His baptism. The monastery can be reached by foot - for the hardy - or by cable car. Aside from Bethlehem, Beit Sahour and Jericho, other sites in the P.A. are of potential interest to Christian pilgrims, and the P.A.’s Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities has worked to identify and develop a number of them. These include Jacob’s Well in Nablus, on the grounds of a Greek Orthodox monastery, where Jesus is said to have asked a Samaritan woman to draw water for Him from a well, the Byzantine church at Burquin (near Jenin), built to mark the spot where Jesus cured the 10 lepers, the Byzantine church ruins in El Bireh, where Joseph and Mary stopped to rest on their way to Jerusalem, and Sebastia, where Salome is said to have performed her dance of the seven veils, receiving John the Baptist’s head in return (a site of particular interest to Provoslav pilgrims, because of the St. John’s Russian Orthodox convent situated there). Another important pilgrimage site is Bethany, situated just over the brow of the Mount of Olives. The Gospels indicate that Jesus chose to stay in Bethany, rather than in Jerusalem itself, when He visited the City and that He was particularly close to Lazarus - whose tomb may be visited there - and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. Today, a modern church (built in the early 1950s) stands on the site considered to be the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. It contains some very striking modern mosaic work, depicting both the characters themselves and some of the important incidents recorded in the gospels that took place in Bethany.
Jerusalem-Bethlehem Border Crossing
For tourists visiting Israel, crossing into Bethlehem from Jerusalem (and back) is usually not a difficult matter, especially since the terminal between the two cities has been upgraded by establishing special lanes for tourists moving between them. The Israel Ministry of Tourism has also been promoting cooperation with private Israeli and Palestinian partners to develop the crossing points, and a Ministry of Tourism representative is always present or on call at the border crossing to deal with any unanticipated hitches. The New Testament city of Jericho was built by Herod the Great about two miles south of the ancient city of Jericho - reputedly the oldest in the world - and it was there in Jesus’ day that the Jewish pilgrims from Galilee and Transjordan stopped on their way to Jerusalem. There too, Zacchaeus climbed a sycamore tree to get a better view of Jesus. Just outside of Jericho, the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Temptation, on the Mount of Temptation, stands on the site where Satan offered Jesus the kingdom of the world (Matthew 4, 1-4). Inside the monastery, high up on a barren 1333-meter-high desert hill, visitors may access the cave where Jesus is believed to have stayed during His 40-day stay in the wilderness, fasting after
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