Gethsemane

Gethsemane (also spelled Gethsemani) was the garden where, according to the New Testament and Christian traditions, Jesus watched, prayed, and suffered for the sins of the world the night before he was crucified (see Atonement). According to Luke 22:43–44, Jesus' anguish in Gethsemane was so deep that "his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." Gethsemane was also where Christ was betrayed by the disciple Judas Iscariot.

The garden identified as Gethsemane is located at the foot of the Mount of Olives, now within the city of Jerusalem.^[1] Located by the garden is the Church of All Nations, also known as the Church of the Agony. The ancient church was destroyed by the Sassanids in 614. The church rebuilt on the site by the Crusaders was finally razed, probably in 1219. Also on the Mount of Olives is the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Mary Magdalene with its distinct golden, onion-shaped domes (Byzantine/Russian Style). It was built by Russian Tsar Alexander III in memory of his mother.

The name Gethsemane is given in the Greek of the Gospels (Matthew 26:36 and Mark 14:32) as Γεθσημανι (Gethsêmani). This represents the Aramaic 'Gath-Šmânê', meaning 'the oil press' or 'oil vat' (referring to olive oil).^[1] It would appear from this that there were a number of olive trees planted around the area at the time. The Gospel of Mark (xiv, 32) calls it chorion, "a place" or "estate"; The Gospel of John (xviii, 1) speaks of it as kepos, a "garden" or "orchard". The garden today is filled with olive trees that might well be descendants of those from the time of Jesus.

The Garden of Gethsemane was a focal site for early Christian pilgrims. It was visited in 333 by the anonymous "Pilgrim of Bordeaux", whose Itinerarium Burdigalense is the earliest description left by a Christian traveler in the Holy Land. In his Onomasticon, Eusebius of Caesarea notes the site of Gethsemane "at the foot of the Mount of Olives", and he adds that "the faithful were accustomed to go there to pray".

Depictions of Gethsemane

Andrea Mantegna's Agony in the Garden, circa 1460, depicts Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane.

Detail from Gothic-era depiction of scene at Gethsemane from Ulm Münster

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Metzger & Coogan (1993) Oxford Companion to the Bible’’, p253.

References

• Metzeger, Bruce M. (ed); , Michael D. Coogan (ed) (1993). The Oxford Companion to the Bible. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504645-5. 

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