At the corner of El Wade and Via Dolorosa stands a church commemorating Christ's fifth stop on the Way of the Cross. Exhausted by beatings and scourging, exhausted by spiritual suffering, Jesus could hardly walk. When they reached the city gate, where the road went up the hill, Jesus was completely exhausted. At this time, the soldiers saw a man who was looking at Christ with compassion. It was Simon the Cyrenean, returning from work from the field. The soldiers seized him and forced him to carry the cross of Christ. In the wall near the entrance to the chapel on the right, a deep depression is visible. According to legend, this is the imprint of Christ's hand, tiredly leaning against the wall. A narrow winding street leads us in the direction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. We cross El-Beiram Street, which goes to the left of the Way of the Cross, and find ourselves at the chapel of St. Veronica. At this place, a prostitute named Veronica wiped the sweat and blood from Christ's forehead. In this regard, the church canonized her.

Drive along Via Dolorosa to its intersection with Sukhan ez Zain Street. At the door on the left is the remnant of a pillar marking the place where Jesus fell a second time. Many of the houses and shops located along this street bear the stamp of distant Roman times - stucco, stone monoliths in the walls. Along this street our path lies to a wide staircase. Climb it and turn right. The road leads to the gates of the Coptic monastery. At the entrance to the monastery, in a shallow niche, there is a rickety column. It marks the place where Christ fell for the third time. The other five stations are located in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

On Good Friday for Orthodox Easter, pilgrims gather from early morning in Praetorium, located on the territory of the former Antony's fortress - the place where the Lord Jesus Christ spent the night before the crucifixion. Here His lawless judgment was carried out, here the Savior was mocked. Here, in fact, the Lord's Way of the Cross began. Therefore, from here, pilgrims with wooden crosses in their hands head to Golgotha along the crooked, narrow streets of old Jerusalem. The place of the Savior's crucifixion is located under the arches of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Some silently, and many with prayerful singing: in Slavonic, Greek, Serbian, Romanian – in different languages. The Greek metropolitan leads the procession, he carries on his shoulders a cross the size of a man, which carries him to Golgotha, the place of Christ's crucifixion.

The Death and Resurrection of Christ

Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the holy of holies of world Christianity. The sharper is the contrast between the expectation to find here something grandiose, outwardly similar to the shining golden Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. So, the last turn under the stone arch, and an inconspicuous blind courtyard paved with slabs opens up in front of us. It rests on a high rectangle of a gray unplastered wall lined with rough limestone blocks - the façade of the famous temple. The latter has no sides, in the usual sense, outwardly being only a continuation of the crowding buildings - bell towers, old residential buildings. Therefore, it is impossible to get an idea of the huge space hidden inside the structure from the outside.

Two steep stone arches. Under each of them there is an entrance. But one is walled up with stones. And the other, with heavy wooden doors, is opened every morning and locked in the evening by a friendly Palestinian in a red fez. The Gothic style dominates outside and inside the Church of the Resurrection - this was done by the Crusaders. For a century and a half that European knights owned the Holy City, they left visible traces of their presence. It was they who built most of the temples in the Old City and significantly rebuilt those already existing in those places that are associated with biblical events. So the famous Church of the Resurrection of Christ is a typical example of Gothic architecture. The first stone chapel on the site where Christ was laid in the tomb, and where He was resurrected, was built by Emperor Constantine at the request of his mother Helena back in the IV century. Throughout its centuries-old history, the temple was repeatedly plundered and destroyed, but then invariably revived again. Although each time in a new guise. The Church of the Resurrection acquired its current appearance in 1149. At the same time, it completely lost the original appearance of the Greek basilica.

To the left of the mighty wooden doors, one of the three columns supporting the arch is split from bottom to top. Many centuries ago, when the Orthodox were denied the opportunity to hold the Easter service, during which the Holy Fire descends, the column was cut by heavenly flames. It did not descend into the Edicule (the Holy Sepulchre), where the Armenians were unsuccessfully waiting for it, but into the hands of the Greek Patriarch, who lit an Easter candle in the street, from the temple column. A little to the left is a tower, from which the Turkish warrior Amir jumped, under the influence of this miracle he believed in the Lord and did not break, because the stones softened like wax. For this faith he was executed by the Muslims by beheading.

Immediately at the entrance to the temple, the Stone of Anointing lies on the floor, which is an oblong low slab. According to legend, the body of Christ was placed on this stone, now lined with marble, taken down from the cross, to be anointed with aromatic substances before burial. To the right of the Stone of Anointing, two stairs lead up, to the most terrible place on earth - Golgotha. The steps lead to the top of a hill hidden in the bowels of the temple. Here, according to legend, there was a cross on which Christ was crucified. In the depths rises a wooden Crucifix above an open altar. Under the altar in the floor there is a silver disc with a hole in the middle, indicating the place where the cross was inserted. Two black circles also indicate the places of the crosses on which two thieves were crucified at the same time as Christ. Below, under the altar of Golgotha, there is a dungeon where stone bonds are kept - in them the feet of the Lord were tied. These bonds are in the form of a stone slab with two holes for the legs. To the right of the bonds in the altar is the icon of the Sorrowful Mother of God. As they say, tears periodically appear on the face of the Mother of God, which flow from half-closed eyes.

Execution by crucifixion was the most painful, the most shameful and the most cruel in ancient Rome. Only the most notorious villains were executed with such a death: robbers, murderers, rebels and criminal slaves. The torment of the crucified man is impossible to describe. In addition to unbearable pains in all parts of the body and suffering, the crucified experienced terrible thirst and mortal spiritual anguish. Death was so slow that many suffered on the crosses for several days. According to Jewish law, a person hanged from a tree was considered cursed. The leaders of the Jews wanted to disgrace Jesus Christ forever by condemning Him to such an execution.

When everything was ready, the soldiers nailed Jesus Christ to the cross, piercing His hands and feet with long nails. Together with Him, they crucified two thieves. Thus the prophecy of "at-Tawra" (Old Testament, Bible) was fulfilled: "And he was numbered with the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12) It was about noon, in Hebrew, at the 6th hour of the day. When they crucified Him, He prayed for His tormentors, saying: "Father, forgive them! Forgive them, because they don't know what they're doing." At the cross of the Savior stood His mother Mary (Mariam), the Apostle John, Mary Magdalene, and several other women who venerated Him.

Meanwhile, during the suffering of the Savior on Golgotha, a great sign occurred, reflected in the Injil (Gospel). From the hour when Jesus was crucified, that is, from the sixth hour (and according to our reckoning from the twelfth hour of the day), the sun darkened, and darkness fell over the whole earth, and lasted until the ninth hour (according to our reckoning, until the third hour of the day), that is, until the very death of Christ. This unusual, worldwide darkness was noted even by pagan writers and historians: the Roman astronomer Phlegon, Thales, and Julius Africanus. The famous philosopher from Athens, Dionysius the Areopagite, was at that time in Egypt, in the city of Heliopolis; observing the sudden darkness, he said: "Either the Creator suffers, or the world is destroyed." Subsequently, Dionysius the Areopagite converted to Christianity and was the first bishop of Athens.