Day 3 – Ecce Homo Convent:
WE WERE given a detailed talk about the work of the convent in Jerusalem.
It is based in the Via Dolorosa, the route taken by Christ as he carried the cross to where he was crucified.
The convent is run by the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion (Zion) whose work involves inter faith dialogue between the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities. They also run a school and Bible programmes which has attracted students from all over the world.

The Sisters of Sion have been running for over 150 years and have offices in Manchester and Birmingham.
The talk was lead by Sister Mary and Sister Rita.
Sister Mary told us that the group was started by a Jewish French man called Theodore Ratisbonne who went in search to find himself and after spending some time with a Christian he soon became Catholic and started dedicated his time to educating Jewish people about Christianity and converting them as well.
As a result of World War Two the role of the sisters changed and they felt it was more important to learn about each other’s faith in light of all the Jews that were killed by the Nazis.
Said sister Mary: “Today our sisters work towards understanding each other.
“Our deep belief is to build relationships between people of the three Abrahamic faiths.”
The sisters have also held Arabic and Hebrew classes for Jews and Christians so they may learn the languages so they can communicated with each other and help to created deeper respect between the people of the two faiths especially in the current climate.
The sisters also told us the staff at the convent were mainly Muslim Palestinian staff, they felt it was important to give jobs to local people who would normally struggle otherwise.
Sister Rita explained how they ended up in Jerusalem in 1855. She explained Theodore’s younger brother Alphonso came to the city looking for a historical building to start a pilgrim house and school.
He came across their building after discovering an arch over the Via Dolorosa and enquired whether the arch (pictured) had any historical importance. He was told it did as the arch had been originally created during Hadrian times in 135BC – during the Roman conquest.
Alphonso bought the building and incorporated the arch into its chapel. The arch in fact goes below ground level and you can see the original Roman street.
Beneath the Ecco Homo Convent you can also find The Strouthian cisterns which are from the time of Herod in 37 BC and archaeologists also discovered a pavement built from the stones from the ruins of the Antonio Fortress, which was built by Herod around 37 BC to protect the Temple and was named after his patron, Mark Antony.
It is also believed that as the pavement runs through the Via Dolorosa where Christ made his last journey, he may also have walked on these very same pavements and for our Christian members of the group this was a very significant part of their trip, to be stood where Jesus may have also stood many years ago.
Here Father Michael also read out a prayer, which signified Jesus’ last steps. A moment’s silence again made us all reflect on the history and the importance of where we were.

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