Er Ram (Ramah)

Birthplace of Samuel and an important stop on his judicial and priestly Circuit.

19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her; 20 and in due time Hannah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Samuel, for she said, “I have asked him of the Lord.”

The Revised Standard Version, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.) 1973, 1977.

This church and garden are built around the site of Jesus' prayer, the disciples' weariness and the approach of Judas with a troop of Roman soldiers on the night of his arrest. It is yet another site first identified in the fourth century AD - a church edifice is attested to by the writings of Egreria -which building follows a somewhat familiar pattern: rebuilt by the Crusaders after destruction at the hands of the eighth century earthquake that hit most of the country, abandoned some time in the fourteenth century and, after a gap of six hundred years, adorned with a new church building in 1924.

The Basilica of the Agonies, a name designed to evoke the memory of Jesus sweating tears of blood whilst contemplating his crucifixion, is a masterpiece of atmosphere. The heavy splendour of gold tesserae, only just revealed by the little light coming in through the alabaster windows, places one in a position of being acutely aware of the misery of this world whilst being shown just a glimpse of the next.

32 And they went to a place which was called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.” 33 And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch.” 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

The Revised Standard Version, (New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.) 1973, 1977.