Via Dolorosa

Overview

The Via Dolorosa (Latin for "Way of Sorrow" or "Way of Suffering") is a street in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is a pilgrimage route commemorating the path that Jesus Christ walked, carrying the cross, to Golgotha, the place of execution, after being sentenced to death by Pontius Pilate. Its length is generally given as approximately 600 meters (about 2,000 feet). Along the route are fourteen points commemorating events of the Passion, known as "stations." The last five of these are located inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a church built on the site traditionally held to be the tomb of Jesus.

Background

The Gospels record that after the trial of Jesus, he went forth bearing his cross (John 19:17). They also relate that Simon of Cyrene bore the cross in his place (Mark 15:21) and that the women of Jerusalem followed Jesus, bewailing and lamenting him (Luke 23:26–31). The Gospels, however, do not give the exact route. The present-day path is the product of pilgrimage traditions that accumulated in later centuries rather than of the biblical text itself.

Development

• Fourth century: During the reign of Emperor Constantine, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built over the sites traditionally identified as Golgotha and the tomb. Pilgrimage accounts from the late fourth century are said to describe believers in Jerusalem processing during Holy Week from the Mount of Olives and Gethsemane to Golgotha.
• Middle Ages: The route changed several times depending on the period and the church tradition involved. From the mid-fourteenth century, when the Roman Catholic Franciscan Order assumed custody of the holy places in Jerusalem, a processional tradition for Western pilgrims became established. The name "Via Dolorosa" is believed to have come into use around the sixteenth century.
• Modern era: In Europe, the devotion known as the "Stations of the Cross" spread among believers who could not travel to Jerusalem, allowing them to pray through the same sequence inside their churches. The form became fixed when the Holy See standardized the fourteen stations in the eighteenth century. The route in Jerusalem itself and the locations of its stations also largely took their present form in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

Impact and Influence

The Franciscans continue to lead a procession of prayer along the route every Friday, and on Good Friday pilgrims from many countries walk the way. In the Catholic Church, the faithful pray the Stations of the Cross during Lent before the fourteen stations hung on church walls, and similar traditions exist in the Orthodox and Anglican churches.

Among Korean Protestants, the route is well known as a highlight of pilgrimages to the Holy Land in Israel. Some churches set up meditation stations inside and outside their buildings during Holy Week and hold walking meditations or prayer services modeled on the route.

Assessment

Scholars debate whether the route reflects the actual historical path. The traditional route begins at the Antonia Fortress north of the Temple, which it identifies as the site of Pilate's judgment. A considerable number of scholars, however, hold that Pilate used Herod's palace on the western side of the city when staying in Jerusalem, raising the possibility that the actual route was different. The first-century streets lie buried several meters below the present ones, and the "Ecce Homo Arch" along the way is known to be a second-century structure, later than the time of Jesus. Regarding the location of Golgotha, most hold the traditional view favoring the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Some, however, identify the site with the "Garden Tomb," proposed in the late nineteenth century, which is frequently visited by Protestant pilgrims.

Christian traditions also differ in how they regard the route. The Catholic and Orthodox churches regard it as a place of long-standing liturgy and devotion. Among Protestants, some view it as a pilgrimage experience that helps believers meditate concretely on the sufferings of the cross. Others regard it with caution, noting that it incorporates traditions without biblical basis, such as the Sixth Station, where Veronica is said to have wiped the face of Jesus, and that it can foster an attitude that treats places themselves as sacred.