Stroll through the golden Jerusalem, facing the vicissitudes of monuments, legends and quaint architecture, you can't help but feel a deep soul shock. Many of the stories of the Bible take place in Jerusalem, where many legends of Jesus' mission, death, resurrection, and so on can be found here.
A winding path in the Old City of Jerusalem, where Jesus carried the cross to the execution ground. In 1731, Pope Clement XII identified fourteen iconic sites where Jesus had stayed on the Bitter Road, hence the term "Fourteen Stations on the Bitter Road". Christian believers come to Jerusalem and make a pilgrimage to re-walk the bitter road, an act also known as "worship of the bitter road."
Every Friday afternoon, a procession of Christians walks through 14 stations. It is the dream of many Christians to come to Jerusalem in person to worship the Way of The Passion, who take turns carrying the cross and chanting hymns along the way, experiencing the pain and suffering that Jesus endured in order to save the people.
The Bitter Road was the last stretch of road in Jesus' life, each station has a small legend, and now, for visitors to easily identify these stations, there are circular metal plates as signs, the first to the ninth stop of the Fourteenth Station of the Bitter Road is in the streets of the Old City, and the tenth to fourteenth stops are all in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Gospels of the Bible record the process of Jesus being betrayed, arrested, humiliated, flogged, carried on his cross, and finally crucified.
Stop 1: Enter the city from the Lion's Gate, which was originally the roman doge's palace at the time, and is now a Madrasah. Where Jesus was sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea.
Archaeologists believe that the Roman governor lived in Herod's palace while in Jerusalem, where he was judged and flogged on the paved stones outside. Herod's Palace is on a hill in the west, and Herod's Palace was discovered in 2001 beneath the Tower of David. Archaeologists now conclude that in the first century the Roman viceroy was judging Jesus in the western part of the city, not in the area around the flogging church on the other side of the city.
Stop 2: In the courtyard opposite the school, where Jesus was whipped and then put on a crown of thorns and a purple robe. The Franciscans condemned (convicted) churches to commemorate Jesus' crucifixion, and the flogging chapel is a memorial to Jesus being flogged.
Jesus was crucified and crowned with thorns after being whipped, and whipped to begin roaming the streets. Jesus walked out of the inquisition, took up the cross in front of the door, and walked west along the street, on the bitter road. The name of the street in front of the gate is Via Dolorosa, which means "bitter road" in Latin, and there is an archway with a temple of thorns, commemorating the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus. Cf. John 19:1-6.
Stop Three: Jesus walked through the arches with a heavy cross on his back in the midst of the ridicule and invective of the crowd, and made a difficult journey along the alley, falling three times! Jesus bore the weight of the cross on his shoulders, and the weight of all our sins weighed on that cross. This is where Jesus first fell, and now the armenian Catholic Church - the statue at the head of the door, clearly representing the heavy cross that made Jesus fall for the first time.
Stop Four: The relief at the door recreates the sight of Jesus' mother, Mary, meeting Jesus. Here Mary saw Jesus staggering over with the cross on his back. Seeing Jesus wearing a crown of thorns, his face covered with blood and sweat, his face haggard, and his tormented into human form, Mary's heart was like a knife, and her heart was full of sorrow. Inside is the Church of the Virgin Mary.
Stop Five: The House of Simon the Gulinai – Simon took the cross on his back when he saw Jesus. This is now a prayer room for the Franciscans. Jesus was exhausted when he came here and stopped several times. So the Roman soldiers seized Simon, a Gurinaean man from the countryside, and ordered him to carry the cross for Jesus. On the outside wall there was a handprint on the wall that Jesus was tired of holding up. (Luke 23:26)
Stop Six: A woman Veronica wipes Jesus here with a handkerchief, and the face of Jesus is forever left on the handkerchief. Jesus walked here, his face covered with tired sweat, the blood from the crown of thorns, and the saliva spit from passers-by. Among the onlookers was a woman named Veronica who stood up to wipe jesus, and it is said that the handkerchief is now preserved in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Now it is a small convent veronica church.
Seventh Stop: Exiting the City from the Gate of Judgment (Damascus Gate of the Old City) – Jesus tripped three times on the road of the Wretched Road, the second time Jesus fell. The bitter road is from a low place to the hill in the city, and Jesus, who carries a heavy cross, walks more and more difficultly, and falls down here for the second time. This is the western border of Jerusalem in jesus' day.