It is the path that Christians believe Jesus Christ walked carrying the cross from the place of his trial to the place of his crucifixion and burial. It is also known as the Via Dolorosa, the Way of the Cross, and the Way of Sorrows. It is one of the most famous Christian religious sites in Jerusalem, and one of the most visited places by Christian pilgrims and tourists interested in culture and history.
This route consists of 14 stations, each of which embodies a chapter of Christ’s suffering. It begins from the Islamic Quarter, specifically the Omariyya School near Bab al-Ghawanmeh, one of the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
In that place was the house of the Roman governor Pilate, who ordered his crucifixion at the request of the Supreme Council of the Jews, and the Via Dolorosa ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where Christ was buried according to Christian beliefs.
Most of the stations on the Via Dolorosa contain churches built after Ibrahim Muhammad Ali Pasha’s campaign to Palestine in the nineteenth century.
This site attracts not only Christian pilgrims, but also tourists of various other religions and beliefs who wish to explore the history of the place and its cultural and religious significance.
The Via Dolorosa is not a quiet, contemplative place, but is located in a crowded area of the Old City of Jerusalem, filled with shops, restaurants and tourists.
Reason for the name
This path was called the Via Dolorosa in reference to the suffering that Jesus Christ endured on the way between the place of his trial and the place of his death, where he was subjected to torture, beating, flogging, and insults, ending with crucifixion.
According to Christian accounts, he walked a distance of about a kilometer carrying a cross whose stand was 4 meters and 80 centimeters high, while its crossbar was between 2.3 and 2.6 meters long and weighed more than 30 kilograms.
the date
Some sources say that the first person to use the word “Via Dolorosa” was the Franciscan monk Boniface of Ragusa in the second half of the sixteenth century, and he considered it the name of a devotional procession through the streets of Jerusalem.
While other sources indicate that the rituals of the Via Dolorosa began in the twelfth century AD, and were developed in the fifteenth century into their current form, specifically what is known as the 14 stations.
This ritual began in Europe after the Crusades in order to teach young children the suffering that Christ experienced and the pains he endured for the sake of faith and believers.
The first use of the word “stations” – as it is commonly used to refer to the stages of the Via Dolorosa – is attributed to the English pilgrim William Way, who visited the Holy Land in 1458 and again in 1462, and described the way in which it was customary at that time to follow in the footsteps of Christ on his painful journey.
At that time, the path began from Mount Calvary, where the Church of the Resurrection was located, and then continued on foot towards the house of Governor Pilate.
In the first part of the sixteenth century, the most common way to cross the road became, starting from Pilate’s house and ending at Mount Calvary.
Since 1880, the Franciscan community has been leading the Via Crucis in the streets of Jerusalem, every Friday (except during the lockdown imposed in 2020 and 2021 due to the Corona pandemic), starting at 3 p.m.
The city’s residents, visitors, and pilgrims from abroad participate in this prayer. The Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land organizes processions on the Via Dolorosa, during which participants carry large wooden crosses in honor of Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, and to commemorate the event of his “crucifixion” that occurred two thousand years ago.
Stations of the Via Dolorosa
The Via Dolorosa consists of 14 stations or stages, nine of which are on the road itself, and the last five stages are inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It is a road that passes by many shrines and churches, most of which were built after Ibrahim Muhammad Ali Pasha’s campaign to Palestine in the nineteenth century.
The first station of this road began from the Mount of Olives during the Byzantine period, and during the Crusader period it began from the western slope of the Mount of Olives, and later it began from the Omariyya School in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Only nine of these stages are mentioned in the Bible, while the rest were invented and became part of Christian traditions, such as his falling unconscious due to fatigue, his meeting with his mother, and a woman wiping his sweat on the way.
The purpose of these stations is to help Christian believers make a spiritual pilgrimage to the key moments of Christ’s suffering and death. This journey has become one of the most popular Christian rituals, during which one moves from one station to another, reciting specific prayers at each one and meditating on the various events in turn.
First stop
It is called the trial stage, and it begins at the seat of the governor Pilate – who issued the verdict of crucifixion against Jesus Christ – where the Roman soldiers placed a crown of thorns on his head.
Most historians believe that this headquarters was located somewhere in the spot where the Omariyya School now stands.
On the site is a church built in the 19th century for the Franciscan order.
The second station
Christians believe that at this point the soldiers carried the cross on Jesus Christ, and the governor addressed the assembled Jews, saying to them in Latin the phrase (Ecce-Homo), which means “This is the man.”
Then the name was transferred to a Roman arch that Christians called by this term (Ecce-Homo), which is part of the building of the Sisters of Zion School.
There is a 20th century Franciscan church on the site.
The third station
It is located at the right angle at the intersection of the Via Dolorosa and the road that connects the valley and Bab al-Amud, where the Armenian Catholic Patriarchate is located.
In this place, Christians believe that Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, fainted for the first time while carrying the cross.
The fourth station
It is located a few metres from the previous stage, in the basement below the Polish church, which was built after the end of World War II by Polish soldiers.
Christians believe that at this point Jesus Christ met his mother, the Virgin Mary, and a layer of mosaic was discovered in this place, on which was a pair of shoes with unknown details.
The fifth station
It is located at the corner at the intersection of Al-Wadi Road at the beginning of the pass known as Al-Mufti Pass. Christians believe that at this point Jesus Christ felt the weight of the cross and almost fell to the ground, so Simon of Cyrene helped him carry it.
This stage is embodied by a crimson stone with a hand print, and the place was immortalized by the construction of a Franciscan temple in 1895.
Station 6
It is called the stage of Saint Veronica, and it is located on the ascent of the Mufti Pass towards the Khan al-Zeit market. The circulating stories say that a woman wiped the sweat of Christ with her white handkerchief, and when she returned to her home she found the image of Christ’s face printed on the handkerchief and the pain appeared on his features.
Veronica is a word that means the true image, so people began to give the name to women. In the early fifteenth century, Veronica’s house was identified and made one of the stations on the Via Dolorosa.
The handkerchief is said to still be in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, and the event is commemorated by a building belonging to the Greek Melkite Patriarchate, built in 1900.
The seventh station
It is located at the intersection of Aqabat Al-Mufti Road with Khan Al-Zeit Market Road. It is believed that at this point Jesus Christ left the city and fell unconscious for the second time. A temple was built on the site in 1905.
The eighth station
It is located in Aqbat al-Khanqah, near the wall of the monastery known as the Monastery of Mar Lambus for the Greek Orthodox. There is a stone on the site on which is written, “Jesus the Victorious is Victorious.”
At this point, Christ addressed the woman who was walking behind him crying, “Do not weep for me, but weep for your country – meaning Jerusalem – which will be destroyed.”
In another narration, he addressed the women of Jerusalem and said to them, “If they did this to the green stick – and he symbolized himself – then what will they do to the dry stick?”
At that stage there was no Catholic church because of the presence of the Orthodox monastery.
Station Nine
It is located at the entrance to the Church of Queen Helena for the Coptic Orthodox, to the east of the Church of the Resurrection. It embodies Christ’s fall for the third time under the cross from extreme exhaustion. It is the last stage outside the Church of the Resurrection.
The tenth station
It took place inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in a small room to the right of the person standing in the middle of Golgotha, which is the rock on which it is said that Jesus Christ was “crucified,” and it commemorates the event of Jesus Christ being stripped of his clothes.
Station 11
At this point Christ was nailed to the cross by driving nails into his hands and feet.
Station 12
It embodies Christ standing on the cross and his death.
Station 13
In it, Jesus Christ was taken down from the cross and his mother bid him farewell. It is symbolized by the bathhouse or embalming stone in the Church of the Resurrection, and there the believers stand and try to touch the stone.
Station 14
It is the last stage of this path, where Jesus Christ was buried and resurrected, and is symbolized by the Holy Sepulchre, a building consisting of two rooms from the eighteenth century. The first room is called the Angel’s Room and the other is called the Empty Sepulchre.