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Modern day pilgrims outside Jerusalem.
Galloping through the Gospels is a fast-moving and scintillating exploration of all the major sites featured in the Gospels, providing fascinating and illuminating insights into the life of Jesus.
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 ave you ever visited the Holy Land? If so
perhaps you, like so many others, count it among the greatest experiences
of your life. Believers have been going there to retrace the steps of Jesus for a long
time. Now over two million people travel to the Holy Land every year to
visit places important in Bible history.
Most of us would feel privileged if we could get a week or two in the
Biblical locations. Imagine what it would be like if you could take three
years tracing your Christian and Biblical roots. That is exactly what
a mysterious lady did long ago (381 -384) and she was wise enough to keep
a diary of her travels. And she would be happy to know that we are reading
her notes, especially since they were lost for hundreds of years.
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Meet Egeria (a.k.a. Etheria)
The lady who left us the narrative of her pilgrimage was named Egeria,
and her journey took place around the end of the fourth century. A native
of Spain, Egeria spent three years traveling to Egypt, Israel and Syria,
and she wrote an account of her travels for her sisters back home. In
1884 a partial manuscript of her narrative was found in the library of
the Brotherhood of St. Mary in Arezzo, Italy. The eleventh century manuscript
had been copied by monks at the monastery of Monte Cassino.
Who Was This Lady?
Since her travel narrative tells little about herself, exactly who Egeria
was is not clear, but she must have been a lady of spunk and adventure
to even make such a trip. Much of her time would have been spent in travel
to and from the East. Once in Constantinople, it would have taken her
eight more weeks to reach Jerusalem, traveling 21 miles a day over 1200
miles. Egeria also must have been a lady of some leisure and wealth to
have spent three years traveling in the East. She may have been a nun
and wrote her narrative for her fellow-nuns back in Spain. Possibly she
had some connections with the imperial court at Constantinople. Emperor
Theodosius the Great was from Spain. Though no mention is made of Egeria
in the surviving court records, the very fact that she arrived in Constantinople
about the same time as the Spanish Theodosius suggests some connection.
Theodosius' wife Aelia Flacilla and his niece Serena were staunch Christians
and implacable foes of paganism. What relationship, if any, Egeria might
have had with these devout ladies is unknown.
Studying Scripture on Location
The surviving manuscripts do not have the beginning of Egeria's account.
What we do have begins at Mt. Sinai, where Egeria went to see all she
could that might relate to the Exodus. Everywhere she went Egeria found
guides, monks, and religious leaders who would show her the sites, then
she would read the Scriptures focusing on where she was and the Biblical
significance of the place. Implicit in all her pilgrimage was a desire
to deepen her understanding of the Scriptures by seeing the very places
where Biblical events occurred. Her description of the places visited
is always subordinate to the truth of Scripture itself. At Sinai she climbed
to the top of the mountain where the Glory of God had shown. Resident
monks showed her where it was thought the golden calf had stood as well
as the burning bush, whose roots were still well established!
After a stay in Jerusalem, Egeria made other journeys to Biblical sites
-- to Mt. Nebo where Moses died (in modern Jordan), and Harran, where
Job's tomb and Abraham's house could still be seen (in modern Turkey).
Egeria traveled the main caravan and trade routes. At times Roman soldiers
provided an escort. Faithful monks provided hospitality and guidance along
the way, continuing a tradition of hospitality dating from the earliest
days of the church.
The most interesting portion of Egeria's narrative, however, is her account
of the worship practices of the Jerusalem Christians. At least six churches
in Jerusalem were all established on places associated with major events
in the life of Christ.
Daily and Sunday services at the churches focused on the particular importance
of each site in Jesus' life, but the close proximity of all the churches
soon led to a seasonal, annual series of celebrations, with each church
playing a specific part in the yearly liturgy. Egeria described this pattern
of worship in detail.
What made worship at the Jerusalem churches so unique was that the churches
were at the geographical locations where the most important events of
Jesus' life, and in all of human history, had occurred. A pattern of retracing,
reliving, and re-enacting the last week of Jesus' life naturally grew
up in association with these churches. Large crowds from throughout Jerusalem,
as well as pilgrims from elsewhere, gathered to participate.
In addition to the regular daily services at all the Jerusalem churches,
additional times of prayers, hymns, and Scripture reading were held during
Holy Week, or the Great Week as the Jerusalemites called it, to remember
the events of Christ's last week on earth. On Tuesday the bishop led the
people to the Eleona Church on the Mount of Olives and read to them Jesus'
teachings to His disciples from Matthew 23-24. On Wednesday evening, a
priest read the passage where Judas Iscariot went to the Jews to set a
price for his betrayal of the Lord. The people moaned and groaned, and
many were moved to tears. On Thursday, special services were again held
at the Mount of Olives churches, and then the bishop and people went to
Gethsemane. After a prayer and hymn, the Scripture describing the Lord«s
agony in the Garden was read. Egeria noted that no one failed to be a
part of the remaining ceremonies, tired though they might be from their
long vigils and fasting. In the early hours of Friday they made their
way back to the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the bishop read the
Gospel accounts of Jesus before Pilate. Before returning briefly to their
homes, the people went to Mount Zion to pray at the pillar in Caiaphas'
house where Jesus was whipped.
Friday was the most solemn day of the Great Week in Jerusalem. In the
morning the wood of the cross Queen Helena had found was brought out for
reverence. For hours pilgrims filed by to see the holy relic. But for
Egeria, the three-hour service that began at noon was most meaningful.
Nothing was done during all of that time except the reading from the Scriptures.
And so, from the sixth to the ninth hour (12-3 p.m.), passages from Scripture
are continuously read and hymns are sung, to show the people that whatever
the prophets had said would come to pass concerning the passion of the
Lord can be shown, both through the Gospels and the writings of the apostles,
to have taken place. And so, during these three hours, all the people
are taught that nothing happened which was not prophesied, and that nothing
was prophesied which was not completely fulfilled.
Every one, young and old, was moved to tears with the realization that
the Lord suffered for them.
In Jerusalem Egeria found a greater emphasis on the preaching of Scripture
than she had known in her home church. The people were always learning
about the Bible and the love of God. As they walked to and from the various
holy sites and heard the Scriptures read, they were able to involve themselves
in the historical life of Jesus. As pilgrims like Egeria came to the Holy
Land, more and more Christians became familiar with the annual cycle of
feasts commemorating the life of Jesus that had grown up there. Many churches
elsewhere had known nothing like the lessons from Scripture regularly
connected with the feasts, but gradually these became part of the liturgy
and worship of other churches. The Christian year, with its annual celebrations
of all aspects of Jesus' life, soon became the established worship pattern
of the church. At a time when few people had a copy of the Scriptures
themselves, this annual cycle of Scripture reading connected with the
life of Christ was an important way of confirming the Christians in their
faith. In Egeria's account of her pilgrimage, we have a detailed account
of worship in Jerusalem during the early centuries of the church, a pattern
of worship that continues to influence the Church down to our own day.
Baptism Not to Be Taken Lightly
Part of Egeria's account has to do with baptism at Easter in Jerusalem.
Here is a portion of Egeria's description of what happened. As you can
see, careful inquiry was made into the life and character of the candidate
before final acceptance for baptism was given:
I must also describe how those who are to be baptized at Easter are
instructed. Whoever gives his name does so the day before Lent . . .
and this is before those eight weeks during which, as I have said, Lent
is observed here . . . on the first day of Lent...a throne is set up
for the bishop in the center of the major church, the Martyrium. The
priests sit on stools on both sides, and all the clergy stand around.
One by one the candidates are led forward in such a way that the men
come with their godfathers and the women with their godmothers. Then
the bishop questions individually the neighbors of the one who has come
up, inquiring: "Does he lead a good life? Does he obey his parents?
Is he a drunkard or a liar?" And he seeks out in the man other
vices which are more serious. If the person proves to be guiltless in
all these matters . . . the bishop . . . notes down the man's name with
his own hand. If, however, he is accused of anything, the bishop orders
him to go out and says: "Let him amend his life, and when he has
done so let him then approach the baptismal font." He makes the
same inquiry of both men and women. If, however, someone is a stranger,
he cannot easily receive baptism, unless he has witnesses who know him
. . .
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