This morning we visited the Galilee Boat Museum. In 1986, during a drought, some fishermen on the Sea of Galilee discovered in the mud what turned out to be a first century fishing boat. The story of its recovery from the mud and the preservation of the boat is an amazing tale of ingenuity and dedication. [...]
Elias and I rose early and tried the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Needless to say there was no bacon on the menu, but the array of options was truly odd to our palate: yoghurt and fruit, plenty of Middle Eastern vegetables, eggs, fish, cheese and salad. Outside of Denmark I don't know where I've ever [...]
On Wednesday Elias and I took a day to catch up on necessities. I did a load of laundry and we went shopping in New Jerusalem town for some clothes and a few other odds and ends. We rested in the afternoon and finished planning out trips to Galilee and Jordan. A word of warning. Two [...]
A woman named Penelope, who attended one of my online courses during the pandemic is here in Israel to participate in one of Steve Ray's pilgrimages. She contacted me asking to meet, so she came over from Tel Aviv to have lunch. I have been taking all my meals at the monastery so did not know [...]
First I couldn't get to sleep now I wake up very early. Like three a.m. early. So I said some prayers, read for a bit, then at six got up and had some breakfast with some of the scholars who were headed out for the annual Easter Monday walk to Emmaus. Despite my new walking stick, [...]
Death be Not Proud by John Donne Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, Much pleasure; then from thee [...]
Easter Day begins of course, with the Easter Vigil. The Jerusalem Patriarch--for reasons explained in an earlier entry--celebrated the Vigil on Saturday morning. I therefore elected to participate in the Vigil with my Dominican friends at St Stephen's. The cloister outside the church was full of local French speakers--some French, African and North African. There are [...]
Today is a sabbath--a day of rest, so on my sabbatical--which is a sabbath time--I had a day of rest. I don't know how many naps I took, but whenever I started reading or writing my eyelids got heavy. I was able to write an article for Imaginative Conservative, waste some time on Twitter talking about [...]
Exhausted by all the walking yesterday I slept solidly and got up at 6 to head back over for the Good Friday liturgy--held at 8 am (rather than mid afternoon) for the reasons I described in yesterday's entry. The liturgy this morning took place on Mount Calvary. The area is split into two chapels. The site [...]
This diary entry is a day late because Holy Thursday was so busy. I am finally getting a proper night's sleep which meant I was able to get up at six--which is my usual time--have some breakfast, say some prayers and head down to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for the Mass of the Lord's [...]