DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.4641#0082
CHURCH OF THE ANNUNCIATION.
The Church is a lofty nave, with three elevations. The highest is occupied by the Choir of the
monks; the lower by the people; and communicating with the Choir and the High Altar is a handsome
staircase. A door from the Choir opens into the Convent. The Convent is rich in pictures and
ornaments, in which the Church largely shares; the columns and whole interior of the building being
also hung with damasked striped silk, which gives it a glowing appearance. Burckhardt speaks of this
Church as excelled in Syria only by that of the Holy Sepulchre. " Finding the door of the Church
open," says the author of the Biblical Researches, " we went in : it was the hour of vespers, and the
chaunting of the monks, sustained by the mellow tones of the organ, which came upon us unexpectedly,
was solemn and affecting. The interior is small and plain, with massive arches; the hanging of the
walls produced a rich effect: the whole impression transported me back to Italy. A barrier was laid
across the floor, not far from the entrance, as a warning not to advance farther." A precaution, perhaps,
adopted through fear of the plague, which prevailed at the time.
It is, of course, not the province of these brief descriptions to discuss the conjectures of rival
monks on the subject of those localities. From the strong competition of the Greek and Latin
conventuals, it frequently arises that two spots are pointed out for the same event, and the disputants
refuse to be reconciled. Thus the Greeks have their established scene of the Annunciation, but not on
this spot. They allege that the Angel, not finding the Virgin in her home, had followed her to the
fountain, whither she had gone for water, and there declared his divine mission.
" And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the
virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly
favoured ; the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women."l
The most popularly honoured of all the relics of which Nazareth boasts, is the stone named " the
Table of our Lord." This is a large flat slab of the common limestone of the country, fixed in the
ground, at which our Lord is presumed to have dined before and after his resurrection. According to
Hasselquist, it was formerly covered with sheet-iron, the nail-marks of which are yet to be seen. A
Chapel has been built over it, and on the wall are copies of a Papal certificate, asserting its claims to
reverence, and offering an indulgence of seven years " to all who shall visit this Holy place, reciting
there, at least, one Pater and one Ave." "There is not," says Dr. Clarke, "an object in Nazareth so
much the resort of pilgrims, Greek, Romish, Arab, and even Turk, as this stone. The Greek and Latin
pilgrims resorting to it from devotion, and the Arab and Turk to see the wonders which it is presumed
to work on the devotees."2
1 Luke i. 26, 27. ! Travels in the Holv Land.
The Church is a lofty nave, with three elevations. The highest is occupied by the Choir of the
monks; the lower by the people; and communicating with the Choir and the High Altar is a handsome
staircase. A door from the Choir opens into the Convent. The Convent is rich in pictures and
ornaments, in which the Church largely shares; the columns and whole interior of the building being
also hung with damasked striped silk, which gives it a glowing appearance. Burckhardt speaks of this
Church as excelled in Syria only by that of the Holy Sepulchre. " Finding the door of the Church
open," says the author of the Biblical Researches, " we went in : it was the hour of vespers, and the
chaunting of the monks, sustained by the mellow tones of the organ, which came upon us unexpectedly,
was solemn and affecting. The interior is small and plain, with massive arches; the hanging of the
walls produced a rich effect: the whole impression transported me back to Italy. A barrier was laid
across the floor, not far from the entrance, as a warning not to advance farther." A precaution, perhaps,
adopted through fear of the plague, which prevailed at the time.
It is, of course, not the province of these brief descriptions to discuss the conjectures of rival
monks on the subject of those localities. From the strong competition of the Greek and Latin
conventuals, it frequently arises that two spots are pointed out for the same event, and the disputants
refuse to be reconciled. Thus the Greeks have their established scene of the Annunciation, but not on
this spot. They allege that the Angel, not finding the Virgin in her home, had followed her to the
fountain, whither she had gone for water, and there declared his divine mission.
" And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named
Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the
virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly
favoured ; the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women."l
The most popularly honoured of all the relics of which Nazareth boasts, is the stone named " the
Table of our Lord." This is a large flat slab of the common limestone of the country, fixed in the
ground, at which our Lord is presumed to have dined before and after his resurrection. According to
Hasselquist, it was formerly covered with sheet-iron, the nail-marks of which are yet to be seen. A
Chapel has been built over it, and on the wall are copies of a Papal certificate, asserting its claims to
reverence, and offering an indulgence of seven years " to all who shall visit this Holy place, reciting
there, at least, one Pater and one Ave." "There is not," says Dr. Clarke, "an object in Nazareth so
much the resort of pilgrims, Greek, Romish, Arab, and even Turk, as this stone. The Greek and Latin
pilgrims resorting to it from devotion, and the Arab and Turk to see the wonders which it is presumed
to work on the devotees."2
1 Luke i. 26, 27. ! Travels in the Holv Land.