moved there. Jerusalem's bishop, the highest order of ministry, did not hold a prominent position but was under the authority of another bishop with regional authority.

The fourth century marked an astonishing advancement for Jerusalem on the stage of worldwide Christianity. The trigger was a Christian emperor, Constantine, whose rise and legalizing embrace of Christianity eventually—and dramatically—affected the nature of Jerusalem's church and its worship.

Under the sponsorship of Constantine, the city's bishop continually gained status among other bishops, and a new church, attached to major pilgrimage sites, developed. It appears likely that Macarius, Jerusalem's bishop in the early fourth century, discussed with the emperor a Christian building project for the city, because he eventually obtained the emperor's permission and financial support to demolish the Venus temple and try to uncover the tomb of Christ. Work progressed quickly. (A visit in 326 by Helena, the emperor's mother and a devout Christian, helped spur progress.) Eventually, the site of Jesus' crucifixion was excavated and his tomb was discovered, to the great delight of the city's Christians. They thought they had even found Christ's cross! (Later, legend attributed the discovery to Helena.) The complex of buildings at the site honored all these discoveries by associating particular buildings with crucial moments in the life of Christ. Christian pilgrims now had reason to visit Jerusalem and something to see once they got there.

For Christians at the time, the buildings testified not only to historic events in the life of Christ but also to Christianity's resurgence against both Judaism and pagan religions. The complex at the site of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection occupied a hill which towered over the desecrated, desolated Temple mount, the most sacred site in Judaism. And the buildings stood only because an emperor had agreed to demolish pagan temples.

In 335 the buildings at the crucifixion and resurrection sites were ready for consecration. Bishops from all the dioceses in the eastern provinces were summoned for the occasion. Clergy and laity, from Jerusalem and beyond, packed the site in wonder and amazement. They were only the first of many as pilgrims from across the Christian world flocked to the city.

The presence of all these pilgrims meant that services were held to satisfy their desire to worship at these special sites. Much in the services would seem familiar to them, since services featuring multiple Scripture readings, a sermon, and the Lord's Supper were the mainstay of Christian worship at the time. These services, as elsewhere, were supplemented by additional services consisting largely of prayers. Baptism continued to be an important sign of identification with both Christ and the church. And, as was happening in other churches at the time, this worship was conducted on a large public scale with great ceremony and other elements to trigger a sense of awe among the worshipers. What was different about Jerusalem was the place, and how remembrance, Scripture, and symbol got connected intimately to the sites where Christ was born, suffered, and rose. The city found itself both exporting its practices to pilgrims who took them home and importing practices from these same visitors, which created a complex mix that would forever impact Christian worship.

After centuries of neglect and a return to its foundations, Jerusalem finally regained its position of significance by the late fourth century and became an important intersection for Christian worship practices from around the world.

Timeline

What was happening in the world?

63 B.C.E.: Pompey claims Jerusalem for Rome.

280: Constantine is born.

285: The Roman Empire is divided into East and West.

312: Constantine leads his army to victory over rival Maxentius, attributing his success to Christ.

324: Constantine reunites the Roman Empire and becomes sole emperor.

Mid-300s: Constantine makes bishops a part of the political structure by giving them judicial power.

330: Constantinople is made the capital of the Roman Empire.

335: The Roman Empire is divided between Constantine's sons.

337: Constantine is baptized and dies.

354-56: Germanic people invade Gaul.

362: Emperor Julian "the Apostate" restores paganism.

363: Julian dies.

364-78: Valens, Roman Emperor of the East, sides with the Arians.

ca. 360-70: The Huns invade Europe.

382: Roman Emperor Theodosius I declares heresy against Christianity as a capital crime.

391: Theodosius I prohibits pagan worship.

395: After the death of Theodosius I, the empire is permanently divided into East and West.

410: Rome is sacked.

476: The Roman Empire (Western) falls.

What was happening in Christianity?

303-4: Emperor Diocletian begins the Great Persecution.

313: The "Edict" of Milan gives Christians full toleration.

320: Constantine builds St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

323: Eusebius of Caesarea writes Ecclesiastical History.

325: The Council of Nicea, the first general council of the church, affirms the deity of Christ, sets dates for celebration, gives norms on liturgy, and formulates the Nicene Creed.

328: Athanasius of Alexandria becomes bishop in Egypt.

354: Augustine of Hippo is born.

373: Athanasius of Alexandria dies.

381: The First Council of Constantinople solidifies orthodox statements on the Persons of the Trinity; the Council affirms Cyril's orthodoxy and the validity of his consecration as bishop.

386: Augustine converts to Christianity.

ca. 395: Augustine becomes bishop of Hippo in North Africa.

397: Jerome translates the Bible into the Latin Vulgate.

398: John Chrysostom, a priest from Antioch, becomes patriarch of Constantinople.

431: The Council of Ephesus further refines the orthodox doctrine of Christ.

What was happening in the Jerusalem church?

ca. 62: James is stoned to death in Jerusalem at the instigation of the high priest.

70-73: Jews revolt against Rome. Early on the Roman army takes Jerusalem and burns the temple of Herod.

132-36: Jews are expelled from Jerusalem, which is renamed Aelia Capitolina, during the second great Jewish revolt (the Bar Kokhba Revolt) against Rome.

ca. 135: Hadrian tries to build a pagan temple to Jupiter on the Temple mount.

ca. 310: Cyril is born.

ca. 325: Helena, mother of Constantine, founds the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

326: Building begins on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

335: The Council of Jerusalem reinstates Arius, although he is considered heretical by others.

335: The Martyrium (part of the Holy Sepulcher complex) is consecrated.

ca. 330-40s: Cyril is ordained as priest in Jerusalem.

ca. 336-48: The church at Sion, the original meeting-place of the post-Easter Christian community, is built.

mid-300s: Anastasis is likely built.

ca. 350: Cyril becomes bishop of Jerusalem.

357: Acacius, bishop of Caesarea, deposes Cyril, who goes into exile.

359: The Council of Seleucia, to which Cyril had appealed, reinstates Cyril and deposes Acacius.

360: Acacius persuades the Eastern emperor Constantius to reinstate him and depose Cyril.

361: Constantius dies, and Julian recalls all banished bishops.

363: The Jews attempt to rebuild on the Temple mount with encouragement from pagan emperor Julian.

367: Valens, the new Eastern emperor, reactivates sentences imposed by Constantius; Cyril is banished a third time.

378: Gratian, successor to Valens, recalls exiled bishops.

381-84: Egeria takes her pilgrimage.

ca. 380-90s: A church is built at the Imbomon (site on the Mount of Olives outside Jerusalem where Jesus was thought to have ascended to heaven).

386 or 387: Cyril dies.

Liturgical Landscape

What liturgical worlds surrounded Jerusalem in the late fourth century? If a Jerusalem worshiper looked around, what might he or she see?

From today's viewpoint, it might appear that all worship in the early church was the same. A Jerusalem worshiper, however, would have been aware of striking differences. Generally, one region's worship differed from another's in several ways: the daily and yearly calendars, the system of Scripture readings, the interpretation of sacraments, the supplemental rites and symbols in administering the sacraments, the architecture, the language spoken, the way in which worship leaders spoke, and how the Bible was used and interpreted, among other things. In the interpretation of sacraments, for example, some churches celebrating baptism would have placed a stronger emphasis upon the death/burial/resurrection motif, whereas others would have emphasized the bestowal of the Holy Spirit, as in Jesus' baptism. Sometimes, too, the supplemental rites and symbols in sacraments could be unique to a place. A Jerusalem worshiper, for instance, would have been quite surprised by northern Italy's addition of a foot-washing during baptism. With respect to how language was used, some regions tended to be concise in their worship speech, whereas others heaped up words and phrases to honor God. Regions also tended to use distinctive phrases and images while praying.

The questions asked by a group of Armenian priests attending the dedication of the newly constructed worship spaces in 335 highlight some of the likely regional differences in the ancient church. Seeking to learn about Jerusalem's practices and appropriate them, the Armenians asked Jerusalem's bishop, Macarius, questions about baptism, the Lord's Supper, and the proper roles of various clergy in worship. Highlighting some of his church's differences, Macarius wrote out an explanation of some practices he wanted the Armenians to adopt. He instructed the Armenians to build baptistries, to give up their practice of using portable basins to baptize. Likewise, Macarius said that deacons ought to have a more limited role in administering sacraments, which would leave the major roles to priests and bishops. Macarius's letter, along with a helpful commentary, can be found in Macarius of Jerusalem: Letter to the Armenians, A.D. 335, trans. Abraham Terian (Crestwood, N.Y.: St. Vladimir's Seminary Press; New Rochelle, N.Y.: St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, 2008).

As this example indicates, a Jerusalem worshiper would have been aware of the worldwide diversity in Christian worship, especially because Jerusalem was an increasingly important pilgrimage site. And, over time, a Jerusalem worshiper might have been aware of how worship across Christianity was becoming more uniform as pilgrims brought new practices into the city and then exported practices back to their home churches. A pilgrim from certain parts of the Western church, for example, would have been surprised that Jerusalem commemorated Christ's birth on January 6, not December 25. Likewise, a Jerusalem native might have been intrigued that the Western Christian's church read from John 1 or Luke 2, rather than Matthew 2, to celebrate Christ's birth. Eventually, the West imported the January 6 feast from Jerusalem, resulting in a double Nativity celebration with an emphasis upon the Word Incarnate (John) or the shepherd-oriented birth scene (Luke) on Christmas and the coming of the Magi (Matthew) on Epiphany. On a broader basis, as can be seen subsequently in the nun Egeria's travel diary from the 380s (see "A Description of Worship" in Part Two), pilgrims could be mesmerized by how distinctly different aspects of the life of Christ and the biblical story could be commemorated in different venues because of the availability of historical places. Egeria also enthused that the Scripture readings were appropriate for the time and place, suggesting that her native church's worship was not that attentive to correlating readings and occasions. This impression was likely behind the desire in other regions to replicate both the sites (even if in reduced scale or by symbolic representation) one had experienced in Jerusalem's worship and the calendar of services on those sites. For an appraisal of this phenomenon, see Paul F. Bradshaw, "The Influence of Jerusalem on Christian Liturgy," in Jerusalem: Its Sanctity and Centrality to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, ed. Lee I. Levine (New York: Continuum, 1999), pp. 251-59.

With the proliferation of written liturgical texts during this period, one would have been able to see the emergence of families of rites, usually based in geographic regions, like Northern Italy, Spain, or Egypt. (The historian, at least, can see this; it is not clear how much the Jerusalem worshiper would have been aware of this textual phenomenon.) Worship within a region bore a "family resemblance" on the basis of related texts and the practices mentioned above. Relationships between different regional families varied. The main prayer in the Lord's Supper was often the telltale marker of one's belonging to one family of rites or another. For overviews of the different families, see Frank C. Senn, Christian Liturgy: Catholic and Evangelical (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), pp. 115-46, and the entries on liturgical traditions in The New Dictionary of Sacramental Worship, ed. Peter Fink (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1990).

The two closest regional churches, in terms of both geography and likely influence upon Jerusalem, were the churches in Syria and Egypt. Within the categories for these families of rites, scholars often place Jerusalem's worship in the West Syrian family. For analysis of the interactions between the liturgies of these regions, see John F. Baldovin, "A Lenten Sunday Lectionary in Fourth-Century Jerusalem," in Time and Community: Studies in Liturgical History and Theology, ed. J. Neil Alexander (Washington: Pastoral Press, 1990), pp. 115-22; G. J. Cuming, "Egyptian Elements in the Jerusalem Liturgy," Journal of Theological Studies 25, no. 1 (1974): 117-24; Thomas J. Talley, The Origins of the Liturgical Year (New York: Pueblo, 1986); and Bryan D. Spinks, "The Jerusalem Liturgy of the Catecheses Mystagogicae: Syrian or Egyptian?" Studia Liturgica 18, no. 2 (1989): 391-95. Lawrence J. Johnson's four-volume anthology of historical sources from the patristic period, Worship in the Early Church (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2010), provides liturgically related materials from across early Christianity.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Walking Where Jesus Walked by Lester Ruth Carrie Steenwyk John D. Witvliet Copyright © 2010 by Lester Ruth, Carrie Steenwyk, and John D. Witvliet. Excerpted by permission of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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