Reminiscence from the Levant: Part Twenty Four – A road to Truth
The Nativity Church is magical… it is the oldest church in the world… and the very fact that you are in the vicinity of a place where Jesus was born… captivates your imagination and mesmerizes you beyond words…
Birth place of Jesus, the apostle of peace… is however marked with unusual amount of violence… the first church made by Constantine was destroyed… the second church was all but destroyed by Persians… the church has been a testimony to a tumultuous history. In recent times, it has been a mute witness to the longest drawn human struggle on the face of earth. As late as in year 2002… the town of Bethlehem was seized by the Israeli forces to flush out the "militants". The ironies of history cannot be more ironical.
Traditions say that Jesus was born in a cave…
"In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the rumor is in those places, and among foreigners of the Faith, that indeed Jesus was born in this cave who is worshipped and reverenced by the Christians."
The Grotto of Nativity was built around this cave… a flight of staircases and alleyways takes you to the spot where Jesus was born… however; when I went there… the door leading to that spot was closed… I covered all the way to that sacred spot, all but a couple of steps. When I was born in the distant land of India… I never did imagine that I will visit this place… one, it never occurred to me… after all I wasn’t a Christian… two, it was too distant… and three Bethlehem-Palestine-Israel always evoked an unpleasant picture… of dead corpses, of flying bullets and lives threatened. Today when I was visiting this place… I was numb with a sense of achievement.
Above this grotto there are two churches… the Greek Orthodox Church of Nativity and the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Catherine. And it is an amazing contrast. One look at the two churches and it seems that we are seeing shrines of two different religions.
Until I came to this region, I used to consider Christianity as a monolithic religion. Only the Roman Catholic version existed for me. But then my perception started changing… there were two Christmases on 25 December and 7 January. There were two different views on the holiness of Christ, two ways to reach Christ the Lord… I came to know of a history of bloodshed between Orthodoxy and Catholics (well I always knew about the clashes between the Catholics and Protestants and how they fought a hundred year war in Europe… but I didn’t know much about the Orthodox Church)
The Greek Orthodox Church is beautiful… a hallway with huge pillars leading to a beautifully decorated sanctuary… this was the original church. With time came up the Roman Catholic Church… which is more contemporary in styling… much more activity happens in the precincts of this church. I saw a group of Koreans being sermonized by an Indian priest. I met this Indian Priest… he was from a place in southern Karnataka. He was happy to see me and blessed me.
One of the more thought-provoking books that I have read is a book called "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran. Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese Maronite Christian, who migrated to USA and wrote beautiful pieces in Arabic… he introduced the Arabic, Arabic culture and oriental philosophy to the Americans. In one of the chapter called Self Knowledge (I am not sure, I read it about 10 years ago)… the Prophet tells his disciples- Don’t say, you have found the way to truth… say you have found a way to truth… truth is not reached through a line… but it unfolds like a lotus with countless petals… Today when we flip through the painful pages of history… this church provides a fine example of peace, and of portending dangers.
A word more about Kahlil Gibran and "The Prophet"… Kahlil was a Christian, he used to write in language which is the spiritual language of Muslims… but his teachings were essentially Bahai in nature. When I first read the book, I was drawn towards Bahai teaching… I went to Lotus Temple in New Delhi to enquire more about the religion… though, what turned me off was the aggressive nature of the proponents of Bahai in convincing me that IT was the true religion!!!!
A couple of steps ahead from the Church of Nativity is the Grotto of the Milk. It is a very beautiful church. According to the traditions… when Mary and infant Jesus were hiding from Herod's soldier in this cave… then a drop of milk from Mary's breast fell on the walls of the cave… the entire cave turned white… and the scrapings of the wall acquired magical properties. Even today, people come from places far and wide to see the place and take some scraping from the wall to cure illnesses. I was lucky to see a prayer session being done by a group of nuns in the Church.
The entire experience in Bethlehem was ethereal. I started wondering… if its so for me… then how it would be for a Christian. Upon realizing this… I bought some memoirs from Bethlehem for some Christian friends of mine back in Cairo, both Copt and Catholic. I still remember the rush of joy I saw in each one's eyes when I handed over those small gifts, from their holy land…
Copts in Egypt suffer the most from this ongoing standoff between Arab and Israel. They are not allowed to visit the holiest place for them… sometime voluntarily and sometime forcefully. Same goes for some Muslims, who have a strong desire to visit the third holiest mosque and yet they are not able to visit it. Faith is the biggest sufferer in this battle of faith. And this suffering echoes the past, and affects the future.
I returned to the separating wall after seeing the place… I crossed over and was in a state of stupor… till a harsh voice said something to me.
Birth place of Jesus, the apostle of peace… is however marked with unusual amount of violence… the first church made by Constantine was destroyed… the second church was all but destroyed by Persians… the church has been a testimony to a tumultuous history. In recent times, it has been a mute witness to the longest drawn human struggle on the face of earth. As late as in year 2002… the town of Bethlehem was seized by the Israeli forces to flush out the "militants". The ironies of history cannot be more ironical.
Traditions say that Jesus was born in a cave…
"In Bethlehem the cave is pointed out where He was born, and the manger in the cave where He was wrapped in swaddling clothes. And the rumor is in those places, and among foreigners of the Faith, that indeed Jesus was born in this cave who is worshipped and reverenced by the Christians."
The Grotto of Nativity was built around this cave… a flight of staircases and alleyways takes you to the spot where Jesus was born… however; when I went there… the door leading to that spot was closed… I covered all the way to that sacred spot, all but a couple of steps. When I was born in the distant land of India… I never did imagine that I will visit this place… one, it never occurred to me… after all I wasn’t a Christian… two, it was too distant… and three Bethlehem-Palestine-Israel always evoked an unpleasant picture… of dead corpses, of flying bullets and lives threatened. Today when I was visiting this place… I was numb with a sense of achievement.
Above this grotto there are two churches… the Greek Orthodox Church of Nativity and the Roman Catholic Church of Saint Catherine. And it is an amazing contrast. One look at the two churches and it seems that we are seeing shrines of two different religions.
Until I came to this region, I used to consider Christianity as a monolithic religion. Only the Roman Catholic version existed for me. But then my perception started changing… there were two Christmases on 25 December and 7 January. There were two different views on the holiness of Christ, two ways to reach Christ the Lord… I came to know of a history of bloodshed between Orthodoxy and Catholics (well I always knew about the clashes between the Catholics and Protestants and how they fought a hundred year war in Europe… but I didn’t know much about the Orthodox Church)
The Greek Orthodox Church is beautiful… a hallway with huge pillars leading to a beautifully decorated sanctuary… this was the original church. With time came up the Roman Catholic Church… which is more contemporary in styling… much more activity happens in the precincts of this church. I saw a group of Koreans being sermonized by an Indian priest. I met this Indian Priest… he was from a place in southern Karnataka. He was happy to see me and blessed me.
One of the more thought-provoking books that I have read is a book called "The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran. Kahlil Gibran was a Lebanese Maronite Christian, who migrated to USA and wrote beautiful pieces in Arabic… he introduced the Arabic, Arabic culture and oriental philosophy to the Americans. In one of the chapter called Self Knowledge (I am not sure, I read it about 10 years ago)… the Prophet tells his disciples- Don’t say, you have found the way to truth… say you have found a way to truth… truth is not reached through a line… but it unfolds like a lotus with countless petals… Today when we flip through the painful pages of history… this church provides a fine example of peace, and of portending dangers.
A word more about Kahlil Gibran and "The Prophet"… Kahlil was a Christian, he used to write in language which is the spiritual language of Muslims… but his teachings were essentially Bahai in nature. When I first read the book, I was drawn towards Bahai teaching… I went to Lotus Temple in New Delhi to enquire more about the religion… though, what turned me off was the aggressive nature of the proponents of Bahai in convincing me that IT was the true religion!!!!
A couple of steps ahead from the Church of Nativity is the Grotto of the Milk. It is a very beautiful church. According to the traditions… when Mary and infant Jesus were hiding from Herod's soldier in this cave… then a drop of milk from Mary's breast fell on the walls of the cave… the entire cave turned white… and the scrapings of the wall acquired magical properties. Even today, people come from places far and wide to see the place and take some scraping from the wall to cure illnesses. I was lucky to see a prayer session being done by a group of nuns in the Church.
The entire experience in Bethlehem was ethereal. I started wondering… if its so for me… then how it would be for a Christian. Upon realizing this… I bought some memoirs from Bethlehem for some Christian friends of mine back in Cairo, both Copt and Catholic. I still remember the rush of joy I saw in each one's eyes when I handed over those small gifts, from their holy land…
Copts in Egypt suffer the most from this ongoing standoff between Arab and Israel. They are not allowed to visit the holiest place for them… sometime voluntarily and sometime forcefully. Same goes for some Muslims, who have a strong desire to visit the third holiest mosque and yet they are not able to visit it. Faith is the biggest sufferer in this battle of faith. And this suffering echoes the past, and affects the future.
I returned to the separating wall after seeing the place… I crossed over and was in a state of stupor… till a harsh voice said something to me.
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