Did Jesus play cricket?
Armenian Jerusalem
Jerusalem, 2007
Strands
of
gold
entwined
with
copper,
wrapped
in
the
folds
of
a
towering
wall,
the
scent
of
pines
carried
on
the
breeze
at
twilight,
the
sound
of
bells
punctuating the slumber of tree and stone.
Lying
in
proud
solitude,
its
mountain
air
as
clear
as
wine, its name scorching like the kiss of a seraph.
We
are
looking
down
on
the
little
town
of
Jerusalem,
city
of
gold,
of
which
the
poets
and
troubadours
never
tire
of
singing
-
Israel‚
Ofra
Haza
calls
it
“
Yerushalaym
shel
zahav
”‚
(Jerusalem
of
Gold)
and
Lebanon‚
Fayrouz
“
zahratul
madaen
”‚
(flower of the cities).
Celebrating Jerusalem on film
Easter in Jerusalem: renewing the faith
Ii
is
Good
Friday
in
Jerusalem,
and
and
the
Old
City
has
shaken
off
its
lackadaisical
torpor
in tune with the growing excitement.
Thousands
of
pilgrims,
from
all
parts
of
the
world,
some
for
the
first
time
ever,
have
congregated
in
the
city.
The
intensity
of
religious
fever
is
so
palpable,
one
wonders
if
this
is
a
manifestation
of
the
eschatological
longings that drives the throngs,
it
is
as
if
they
expect
the
Messiah
to
make
his
entrance.
Will
he,
according
to
local
legend,
enter
the
city
through
the
twin-arched
Golden
Gate
(or
the
Gates
of
Mercy),
which
has
been
blocked
now
for
centuries?
It
will
not
be
a
tip-toe
through
the
tulips,
more
a
shuffle
through
the
mounds
of
graves
lining
the
approach to the gate.
For
a
true,
believing
Christian,
Easter
is
the
most
meaningful
time
to
visit
Jerusalem,
the
city
where
Jesus
the
Son
of
Man
lived
and
taught
and
suffered,
died
and
rose
again
in
triumph.
At
any
other
time,
the
city
lies
warily
somnolent
amid
the
political
turmoil
gripping
the
Holy
Land,
playing
gotcha
with
the
coy
phantom
of
peace
-
the
luxury
and
the
longing
of
every
single
person
living
in
the
Old
City
(and
of
people
of
goodwill
around
the
world)
In
631
CE,
the
Caliph
Omar
Ibnul
Khattab
conquered
Jerusalem.
Flanked
by
his
generals,
he
marched
to
the
Church
of
the
Holy
Sepulcher,
the
placed
considered
the
most
sacred
by
his
enemies, the Franks.
He
gazed
in
awe
at
the
church,
but
when
his
entourage
urged
him
to
enter
the
building
and
pray
there,
he
told
them
no.
Rather,
he
said,
pray
where
this
stone
drops.
And
he
picked
up
a
stone
and
threw
it
as
far
as
he
could,
away
from
the church.
Moslem
armies
were
once
again
at
the
gates
of
Jerusalem,
when
Salah
ud
din
(Saladin)
overran
it
in
1187.
In
a
bid
to
ensure
fraternity
and
peaceful
co-existence
between
his
Moslem
and
Christian
subjects,
he
established
a
protocol,
still
adhered
to
today,
whereby
the
custody
of
the
keys
to
the
Holy
Sepulchre
is
entrusted to Moslems.
Cricket
is
supposed
to
have
originated
some
300
years
ago
in
England,
but
it
is
just
possible
that
the
game
zealously
followed
all
over
the
British
Commonwealth, is older than currently thought.
The
story,
told
by
the
distinguished
kaghakatsi
Armenian
professor
Dr
Abraham
Terian,
was
first
released
online
by
the
Australian
Associated
Press,
and
has
been
picked
up
around
the
world,
with
both
the
reverent
and
irreverent,
having
a
field
day
with
the intriguing revelation.
The
Church
of
the
Holy
Sepulcher,
the
traditional
site
of
the
tomb
of
Jesus
of
Nazareth,
and
regarded
by
many
as
the
holiest
relic
in
the
whole
of
Christendom,
has
once
again
become
the
unwelcome
theater
of
an
unsightly
brawl
between
two
brotherly
Christian
denominations.
Though
not
a
stranger
to
such
flagrant
eruptions,
the
extent
of
the
violence
this
time
repelled
every
one
who
witnessed
the
drama
as
graphically
captured
videos streamed it on world TV.
News Headlines
“Who remembers the Armenians?" Hitler once
taunted.History has made a mockery of his
infamous claim, for who does not remember and
mourn the destruction of a million and a half
innocent Armenians a century ago?
Middle Eastern food aims, quite blatantly, at
titillating the palate. None of this junk or fast
food nonsense. People there have all the time in
the world for their cooking.
A thousand years ago, a monk in a distant
monastery in the western Armenian province of
Reshdunik, picked up a reed pen and began
etching out what would later become known as
the first great Armenian mystic and liturgical
poetry.
The Three Guardians of the Holy Places (the
Greek and Armenian Orthodox Patriarchates and
the Franciscan Custodia) have pledged to begin
renovating the tomb of Jesus (the Edicule) in the
Holy Sepulchre church, at an estimated cost of
3m Euros. The work is expected to start within a
few weeks and take up to 8 months to complete.
The Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem has
completed partial structural restoration at our
magnificent Cathedral of St James with the
intention of pursuing a fullscale restoration at
some future date. In order to accomplish this
immensely important undertaking, the
Patriarchate has launched appeal for help and
support from Armenians all over the world.
Thousands converge on city
Custodians of the keys: Moslem families
Holy Sepulcher:
perpetual conflict?
Harout
Kahvedjian
has
just
published
an
English
version
of
his
father's
autobiography,
entitled
"From
the
Red
Desert
to
Jerusalem",
detailing
his
life
as
a
survivor
of
the
Armenian
genocide.
Harout
is
arriving
in
Glendale,
California,
where
a
sizable
Armenian
community
makes
its
home,
for
the
book
signing
on
December
6,
2014.
Jerry
Tutunjian,
who
has
written
a
brief
preview
about
the
book,
will
be
there
with
him.
A
legend
in
his
time,
the
mild-mannered
Armenian
photographer
of
Jerusalem,
survived
a
horrendous
ordeal
of
starvation,
torture
and
genocide,
and
run
in
with
nefarious
cannibals,
by
dint
of
sheer
guts,
determination
and
luck,
to
leave
an
indelible
imprint
on
the
cultural
history
of
the
Holy
City.
Until
today,
his
odyssey
from
the
killing
fields
of
Urfa,
the
erstwhile
mystical
outpost
on
the
ancient
Silk
Road,
through
the
death
marches
in
the
desert
of
Syria
that
became
drenched
in
Armenian
blood,
to
eventual
sanctuary
in
Jerusalem,
had
been
available
told
only
in
Armenian
in
a
book
published in Yerevan, Armenia, in 1995
Timely tribute to genocide survivor
