Garden of Gethsemane

According to the New Testament, on the night of his arrest, Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. Luke tells us that Christ’s distress in Gethsemane was so acute that "his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground." It was a place that Jesus and his disciples frequented, which was what allowed Judas Iscariot to find him there on that night.

The Eastern Orthodox Church also believes that Gethsemane is the place where the Virgin Mary was buried and assumed into heaven. The site that has been associated with the Garden for centuries is at the foot of the Mount of Olives, on the grounds of the Church of All Nations (the Church of the Agony), which is also adjacent to the Russian Church of St. Mary Magdalene.

The name Gethsemane is derived from the Hebrew gat shemen, meaning “oil press.” And indeed, some of the olive trees in the Garden are believed to be almost 1,000 years old. Some even venture so far as to say they are offshoots of the trees that were there in Christ’s time.

Entrance is free of charge.