Гефсимания

The name of Gethsemane, or the Garden of Gethsemane, is associated with sacred and deeply moving memories of the Christian heart about sad and solemn events in the life of the Savior and His Most Pure Mother. This place in general was Christ’s favorite place, where He retired for a solitary conversation with His disciples and for prayer (“according to custom” Luke 22:39; “Jesus gathered in large numbers with His disciples” John 18:2). Here, at the foot of the holy city, in the shade of olive trees, in deep silence, in loneliness and mortal melancholy, the Savior of the world spent His last night on earth - a night of unspeakable mental suffering and prayer to the Father until he sweated blood. Here on this night, abandoned by friends, He was betrayed by the kiss of a disciple to the enemies and captured by them to be condemned to death. Captured by such great events from the life of the Savior, this place, according to legend, became a favorite place of visits and prayer for His Most Pure Mother. Here She again and again experienced with Her soul those events from the life of Her Divine Son, which, like a sword, pierced Her soul. Here She rested in the sleep of death and found Her temporary peace. One might think that it was not for nothing that Christ chose Gethsemane as a place for His solitude and rest; Probably, in ancient times, it really provided all the comforts and charms for solitary conversation and prayer. The very name of Gethsemane (from the Hebrew %I [Minmsh Tn get shemanim - place for squeezing out oil, oil mill) indicates that there were many olive trees here, that it was a large garden. It was located in the eastern part of Jerusalem at the foot of the Mount of Olives beyond the Valley of Jehoshaphat. There is a legend that Gethsemane belonged to the priests and that herds of sacrificial animals grazed in it. Not far from the garden flowed the Kidron Stream (now defunct, only the remains of the riverbed have survived). The location of Gethsemane is indicated approximately where, judging by the Gospels, it was located at the time of Christ, i.e. on the eastern side of Jerusalem opposite the Mount of Olives. And now there are many olive trees growing here on the slopes of the mountain and in the valley. Catholics surrounded several (eight) of these old trees with an iron fence, considering them to be those under which the Savior prayed and suffered. Of course, this cannot be stated with certainty because, as is known, Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem, ordered the cutting down of all the trees in its vicinity, and those that subsequently grew in place of the previous ones could be destroyed during numerous sieges of the city. The entire present Garden of Gethsemane is in the shape of an irregular quadrangle, about 100 feet long and about 15 feet wide. Almost in the middle there are eight olive trees fenced by Catholics. These trees are apparently very ancient: their trunks are cracked and covered with stones; their branches, growing from powerful trunks, look like thin rods. One of these trees reaches 19 feet in circumference. The entire garden is divided into flower beds. Roses, carnations and other flowers grow in the beds. There are also several young olive trees and cypresses 11. There is a circular passage between the iron (lattice) fence of the garden and the outer stone wall. On the inside of the wall there are fourteen paintings under showcases, depicting the same number of stations of the Savior on the Way of the Cross. Not far from present-day Gethsemane, in different places there are monuments commemorating certain events of the Gethsemane night of the Savior or the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At the very foot of the Mount of Olives, pilgrims are shown three stones, on which, according to legend, the Savior’s three closest disciples (Peter, James and John) spent the night on the night of his betrayal; to the south of these stones is a place of prayer for the chalice. Much further (on the right, western side of Kidron) they show a cave in which, according to some legends, the Savior left most of His disciples after the Last Supper. To the east of this cave, above it, a stone is indicated. Thomas, in which the Mother of God appeared to him after her Assumption. Here is also the stone of the Mother of God, from which, according to legend, She looked at the stoning of the first martyr Stephen. But the most important monument to the great and sacred events that once took place in Gethsemane is the burial cave, or chapel of the tomb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This chapel, erected over the place where, according to legend, the Most Holy Theotokos was buried by the apostles, is located on the western (right) side of the ancient Kidron, 55 steps east of the bridge thrown over the former bed of this stream. The chapel itself, or cave, is almost entirely underground. Outside, on a square platform, about 5 fathoms long and wide, rises the stone facade (pediment) of the cave, among which there is a portal with a beautiful pointed arch resting on four marble columns; There is a wall with a small door built into the portal. A wide marble staircase with three turns (staircase width 19 feet) with 47 steps leads from the entrance to a depth of 35 feet 12. There is no lighting in the corridor leading to the cave; only the light from outside dimly illuminates the path. Almost halfway into the cave, on the sides of the corridor there are two recesses. In the right, eastern, recess there are two stone beds, which now serve as thrones: these, according to legend, are the ancient tombs of the parents of the Mother of God - to the east is the tomb of the rights. Iaokima, to the north - right. Anna. On the left, western side of the corridor, in a recess, there is the throne of St. Joseph the Betrothed, who according to legend served as his tomb. The cave itself, about 93 feet long and 21 feet wide, is dark. The cave is an oblong artificially made grotto, stretching in a direction perpendicular to the entrance corridor, i.e. from west to east. To the right of the entrance to the cave is the main shrine - the tomb of the Mother of God. It is also carved into natural rock, like the tomb of the Savior. Subsequently, the rock was cut around and crowned with a dome; so at present the tomb of the Mother of God is like a chapel - a cuvuklia. On the coffin lies a white marble slab, which serves as a throne for Orthodox and Armenians. Many unquenchable lamps burn above him, dispelling the darkness of the cave. The entire cave is hung with silk fabrics. To the left of the entrance to the chapel of the tomb of the Mother of God there is a throne belonging to the Armenians; and to the right near it there is even a prayer niche for Muslims, who in former times took part in the veneration of this shrine. There is another throne to the east behind the chapel of the tomb of the Virgin Mary, belonging to the Greeks, and at the western end of the cave there is a throne of the Abyssinians 13. Inside the event (in patristic light) Each person enters this world with certain inclinations, which, one might say, predetermine both his life and his death. The death of a person is the result of these natural traits. If you asked over the tomb of the Mother of God what was the main feature of this highest personality, you would have to answer, in the opinion of St. Demetrius of Rostov that it was virginity. “From Her youth She ascended to God the Holy Spirit with virgin purity, becoming the living Church and His animated church.” According to St. Ambrose, “She was a virgin not only in body, but also in Her spirit.” “The Virgin was a body, keeping the color of Her purity incorruptible; The virgin was also in spirit, never thinking about marriage.” To the priests who wanted to marry Her off upon reaching adulthood, “She answered: “I was given by my parents from the shrouds to God alone, and therefore I promised to observe My virginity forever; it is impossible for Me to be married to a mortal man, and nothing can force Me into marriage, the Virgin of the immortal God.” Another feature of the Mother of God was humility: even “the disciples of Christ needed to appeal to humble adolescence (Matthew 18:3), because they began to ascend in their minds: some ask to sit on the right hand and left of Christ in His kingdom, while others think about who is the greatest among them - they are looking for leadership. She was constantly humble from Her infancy.” The third feature of the Blessed Virgin, according to St. Demetrius of Rostov, there was love for God. “How the Most Pure Virgin loved God, no language can tell, no mind can comprehend. Love is a mystery - one of the unknown secrets of the heart, known only to God himself, who tests hearts and wombs... Humanly, we could say that the Most Pure Virgin loved God as much as one of us loves his parents, or his friend of the same flesh in marriage, or his only son; But among people, heartfelt love is divided into parts: someone loves a parent especially, a friend especially, and a son especially. And in the Blessed Virgin, love could not be divided into parts. The One She loved was Her Father, her only Son, and her incorruptible Bridegroom. All Her complete love was in one God, which is why She was called both the bride of the Holy Spirit and the mother of God the Son, and the daughter of God the Father.” “After the crime of Adam, the Word of God did not quickly come to earth for the incarnation and salvation of the fallen human race, even until half the sixth thousand years,” because “there was not a single virgin on earth who was pure not only in body, but also in spirit” (St. Demetrius of Rostov). “The King of all things desired the mysterious beauty of the Ever-Virgin, as David predicted, and the incarnate Power of the Almighty entered into Her. The power of the Most High overshadowed the all-pure and virgin womb. And since the overshadowing usually gives birth to its own image and imparts to the overshadowed its own appearance, then what was formed from both was the incarnate Word of God” (St. Gregory Palamas). “She gave birth without illness; Her departure is also painless. “The death of sinners is cruel” (Ps. 33:22), but what can we say about the One who killed the sting of death - sin? (Venerable John of Damascus). “Let us remember Elijah and Enoch, who, being outside the flesh and the world, were caught up, one in a chariot, and the other in the air, their members were not divided or destroyed. But the limit of their life, set by Providence, continues to this day” (St. Andrew of Crete). But “did anyone ever know such a relocation as the Mother of the Lord was honored with?” (Venerable Theodore the Studite). If in general a person’s earthly life is a preparation for eternal life, if the beginnings of this latter are revealed in him before death, then all this is especially applicable to the Mother of God. By all the circumstances and the entire environment of Her life, She prepared for eternity more than others. But a special moral upsurge in Her was to occur after the resurrection and ascension of Her Divine Son to Heaven. “Upon the ascension into heaven of the Incarnate One from Her, She, according to the greatness delivered to Her from Him, surpassing mind and words, seemed to compete with Him with diverse deeds and prayers, as well as care for the world, encouragement of preachers in all corners of the earth; and in general, for everyone She was the only support and consolation, contributing in every possible way to the gospel of the Gospel” (St. Gregory Palamas). “The Most Holy Mother of God foresaw, as it should have, the time of Her transfiguration. For who would not attribute this to the Mother of God and the Chief of the Prophets more than to any prophet?” (Venerable Theodore the Studite). In anticipation of death, She could not help but desire for the last time to see the apostles so close to Her in their memories of the Son and in the tasks of their entire lives. “Let the preachers and servants of Your Gospel, scattered to the ends of the earth, appear for My consolation,” She had to pray to the Son (Venerable Theodore the Studite). To this prayer the Divine Son could answer: “(Indeed), is it not fitting for You to be buried by others, and not by My apostles, in whom the Holy Spirit lives, who will replace My face at Your honorable burial, All-Immaculate One” (St. Herman). When the desire of the Repentant One was fulfilled, when She saw the apostles near Her bed, She exclaimed: “May it be glory and greatness for Me in all the languages ​​of the earth that He has gathered to Me the foundations of the Church, the princes of the universe, the glorious servants of My burial. O gift of Filial love! The sky, containing the luminaries of the world, opens, bringing me mysteries and priests” (Venerable Theodore the Studite). “Buried by you, His disciples, I will be buried by the hands of My Son Himself” (St. Herman). “So, the self-seers and servants of the Word arrived in order to serve His Mother out of duty and receive a blessing from Her, as an honorable and dear inheritance. The God-chosen order of the Jerusalemites also appeared: it was necessary that the branches of the ancient patriarchs, who foreshadowed the carnal birth of the Word of God, take part in the burial” (St. John of Damascus). The feelings of the Mother of God at the very moment of the death of St. the fathers imagine her having approximately the following conversation with the Son: “Stretch out your Divine hands and receive the soul of the mother, You, who on the cross gave up the spirit into the hands of the Father. Accept My loving soul, which You have kept innocent. To you, and not to the earth, I commit My body: keep this body intact, in which You deigned to dwell and which You preserved virgin at birth” (Venerable John of Damascus). “Entrust Your body to Me, for I also have committed My Divinity to Your womb.” “Boldly lay Your body in the vale of Gethsemane, where I, before human suffering, knelt My body in prayer. Just as I then, after kneeling, went to My life-giving and free death on the cross, so You, after the disposition of Your remains, will immediately be transferred to life” (St. Herman). “If a soul that has the grace of God, leaving earthly things, ascends to heaven, as has become clear from many examples, and we believe this; then how could it not have been ascended from earth to heaven by a body that not only received into itself this Only Begotten and Eternal Son of God, an inexhaustible source of grace, but also gave birth and revealed Him?” (St. Gregory Palamas). After all, “from Her body was formed the unarmed Master’s saving body” (St. Andrew of Crete). Following the Reposed One to heaven, we hear there, first of all, the words of the Son addressed to Her: “You have given Me (flesh) from Yourself, so participate with Me in all My things” (Venerable John of Damascus). “She entered into the heavenly palace, who became a glorious palace in the hypostatic union of the natures of Christ, the true heavenly Bridegroom, to whom all the holy powers of heaven are inferior in supernatural beauty,” Who “having matured, was united with the Orthodox Church, as the great (concerning the Divine) Paul says: “This mystery is great; I say in Christ and to church "" (St. Modest of Jerusalem). “You inherited the title of Theotokos not because our ears heard it from the narrative of Scripture, and not because our fathers announced it to us; but because the work You have done for us is true and not false, and proves that You are the Mother of God” (St. Herman). “She who contains the One who fills everything and the Existing One above all, has herself achieved everything and has become above all with Her virtues and the height of her dignity. And therefore, the fact that from time immemorial all the best individuals have been helped to become the best and that only angels and people blessed by God (each individually) have - She combines all this in Herself, and only one thing is unspeakably abundant in all. The sweetest heaven of the divine and the most beautiful of the whole world, visible and invisible, She rightfully became not only close, but also at the right hand of God (Ps. 44:10, Song 6:3, cf. Is. 6:2); for where Christ sat in heaven, there She now also stands... She is the repository and owner of the wealth of the Divine.” From Ps. 44 it is clear that “all creation glorifies this Virgin Mother, and not for a certain time, but forever and ever” (St. Gregory Palamas). Such is the glory of the Most Holy Theotokos in heaven after her repose. Equally great is Her bliss there. “She achieved the truth of the Joy of all, Which she inexpressibly gave birth to in our nature - Joy by nature existing by God from God, born before the ages, who in the last days appeared through Her on earth and filled the heavenly and earthly with joy and stopped the sadness of Eve” (St. Modest). “Thy divine soul shall see the glory of the Father; Your immaculate body will see the glory of His Only Begotten Son; Your undefiled spirit will see the greatness of the Holy Spirit” (St. Herman). “The Sun of Glory not only sheds the light of bliss on Her, but even enters Her, and thus encloses this entire multi-flowing source of light, so that the blessed face of the Blessed Virgin casts rays from itself, like the second sun of glory, intensifying the light of a non-evening day. Understand the difference between the bliss that all the spirits of other righteous people enjoy, and that which the Mother of God Mary rejoices in: they partly perceive the light of divine glory, and She is the whole sun of glory. They received grace here in part and, according to the measure of grace, enjoy glory there; She is there the abode of all glory, as here she was the abode of all grace. She was here, as the archangel called Her, grace-filled, i.e. had the fullness of divine grace. The Theologian also says this: “To each of the chosen ones grace is given in part, to the Virgin the fullness of grace”” (Elijah Minyaty, Bishop of Cephalonite). Having given so much to the Mother of God Herself, her repose into heaven gave no less to the whole world, to all of us. With the Dormition, the opportunity for powerful intercession for the world opened up for Her. “Like living in this world,” says St., turning to the Mother of God. Herman, “You were not a stranger to the heavenly abodes, and after your departure You did not withdraw from communication with people, since You appeared as the heaven of the Most High God through Your capacious womb for carrying Him and became spiritual earth for Him through the capacious service of His flesh, so from here it is easy for us to conclude that as you lived on earth, You were constantly with God, and having departed from human life, you did not leave those who exist in the world.” In the mouth of the Savior St. Herman puts the following appeal to the Mother of God: “Just as I, not being from the world, with merciful eyes see those who are in the world and control them, so Your intercession will not be taken away from the world until its end.” Apostles, according to St. Herman, they had to say to the reposed Mother of God: “Since during the days of our wanderings in this world we were not consoled, looking at You, Mother of God, as at Christ Himself, we are perplexed about Your repose. But since You are called by both the divine command and the carnal attraction of your mother to go to God, we rejoice both in what is fittingly fulfilled over You and in what will follow: for we receive in You as a guarantee of eternal life and find in You an intercessor to God. And it would not be fitting for the Mother of God to live among an obstinate and corrupt race.” Christ “is the full embodiment of spiritual gifts, being, however, inconceivable for everyone except Her... She is the repository and owner of the wealth of the Divine. She is the head and perfection of every holy thing... You have become a repository and vessel of gifts, however, not in such a way that you hold them in Yourself, but in such a way that you fill everyone with the gifts of grace” (St. Gregory Palamas). “Imagine that everyone, monks, priests, bishops, and patriarchs, perform common service and prayer; Moreover, all the saints of paradise, the entire face of the prophets and apostles, the entire multitude of ascetics, martyrs and virgins, all the ranks of blessed angels fall before the throne of the majesty of God to ask for mercy and forgiveness for us. Much more than all this intercession of the earthly and heavenly Church can be done by one single word of the Mother of God.” “If God listens to the prayers of other saints, this is His mercy, because He is the Lord of the saints; and if he listens to the prayers of the Virgin Mother, then this is His duty; for He is the son of the Virgin. God gave the law that the son should honor his mother; and since God took flesh from the Mother, He has been subject to His own law. This is how George of Nicomedia speaks about this in words addressed to the Virgin herself: “The Creator, considering Your glory as His own, as if paying a debt, fulfills Your requests”” (Elijah Minyaty, Bishop of Cephalonite). Being of such immeasurable significance in all respects, the event of the Dormition of the Mother of God gives a lot to believers just by the mere memory of it, by the holiday in honor of it. “If “the death of the saints is honorable” (Ps. 115:6) and “the memory of the righteous is with praise” (Proverbs 10:7), then how much more so is the memory of the Most Holy of Holies, through Whom all sanctification is given to the saints” (St. Gregory Palamas). “For those who piously honor Your memory, the precious gift of remembrance of You is truly sufficient, for it gives inalienable joy” (St. John of Damascus). “Now in the flesh, Who gave birth to Wisdom offers Her whole self, as it were, as a prepared, secret and heavenly meal in a sumptuous feast, wisely, mentally, to those who partake of the Divine. She shows from Herself what a church of wisdom She is and represents from Herself a kind of holy meal. This meal is so great that it bore (by sight) in its belly the entire Bread of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, this eternal life, Who leads to new life and makes God-like those who sacredly come to Him, makes immortal those who, by communion with Him and the commanded communion, are truly assimilated to Him. This is what those who love are invited to and through which that exalted and ineffable life stands, higher than which there is nothing in visible creation, through which, in an ineffable sight, for the sake of mercy and mercy towards people, the Lord of all wanted to descend to our poverty and “partake of flesh and blood” (Heb. 2:14)” (St. Andrew of Crete). What has been said, of course, does not exhaust the internal side of the event and its entire significance for us. “Her ascent is surrounded by clouds in vision. (So) a certain spiritual darkness covers the revelation of everything in words about Her, not allowing us to clearly express the hidden understanding of the sacrament” (St. Andrew of Crete). “And since it is not typical to talk about what is above words, then love for the Mother of God should be sanctified primarily through hymns” (St. Gregory Palamas) 14. The site now called Gethsemane was probably identified during the stay of Empress Helena in Jerusalem in 326. This garden was once larger than it is now and contained several churches and chapels. In the Middle Ages, the place where Christ was taken was marked by the so-called chapel of the “Bloody Sweat,” and in general, from the 4th century, the legends about all places in connection with the last hours of the Lord’s life did not undergo any significant changes, and the Garden of Olives was preserved in the same form (Dr. K. Geiki. The Holy Land and the Bible, St. Petersburg, 1894, pp. 583–584). The beautiful decoration of the marble steps, columns, and arches is very interesting, and exists in this form thanks to the generosity of Queen Milisinda, or Millicent (wife of the fourth King of Jerusalem, Fulk, daughter of Baldwin II) of the 12th century. This building has been preserved, one might say, better than all the crusader churches existing in Palestine (Dr. K. Geiki, op. cit., p. 586). Petrushevsky P. Vacation trip to the Holy Land. Kiev, 1904, pp. 277–281. Patristic places from the book of P. Smirnov. Church sermon for the twelve feasts. Words, conversations and teachings of St. fathers and teachers of the Church and the most famous church writers. Kiev, 1904, I, 457–600. You might be interested in: