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 ount Zion is the site of the Last Supper and supposedly the place where the Virgin Mary died. The name Zion was originally given to the mountain on which Jerusalem was built. The name first appears in the story of David's capture of Jerusalem, which was called the Stronghold of Zion. Later the name was also used for the part of the slope on which the Temple was situated. |
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Room of the Last Supper - the Cenacle
Matthew 26:17-29
Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus to say, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ ‘Go to so-and-so in the city,’ he replied and say to him, “The Master says: My time is near. It is at your house that I am keeping Passover with my disciples.” ‘The disciples did what Jesus told them and prepared the Passover.
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When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples. And while they were eating he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, one of you is about to betray me.’ They were greatly distressed and started asking him in turn, ‘Not I, Lord, surely?’ He answered, ‘Someone who has dipped his hand into the dish with me, will betray me. The Son of Man is going to his fate, as the scriptures say he will, but alas for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! Better for that man if he had never been born!’ Judas, who was to betray him, asked in his turn, ‘Not I, Rabbi, surely?’ ‘They are your own words,’ answered Jesus. Now as they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and when he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to the disciples. ‘Take it and eat;’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them. ‘Drink all of you from this,’ he said ‘for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, which is to be poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. From now on, I tell you, I shall not drink wine until the day I drink the new wine with you in the kingdom of my Father.’ Mark 14: 12-25 Luke 22: 7-38 John 13:1-17
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The Church of the Dormition
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 he Church of the Dormition, built between 1906 and 1910, is one of the most prominent landmarks in Jerusalem. Designed by the architect Renard of Koln, it resembles a fortress from the Middle Ages. The ruins of an ancient crusader fortress are incorporated into the wall at the entrance to the church. Many other artifacts, including pillars belonging to the Byzantine era, are found in the Cenacle. The sanctuary is spacious, with walls of inlaid mosaics depicting events from Christian history. |
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| The Chapel of the Dormition of Mary |
 tairs from the Dormition's sanctuary lead down to an enclosure where Mary lay sleeping. On the dome of the Dormition of Mary there are images of famous biblical women. Due to the fact that Mary fell asleep here, the mountain has become a sacred burial ground, and there are many graveyards around the Dormition Abbey. |
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Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu
 he Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu, on the eastern slope of Mount Zion descending towards the village of Siloam and the Kidron Valley, is dedicated to St. Peter, the senior of Jesus’ disciples. It is here that St. Peter denounced his teacher and rabbi when he was arrested and investigated by the Sanhedrin in the house of the high priest, Caiaphas. The name Gallicantu (cock-crow in Latin) symbolizes Peter’s denial of Jesus three successive times before the cock crowed, as Jesus had prophesied at the Last Supper. The Church is built on several levels of the mountainside. The beautiful view of the City of David, the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount from the terrace of the church has changed only slightly since Second Temple times. St. Peter in Gallicantu is one of Jerusalem’s largest and most impressive churches, both inside and out.
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he church houses underground rooms, catacombs, storage cellars, oil cisterns and prison cells. According to the scriptures, it was here in the bell shaped hole that Jesus was locked on the fateful night of his interrogation by the Sanhedrin before being handed over the next day to Pontius Pilate. Outside the church, an old staircase has been found that descends to the Shiloah pool. These stairs are called “Scala Santa” - the holy steps on which Jesus walked from the room of the Last Supper to the Garden of Gethsemane, and later was led to the Palace of Caiaphas.
Matthew 26:31-34
Then Jesus said to them, ‘You will all lose faith in me this night, for the scripture says: I shall strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered, but after my resurrection I shall go before you to Galilee.’ At this, Peter said, ‘Though all lose faith in you, I will never lose faith.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you solemnly, this very night, before the cock crows, you will have disowned me three times.’
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Luke 22:54-62
They seized him then and led him away, and they took him to the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance. They had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and Peter sat down among them, and as he was sitting there by the blaze a servant-girl saw him, peered at him, and said, ‘This person was with him too.’ But he denied it. ‘Woman,’ he said ‘I do not know him.’ Shortly afterwards someone else saw him and said, ‘You are another of them.’ But Peter replied, ‘I am not, my friend.’ About an hour later another man insisted, saying, ‘This fellow was certainly with him. Why he is a Galilean.’ ‘My friend,’ said Peter ‘I do not know what you are talking about.’ At that instant, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed, and the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered what the Lord had said to him, ‘Before the cock crows today, you will have disowned me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly.
Reference also Matthew 26:67-75, Mark 14:63-72, John 18:25-2
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