Dormition Abbey, Jerusalem

Shhh… quiet, lest you wake them

In every view of and from the Old City, the structure with the large, sloped blue roof of the Dormition Abbey stands out, with its four turrets surrounding it and the adjacent bell tower. The church stands on Mount Zion, one of the highest points in the Old City area. Despite the juxtaposition of name and location, there is no connection between the word Zion and the name Dormition. The name Dormition comes from the Latin word dormire, to sleep, and refers to the Christian tradition according to which Mary, the mother of Jesus, fell into her final sleep and did not die in the usual sense, because she is holy – and saints live forever.

Beneath the impressive entrance hall, decorated with a zodiac wheel mosaic, is an underground burial chamber – a crypt. There, the figure of Mary is displayed lying down, and above her is a mosaic with the image of her son, surrounded by the text “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away” (Song of Songs 2:10), and around it appear figures of strong women: Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moses and Aaron; Yael, wife of Heber the Kenite, who dealt with Sisera; Judith, who dealt similarly with Holofernes; Eve, the first woman; Queen Esther, who is very relevant these days; and Ruth, the mother of the Davidic dynasty.

A Modest Room for the President of the State

I arrived at the location as part of a Tower of David tour with the guide Gabi. Before the church, we visited nearby sites on Mount Zion: King David’s Tomb, above which is the Room of the Last Supper, which according to Christian tradition is the place where the Last Supper took place, which is essentially the Passover Seder. I missed the windows that Leonardo da Vinci painted. On the roof above these two sites is also the study of President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, a modest room overlooking an open and impressive landscape.

Indeed, the view is impressive, but when I see a tower I want to climb it. On another Tower of David tour, I wondered how I would get there, and the guide Yana heard my request and connected me with Father Simeon, who is studying Hebrew with her. He agreed to open the locked gates for me and climb with me to the blue tower of the church, and a wonderful panorama emerged. Many  Thank you, Simeon! 😊