NAZARETH – A MINISTRY THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF THE WORLD

It is claimed you can get anywhere in northern Israel from Jerusalem in less than two hours (the type of observation that gives military planners fits).  The roads are excellent.  Signposts are clear.  Primary destinations are easy to find.  It takes about 45 minutes to get from the northwest Grotto of Rosh Hanikra to the town of Nazareth.  This is the historically recognized boyhood home of Jesus the Christ.  It is located about 25 kilometers east of the port of Haifa and 20 kilometers west of the Sea of Galilee.

Some theorists fatuously suggest that Nazareth did not really exist at the time of Christ, due to the shortage of supporting archeological evidence and pottery remains, plus a dearth of references to the village in ancient Arab and Jewish texts.  By extension they argue Jesus never lived there, and perhaps never even existed at all.

This is clearly rubbish – and not the stuff studied by archeologists.  The funerary and cult center of Kfar Kahoresh, only 3 miles distant, dates back over 9000 years.  Ceramics, kilns, grinding mills and silos indicate habitation during the Bronze and Iron Ages.  A shortage of evidence for habitation during the Babylonians, Persian, Greek and Roman times can be attributed to the complete destruction of nearby villages by the Assyrians about 720 AD.  Jewish dwellings dating back to the early Roman period in the time of Christ were finally excavated in 2009.

Nazareth apparently was always a small village during Christ’s time with approximately 200 to 400 people among 35 homes spread over 10 acres.  Its size was limited by a poor water supply, derived from a single slowly bubbling spring.  It maintained some minor importance as a stop on the caravan routes from the Mediterranean coast to the town of Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee.

Outside its present day draw as a Christian pilgrimage site Nazareth has had a fascinating history.  Despite repeated narratives and biblical references about the village being the home of The Virgin Mary (and with due respect to Bethlehem, sometimes even the birthplace of Jesus), the city remained Jewish until the 7^th century AD.  The town profited from Christian pilgrimages beginning in the 4th century.

Those pilgrims of the Greek Orthodox faith, believing Mary received her notice from the Angel Gabriel that she was to give birth to the Son of God while taking water from the local spring (now known as Mary’s Well), founded St. Gabriel’s Church of The Anunciation just uphill.

Hostility against Christians broke out in 614 AD when the Persians invaded Palestine and slaughtered local Christians. It was claimed the Jews of Nazareth helped in this massacre. Subsequently when the Christian Eastern Roman Emperor Heraclius ejected the Persians sixteen years later, he also expelled Nazareth’s Jews.

In 1099, the Norman Crusader Tancred captured Galilee and established his capital in Nazareth. The town returned to Arab control in 1187 following victory by Muslim commander Saladin at the famous “Horns of Hattin” battle.  Surviving Crusaders and European clergy were forced to emigrate.

In 1263 the Christian buildings in Nazareth were destroyed and the town declared off-limits to European clergy as part of a drive to force remaining Crusaders out of Palestine. Arab Christian families continued to live in Nazareth. Pilgrims who visited the site in 1294 reported only a tiny church protecting the grotto where The Virgin Mary had lived with her parents Joachim and Anna.

In 1620 Franciscan monks were permitted to build a larger church at this grotto.  Roman Catholic Christians believe this to be the actual location where the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary she would give divine birth (thus Grotto of The Anunciation).  This church was erected on the remains of a small Christian shrine, among other later buildings, dating back to the first century AD.

Pilgrimages to these and other sites were organized by the Franciscans, but the monks and travelers suffered harassment from surrounding Bedouin tribes who often kidnapped them for ransom.  Stability returned to Galilee under Ottoman rule.  A larger church at the Grotto was authorized in 1730. That structure stood until 1955, when it was demolished to make way for the present and much larger Shrine Basilica of the Anunciation (finished in 1967).

Nazareth was captured by the troops of French emperor Napolean Bonaparte in 1799, during his Syrian campaign.  He is said to have visited local holy sites. During the period 1830 to 1840, Nazareth was once more opened to European missionaries and traders, this time under Egyptian protection. European money continued to flow into Nazareth.  Local Christians were protected during Islamic pogroms of the 1860s following another phase of political flux offering either pillage or protection.  This time Bedouin leaders were their saviors.

Nazareth was in the territory drawn within Arab boundaries under the United Nations 1947 Partition Plan for Palestine. The growing town was not a field of battle during the Arab-Israeli War (Israeli War of Independence) a year later. During ten days of fighting which occurred during a series of truces, Nazareth was captured by Israeli troops. The town remained under Martial Law until 1966 due to its large Muslim population.

Today it is a busy, clogged, tourist driven town of 60,000 with steep winding streets and (sadly) a complete lack of architectural character.  It is referred to as the “Arab Capitol of Israel” with a 70% Arab population – 30% of whom are Christian.  Uphill on a broad plateau adjoins the Jewish settlement of Upper Nazareth, consisting primarily of Russian and Ethiopian émigrés.

The town is dominated by the Shrine Basilica of The Anunciation – a beautiful, massive complex that is the largest Christian sanctuary in the Mideast.  It is built on two levels, with the bottom level encompassing the cave (grotto) in which The Virgin Mary was raised, and the remains of a number of other much smaller churches/shrines which were built from the time of the very first Christian gatherings in The Galilee.

The Basilica’s upper level has modest seating capacity, exquisite altars, statues, mosaics, columns with carved capitals, and notable remains from previous churches existing on the site.  Its primary motif however is artwork showing scenes from the life of both Jesus and Mary and related stories from both the Old and New Testaments of The Bible.

Outside, in a shaded colonnaded courtyard, is an L-shaped walkway featuring stunning mosaic, ceramic, wooden, and painted iconographic art from all over the world dedicated to some vestige of Mary’s life.  These masterpieces alone are worth a visit to the Basilica, regardless of one’s faith.  Nearby are early Christian dwellings, tools, housing implements and burial chambers located underneath the church but clearly separated from The Grotto.

Uphill is the modest Church of St. Joseph.  It was built in 1914 over the remains of a previous 5^th Century place of worship.  Tradition proclaims this site as the home and carpentry shop of Mary’s husband Joseph.  It is the site he and Mary were reported to have returned to after their flight to Egypt following King Herod’s order to slay all first-born Jewish sons.  It is where Jesus called home before beginning his ministry at the age of 30 in Galilee.

As with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Old City Jerusalem, it is easy as the scribe or historian to question historical aspects of this series of Mary, Joseph and Jesus stories.  They sometimes seem to be so conveniently … packaged.  With so little documentation at the time, and with nobody knowing that this prescient young man would grow to have the career and the notoriety he did, how is it possible to know the exact well, the exact cave, the exact workshop where these supernatural occurrences took place?  Or even that they took place at all?

This question of course opens the whole debate on the question of Faith – the abiding belief in that which can not be seen or proven.  However … when you see the fruits of what that these events … these places … these characters … this faith … inspires, it becomes much easier to entertain that often necessary state we call a willing suspension of disbelief, allowing maximum appreciation if not glorification of what is before you.

Across Casanova Street from St. Joseph’s is my hostel, the huge Sister of Nazareth Convent – one of the largest buildings in town.  I remember it well for its placid staff, security, quietude, peaceful marbled courtyards, and cleanliness.  While not exactly offering hostel level pricing, I do remember this as the cleanest room I stayed in over an entire 137 day journey.

Dinner this particular night is also one of the most memorable of the entire trip.  My gracious Arab proprietor (I will call him Ibrahim,originally from Beirut), has been in the area for 30 years.  He allows the rare privilege of sampling each dish before ordering.  I eventually select the baked chicken (best I’ve ever tasted beyond Portugese cinnamon chicken), served on a platter atop a layer of caramelized onions with olive oil.

It is accompanied by rosemary and garlic olive bread, multiple arabic salads, and a giant pitcher of lemonade.  He is conversational in the extremis and finally allows me leave only in time to beat the convent’s 10 PM doors-locked deadline. For the life of me, I sadly can not find this wonderful man’s business card or website!

On my way out of town, a photo stop is made at the impressive Mt. Precipice Amphitheatre.  This huge bowl, capable of seating 35,000, is the largest in the nation and one of the largest amphitheatres in the world.  It is located at the Biblical site described in Luke 4: 16-30 where Jesus proclaimed himself to be the Messiah in the synagogue, and the angry Jews rose up, led him out of the city to the brow of a hill that they might cast him down headlong, but he disappeared before their eyes “in the midst of them."