Christians in Jericho celebrate Christmas in their parish church (© Custodia Terrae Sanctae)
If Christians visiting the Holy Land look past the stones of holy sites and shrines they can encounter the remnants of the original communities who have worshipped at these holy places since Christianity began.
The very first Christians were residents of Palestine who recognised Jesus as their Messiah and followed him. After his Resurrection they became the original members of the Christian Church.
Descendants of these same people still live in the villages of Israel, the Palestinian Territories and Jordan. Their ancestors heard Jesus preach, saw him heal the sick, and perhaps were among the 5000 miraculously fed on loaves and fishes. Bible history happened in their back yard.
Not everyone realises this, as an Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East found during an overseas visit. A local journalist, perhaps assuming that Christianity was brought to the East by Western missionaries, asked him: “How long have you been a Christian?” The bishop, a Palestinian, replied: “My family has been Christian since the day Jesus Christ visited our village.”
Arabic is the language of the Holy Land's indigenous Christians (James Avery)
The Arabic-speaking Christians of the Holy Land form the only indigenous Christian community in the world. The heritage of these “Living Stones”, as they are often called, predates the quarried stones of holy sites and shrines.
These Christians are in Jerusalem, in Bethlehem, in Galilee and in Gaza. They tend olive trees, trade in the souks, teach in colleges, subsist in refugee camps.
Visits are welcome
For pilgrims to join the often-vibrant Christian communities of the Holy Land in worship and discussion is a welcome act of solidarity and encouragement.
Franciscan friar welcomes Armenian, Greek and Romanian Orthodox representatives to an ecumenical service (© Custodia Terrae Sanctae)
To visit the holy places without acknowledging the Christians who have lived and worshipped there from the time of the first apostles is a disappointment to these beleaguered people.
Living in a predominantly Judaeo-Muslim world, the Christians of the Holy Land continually struggle for religious identity. Economic hardship, political uncertainty, and religious and ethnic discrimination are faced daily.
Yet Western Christians largely ignore these members of the “Mother Church” of Christianity, even though their numbers are declining to an alarming level — less than 2% of the population in Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Christian congregation in Bethlehem (© Custodia Terrae Sanctae)
The struggle to lead a normal life has caused thousands of Christians to emigrate, especially from the Palestinian Territories.
More than half of all Christian Palestinians now live outside the Holy Land. The West Bank city of Bethlehem, once a Christian town, is now mostly Muslim. There are more Christians from Bethlehem living in Santiago, Chile, than in their home town where Christ was born.
Numbers are falling
At the beginning of 2010 around 7.5 million people lived in Israel and 4 million in the Palestinian Territories. Christians totalled about 200,000 — less than 2%, and their number was falling. The proportion had dropped from 13% in the early 1900s.
An unknown factor was an unrecorded number of Christians among non-Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Russia, classified as “without religion” for census purposes.
Among the 200,000, the main groupings were:
• Orthodox (predominantly Greek, with lesser numbers of Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox);
• Catholics (predominantly Melkite, with lesser numbers of Roman (Latin) and Maronite Catholics;
• Anglicans, Protestants and Evangelicals.
Village of Taybeh (Magister / Wikimedia)
One village in the West Bank, Taybeh, was entirely inhabited by Christians. An estimated 650,000 Christians of Palestinian origin lived overseas, mostly in the Americas and Western Europe.
In the other Holy Land countries:
In Jordan, Christians numbered around 300,000 (about 5% of the population, down from 30% in 1950). They included Iraqi refugees and immigrant workers. Orthodox (Syriac, Armenian, Greek) and Catholics (Melkite, Latin) were the largest groupings, with Lutheran and Anglican communities as well.
The Jordanian villages of Semakìeh, Fuhèis and Shàtana were predominantly Christian.
Christians in Egypt numbered more than 12 million in early 2010, making up about 15% of the population. Coptic Orthodox predominated, but there were also big communities of Coptic Catholic and Protestants.
Christians in Syria numbered around 1.5 million, making up about 8% of the population. Orthodox (Greek, Syriac, Armenian) predominated, then Eastern Catholics and a smaller number of Latin Catholics and Protestants.
Worship is different
Greek Orthodox altar glimpsed through iconostasis in St Gabriel's Church, Nazareth (© Ori~ / Wikimedia)
The Christian churches of the Holy Land constitute a rich mosaic of languages, liturgies, national identities and clerical dress. God is worshipped here — where Christian worship first developed — in ways that may disconcert Western pilgrims.
Interiors of church buildings are often covered with frescos and other paintings. The sanctuary around the altar is usually set apart by a screen decorated with icons (the iconostasis). Votive lamps hang in profusion.
Worship services tend to be more elaborate and prolonged than in the West, with bells, candles, incense and chanting. Singing is usually unaccompanied by musical instruments, since it is considered that only the human voice — made by God — can worthily praise him.
Cutaway description of Greek Orthodox church (© Theodoulos Gregorites / Wikimedia)
Worshippers express their personal piety by moving around to light candles, kiss icons and make their own prayers. People come and go freely during a service.
Opportunities to meet
How can Western pilgrims encounter local Christians in the Holy Land? There are many possibilities, and travel agents can often make the contacts.
The following suggestions come mainly from A Third Millennium Guide to Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, edited by Duncan Macpherson:
• Before leaving home, read about the situation of the Holy Land’s Christians.
Coptic Orthodox Eucharist in Church of the Holy Sepulchre (Seetheholyland.net)
• Request a Christian guide for your group (many Christian Palestinians depend on tourism for their livelihood).
• Worship with a Christian congregation and, if possible, stay and talk to its members afterwards.
• Ask for a meeting with a local church leader, or a speaker from a local church.
• Visit a church-sponsored educational, medical or social service institution, or a development project of a charity you support.
• Arrange to meet foreign Christians working with a church or other non-governmental organisation.
• Ask for a visit to a refugee camp, human rights centre, legal aid centre or peace organisation.
• Make your purchases in shops run by churches or which sell goods produced for development projects or co-operatives.
Maronite guest house in Jerusalem (David Lisbona)
• Stay at Christian hospices or hostels where possible.
• Talk about the situation of Christians in the Holy Land when you return home.
Finally, your travel agent or an interfaith group can arrange meetings with representatives of the other two living religions of the Holy Land, Judaism and Islam, who are working for peace, justice and reconciliation.
Churches in the Holy Land (and their origins)
Church contacts in Jerusalem
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate (and museum, open 9.30am-1pm daily), Greek Orthodox Patriarchate Road, tel. 00972-2-627-4941
Romanian Orthodox Patriarchate’s Representation, 46 Shivtei Israel Street, tel. 00972-2-626-4628 or 626-0847
Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem (Moscow Patriarchate), 6 Kheshin Street, Russian Compound, tel. 00972-2-625-2565
Russian Ecclesiastical Mission of the Russian Church Abroad, tel./fax 00972-2-628-6381
Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate, Armenian Orthodox Patriarchate Road, tel. 00972-2-628-2331
Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate, Via Dolorosa Ninth Station, tel. 00972-2-627-2645
Dabra Gannat Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Ron Almog)
Ethiopian Orthodox Patriarchate, Via Dolorosa Eighth Station, tel. 00972-2-628-2848 or 628-6871; Dabra Gannat Ethiopian Monastery, 10 Ethiopian Street, tel. +972-2-628-6871
Syriac Orthodox Patriarchate, St Mark’s Road, tel. 00972-2-628-3304 or 626-4758
Armenian Catholic Patriarchal Exarchate, 36 Via Dolorosa, Third Station, tel. 00972-2-628-4262
Chaldean Patriarchal Exarchate, 7 Chaldean Street (off Nablus Road), tel. 00972-2-628-4519
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, St Saviour’s Monastery, 1 St Francis Street, tel. 00972-2-626-6595 or 626-6777; St Saviour’s Church, tel. 00972-2-628-2868
Greek Catholic (Melkite) Patriarchal Vicariate (and museum, open 9am-1pm daily except Sunday), Greek Catholic Patriarchate Road, tel. 00972-2-628-2023 or 627-1968
Street sign for Latin Patriarchate Road (Yoav Dothan / Wikimedia)
Hebrew-speaking Catholic Vicariate, 10 Rabbi Kook Street, 00972-2-624-8255
Latin Patriarchate, Latin Patriarchate Road, tel. 00972-2-628-2323 or 627-2280
Maronite Patriarchal Exarchate, 25 Maronite Convent Road, tel. 00972-2-628-2158
Syriac Patriarchal Exarchate, 6 Chaldean Street (off Nablus Road), tel. 00972-2-628-2657 or 627-4318
ANGLICAN/PROTESTANT/EVANGELICAL
Christian and Missionary Alliance, 55 Haneviim Street, tel. 00972-2-625-4669 or 623-4804
Church of God (Pentecostal), Mount of Olives near Commodore Hotel, tel. 00972-2-627-3899
Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, St George’s Cathedral, 20 Nablus Road, tel. 00972-2-627-1670 or 627-2133; Christ Church, Jaffa Gate, 00972-2-627-7727 or 627-7729
Steeple of Lutheran Church of the Redeemer (Seetheholyland.net)
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Jordan and the Holy Land (Church of the Redeemer), Muristan Road, tel. 00972-2-626-6800; English-speaking congregation, 00972-2-627-6111 or 628-1049
King of Kings Assembly, 24 Ben Maimon Street, tel. 00972-2-561-0017
St Andrew’s Scots Memorial Church (Presbyterian), Harakevet Street, tel. 00972-2-673-2401
Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 4 Abraham Lincoln Street, tel. 00972-2-625-1547
Southern Baptist Convention, 4 Narkis Street, tel. 00972-2-625-5942 or 623-1680
JEWISH CHRISTIANS
Hebrew Christians/Messianic Jews: contact Caspari Centre, 36 Jaffa Road, tel. 00972-2-623-3926
PHOTO CREDITS: Where the images above are not created by Seetheholyland.net, links to the sources can be found on our Attributions Page.
