Posted by Jonathan on January 18th, 2013 (All posts by Jonathan)
This entry was posted on Friday, January 18th, 2013 at 7:59 pm and is filed under Photos.
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January 18th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
Some monks in front of the wailing wall? What’s the story?
January 18th, 2013 at 11:39 pm
They look like Franciscans to me. Those sandals are cold in the snow.
January 19th, 2013 at 11:06 am
I don’t know if they were visitors or locals, I’m guessing locals since they weren’t carrying anything. They seemed to be a jovial group.
January 20th, 2013 at 12:49 am
The Franciscans have had custody of the Holy Land’s shrines for over 800 years.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Custodian_of_the_Holy_Land
Legendarily, St. Francis met the Sultan in person, and asked him to convert to Christianity. The Sultan told him to walk into fire and if he came out unscathed, the Sultan would become a Christian. St. Francis apparently got up and was going to walk into the fire. The Sultan had his guards stop Francis. He told him, I will never give up Islam, but you are a brave man, so I will grant you one request. Francis legendarily replied, give us the Christian holy places to care for, and it was granted.
January 20th, 2013 at 8:00 pm
I think the Greek Orthodox, Armenians, Abyssinians et al would say that custody in many cases is shared.
January 20th, 2013 at 9:02 pm
It is shared. There are elaborate agreements defining precisely who can do what. But the Franciscans got there first, I believe.