And he dwelt among us... in Nazareth

For two nights we stayed in Nazareth at the Religious of Nazareth Convent. They had been asked so often for accommodation for pilgrims that they opened up their place for pilgrims. It was just a stones throw from the Basilica of the Annunciation. It was good to be in the place where Jesus lived and which is mentioned so often in the gospel. It is built in a hillside in an area of a lot of caves.

At the Convent

We began in the morning with a tour of the museum which is alongside the Basilica. We saw some caves and a lot of artefacts that have been unearthed on the property. This supports some authenticity for the site. There were a number of little oil lamps. It brought alive the parable of the ten virgins and the unwise ones who ran out of oil for their lamps.

The Church was quite impressive and was a great place to spend quiet time. It was open until 9 pm at night and so after dinner there were no pilgrims walking through. Silence was also encouraged so we found it a quiet reflective place to go to. At this site we celebrated where the Word became Flesh and dwelt amongst us - the place of Mary's fiat.

The home of the Holy Family

A striking feature of the Basilica were its bronze doors which showed images of the Old Testament and New Testament and the life of Mary. The Salve Regina was written across one of the side walls and surrounding the basilica were images of Mary from different countries but we did not find New Zealand.

Immediately next to the Church of the Annunciation is the Church of St Joseph. Again, this is built on an even older church and remembers the just man who was also obedient to the message of the angel and took Mary into his home. 

In Nazareth we visited the Synagogue Church which was supposedly the site of the synagogue where Jesus taught but was not accepted.  The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annuciation was the next one we went to. They beleive the annunciation to Mary happened at the village spring. The church had impressive icons and the walls were covered with biblical scenes.

Mosaic outside Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation

Sadly some of the fundamentalist Moslems are not to happy at the Christian presence in Nazareth...

In the afternoon we went to Sepphoris (Zippori), a place with a long and varied history. Some archeological findings date it to the first temple period.

Sepphoris became the Roman captial of Galilee and for the Jews it became the centre of Jewish learning after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem in the year 70. Among the excavations we saw some very impressive mosaics which were well preserved. They were originally in a mansion which was later converted to a synagogue and apparently destroyed during the 363 earthquake.

Also on the site was a fortress built during the crusader period.