Another Sunday Morning in the Old City

One of the advantages of having LDS services on Saturdays is that we are free to visit other churches on Sunday mornings.  Today Rachel and I took two guests, our friend Rick Elliott and one of the new students, Claire Larson, to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, a church we have visited a couple of times before (see here and here).  The English speaking-congregation meets in the Crusader-era Chapel of St. John, which is next to the newer Church of the Redeemer built by Kaiser Wilhelm II at the end of the nineteenth century.

Claire Larson and Rachel in the St John Chapel after services

Interior of the main sanctuary of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, where the Arabic and German-speaking congregations meet

For my friend Rick: the organ of the main sanctuary

We then made a quick stop at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre so that I could keep a promise to a friend.

Rick and Rachel join me in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

The Greek altar over Golgotha

After a few other stops, we went up on the roof of the Austrian Hospice, which affords great views of the Old City.  We then stopped at churches along the Via Dolorosa on our way back out of the walled city, such as the Church of the Flagellation, the Church of the Condemnation, and the Church of St. Anne, where we also looked at the remains of the Pool(s) of Bethesda, which are topped today by the remains of Byzantine and Crusader-era churches.

Rachel and I with the Dome of the Rock in the background.

Rick and I with the Holy Sepulchre in the background

Remains of the Pool of Bethsesda