The Holy Lands

Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth, Israel, site where
the archangel Gabriel appeared to inform Mary that she would
be blessed to give birth to the Son of God, Jesus.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a country more steeped in religion than Israel, where three of the world's great religions began.

As we learned in Sunday School, Moses led his people on an Exodus out of slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea en route to the Promised Land.  Moses never saw the Land of Israel, because he could not follow directions.

No, he wasn't ignoring his wife and refusing to stop at a gas station to ask for help.

Old Testament Stories Depicted on
Door at Basilica of the Annunciation

Moses failed to follow God's commands exactly and took credit himself for God's miracle of bringing forth drinking water from a rock.

Interesting that water, the rights for which was the basis for the creation of cities and subsequent civilizations, can often be found at the heart of religions.

Anyway, Moses wandered in the desert for forty years, and in fact, everyone in his generation died before seeing their destination that is now called Israel. 

God gave the Jews many amazing military victories in their prime, and those stories for me as a child were as vivid as The Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter for today's youth, thanks to engaging lessons from my great Sunday School teachers, Mr. Ball and Dave Willett, augmented by Charlton Heston movies.

Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Palestine (Israel),
site of the manger where Jesus was born to Mary.

Unfortunately, the Israelites didn't stay faithful to God, and subsequently the Promised Land was overtaken by other kingdoms like the Assyrians, Babylonians and Romans, with Jews strewn throughout the world, often initially enslaved, then cyclically they earned freedom, built wealth, suffered persecution for being successful and eventually would be stripped of their wealth and livelihoods, at which point the process would start from scratch again.

Jesus's Childhood Home in Nazareth is thought to be a grotto.

As unlikely as it seems, they continued to practice their religion, which served as a reason to keep their language alive in foreign lands.

Over 2500 years later, Israel was re-established as a Jewish homeland in the aftermath of World War II.

Millions of Jews had been used as laboratory rats and slaughtered in the Holocaust, and some enlightened world leaders determined the best chance for ending the cycle would be to return the Israelites to the land promised to them by God.

Bustling Port of Haifa, Israel

Jews had already begun re-settling in their homeland from the late 1800's with the Zionist movement.  Prior to that, the land in what is now Israel had devolved over the centuries into mostly desolate wasteland under the neglectful care of nomadic wanderers, as you can easily read about in Mark Twain's reflections on the region during the 19th century, The Innocents Abroad.

Japan's Take On Madonna and
Jesus, Part of International Series
of Paintings in Nazareth at the
Church of the Annunciation.

In the interim between Israelites being scattered throughout the earth and the resurrection of Israel, the Jew Jesus of Nazareth rose to become the most famous person to have ever walked the earth.  His followers spread the word far and wide, establishing another great religion, Christianity.

Recently, Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, visited the United States to great fanfare.

The Catholic Church, of course, is headquartered in the Vatican, an independent nation located within Rome.

Catholicism was founded by a disciple of Jesus, the fisherman Simon whom Jesus said he would call Petros (Peter), which means "rock."

Some have speculated the name to be a small bit of black humor based on Jesus foreseeing Peter would deny Him three times before the cock crowed along the way to Jesus's crucifixion, but most believe it was because Jesus knew Peter's heart was always true.

Statue of Simon Peter in his hometown
of Capharnaum by the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus said he would build his church on this Petros, and it is said that Peter's bones are buried beneath St. Peter's Basilica, the incredible Catholic Church at the Vatican.

However, because these lands of Israel are where Jesus grew up, preached, died for our sins and resurrected, it has been considered the Holy Land by Christians for centuries.

Against all odds, Christianity spread to be the dominant religion throughout Europe thanks to Emperor Constantine, a Christian himself who issued the Edict of Milan in 313 AD that de-criminalized Christianity in the Roman Empire.

In 325 AD, Constantine's First Council of Nicaea brought together diverse Christian sects (and actually some pagan rituals) into one orthodoxy.  About that same time, Constantine prohibited construction of new pagan temples, and by the end of his reign he was destroying them.

Mount of Beatitudes overlooking the Sea of Galilee,
where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount.

During our trip, we would visit many remarkable sites said to be the exact places where major events in the life of our Savior unfolded, but most were designated as such in 326 to 328 AD, when Constantine's 80 year-old mother Helena came to the Holy Lands to locate and consecrate them.

It is a matter of faith as to whether you believe she nailed them all exactly based on oral traditions passed down from the time shortly after Jesus returned from death (at which point His followers by all reports had been chased out of town or killed) or if she was duped by con artists seeking royal coin, but it is nonetheless moving to be in the right general areas.

Palace of the Grand Masters of the Knights of  St. John
in Rhodes,  Greece

You may recall that about 800 years later, Europeans became outraged by Muslim persecution of Christians in Jerusalem and began the Crusades to re-claim the Holy Lands.

That, of course, brings up the third great religion of the region, Islam, which accepts most tenets of the Old Testament and the New Testament, except the resurrection of Jesus and the belief that He was the fulfillment of the prophecies.  

Gateway to Old Jerusalem

Muslims believe Mohammed followed Jesus as the next great messenger from God, and in something of a repeat of history, Mohammed led his chosen people to nationhood in the Middle East.

In 570 AD, Mohammed was born in Mecca, which is the holiest city for Muslims.  Islam is linked to Israel because the foundations of his religion are in those earlier religions.  Plus, the Muslim version of manifest destiny calls for them to control all of the Holy Lands, including Israel.

In addition, Mohammed had a special connection to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, because he was taken there one night by an angelic beast named Buraq en route to ascending to heaven to meet the ancient prophets of the Jews and Christians plus even God Himself.

"I was brought by al-Burg who is an animal white and long, larger than a donkey but smaller than a mule, who would place his hoof at a distance equal to the range of vision. I mounted it and came to the Temple (Bait-ul Maqdis in Jerusalem), then tethered it to the ring used by the prophets."

Jerusalem, Israel

The Dome of the Rock Mosque on the Temple Mount in Old Jerusalem marks the spot of the ascension to heaven.

The mosque's location creates a major problem for Jews, because it blocks them from re-building the Jewish Temple on the site of the first one built by King Solomon in the tenth century BC.

Mural at Elvis Gas Station Near Jerusalem selling Elvis
postcard that read, "I saw the King in Jerusalem."

Because Israel is a free nation that respects property rights and allows people to worship in any way they want, there is nothing the Jews can do about it.

Let me stress here that there are many things about Islam to be admired, including the fact that followers pray five times each day.

River Jordan Baptismal Area Tiles

Muslims are required to make themselves clean before prayer, which encouraged good hygiene before anyone knew what germs were, similar to "religious" rules from the Old Testament, like the admonishment to never eat pork, which was literally an unclean meat that could make diners quite ill back in those ancient times 

A religion that encourages you to think about God throughout your day and to follow hygienic rules can't be bad, right?

Certainly, some great heroes from my youth like Lew Alcindor (who became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and Cat Stevens still seem to be nice guys following their conversions to Islam, but unfortunately there are also some leaders who preach hatred.

Garden of Gethsemane at the foot of the Mount of Olives,
where Judas betrayed Jesus.

As peace loving Muslims, Kareem and Cat probably optimistically support the new nuclear agreement with Iran which is being touted to America as a peace agreement by President Obama's administration.

We are a secular country that respects all religions, but founded on Judeo-Christian principles.  Nonetheless, the USA is called "the Great Satan" by many Muslim leaders.

In presenting the same nuclear agreement to his people, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei led the crowds in cheers of "Death to America" and promised Israel would not exist in 25 years.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre on
the site where Jesus was crucified.

Tiny Israel has been threatened with annihilation by its neighbors since its re-birth but somehow has managed to hold its own and even win, much like the story of David and Goliath.

I personally think Naziism rather than Islam is to blame for the hatred of the USA and Israel spread by Khamenei and his ilk, but some followers take it on faith when their Imam or Supreme Leader tells them they will be blessed and rewarded in heaven if they strap a bomb on their chests or fly planes into buildings to kill civilians, "because it is the will of Allah."

Yes, these three great religions often find themselves at war with each other, whether both sides actually seek to destroy the other or not.

Getting back to history, as the decades unfolded following the birth of Islam, the Christian Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire, which had ruled the Holy Lands for centuries, gradually receded.

St. George statue at
Church of St. Catherine, built
on the site of a Crusader Church
which had been built on the site
of a 4th Century Monastery
in Bethlehem.

In the late 11th Century, Catholic Pope Urban II called for a Crusade to recapture Jerusalem.

Over the last 50 years or so, movies, novels and even textbooks have re-framed the Crusades as a reckless encroachment by Christians on Muslims.

The power of Hollywood in particular to influence popular opinion should never be underestimated, and while I won't deny there being multiple sides to every story, I think perhaps Crusaders have been overly vilified of late.

To put it in perspective, consider the middle three letters in JerUSAlem happen to be USA.

If the USA was overrun by people taking away our Constitutional freedoms, would we not want to re-claim our country?

As you probably know, Muslims conquered most of the region, and eventually the great Ottoman Empire arose as one of the richest and most powerful kingdoms ever.

Hagia Sophia (means "Holy Wisdom") was the
greatest church in the Byzantine Empire
from 537 AD to 1453. In 1453 it was
converted into a mosque.  In 1935, Turkey
re-opened this Istanbul highlight as a museum.

The name of the Byzantine/Eastern Roman Empire's former capital, Constantinople (named after the Christian Roman Emperor Constantine), became Istanbul.

Constantinople's most spectacular church, Hagia Sophia, was converted to serve as a mosque.

As we all know, even within these great religions, there are differences.

Protestants and Catholics fought many wars over whose version of Christian religion was closer to what God would want, but not lately.

Other newer spin-offs of Christianity that feature latter-day prophets of a sort include Mormonism, Christian Science, and Religious Science, but they generally haven't killed each other as a matter of principle.

The Wailing Wall in Jerusalem

While Ultra-orthodox and Orthodox Jews may not fully approve of Liberal Jews like our guides, who work or even ride in buses on the Sabbath, they aren't trying to kill them.

With the new millennium, we have grown accustomed to seeing hatred within Islam between Shia, Sunni and Kurds, as played out in Iraq, continuing as it has for centuries.

Baha'i World Center and Gardens in Haifa, Israel

A spin-off from Sunni Islam is Baha'i, which is now headquartered in Haifa, Israel.

Baha'i expands on the basics of Islam, including its foundations in Judaism and Christianity, while adding the lessons of  Buddha, Krishna and essentially anyone else who has some positive words of enlightenment.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem Where Jesus
Was Buried and Resurrected.

In the 1800s, their new prophet, Bahá’u’lláh, proclaimed there is only one God, worshiped by different religions in their own rituals, and that there is a spiritual unity of all of mankind.

So, of course, he was forced into exile.  Early Baha'is were slaughtered, and present day followers continue to be persecuted in Muslim counties, including present-day Iran where the religion started.

I don't present this as an attempt to imply any status of absolute truth to Baha'i or to convert anyone.

Rather, I think it is a good modern day example of the challenges Moses, Jesus, Mohammed and their followers overcame spreading a gospel of love in an age long before the existence of mass communication that encircles the world in an instant.

Wes in Big Comfy Couch on Azamara Journey

Yes, this is a long-winded opening to the Holy Lands we explored on Azamara Journey, but if you think about it, compared to all the chapters of history that have unfolded during that time, this wouldn't even qualify as a Cliffs Notes version.

By the way, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them to make them easier to see, and the hotlinks take you to pages I selected to share for anyone who wants to know more on that topic.

Knights of St. John in Rhodes, Greece

Situated on a beautiful Greek harbor, the well-preserved Medieval walled fortress of Rhodes offers plenty of photo ops.

As the day warms, quaint bistros and shops within the ancient walls progressively open, and arriving tourists find many tempting offers on refreshments and souvenirs among the inviting storefronts.

Early morning chalk board signs advertise 2 euro  beers and 6 euro lunches at scenic sidewalk cafes, while shops offer tee shirts, lovely jewelry and colorful scarves at similarly reasonable prices.

However, we had enjoyed a great breakfast on board, so the aroma of fresh brewed coffee and breakfast specials didn't entice us, while shopping rarely does.

We  actually spent a lot of time exploring nooks and crannies away from storefronts.

The joys of a morning stroll through this historic village are subtle but quite satisfying.

Despite the reasonable prices and quaint cafes, we headed back to the ship when lunch time rolled around.

On our way there, we saw our Toronto friends Joanne and Stan, who were heading into town for the first time, probably to get lunch at one of those scenic restaurants.

After saying, "See you later," we never did.

We had actually planned to get together with them in San Diego in January, but we hadn't exchanged information up to that point, so that was not to be.  I mention this as a cautionary tale for when you meet new friends anywhere.

We went to the poolside grill, where they had a great selection of European sausages to go along with grilled burgers.  There was also a menu of items prepared in the kitchen, but bratwurst with a beer sounded  perfect to me on this sunny day.

Following lunch, we headed back into town, where a friendly host coaxed us to take seats at a lovely sidewalk cafe across from a fountain.

Prices had seemed so universally low on our morning walk that we didn't ask for a menu.

I ordered a beer, and the waiter smilingly asked if I wanted the large one, to which I said no.  He returned with a gigantic beer, and unfortunately it wasn't very good.  Still, the giant size made me laugh, so I kept it.

I drank maybe a third of it, and when I received the bill, it was something 11 euro just for mine, plus 6 for Julie's wine, which I guess isn't terrible, but we could have had lunch elsewhere for that price.

That bill was the only downer of the day, and even then, it came after a nice time watching the world pass by and accessing free wifi.

Before lunch, we had enjoyed visiting the Palace of the Grand Masters, a castle which the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem made their headquarters from 1309 to 1522.  

The modest admission fee was money well-spent.

During their two centuries ruling Rhodes, the Knights of Saint John became essentially Christian corsairs, sailing under the banner of the cross to wage war against the Muslim Barbary Pirates.  Of course, one king's pirate is another king's privateer, but the Christian warrior monks fought for what I personally consider to be the good guys.

We did not take an excursion or hire a guide along with our admission tickets to the Palace of the Masters, which according to at least one book is among a list of 100 of The World's Must-See Places, of which we actually saw eight on this trip alone (and I counted 40 total for my lifetime).

However,  while wandering through the fascinating castle, Julie and I frequently found our paths temporarily blocked by guided tour groups following English-speaking guides, from whom we would pick up dribs and drabs of information, none of which could could be clarified immediately with questions, because we obviously weren't in the tour groups.

"...this intricate Hellenistic and Roman tile work actually came from buildings in nearby Kos..."  (I assumed at the time she referred to Kas, because we'd just been there, but upon further research once back home, it now seems likely she meant the Greek Isle of Kos.)

"...the first stop of Crusaders..." (Possibly for some of them, but certainly not the Knights of St. John.)

"...also called the Knights Hospitallers..."  (This was a bread crumb that definitely demanded further research.)

The Knights Hospitallers had their origins in about 600 AD when Pope Gregory I commissioned a hospital to be built in Jerusalem to care for Christian pilgrims visiting the holy sites.  At that time, the area was still part of the Roman Empire, which had become Christian about three centuries earlier beginning with Constantine.

Persians briefly displaced the Romans from 614 to 629, destroying the hospital.  Roman's rebuilt the hospital when they briefly regained control of Jerusalem, but in 638, the first Caliphate of Arab Muslims took control.

The Muslims of this period were apparently tolerant of Christianity, and the Muslims allowed the hospital to continue serving Christian pilgrims.

In fact, in 800, Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne added a library and expanded the hospital.  And Jerusalem prospered.

During the Middle Ages (5th to 15th Centuries), hospitals were run as ministries of churches in the Christian world.  They also doubled as inns (and if you are interested in the topic of priory hospitals, read Ken Follett's excellent novel,  World Without End, though it is set mostly in England), making them essential to Christian pilgrims visiting the Holy Lands in an age before cruise ships and hotels.

Monks would guide pilgrims to the holy sites, and events occasionally required these monks to act as protectors.  They carried weapons, beginning the tradition of warrior monks who became known as Knights Hospitallers.

On September 29, 1009, exactly 1006 years before we boarded Azamara Journey for our Holy Lands cruise, an Islamic zealot, the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim destroyed the original Church of the Holy Sepulchre, kicking off the destruction of churches, synagogues, Torah scrolls and other non-Muslim sites and religious artifacts, including the hospital.

The desecration spread throughout Syria during subsequent years.

All non-Islamic sacred buildings and artifacts were completely annihilated.

As a result, western historians and literature often refer to al-Hakim as the Mad Caliph (though certainly not as lovable as Mad Ludwig).

On the other hand, he became a revered figure for Shia Muslims.  In 1018, the Druze of the Levant declared al-Hakim to be the incarnation of god.

And there you have it.

That stark, diametrically opposed division ---crazy evil or godlike --- is what the Crusades were all about, and it is that same type of incompatible schism --- Is a suicide bomber a homicidal nut job or a saint with an express pass to heaven? --- remains at the heart of Western Civilization's current conflict with neo-Nazi Islamic Extremists (which neither explicitly means nor implies all Muslims, as some like to contend).

Over the last half decade, popular western culture has overwhelmingly chosen to deride Crusaders as cruel, greedy Christians trying to impose their wills on peaceful Muslims in a land far from Europe, taking the "flawed protagonist" concept from fiction to the extreme where Christian Knights have become villains.

In 1023, wealthy merchants in Salerno and Amalfi, Italy, petitioned the Caliph of Egypt for permission to restore the hospital in Jerusalem.

They were granted the right to re-build their hospital on the site of the Monastery of Saint John the Baptist.

About fifty years later, persecution of Christians heated up again, and in 1095, Pope Urban II, pushed past the metaphoric brink, called for a Crusade to re-capture Jerusalem and the Holy Lands.

For the next four years, Knights led armies of serfs from Western Europe to fight for God and glory in the Holy Lands, and in July of 1099, they re-captured Jerusalem.

The Hospitallers were chartered by the Pope as the Order of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, and given the responsibility to care for and defend the Holy Lands.

The military arm of the Knights of St. John and the Knights Templar (DEFINITELY click this hotlink to see a great video about the Knights) became the most formidable fighting forces in the Holy Lands.

As I'm sure you have surmised, the Muslims did not go quietly into the night, and in 1287, they re-captured Jerusalem, which they held until it fell to British control in 1917, after the Islamic, historically-powerful Ottoman Empire sided with Germany in World War I.

Following the fall of Jerusalem in 1287, the Knights of St. John withdrew from Jerusalem to Tripoli, but in 1291, that fell to the Muslims, too, and they were forced off the mainland to Cyprus.

Meanwhile, the Knights Templar, who had accumulated massive wealth in the Holy Lands, whether through plunder, taxing trade, arbitrage, protection money, industrious work, discovery of treasures, banking or some combination thereof, became power brokers in Europe, even financing governments and royalty, including King Philip IV of France who borrowed heavily to conduct his 10-year war with England.

On Friday the 13th in October of 1307, the French King, motivated by the prospects of erasing his own debts and capturing all that legendary Templar wealth for himself, ordered all the Knights Templar arrested, not unlike a modern day gang sweep.

The Knights Templar were tortured into confessions of everything from heresy to homosexuality to financial corruption to idolatry to fraud to secrecy to recanting their vows.

King Philip IV was Catholic, so his allegiance was to Pope Clement V, who had to be convinced to issue the warrants to arrest the Knights.  So, Philip had to split Templar cash and treasures with the Church, probably attributing his take to something like administrative expenses.

In 1312, the Pope gave the Knights Templar's other tangible assets to the Knights of St. John, who were then forced to pay a high annual tribute.

The Knights of St. John  had already successfully established rule over Rhodes in 1309.  They maintained power in Rhodes until 1522, when 400 ships and 100,000 men under the command of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (not to be confused with Wise King Solomon), besieged the 7,000 Knights of Rhodes, forcing their surrender after six months.

They withdrew to Sicily and bounced around Europe until King Charles I of Spain, who was also King of Sicily, gave them the island of Malta, where they wielded power until Napoleon arrived in 1798.

Post Script:

While in high school, I was a very lax student when it came to social studies homework.

Too much reading.

I would answer the assigned questions at the end of the chapter by skimming back and looking for key words, so I guess I was a cut above being a total slacker.

Unlike newer generations of boys who, according to lamenting fathers and mothers, won't take time away from video games to put their names homework papers and turn in cursory passes at answers, I understood that getting zeros on homework would make earning more than a "C" an onerous task requiring perfect scores on tests, because I was committed to an easy "B" and possible "A."

I loved going to school to see my friends, and because my parents also strictly enforced a rule that if I was too sick to go to school, I was too sick to do anything fun like play outside, I had close to perfect attendance.

I generally found that if I paid attention in class, I could do pretty well on tests.

Study for exams?

I don't think so.

I was too busy hanging out with my friends, which was a lot more fun.

Because I mathematically understood the impact of zeros, I would always do assigned reports, usually starting on the evening before the due date.

What does all that have to do with the Knights of St. John?

Not much, actually, but sometimes I just have to write something or I won't start a project, just like in high school.  While I never believed I enjoyed writing reports, I must have, because I frequently go through essentially the same process when writing this blog, which is certainly not mandatory.

I have also found that when I take a narrated shore excursions on a cruise, it is very much like attending class between fun times with friends as it was in school, where I have enough informational foundation to figure out the rest.

Because it really has little to do with the subject matter, I cut this from the beginning and pasted it at the end, just in case anyone cares what I was thinking when I started this post.

Besides, I took lots of marginal photos, and having some kind of copy next to them makes them look somewhat less unnecessary.

Just in case you can't tell how big the
Palace of the Masters is, that's me entering.