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Guest Blog by anonymous

Jerusalem’s Old City has as many hidden places and mysteries as it does religious denominations and identities. There is perhaps no better illustration of this than the Armenian community tucked into its own quarter of the Old City – one of the oldest uninterrupted communities of Jerusalem. A few weeks ago, we were guided through the thick black door of the closeted little town that is the Armenian convent, in the south-west corner of the city, by historian George Hintlian whose story-telling fizzed, ducked and dived. It was a verbal rollercoaster with no seat belt provided. The Armenian convent was no less disorienting to the outsider: a maze of windings stairs, ancient rooms, and step-through half-sized doors. Here is a self-contained village with homes, monastery, cathedral, school, and community centres.

Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as the state religion in the year 301 CE and pilgrims and monks soon came to Palestine, set up the Armenian community and took up residence in some of the first monasteries in the desert nearby, and on the Mount of Olives. As a community often in the minority, it was an easy target when the powers that be were scraping around for money. George led us up to the ancient refectory overlooking the street, all beautiful blue and white tiles, bare walls and fine arched ceilings, with a table laid for dinner. Behind a small wooden door lay an escape hatch, where a rope-drop would lead you away from attackers and down to the street below. The threat must have been real enough to warrant an escape hatch in the dining room!  >>Read More