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'Gethsemane' (from the Hebrew "Gat Shemanim", which means "oil press") was the garden where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus and his disciples retreated to pray after the Last Supper, the night before he was crucified (see Atonement). According to Luke 22:43–44, Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane was so deep that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Gethsemane was also where Christ was betrayed by the disciple Judas Iscariot.
The garden identified as Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, now within the city of Jerusalem. Located by the garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony. The ancient church was destroyed by the Sassanids in 614. The church rebuilt on the site by the Crusaders was finally razed, probably in 1219. Also on the Mount of Olives is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene with its distinct golden, onion-shaped domes (Byzantine/Russian Style). It was built by Russian Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother.
The name ''Gethsemane'' is given in the Greek of the Gospels (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) as Γεθσημανι (Gethsêmani). This represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil).^[1] It would appear from this that there were a number of olive trees planted around the area at the time. The Gospel of Mark (xiv, 32) calls it ''chorion'', "a place" or "estate"; The Gospel of John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as ''kepos'', a "garden" or "orchard". The garden today is filled with olive trees that might well be descendants of those from the time of Jesus.
The Garden of Gethsemane was a focal site for early Christian pilgrims. It was visited in 333 by the anonymous "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", whose ''Itinerarium Burdigalense'' is the earliest description left by a Christian traveler in the Holy Land. In his ''Onomasticon,'' Eusebius of Caesarea notes the site of Gethsemane "at the foot of the Mount of Olives", and he adds that "the faithful were accustomed to go there to pray".

Contents

Depictions of Gethsemane

Notes

References

External links

Depictions of Gethsemane

Notes

1. Metzger & Coogan (1993) ''Oxford Companion to the Bible’’, p253.

References

★ The Oxford Companion to the Bible, , Bruce M. (ed), Metzeger, Oxford University Press, ,

External links

★ Virtual Tour of Jerusalem @ jerusalem360.com - Interactive Panoramas from Israel

★ Article on Gethsemane from LightPlanet

★ Catholic Encyclopedia on Gethsemane

★ Paul’s Knowledge of the Garden of Gethsemane Narrative, by Christopher Price

★ FotoTagger Annotated Galleries - Gethsemane in the art and reality

★ Article on the history of the Russian monastry itself

★ -24k- Sisters