Within These Walls Page #4

the life of Jesus."

Timothy attended the seminary

as a young man;

like this generation of seminarians,

he left his native land to dedicate

his life to the holy shrines

of Jerusalem.

Each of his days begins and

ends in prayer

his rededication to

the compelling forces

that induced him to come to

the Holy City.

"Jerusalem is the city which

fills my heart

and should fill the hearts of all

Christians with love and peace.

It would be easy to be a priest

in my country,

but here in Jerusalem I feel

closer to God."

Sequestered behind a huge gate that

is unlocked each morning

and locked again each night,

the Armenian Quarter has existed

for nearly a thousand years.

Life within still centers around the

A reminder of the days

when the Muslim rulers forbade the

ringing of church bells,

the striking of this plank

announces services.

Today the community gathers to

commemorate a holocaust.

For the Armenians are a people

whose ancient homeland has

been ravaged,

many of its citizens killed

or scattered.

To Elia Kahavdjian, the service

has special meaning,

for he is a survivor of

the holocaust.

For him, Jerusalem became a haven.

Sixty years ago,

he arrived as an orphaned boy;

now he is surrounded by

his loving family.

Survivors lead the solemn procession

to the Armenian cemetery.

They are living reminders of

one million five hundred thousand

who perished.

In 1915, part of what had once been

the Armenian Christian kingdom

was under Ottoman rule.

Labeling the Armenians "infidels"

and "a dangerous foreign element",

the government began to kill their

intellectuals.

Life had little value,

as this magazine caption illustrates:

"Five Dollars Buys a Pretty Armenian

Slave Girl."

Describing their policy as the

"displacement of the

Armenian population",

the Ottoman Turks drove them on

forced marches into the Syrian Desert.

The road was the path of death

by disease,

massacre and starvation.

Elia Kahvedjian remembers:

"They took us through

the Syrian Desert to Mardin.

We walked I don't know

how many weeks,

how many months walked.

Near Mardin they bring us to a place

where all around it was many hills.

My mother, she says, 'My darling

they are going to kill us.

I want to give my son to that Kurd

which is coming.

Maybe he will remain alive."

The Kurdish family fed him

cleaned him up,

and sold him at an auction to a

Syrian Christian family.

The husband was an ironsmith,

and six-year-old Elia worked the

bellows for him.

When the man remarried, young Elia

was put on the streets.

He drifted, begging, for a year,

until the American Near East

Relief organization

placed him in an orphanage and,

eventually, brought him to Jerusalem.

A son and daughter

and their families gather today to

remember the victims...

and rejoice in Elia's survival.

Kahavedjian learned photography

in the orphanage;

he owns a photo supply store,

custom laboratory, and portrait studio.

Although the family now resides

outside the Old City,

its life still revolves around

the Armenian Quarter.

Here, as their parents did,

Kahvedjian's grandchildren learn

Armenian culture, language,

history, and geography.

To prepare for life in Jerusalem the

children are also taught Arabic,

Hebrew, and English.

"... I am opening toe door

I am shutting the door.

I am opening the window

I am shutting the window.

I am knocking on the door

I am pointing to the wall."

His family thriving,

Elia Kahvedjian remembers

the orphans club he

and nine boys formed when, at age 14

he began to work.

The quarters where the orphans lived

have become the Armenian Cultural club.

For Elia, Jerusalem has provided

a refuge of warmth,

friendship and opportunity

In his words,

"This is the happiest time

of my life."

The memory of Jesus and the

miracle of

His Resurrection live in

Jerusalem every day.

Just as He joined the multitudes

that journeyed to Jerusalem

each year at Passover,

throngs of pilgrims from around

the globe come here

at Holy Week to walk in His footsteps.

Following the path Jesus took

from the Mount of Olives

and the Garden of Gethsemane

they enter the Old City.

Carrying crosses along the

"Way of Sorrows"

where tradition says He struggled

in His agony,

they connect with the ancient passion

and eternal mystery of Christ.

In the hours before dawn

on Easter Saturday,

the flames of the lamps

that light the Church of the Holy

Sepulcher are extinguished.

When the door is opened,

thousand of pilgrims press in to

experience an Oriental ritual

that has been repeated each year

for centuries:

the Miracle of the Holy Fire.

The Greek Orthodox Patriarch arrives,

escorted by Father Timothy

and columns of monks.

The tomb of Christ has been sealed.

When the seal is removed,

the Patriarch will enter to

determine if the Holy Fire,

said to be sent down by God

will burst forth this year.

Symbol of Christ's Resurrection,

the Holy Flame is passed to the

exultant crowd.

It is said that here Jesus once stood

flanked by two thieves.

Here He was crucified and rose again.

In the precincts of the church that

commemorates those events,

the hearts of the believers are

illuminated by the flames of faith.

High on the wall of the Muslim Quarter

in the Old City is a house

where American pilgrims

seeking a spiritual haven,

settled one hundred years ago.

Their granddaughter, Anna Grace Lind

still follows,

the path their quest began.

Her grandmother, Anna Spafford,

survived a shipwreck that took the

lives of her four daughters.

Later, when a son also died

her husband wrote:

"Jerusalem is where my Lord lived,

suffered and conquered, and I, too,

wish to learn... especially

to conquer."

Like her mother and grandmother,

Mrs. Lind has dedicated her life to

serving the needy of Jerusalem.

Since 1967, she has administered

the Spafford Children's Center,

which provides prenatal and baby

clinics for mothers

and children who might otherwise

go without these services.

Mrs. Mary Franji

the supervising nurse,

has worked here for nearly

forty years.

The grandmothers of some of these

babies were children when she began.

"Dr. Amireh has quite a number

of patients like the..."

"The main goal of the

Spafford Children's Center

is to help improve the health of

the children in the Old City.

They are mostly Moslems.

We have several Israeli specialists

who come to our clinic.

And we feel that this is a very

important phase of our work

because they are helping

in the reconciliation

between the Jews and the Arabs.

It may be just a tiny seed

but it is a seed that,

we hope, brings forth fruit."

"Okay, fine baby."

"I live right on the city wall.

I feel it's important that quotation

from Isaiah where it says,

'I have set watchmen on my walls

O Jerusalem

to pray day and night until I make

Jerusalem a praise in the earth."'

"... Make Jerusalem a praise

in the earth.

"These timeless words from the Bible

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