St. Anne's Church and the Pool of Bethesda

As a musician and singer, I love to visit is St. Anne's Church in the Old City. According to tradition, the church honors the site of the birthplace of Mary, Jesus' mother, and is erected in honor of St. Anne, Mary's mother. Located next to the busy street coming in the Lion's Gate in the Muslim Quarter, it has a beautiful garden at its side.  As you can see, the church is rather simple and unadorned from the exterior.

However, the church's acoustics make it extraordinary. They make any singer sound fabulous. Reverberations continue for seconds after one sings, and fill the place completely. I remember visiting St. Anne's with my husband and three sons many years back when our children were all pre-teen. We took a photo in the courtyard outside the church which I wish I had access to here. I had told the boys about how wonderful it was to sing in the space, and that we'd sing when we went there. As we sat down in the empty pews, I heard a sweet boy soprano. One of my sons (probably 6 years old at the time) began singing "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" which the rest of our family joined in as a two-part round. The sound was magnified over and over and returned sounding magnificent. Such a special memory! This past week, because the church was almost empty, Sten and I braved singing Dona Nobis Pacem in the church. A young monk in his white robe joined us. He told us afterward that he is from Burkino Faso and located in Jerusalem now.

Statue of St. Anne and Mary on the left back of the sanctuary.

Under the church is this small chapel.

St. Anne's church is right next to the traditional sight of the Pool of Bethesda, The story of Jesus healing a man who had been waiting by the pool because no one could help him get into the healing waters can be found in John 5 in the New Testament of the Bible. Apparently, the waters were occasionally stirred by an angel and the first into the water after this happened would be healed. Jesus told the man, "Rise, take up your bed and walk" and the man was healed.

What amazes me at this site is how deep in the ground the street level was at that time. I'm at the current street level when taking the photos below.

Just around the corner from the St.Anne's Church and Pool of Bethesda complex is the traditional site of Mary's birth. At the street level is a commemorative shrine.

Then you climb single-file down some narrow winding stone stairs to a room where Mary, according to tradition, was born.

As we stepped out into the street again we heard the call to prayer from the nearby mosque. The sky was clear and a beautiful crescent moon was shining. 

Peace. Salam. Shalom