The true pathway

Press, 28 March 1981, Page 15

The true pathway

/ By

CHRISTOPHER WALKER

of “The Times”

For the first Easter in centuries the tens of thousands of pilgrims who visit the old city of Jerusalem to retrace the steps, that Christ is said to have walked from judgment to crucifixion may next month be treading the same ancient paving stones that he did. The opportunity is the result of a freak archaeological find made during an Israeli project to restore the path linking the first eight stations of the cross, from Pilate’s judgment hall to the place where Jesus consoled the women who wept for him. During the digging a number of giant paving stones — some weighing up to three tonnes —

were discovered some four metres under ground at the site of the third station, the spot where Jesus fell for the first time underthe weight of the cross. The rose-tinted paving blocks (thought to have come originally from Bethlehem or Nablus) were discovered under a collapsed sewer system dating from the last century. After being authenticated as dating from the Herodian

period, they have been reinstalled to cover a distance of some 10 metres between the third and the fourth station, where Jesus met his mother. 1

Over the years, the tracing of the Via Dolorosa has remained a matter of fierce debate among Bible scholars, but if the traditional tracing is correct, this year’s pilgrims — many of whom will be carrying crosses — may be following in his actual footsteps to Calvary. I The route has been transformed as part of a $2.4 million project to restore the Via Dolorosa.

The scheme began three years ago and is nearly complete, with, semi-circular areas paved round those stations of the cross situated outside the compound of the Holy Sepulchre. Underground electrical and telephone cables have been installed, and work is soon to begin to remove the forest of 1200 television aerials from the surrounding rooftops and replace them with a single master an.tenna. . 1