رحلة إلى األراضي المقدسة Trip to the Holy Land

Come Join us with Fr Youannes Tawfik St. Mary Coptic Orthodox Church, Minneapolis

Tour Date: 31 Aug – 09 Sep Land Package Price: $1395 $1295* *Register before 1/31/20 and save $100!

Contact LIVING WORD TOURS today! Phone: +1-713-530-1052 Email: [email protected] livingwordtours.com Facebook: Living Word Tours Together, we build up the itinerary that will suit your interests, starting with accommodation style and location, sites to visit and voices that you want to hear. Living Word Tours will provide you with our unique service, customizing a program to meet with your expectations, interests and budget.

Tour Dates: 31 Aug – 09 Sep $1295*

• Rates are quoted in USD per person based on double occupancy. • Single supplement please add $499.00 extra (IF YOU WANT A SINGLE ROOM).

Our rates include: 1. Airport group Meet & Assist upon arrival. 2. Government-licensed English/Arabic speaking tour guide throughout. 3. 6 nights at the Jasir Palace (4 stars) 4. 2 nights at the Golden Crown Hotel (4 stars) 6. Daily buffet breakfast and dinner 7. 8 days of touring with a deluxe air-conditioned Tour Bus. 8. Entrance fees (as per attached itinerary) and additional taxes included.

Our rates do not include: 1. Tips and gratuities 2. Daily lunches 3. Medical coverage 4. Personal expenses 5. Airfare. (We are happy to arrange the best airfare for you upon request.)

Holy Land Pilgrimage, June 2020 ,Itinerary

Day 1: Mon, Aug 31 Depart your home city and fly overnight to Israel

Day2: Tue, Sep 01 Arrive at Tel Aviv The Old City Jaffa Jaffa is famous as the place from which Jonah sailed as he tried to flee the Lord’s calling to go preach repentance to the inhabitants of Nineveh (Jonah 1:3) Jaffa is where St. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:36-43). He then stayed at the home of Simon the Tanner. It was on the rooftop of this house that Peter was praying one day when he had a vision of a sheet coming down from heaven, full of unclean animals, and he heard a voice commanding him: "Rise, Peter; kill and eat" (Acts 10:13). The command to eat unclean animals was a sign for Peter to baptize Cornelius, a Roman centurion and Gentile considered unclean by pious Jews. This meant that Gentiles, for the first time, could receive the Holy Spirit and join the Church.

The Church of the Holy Great Martyr St. George and the city of Lydda The Church dedicated to the Great Martyr George is located in the major Palestinian city of Lydda. Following the tradition of the ancient churches, the Church of St George was built in over the saint’s grave after his martyrdom. According to the Holy Scripture, Lydda was built by a member of the tribe of Benjamin, Shemed. Deserted starting with the captivity of Babylon, it was reestablished immediately after the Jews returned from exile. It is an ancient city mentioned in both the Old and the New Testaments.

As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the saints in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. “Aeneas,” Peter said to him, “ Christ heals you. Get up and take care of your mat.” Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord. “(Acts 9:32-35).

Emmaus, the town mentioned in the Gospel of St. Luke. He reports that Jesus appeared, after His death and resurrection, to two of His disciples while they were walking on the road to Emmaus.

“Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was seven miles from . And they talked together of all these things which had happened. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned, that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. Luke 24:13-33

Check-in at our hotel Dinner and overnight at hotel

Day 3: Wed, Sep 02 Convent of St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church We will have an optional early morning liturgy in this church where the Virgin St. Mary herself appeared The Visitation Church, the visitation place of St. Mary to her cousin Elizabeth Ein Karem, visit the church of the birth place of St. John the Baptist Church of the Nativity, the birth place of Jesus Shepherds Field, where the angels of the lord appeared to the shepherds, Lunch break Milk Grotto Church of the Virgin Mary, where the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus rested in a cave, called the Milk Grotto (la Gruta de la Leche) Israeli Museum, see a model of Jerusalem and the Shrine of the Book, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are hidden Dinner and overnight

Day 4: Thu, Sep 03 Convent of St Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church We will have a second optional early morning liturgy in this church Early breakfast at your hotel , the oldest known inhabited city in the world. We will travel on the Good Samaritan road, where Christ gave the parable recorded in Luke, 10:25–37. At Jericho, you can see Elisha’s Fountain and the Mount of Temptation where Jesus fasted for 40 days and was tempted by Satan, as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and John. Cable car ride up to the mountain Dead Sea, experience floating on the Dead Sea Qasr El-Yahoud, Christ’s baptism site *if time permits* Bethany, to see Lazarus’s tomb and the Church was built over the house where Lazarus, Mariam and Martha lived Western/Wailing Wall of the second temple built by in an expansion effort, which resulted in a steep hill known as the Temple Mount. It was at the Temple Mount (Mount Moriah) that Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Dinner and overnight at the hotel Day 5: Fri, Sep 04 Drive to Jerusalem Via Dolorosa, the route that Jesus walked carrying His cross from the place of His condemnation by Pontius Pilate to the site of His Crucifixion and burial. We will walk the length of this road, where Our Lord walked Der El Sultan connects the nine Stations of the Cross with the Church of the Holy Sepulcher Church of the Holy Sepulcher (The Resurrection Church), where Jesus was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. We will have a Holy Liturgy here. Breakfast baskets, yum! Church of Queen Helena (the Cross Church), where she found Jesus’s Cross Church of St. Anthony (Coptic), if His Eminence Metropolitan Antonious is in, we will visit Free time, enjoy a break for shopping in the markets Alexander Nevesky Russian Monastery, which contains a section of the ancient wall of Jerusalem at Jesus’ time and a rock from Golgotha Armenian Church where St. James, the 1st Bishop of Jerusalem was buried after his martyrdom. Dinner and overnight at your hotel

Day 6: Sat, Sep 05 Breakfast at your Hotel The Mount of Olives overlooks the old city of Jerusalem displaying the churches, mosques and synagogues of the three major religions that claim Jerusalem as their spiritual center Bethphage, the village where Jesus mounted a donkey and began his Palm Sunday walk into Jerusalem The Chapel of the Ascension, where Jesus ascended up to heaven from the Mount of Olives forty days after his resurrection Pater Noster Church (Lord’s Prayer in Latin) where Jesus proceeded to the traditional Palm Sunday Road, in Gallicantu, through the Jewish Cemetery Dominus Flevit Church (Lord Wept in Latin), where Jesus wept over Jerusalem Tomb of St. Mary and the Church of all Nations Gethsemane where Jesus uttered his prayer at the Rock of Agony Church of Mary Magdalene, situated on the slope of the Mount of Olives Lunch break Mt. Zion and the Room of the Last Supper, where tradition holds that Jesus celebrated the Passover Meal with His disciples, and where the Holy Spirit descended over the heads of the disciples Dormition Church and the Tomb of David, where it is believed that St. Mary fell into eternal sleep St. Peter Church in Gallicantu where St. Peter denied Jesus three times and where Jesus stayed one night in jail in the house of Caifa the Jewish high priest St. Stephen Church, where St. Stephen the first Martyr was martyred City of David, visit the archeological site Western wall tunnel, continuing to walk down the Hezekiah’s tunnel that leads and ends at the Siloam Pool Dinner and overnight at your hotel Day 7: Sun, Sep 06 Pools of Bethesda, site of the healing of the lame man (John 5) St. Anne’s (mother of St Mary) Church Fraggelon Church and the Condemnation Church (near Bethesda) and “Ecce Homo,” near the beginning of the Via Dolorosa, there are extensive remains of first- century Jerusalem. The arch has been believed by Christians to be the place where Pontius Pilate displayed the beaten and thorn-crowned Jesus Haifa, built in a tiered fashion, the northern Israeli port city extends from the Mediterranean up the north slope of Mount Carmel Baha’i Gardens, beautifully manicured gardens overlooking the city, built by the Baha’i people Lunch break Mount Carmel, where Prophet Elijah lived in a cave. The cave today is in the monastery of Stella Maris Muhraka, where God displayed his power over the prophets of Baal through the prophet Elijah Caesarea Maritima by the sea, a Roman City from the time of Jesus which was built in the year 22 BC by Herod the great. In Caesarea, the first gentile, Cornelius the Centurion was baptized with his family by St. Peter Syrian Orthodox Monastery which is St. Mark’s House

Day 8: Mon, Sep 07 Breakfast, check out of your hotel Mount Tabor (Mount and Church of Transfiguration) where Jesus took Peter, James and John to the mountain where He was transfigured before them with the prophets Moses and Elijah (Matthew 17) Nazareth sightseeing, Jesus’ boyhood home Church of Annunciation, where the angel Gabriel visited St. Mary and told her that she would be the Mother of Immanuel

Church of St. Joseph’s Carpentry, built over the home of the Holy Family Mary’s Well Lunch break Cana, where Jesus performed His first miracle (John 2) Church of the Wedding at Cana of Galilee Nain, the tiny Galilean village where Jesus brought back to life a widow’s son as he was being taken out through the town gate to be buried

“Now it happened, the day after, that He went into a city called Nain; and many of His disciples went with Him, and a large crowd. And when He came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother; and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.” Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. And He presented him to his mother.” Luke 7:11-15

Day 9: Tue, Sep 08 Breakfast at your hotel Caesarea Philippi Sail on the Sea of Galilee to Capernaum, the center of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Mount of Beatitudes and the Church of Beatitudes where the Sermon on the Mount was given Church of Multiplication of the 5 loaves and 2 fish, where Jesus fed the 5000 men Lunch break where you can enjoy the wonderful meal of fish like St. Peter or Our Lord did Church of St. Peter’s Primacy in the area of Tabgha - Seven Springs. This is the place where Jesus appeared to his disciples after his resurrection and gave the primacy back to St. Peter Octagonal church built upon St. Peter’s house Synagogue of Capernaum built over the original synagogue in which Jesus preached Yordanit where we can all take the blessing of dipping into the Jordan River

Day 10: Wed, Sep 09 Departure home out of Tel Aviv airport Early morning departure