Bible / Jesus / Simmermacher / The Holy Land
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published July 10, 2018 · Last modified July 9, 2018
In biblical times, as today, water was vital: to be hydrated, to stay clean, to produce crops, to raise livestock. Water was life. So it is no accident that so many crucial events in the Gospel take place around water: the Sea of Galilee, the River Jordan, and the various wells and healing pools.
A group from Bryanston parish in Johannesburg on the shore of the Sea of Galilee during their Holy Land pilgrimage, led by Frs Keith Gordon-Davis and Theo Macupe, and guided by Gaby Makhlouf, a...
This week’s massacre of 55 people in Gaza took place during a protest commemorating what Palestinians call the Naqba (Catastrophe), when many lost their homes to the newly-established state of Israel 70 years ago....
Church / Mary / Simmermacher / The Holy Land
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published May 15, 2018 · Last modified May 17, 2018
In the second of his three articles on ten places where we find Mary in the Holy Land, Günther Simmermacher guides us to the Temple in Jerusalem, the wedding feast in Cana, and through Mary’s sorrow as her Son is crucified.
The Blessed Virgin Mary was a real person of flesh and blood, and the recorded stations of her life are marked by shrines and churches throughout the Holy Land. Günther Simmermacher guides us on a pilgrimage to Mary.
Jerusalem’s most famous Christian church, shared by three denominations, is unlocked each morning by a Muslim. Since the seventh century, the family of Wajeeh Nuseibeh, 69, has handed down the responsibility of opening the door of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
by hazelelponiSC · Published December 27, 2017 · Last modified December 18, 2017
Scientists who helped restore a shrine above the site believed to be the place where Christ was buried say testing of samples has dated the tomb to at least the fourth century.
by Jael SC · Published December 19, 2017 · Last modified December 15, 2017
Despite the current uncertainty, life in Bethlehem continues, including pilgrimages to the place of Jesus’ birth
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published November 17, 2017 · Last modified November 19, 2017
This year the Franciscans mark 800 years since they first came to the Holy Land, where they are the custodians of holy shrines — and part of daily life. Günther Simmermacher looks at that history.
A heat wave in the Holy Land in July and near-record electricity usage are indications that Christians, Muslims and Jews are facing a common enemy that needs to be confronted in a united manner....
In February GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER made a private visit to the Holy Land. In the last in a series of six articles, he visits the Crusader city of Acre. For salacious gossip of the kind...
History / Simmermacher / The Holy Land
by Gunther Simmermacher · Published April 18, 2017 · Last modified April 13, 2017
In February GÜNTHER SIMMERMACHER made a private visit to the Holy Land. In the fifth of a series of six articles, he considers the Crusaders and their legacy. When the terrorists of ISIS announce...
