Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia revolutionized architecture.

It established a unique Byzantine perspective, an exotic Middle Eastern style far different from that found elsewhere in the far-flung Roman Empire.

Many features of Hagia Sophia can be found in the Blue Mosque, including the massive dome.

Mary and Jesus flanked by Emperors Justinian and Constantine I

Hagia Sophia means "Holy Wisdom" in Greek, foreshadowing by a century when Greek would replace replace Latin as the official language of the Roman Empire.

By the time Byzantine Emperor Justinian commissioned construction of Hagia Sophia in 532 AD, Rome itself had been overthrown by Odoacer, the German Barbarian leader who became the first King of Italy

The pink area was what remained of the Roman Empire at the time of the "Fall."

Many consider the surrender of western Roman Emperor Romulus in 476 AD as the final straw in the Fall of the Roman Empire, but what is now referred to as the Byzantine Empire continued for almost a thousand years more, referring to themselves as Romans.

The remainder of the empire expanded and contracted dramatically over time, as this dynamic map I found in a Vox Media article about Roman maps demonstrates.

Designed by architects Isidore of Militus and Anthemius of Tralles, Hagia Sophia became the world's largest cathedral upon its completion in 537 AD.

It would have remained so until Spain's Seville Cathedral supplanted it in 1520, but in 1453, when Constantinople surrendered to the Ottoman Empire, Hagia Sophia was converted into a mosque.

Sultan Mehmed II's soldiers had begun to pillage the church, following the traditional thesis of war that "to the victors go the spoils."

Mehmed, however, stopped his troops from razing the beautiful structure.

Emperor John II Komnenos, Mary with Jesus, Empress Irene

After removing the bells, crosses, altars, relics and other religious artifacts, Mehmed nonetheless had religious mosaics featuring Jesus, Mary and everyone else plastered over.

That's because "Aniconism" forbids depiction of Mohammed and Islamic prophets in art, as you may remember from incidents with cartoons over recent years.

Anicosnism extends further to discourage depiction of any humans or animals in art.

Interior and exterior elements of mosques, including four minarets, were added, and Hagia Sophia served as the primary mosque of Constantinople until Sultan Ahmed's Blue Mosque was completed in 1616.



The former Greek Orthodox Church remained a mosque until 1931, when the Republic of Turkey converted it into a museum.

Since then, restorers have worked to refurbish this masterpiece, stripping away plaster to reveal beautiful mosaics which had been thought lost forever.

Large discs from the mosque era detract from the original interior design.

As the construction of the Blue Mosque to some extent marked the plateauing of the Ottoman Empire, the fall of Constantinople and conversion of the greatest church in Christendom to a mosque marked the true end of the Roman Empire.

Despite having lost Rome and being called "Byzantine" by historians beginning a century after the fall of Constantinople, make no mistake: this was the Roman Empire.

Due to having consistently more competent rulers than the Rome-based western European branch of the Roman Empire, the Constantinople-based Christian Roman Empire had survived considerably longer.

Just to connect the historical dots, on Christmas Day in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned Frankish King Charlemagne as Emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, but he had no direct tie to the original Roman Empire.

These ancestors of the former "Barbarians at the Gate," of course, would eventually come to the aid of Christians being tormented in the Holy Lands.

Much of central Europe became confederated as the Holy Roman Empire, which would survive until 1806.

Transition to Istanbul, Turkey

Istanbul, Ancient but Still Growing

Istanbul straddles the border between Europe and Asia.

No other city in the world does so, and that unique geographic position has made it a major hub for trade between those distinctly different continents.

So, it's only natural that our excursion kicked off with a bus ride across a bridge to the Asian side, accompanied by introductory narration by our knowledgeable guide, who fortunately was not trying to divide his attention by also driving our bus through the snarling bumper-to-bumper traffic.

Bosporus Strait Dividing Europe From Asia

Our bus driver did an excellent job throughout the day, always keeping his cool despite the fact that traffic stretched our 9 hour tour into 10 1/2 hours by the time we returned to Azamara Journey after dark.

It's nice to say we've been to the Asian side of Istanbul, but a round trip ferry ride across the Bosporus Strait with a short time to walk around would have been ideal.

Two Mosques Beyond the Grassy Park.

We had an overnight stay in Istanbul, so anyone with sufficient motivation could have
returned to Asia the next morning.

Colonists from Megara, Greece, arrived in 667 BC, founding their colony which became known as Byzantium in honor of their leader, King Byzas.

As you may surmise, that name is where German historian Hieronymus Wolf came up with the name Byzantine Empire, which is also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire.

Praying Area for Men Only in Blue Mosque

At the time history unfolded, however, the citizens throughout the sprawling empire considered themselves simply Romans, with Byzantium shorthand to refer to the eastern region, like calling the northeastern region of the U.S. by the shorthand New England.

During the first few centuries of Roman rule, the city of Byzantium kept its original name, but for a brief time in the third century it became Angusta Antonina, named after an otherwise historically insignificant Roman royal.

Madonna and Jesus flanked by Emperors Justinian I and
and Constantine I at Hagia Sofia

The far more significant Roman Emperor Constantine, who made Christianity legal and then the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, declared the city to be the eastern capital of the Roman Empire on May 11, 330.
People began calling it Alma Roma (Eastern Rome), or the more complex New, Second Rome. Eventually, it became known as Constantinople, in honor of the Emperor who rebuilt the key city on a monumental scale similar to Rome itself.

Istanbul's Grand Bazaar

Beginning in the tenth century, Armenians and Muslims began to refer to Constantinople as Istanbul, which essentially means "in the city," much in the way Knickerbockers might refer to New York as "the City," but it didn't become Istanbul officially until the new Republic of Turkey made it so in 1928.

After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople in 1453, they referred to it as Istanbul in some records but the official name was Kostantiniyye, the Arabic translation for "place of Constantine,"

The rise of the Ottoman Empire from inception in 1299 to their conquest of Constantinople coincided with the decline of the Byzantine Empire. The Christian Crusades had met with some degree of success in retrieving the Holy Lands in the 1100s and 1200s, but the Muslims struck back, capturing Jerusalem in 1287.

Wes Outside Topkapi Palace Entrance

In thinking about the Crusades, it may be easy to think the Holy Lands were the sole focus of a united Europe, but then as now, there were all kinds of side intrigues and all out wars dividing the interests of world leaders.

In addition to Crusading, English King Edward I became known as the Hammer of the Scots for his fierce control of Scotland, and he also battled France. Edward I was a staunch supporter of the Knights Templar, with whom he fought side by side in the Holy Lands.

Flowers and Artifact by Wall Outside Hagia Sofia

King Philip IV of France had to fund his war with England using loans.

Jewish bankers helped finance Philip the Fair (a rather ironic nickname in retrospect), not knowing he would rid himself of that debt by arresting all the Jews in 1306, confiscating all of their property, and expelling them from his country, unpaid. Of course, this type of treatment of Jews has been a recurring theme throughout history.

Philip had also borrowed heavily from the Knights Templar, who, rich from their Crusading activities, had re-settled as power brokers in Europe in the 13th Century.

Blue Mosque Ceiling Section

However, King Philip could not take action against the Knights Templar as long as their powerful royal friend King Edward I lived.

That didn't stop Philip from plotting a scheme with his Counselor William de Nogaret to replace the Pope with one more amenable to the will of Philip, planning to have that Pope find the Knights Templar guilty of trumped-up crimes against the Church, so that Philip could cancel his debts and seize their wealth.

To those ends, Philip and De Nogaret first tried to get Pope Boniface VIII removed from power, which resulted in threatened ex-communication. Changing plans, De Nogaret kidnapped the Pope and imprisoned him. Soon, Boniface died from the harsh treatment.

He was replaced by Benedict XI, who also apparently wouldn't play ball with Philip and was poisoned by De Nogaret. Pope Clement V proved to be a keeper.

The final piece of the puzzle for King Phillip IV was the death of King Edward I in 1307.

Meanwhile, in response to the Ottoman Empire amalgamating Muslim kingdoms under their rule, Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay planned a Return of the Jedi (great link here) scenario.

De Molay headed to see Pope Clement V to receive Church sanction for another Crusade, not realizing Clem was in the pocket of Philip the Fair. The Grand Master obviously lacked Yoda-like powers of perception, because en route he accepted a royal invitation to meet with King Philip in Paris, hoping to get the French monarch on board with his plan and make it a slam dunk for Papal approval.

On Friday, October 13, 1307, King Philip had the Knights Templar arrested and subsequently tortured into confessions. The demise of the Knights Templar made the Ottoman Empire's rise easier.

Once the Ottomans took control of Constantinople in 1453, they owned the most valuable trade routes between East and West, and their wealth and influence grew, making the Ottoman Empire into the most powerful nation in the world.

Julie at Topkapi Palace Entrance

We would see the incredible wealth of their royal treasury for ourselves at Topkapi Palace, which occupies an area about a third the size of the wealthy country of Monaco.

Had Philip the Fair not hatched his plan against the Knights Templar, and they had successfully united Europe for another Crusade to the Holy Lands, then perhaps the Roman Empire would not have lost Constantinople.

Then, that young Italian Christopher Columbus might not have shown up before Queen Isabella I of Spain, hat in hand, asking for funding to find an alternative trade route to Asia sailing west.

And the conquest of America might have been delayed a few centuries.

Were all of the Knights Templar killed by Philip the Fair?

Knights Templar Charge at the Battle of Bannockburn

No.  Many later recanted their confessions made under torture.  Other than in France and some Italian city-states, most European governments didn't accept the unjust rulings, and Knights Templar were gladly absorbed into their armies.

In Scotland, it is said that Knights Templar with white capes and red crosses emblazoned across their chests came to the aid of Robert the Bruce in 1314 just as defeat seemed imminent at the Battle of Bannockburn, charging over the hill to reverse the tide and win Scotland's independence.

Pinta, Santa Maria and Niña Crossing the Atlantic Ocean

In fact, if you went to school in the same era as I did when Columbus was still considered a great explorer and hero, you may remember paintings of the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria with red crosses on their sails.  Those Crusader crosses are not royal symbols of Spain.

In 1492, Queen Isabella and her hubby King Ferdinand not only launched exploratory ships to the west but also completed the Reconquista, reclaiming Spain from the Muslim Moors, who had invaded almost 800 years earlier and whose architectural influence is still seen in great Spanish cities and throughout the New World.

Arches at Topkapi Palace

Perhaps you've also noted a white cross on red background on Swiss Army Knives or the Swiss flag.  The Swiss Confederation was established August 1, 1291, or about the time Knights Templar returned to Europe.  Switzerland, of course, remains one of the great banking centers of the world.  Coincidence?

European powers changed focus for their adventurism from the birthplace of civilization to the New World and future glories.

They found great wealth there, sufficient to fund power which eventually reclaimed the Holy Lands from the Ottomans after the Muslims sided with Germany in World War I.  As I think about it, their former colonies, the United States of America, rode over the ridge just in time to turn the tide in favor of Great Britain's allies, like heroic knights.

From the ashes of the Ottoman Empire rose the Republic of Turkey, and Istanbul remains a vibrant hub where East meets West.

Maria Theresa and the Habsburgs, Pt. 6: Pressburg (Bratislava)

When the mob figuratively lost their collective heads during the French Revolution, many nobles literally lost their heads.

Marie Antoinette is the most famous victim remembered by "popular history," but an estimated 300,000 royalists (1 in 50 French residents) were arrested during the Reign of Terror and 40,000 died by force or disease, with over 16,500 sentenced to death by guillotine by Maximilien Robespierre and his blood-thirsty followers.

In the aftermath, a young officer named Napoleon Bonaparte rose to become Emperor of France.

City Gate in Bratislava

Napoleon championed a new meritocracy with systems of justice designed to make everyone equal under the law, so of course the royal families of Europe, including the Habsburgs, felt their feudal order was now being threatened in their own back yard as well as across the ocean in far-away America.

A series of coalitions formed to take down this upstart who had no legitimate claim to power by "royal blood."

Napoleon dealt with these threats, keeping territories captured during the successful defense of his realm through successive coalitions.

Unlike Hitler's detestable rule by fear, Napoleon and the common people in the territories he subsequently conquered saw him as a liberator.

Strolling through beautiful Bratislava

When the Third Coalition met with utter defeat at his hands, the Peace of Pressburg was declared on December 26, 1805, under a treaty between Napoleon and Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a grandson of Maria Theresa.

So total had been the defeat that the Holy Roman Empire itself, the last official vestige of the amazing Roman Empire, collapsed entirely.

Emperor Napoleon's son by Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise, was called "King of the Romans" from birth, inferring that the Roman Empire almost resurrected under a Habsburg descendant, as royal family lines have occasionally reclaimed thrones in the past.

That was not to be, as royal blood apparently demanded that royal kingdoms destroy Napoleon and all that he stood for to stem the tide toward a more egalitarian world, even if it might have eventually evolved full circle back to the Roman Empire.

The eastern branch of the Roman Empire based in Constantinople (modern day Istanbul), which by historians came to be called the Byzantine Empire but considered themselves Romans, had ceased to exist with the Fall of Constantinople in 1456 at the hands of the Ottoman Turks.

This was obviously a significant milestone for the Ottoman Empire, which had been rapidly expanding since the year 1300.

When Suleiman the Magnificent came to power as the 10th Ottoman Sultan, he set his sights on expanding deeper into Eastern Europe and beyond.

To those ends, Suleiman's army decimated the Royal Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács in 1526.

In retreat, Louis II, the 20 year-old King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, fell backwards off his horse riding down a steep ravine.  He landed in a stream, and the heavy armor he wore for protection in battle proved to be so heavy that he couldn't stand up before he drowned.

This defeat brought central Hungary under Ottoman control.

Transylvania became a semi-independent vassal state of the Ottomans and eventually a "suzerainty" under the rule of both the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs.

The remaining Kingdom of Hungary was primarily modern day Slovakia, including Pressburg plus Transnubia, an area east of Vienna along the Danube encompassing modern day Budapest.

Separate Hungarian noble groups elected two Kings almost simultaneously for "Royal Hungary": Slavonian noble John Szapolyai, who would become known as Hungarian King John I, and Habsburg Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria, who was brother-in-law of' the recently deceased Hungarian King Louis II who was married to Maria of Habsburg.

John and Ferdinand both claimed to be King of Hungary.

Suleiman was not finished, and whether because he thought Ferdinand had stretched Hungary too thin with his power grab or because it simply fit his general plan, in 1529 at the absolute zenith of Ottoman power in Europe he went after the Austrian capital for the first time with the unsuccessful Siege of Vienna.

These unresolved, less-than-absolute claims of sovereignty by the Habsburgs as to who ruled Transylvania and Royal Hungary would seem to fall under what our guide in Vienna referred to as Austrian compromise as opposed to German compromise.  In that case, he was talking about a popular Viennese chocolate cake and conflicting claims to be "Original Sacher Torte" versus "The Original Sacher-Torte."  Austrian compromise means living with ambiguity until the situation can be settled later, whereas German compromise would require immediate satisfaction, even if that would mean a duel to the death over whose cake was the original.

As it turned out, the talons of the Habsburgs overcame occasional setbacks like those at the hands of Suleiman and Napoleon, clinging fast to Hungary through World War I.

In 1699, at the culmination of the 15 year Turkish War, the Ottomans withdrew entirely from Hungary, marking the first time they had lost significant territory after centuries of expansion.

When Maria Theresa was crowned King of Hungary in 1741, she promised to keep a residence in Hungary as well as Austria.

Pressburger Schloss (Bratislava Castle), which was just across the border from Austria, served that purpose.

As her successful reign progressed, Maria Theresa began remodeling Pressburger Schloss in the ornate Rococo style she preferred

Getting back to the promise at the end of my last lengthy post, Empress Maria Theresa's favorite child was Maria Christina.  Both strong-willed and extremely intelligent, "Mimi" was the most like her mother.

Her parents ensured Mimi received an excellent education, and she developed to be a fine artist by any standards, irregardless of her royal position.

Add in her beauty, and it becomes obvious why her siblings might be a bit jealous when their mother treated Mimi as her favorite.

Like Maria Theresa, who had been allowed to marry for love,  Mimi eschewed unions with more promising Princes to marry the younger son of the King of Saxony (Poland) rather than the heir apparent to the throne of a more significant prospective ally like France.

Albert of Saxe-Teschen was merely the Duke of Teschen, a title that would proceed to be held by Habsburgs for future generations.

However, they did not marry until 1765, when Mimi's father had passed away, possibly indicating the Emperor never gave the final green light to the marriage.

Mimi and her hubby moved to the beautifully refurbished Pressburger Schloss in 1766, and acting as a mother-in-law who wanted her favorite daughter to be married to a successful man, Maria Theresa appointed Albert Governor.

Because the Governor needed more space, a new palace in Classic style was built inside the walls.

Further upgrades included gardens similar to Schönbrunn Palace plus summer and winter riding schools along the lines of the Spanish Riding School in Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

In addition, Maria Theresa upgraded the furnishings, adding more valuable art.

While she visited there in keeping with her promise to live there part of the time, this remodeling would seem to be primarily for the benefit of her favorite child while at the same time providing mother and daughter the opportunity to maintain their close relationship.

Maria Theresa died in 1780, and the next year Mimi's brother Emperor Joseph II eliminated the position of Governor and moved many of the treasures to Vienna.

Did sibling jealousy weigh into those decisions?

In any case, Albert and Mimi took some treasures with them to Brussels for Albert's new position as Governor of Austrian Netherlands (modern day Belgium).

In 1783, Emperor Joseph II moved the seat of power to Buda (half of today's Budapest) and the Hungarian Crown Jewels to Hofburg Palace in Vienna.

Stripped of its treasures, Pressburger Schloss became a Catholic seminary.

In 1802, the aging seminary became a military barracks housing 1500 soldiers.  That made it a target for bombardment by Napoleon's forces in 1809 after Austria joined Britain in the Fifth Coalition to break the French Empire.

Austria had stayed out of the Fourth Coalition, abiding by terms of the Treaty of Pressburg, but no peace lasts forever, it seems.

By the way, all of the photos in this post are from our port stop in Bratislava (formerly known as Pressburg), except the last one which is a picture of Bratislava from the AmaWaterways brochure.

Nazareth

Mosaic of Mary from the USA

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”  The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."

Luke Chapter 1, Verses 26 through 35, from Holy Bible, New International Version

Upon returning to Azamara Journey from our exhilarating but exhausting day in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, we found dangling foil orbs and a "Happy Birthday" banner in our room.

Having been so fully immersed in our excursion experiences, we found it a bit disorienting.  We had just been to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, but it obviously wasn't Christmas in October.

Wes's Panama hat from Athens at Church of the Annuncation

Then it dawned upon us that it was my birthday.

Later, following our gourmet meal with free flowing wine in the beautiful Discoveries Dining Room, our smiling waiter brought a birthday cake to our table, fortunately without summoning other waiters to sing for me.  That's the Azamara way: attentive but never intrusive.

We enjoyed a wonderful evening with great entertainment, but we didn't party the night away at the disco, because in the morning we would have another long day, beginning in the hometown of Jesus, Mary and Joseph.

Micky D in the Heart of Bustling Nazareth

Nazareth is a bustling town of 60,000, and based on the number of cars jamming the streets on a Saturday, when orthodox Jews do not drive anywhere and only go outside to walk to nearby synagogues for worship, it's not surprising to learn that the population is 30.9% Christian and 69% Arab Muslim.  Yes, there are cities in greater Israel where few Jews live, and the residents have full rights of Israeli citizens freely expressing their faiths, including in the town where Jesus grew up.

Mosaics Line the Walls at the Church of the Annunciation

The beautiful Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth honors the Virgin Mary and designates the very spot where she received the good news that she would be the mother of God's son.

One of the highlights is the display of 43 international mosaic pictures of the Madonna.  As with most religious icons throughout the world, the pictures inevitably use cultural features found within the artist's homeland.

Mary's Childhood Home

The current church, completed in 1969, sits on the site of what had been a Crusader church and before that a Byzantine church established under Emperor Constantine I.  The first shrine was established in the grotto beneath the modern Catholic Church by Emperor Constantine's mother Helena within a few months of the establishment of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jersualem and the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.  The grotto is believed to be Mary's childhood home.

We also passed Mary's Well, which is indisputable because 2000 years ago in a city as small and poor as Nazareth, there was only one well, so it must have been Mary's, too.

Outside the beautiful church we were again surprised when, coming upon ruins of underground grottos, we discovered this was the type of place and in fact could be the exact place where Jesus was raised.

Childhood home of Jesus?

I guess it makes sense that in the desert, a cave would provide the best insulation against the temperature extremes, but it is surprising to learn Jesus and Mary both grew up in homes more like Fred Flintstone's than my family's.

Or should I say I grew up in a home more like the one occupied by the Flintstones than that of Jesus?

After all, fictional Wilma, Fred and Pebbles had more creature comforts (made out of real creatures, usually) than real life Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  We've come a long way, baby.

Click the photo to enlarge it and make it easier to read about the ancient village of Nazareth.

Doors to Basilica of the Annunciation

However, the first two years in the life of Jesus were not spent in Nazareth but in Egypt.

As you'll recall, Joseph and Mary had been forced to go to Bethlehem in order to comply with a census ordered by Caesar Augustus.  This was an arduous journey of several days for anyone in those days before trains and buses, but for a very pregnant teenager and her young husband, it would have been exceedingly difficult.  When they finally arrived, they found no room at the inn, forcing them to sleep in a manger with livestock.  That, of course, is where Jesus was born.

The three Magi, searching for the newborn King of the Jews which their omens had foretold, went to Herod, the Jewish King of Judea (a Roman province), asking for directions.  Herod, pretending he wanted to also worship this child, asked them to let him know when they found this special child, but the Magi figured out his intentions and never returned to share the information.

Exact Spot Where Gabriel Appeared to Mary

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Matthew Chapter 2, Verse 16 from Holy Bible, New International Version

Fortunately, according to Matthew, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph and told him to immediately take Mary and Jesus to Egypt, because Herod planned to kill the infant.

The Egyptian border was another 75 miles from Bethlehem, which again would be no easy trek for a teen-aged new mother and her baby, but they made it safely.

Tile Floor at the Basilica

Herod carried out his sinister plan, killing all the babies under two years old in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas.

Despite being in a foreign land, Joseph found a way to work hard and support his family until a couple of years later, the angel again appeared to Joseph and told him that those who would harm the baby were dead, so it was now safe to return to Nazareth.

Once again, Joseph shepherded his young family through a long, grueling journey, this time twice as far as the previous trips, to return back to Nazareth.

Certainly Mary receives a great deal of adulation, particularly in the Catholic Church, but in the first book of the New Testament, the emphasis is on Joseph's viewpoint of the arrival of Jesus.

Mexico's Mural of the Madonna
at the Church of the Annunciation

This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 

Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

Crusader's Jerusalem Cross Prominent at Front of the Basilica

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).

Poland's Mosaic of  the Madonna

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. 

Matthew Chapter 1, Verses 18 to 25 from Holy Bible, New International Version

Before addressing the birth of Jesus as quoted above, Matthew began with a quick summary of generations leading to Jesus directly from Abraham.

Now it may well be possible that Mary also had a direct line back to Abraham through King David, and in fact that may be likely, but the lineage referred to specifically finishes with "Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born."

Exterior Display at Basilica

But, since Jesus is the Son of God, then actually Joseph was a stepfather, not father, so what would his lineage have to do with Jesus?

Remember that Caesar Augustus, Emperor of Rome, was adopted by his Uncle Julius Caesar and became heir to the throne, so an adopted son succeeding to "the throne" was not unprecedented, but I personally don't think that is the major intent.

I read a message to all men to be good fathers and role models, even if a child under their care is a step child rather than a blood relative.  More importantly, I think this shows the formula to raising children to be the best they can be: a father and mother sharing the responsibility.  When families are whole, they have far less chance of living desperate lives in poverty.

Courtyard Outside the Basilica of the Annunciation

In that light, consider that Joseph did not live as a king.  At that point he would have been a young man, maybe a teenager, who dwelt in a dirt poor backwater town in a desolate desert region of a rather inconsequential province of the Roman Empire.

He worked hard as a carpenter, probably still in the apprentice stage learning his craft for little compensation.

In a public declaration, Joseph announced he was formally bethrothed to Mary, who was most likely 12 to 14 years old.

France's Madonna and Child

When Mary told Joseph she was pregnant, it must have created quite a dilemma for him, because he'd never had sex with her.  Many men have left pregnant girlfriends in the lurch, including Apple founder Steve Jobs according to a recent movie (quite good, by the way), even when they're fairly certain they're the fathers.

According to Matthew, Joseph nonetheless became her husband, because he was faithful to the law (engagement as a binding agreement) and wanted to avoid embarrassing Mary, whom he obviously loved.

Being a young man with his whole life ahead of him, however, Joseph contemplates divorcing her quietly later, until an angel of the Lord appears and advises him to trust that Mary really has been true to him.

However, the church we visited in Nazareth was the Church of the Annunciation, in which Mary receives the spotlight, not one dedicated to stepparents who stand by the ones they love.

The Gospel Writers are honored on the facade of the Church of the Annunciation above the doorway.

Door Panel Details Life of Jesus

Consider that the opening four books of the New Testament are based on first-hand accounts of the disciples who knew Jesus personally.

Each was selected for two primary reasons: they were widely used within Christian churches (essentially the pre-mass publishing equivalents of best sellers), and they reveal different aspects of Jesus and His significance.

As you read at the beginning,  Luke told the Christmas story more from the viewpoint of the Virgin Mary.  Mark skipped past the Christmas story to the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, and John (the disciple, not the Baptist) went with a metaphysical approach, writing "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."

There were many more gospels around in the early years of Christianity, as well as other religious texts, from which the 27 books of the New Testament were selected, probably in 325 AD at the First Council of Nicea arranged by Roman Emperor Contantine I.

Octagonal Oculus of Inner Dome Allows Light to Shine on
the exact location of the Annunciation

In the year 331 AD, that first Christian Emperor commissioned Fifty Bibles of Constantine to be written in Greek and sent to the Bishop of Constantinople, in the city now known as Istanbul which we'd explore later in our cruise.  That may have established the order of books later canonized by the Catholic Church, but no surviving copies are known to exist of those first compiled Bibles.

Exact Location of Annunciation
With Ancient Shrine Beyond

In any case, Matthew's account that focused on the lineage of Joseph has a very honored position indeed, as the very first book of the New Testament.  Any writer knows that the beginning must grab the reader, or he will stop reading, while every journalist knows that you always start an article with the most important piece of information, because the average newspaper reader is most likely to read only the opening stanzas.

I've often heard that the primary objective of Matthew was to show Jesus to be the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecies and King of the Jews, and while I wouldn't assume to dispute that, I think there's a valuable lesson for all of us in the 21st Century.

By the way, please never blame tour guides for any of my interpretations of what they showed us.  Like you, I experience everything in my own existential manner.

Walking in the footsteps of history, I contemplated how fortunate I was to have both mother and father, each unconditionally loving my sister and me.

Each shared their unique viewpoints with us, and I feel pity for any child who does not have both mother and father in the home.

When people talk about "privileged lives," they usually mean rich families, but that ignores the real privilege in the lives of most people: loving parents who made sometimes-tough choices for their family over personal egos and hedonistic pursuits of the single life.

Yes, a few kids are born with silver spoons in their mouths, or with DNA that makes them naturally smarter, prettier or more athletically gifted than others, but if you think about it, that all comes from the parents.

And none of those factors ensure happy and fulfilled children nearly so much as loving parents.

Those parents give up partying in bars and make longer commutes in order to be sure their kids have access to good schools.

They make lunches their kids will actually eat and help them with their homework when maybe they'd rather have another hour to sleep or watch their favorite TV show.

Statue of Mary in Courtyard

They discipline their kids when they act up, getting their beloved children back on the right path rather than pretending nothing is wrong so their spoiled child will like them better at the moment.

That's not to say that single mothers or fathers can't be awesome, like Dr. Ben Carson's mom, but the statistical deck is stacked against them.

This is especially true for mothers who create babies out of wedlock with men ill-suited to be fathers before either have established careers.

Those children growing up without sufficient supervision unfortunately tend to have troubled lives, and too often the next generation repeats the mistakes of the prior one.

The narrative of Joseph's perspective written by Matthew at the beginning of the New Testament speaks volumes to solving America's social problems in the present day.

What will you discover on your next cruise?  I'd love to help you get there.

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