West Bank Bound

Outside the church in Burqin, near Jenin

Today, we ventured into the West Bank for the first time. We wove our way through rolling hills, extensive farm land, and olive tree forests before finally landing at a beautiful stone church.

St. George Church of the Ten Lepers

The Church of the Ten Lepers is situated in a middle of the predominantly Muslim town of Burqin. It is shaped out of the cave that, in Jesus' day, served as the quarantined living quarters for those which various skin diseases. The iconostasis is one-of-a-kind and is the only one made of stone in the world. 

Secret Place of Worship

Graffiti

While the church is considered one of the oldest in Christendom, recent renovations uncovered a cistern under the church where early Christians went for prayer and worship to avoid persecution from the Romans. Paige made her way down the ladder and spied the graffiti on the walls, some modern and some ancient.

This small Christian community boasts 62 members in a village of over 7,000. Their prayer is maintain a strong Christian witness.  We were moved by their faithfulness to Christ.

Next stop was Sebastia, where we saw the largely unexcavated ruins of the ancient city of Sebaste. Below the top layer of Roman ruins were the remains of the palace of Jezebel and Ahab. As you can see, the wildflowers were stunning!  

Translation: 
"The one who believes in me will live,
even though they die." 

Around the corner was the place where it John the Baptist was beheaded and buried. 

We had one of our best lunches to date at the restaurant owned by Mahmood, a Palestinian, who was educated at the University of Alabama. The food was prepared in the traditional family way and it was delicious.

Makloubi - upside down

first course

Jacob's Well in Nablus

We then motored to Nablus, the city where Jacob’s Well is situated. We read the story of the Samaritan woman whom Jesus asked for a drink of water. Goosebumps and tears - we got to drink from that same source of water where Jesus proclaimed, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13)

Father Justinus

The church is all the more impressive when we learned that the Orthodox priest who serves there built the church from ruins. He is responsible for all the modern icons and mosaics that adorn the church. Father Justinus is a treasure and it was wonderful to meet him.

Our next stop was Taybeh, the only Christian village in the West Bank. We sampled bear at the local brewery there and heard more about the hardships of life in the West Bank. We stopped by the local hotel to see painting created by Lucy Janjigian, a member of the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church and a dear friend to many of us this pilgrimage.

Cincinnati folks at the brewery

We headed to Jericho and took a quick detour to look at the traditional location of Jesus’ 40 days of testing in the wilderness.
Finally, we made it to our hotel in Jericho. The Oasis is just that – a lovely place of rest and relaxation in the middle of the desert.

Another full day. What is in store for tomorrow?