Ebal Winds (11) – religious shrines along the Holy River in Jordan, Tiberias, and lake galilee

The Jordan River, a river that appears more than 170 times in the Bible and is regarded as the holiest by the Abrahamic religions, is described in the opening chapter of the Bible, "The Book of Genesis", the trickling Jordan River, nourishing the fertile plains on both sides, the grass is rich and the water is beautiful, and the vegetation is lush, and it is called "the garden of the Lord".

Subsequent baptism by Jesus Christ in the Jordan River gave it another layer of sacred aura, and baptism became one of the most important sacraments of Christianity, and the Jordan River thus became a holy river for the hearts of billions of Christians to be baptized in the Jordan River.

The Jordan River originates in Lebanon and Syria, flows through Israel, Palestine, Jordan, and flows into the Dead Sea, with a total length of 251 kilometers, which is the lowest elevation river in the world, because most of the basin is on the front line of the Arab-Israeli military confrontation, and the Israeli-controlled area has built the Jordan River Baptist (Yardenit) near the mouth of lake Galilee.

The baptismal place is inlaid with dozens of pieces, written in various languages, and the Bible Jesus was baptized, which is the first time that the three saints (father, son, and holy spirit) in the New Testament appear in the same passage.

Located near the mouth of lake Galilee, this area is wide, abundant, clear and green, attracting up to 500,000 devotees and tourists a year to be baptized or worshipped.

The baptized believers will change into special white burqas and enter the waist-deep water to be immersed in the traditional full body, and after the ceremony, the joy of all will overflow.

In fact, according to religious scholars and archaeologists, the real site of Jesus' baptism should be located 50 kilometers downstream, near Qasr al-Yahud near the Yeligo wilderness, the Hebrew word for "Jewish castle", the place where the Jews arrived at the nearest point of the Jordan River.

Qasr Yahoud, located in the middle and lower reaches of the Jordan River, became the controlled border between Israel and Jordan after the Third Middle East War, with thousands of mines planted nearby, and for security, it was not opened to the public until after 2011.

According to the Bible, Jesus entered the Jordan River from the East Bank (baptism site on the Jordanian side) to be baptized, so a chapel was built on the opposite bank to commemorate this, and the Pope himself presided over the ceremony. However, this section of the river is narrow and the water body is relatively turbid.

This is because of the shortage of water resources, all sides of the river basin take their neighbors as a barrier, each of them intercepts 90% of the water source into the river, so the water body flowing through here has been basically composed of agricultural and municipal wastewater, dirty, no one would have thought that the beautiful Jehovah's Garden and the clean Jesus Baptism Ground would become like this today.

But even if the pollution is so severe, it cannot stop the pilgrimage of devout believers, and countless believers still bravely go into the river to soak in order to complete the most important baptism in their minds.

After being baptized in the Jordan River, Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness of Judah, and after enduring the three temptations of the devil and fasting for forty days of enlightenment, he first came to the shores of the Sea of Galilee and began to receive apostolic preaching here, where the twelve disciples, with the exception of Judah, came from near the shores of the Lake of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee, marked on the map as "Lake of Galilee" or "Lake Tiberias", also translated as "Lake Tiberias", has a circumference of 53 kilometers, the largest freshwater lake in Israel, with a sea level of -312 meters, and is the lowest freshwater lake in the world.

In Jesus' day, the west bank of the Lake of Galilee was inhabited by Jews and the east shore was inhabited by Gentiles, and the Jews here were much more open-minded than in conservative Jerusalem, which was the main reason why Jesus chose the location of his early preaching here, so there were many holy relics left along the lake.

On the northwest shore of lake Galilee, there is an archaeological site, identified as an important city in the New Testament "Capernaum", also known as "The City of Jesus", this long-abandoned fishing village, is the residence of Jesus in the early days of preaching, five of Jesus' disciples are from Capernaum, where many major events in the Bible took place, Jesus centered here, began a three-year missionary journey on the shores of Lake Galilee.

The Capernaum Synagogue, one of jesus' main activities, was later excavated archaeologically and the remains of the synagogue were sorted out, where it is said that Jesus exorcised demons.

A new church commemorates the occasion, and the underground site of the memorial is said to be the home of Peter, the eldest disciple of Jesus, which is also the main place of Jesus' preaching.

There is also an Orthodox Twelve Apostles near Capernaum, which was built in honor of the twelve disciples of Jesus, and the outside of the church is winding and quiet, and the carved beams and paintings inside the church are extremely exquisite.

On a high ground between "Capernaum" and "Tabuga", Jesus gathered his disciples and followers, mounted the Sermon, and began to preach the "Eight Blessings", so the mountain was named The Eight Blessings Mountain, and a "Hall of the Eight Blessings" was built to commemorate this.

In the first four centuries, pilgrims built a Byzantine church here, which was later destroyed. Today the Roman Catholic Church was built in 1938 and is said to have been funded by the Great Dictator Mussolini. The plan of the building is octagonal, with eight faces representing the eight blessings of heaven, and Pope Paul VI and John Paul II have visited and presided over Mass.

Jesus performed many miracles near the Lake of Galilee, such as walking on the surface of the water, drinking wind and waves, healing the sick, exorcising demons, etc., among which there is a five-cake and two-fish hall located on the shore of Tabuga, which commemorates one of Jesus' miracles and feeds five thousand believers with five breads and two fish.

The church was first built by Spanish pilgrims in 380 and later destroyed by the Persians, until archaeology at the end of the nineteenth century, which found the foundation of the chapel in the 4th century, as well as mosaic mosaics laid in the 5th century of the church, and later rebuilt on the original site according to the original plan.

The inside and outside of the church are simple and simple, and under the altar is an excavated limestone, which is believed to be the stone where the five loaves and two fish were placed, and the mosaic mosaic in front of the altar depicts two fish and a basket of cakes. On both sides of the ground are original mosaics of that year.

The location of the church is "Tabuga", which means "land of seven springs" in Greek, so the pool in the church courtyard is installed with seven taps.

There is also a Peter's Dedication Church near the Five-Cake and Two Fish Church, which was built on a boulder by the lake, where Jesus appeared after his resurrection, establishing Peter as the leader of the future church. This was the source of vatican theocracy, so St. Peter was posthumously recognized as the first pope. This church is also known as the "Chief Church of Peter".

The church was first built in the fourth century and remained until its destruction in 1263, and the current Franciscan chapel was built in 1933, and the huge limestone in front of the altar is called the "Table of Christ". When Pope Paul VI visited Israel in 1964, the church was also included in the itinerary.