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on religious travel ❖

Pilgrims find spiritual renewal at Bethany Beyond the Jordan and other sites dating from the dawn of Christianity

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HOLY GROUND IN

Visitors to Bethany Beyond the Jordan may see priests or pastors performing baptisms. The Jordan River was wider and more turbulent in biblical days.

“As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment Heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from Heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love, with him I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3: 16-17) 18 October 2010

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he landscape is dry and stony, the vegetation scruffy. In scenes right out of the Bible, Bedouins herd sheep and goats in the desolate countryside north of the Dead Sea. From the bus window, you might see a camel or two tied up by the nomads’ tents.

Hardly lush and leafy, this area along the east bank of the Jordan River, opposite Jericho, is nonetheless ripe for discovery as one of the most significant sites in Christendom. Though Bethany Beyond the Jordan has been known for two millennia as the place where Jesus Christ was baptized by John, it was not until 1996 that stunning archaeological discoveries identified the exact site where John had been carrying out his

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Malia Asfour, director of the Jordan Tourism Board North America, said, “We have worked hand in hand with our suppliers to promote this unique location and educate religious travel planners about how to build it into all of their Holy Land programs. Now that the site is fully open and travelers have easy access, it is only natural that this authentic location is once again returning to its place of prominence on the Holy Land map.”

Because Bethany Beyond the Jordan marks the baptism of Jesus by his cousin John, and thus the beginning of Jesus’ mission and indeed the beginning of Christianity, it is considered to be one of the three holiest Christian sites in the

Catholic Church. Last year Pope Benedict XVI blessed the cornerstones of two new Catholic churches being built.

Also in 2009, Baptist World Alliance officials, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and other dignitaries were on hand to dedicate a new Baptism Center along the reedy shores of the River Jordan.

A gravel path, lined with shrub-like tamarisk trees, leads to the terraced Baptism Center. Along the way is a gold-domed Greek Orthodox church built from honey-colored limestone in 2003. Besides the Catholic churches under construction, Anglican, Baptist, Coptic, Russian Orthodox and Armenian churches are in the works.

Byzantine ruins and Jordan Valley landscapes provide photographic subject matter at Bethany Beyond the Jordan.

baptisms, spurring renewed interest among religious travel groups. Before 1994, the area had been a military border zone full of land mines.

Bethany Beyond the Jordan, a place of pilgrimage from the fifth to 12th centuries, contains the remains of five memorial churches built by early believers; various Christian denominations today are putting up new churches and guest facilities near those ruins. Once the pilgrim village is completed, the rustic site expects to receive more than one million visitors annually. A Jordanian national park, the protected reserve is run by an independent board of trustees—the Baptism Site Commission—appointed by King Abdullah II. LeisureGroupTravel.com

world, together with the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It was in Bethany where Jesus, at the age of 30, first prayed to God and gathered his first disciples.

Other important spiritual events in the Bible occurred at this historical site.

It is where the Israelites, led by Joshua, first crossed into the Promised Land and where the Old Testament prophet Elijah was taken into Heaven on a chariot of fire.

The late Pope John Paul II visited Bethany Beyond the Jordan during his March 2000 pilgrimage to the Holy Land and it was designated a Jubilee Year 2000 pilgrimage site by the

From a riverside platform sheltered by a palm-frond roof, tourists at the Baptism Center descend steps to dip their feet in the narrow, tranquil stream (a roaring torrent in biblical days) or fill bottles with brown river water. Cleaner water is pumped into a font on the deck.

You might see people in white gowns immersing themselves in the river; people from all over the world come to be baptized, either by their own priest or pastor or a local clergyman. Also here are machine gun-toting Jordanian soldiers, a common sight in this border area, and the friendly tourist police who staff major attractions throughout the kingdom. ( Just across the river, less than 30 feet away, Israel operates its own October 2010 19

on religious travel ❖ The Bethany-area sites formed part of the early Christian pilgrimage route between Jerusalem, the Jordan River and Mount Nebo. According to the final chapter of Deuteronomy, Mount Nebo is where the Hebrew prophet Moses viewed the Promised Land that he would never enter. (“And Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho.”) According to Jewish and Christian tradition, Moses

Just outside the sanctuary is the Serpentine Cross, symbolic of the bronze serpent taken by Moses into the desert and the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Under the metal sculpture is the Bible verse: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert so must the Son of Man be lifted up in order that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life.”

Madaba, 10 minutes from Mount Nebo, is the “City of Mosaics.” Tour groups make a beeline to the contemporary St. George Greek Orthodox Church, which was built over the earliest surviving map of the Holy Land. A mosaic masterpiece, this floor map, made around 560 A.D., includes about 150 biblical sites, with the A mosaic floor map of the walled city of Jerusalem the central Holy Land is the focal point at St. George Church in Madaba. focus. Other church floor mosaics can be seen in Madaba, an ecclesibaptism site.) Away from the river, astical center in Byzantine times. the visitor center has shops selling Tour groups have a field day at holy soil from Israel and Jordan, Madaba’s large handicraft stores, vials of river water, carved olive where they can watch mosaic wood crosses and religious figures, works pieced together with chips of Moses Memorial Church, a pilgrimage spot on T-shirts and baptismal gowns. onyx, jade, malachite, limestone, Mount Nebo, marks the site of Moses’ death.

Bethany Beyond the Jordan also agate and other stones. In a factory includes the remains of a fifth century was buried by God himself on this showroom, they can buy everything Byzantine monastery, a third century mountain, the final station on his flight from mosaic coasters and vases to patio Roman building with fine mosaics befrom Egypt. His final resting place is tables and chairs. lieved to be a Christian prayer hall and unknown.

Madaba, called Medeba in the Old the cave where John the Baptist lived, From Mount Nebo’s windswept Testament, has 100 churches, mostly according to Byzantine pilgrims’ texts. promontory, present-day pilgrims can Catholic and Orthodox, and was preAttracting several hundred thousand feast on the same scene that Moses dominantly Christian a century ago. visitors a year, Bethany Beyond the Jorsaw more than 3,000 years ago, enJordan today is 92 percent Islamic, 8 dan is the country’s No. 1 biblical site, joying panoramic views of the Dead percent Christian. but religious tour groups can connect Sea, Jordan River Valley, Jericho and Travelers of all religious faiths, with their faith at other locations on the the distant hills of Jerusalem—if the whether devout pilgrims or casual visipilgrim route taken by early Christians weather cooperates. They also can adtors, find meaning in Jordan’s biblical between Jerusalem and Mount Nebo. mire Byzantine mosaics in Moses sites. Few remain unmoved. LGT Memorial Church, a ONLINE EXCLUSIVE large basilica built Obtain Jordan visitor guides and For more Jordan travel ideas, go online and see on stones of a fourth itineraries – and the article on resorts that promote the curative powers of the contact groupcentury church that mineral-rich Dead Sea. Log on to http://leisuregrouptravelfriendly suppliers marked the site of .com/?p=20340. directly – at leisuregrouptravel.com/instant-info Moses’ death.

20 October 2010

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