The ecumenism in Bethany: together to discover the beauty, together to build

On the way from Jericho to Jerusalem, under the shadow of the Mount of Olives, still stands the citadel of Bethany. We find it in the Gospel, where the story of Jesus' friendship with Martha, Mary and Lazarus is told. That is why it is called "home of friendship". Here, today, the roads are all disheveled, there is dirt and disorder everywhere. It is not easy to navigate in the middle of the intense traffic jam: overtaken on the right and to the left, and even some vans that sometimes, to shorten the distances, arrive at full speed in the wrong direction. In the midst of this chaos, there is the Russian Orthodox School of Bethany, a female school attended by about 500 Christian and Muslim girls. In entering the structure opens your heart, it seems to be in another world where order and beauty reign. "This school was built eighty years ago," Khader Sami Baramki, the deputy director explains "and was born primarily to welcome girls with disastrous family situations and to educate them to life in mutual respect and beauty. So

me have been abandoned because they are daughters of unlawful relationships, incest or disability of various kinds, others are orphans ... ". In fact, in addition to classes there is an orphanage. And there is also a church that remembers a very important event: "Here, among these stones, Marta ran to meet Jesus to tell him that his great friend Lazarus had died. Here Jesus wept for his friend before resurrecting him", says the deputy director. Moreover, the whole village of Bethany is of great religious, historical and cultural importance. The school, the Mosaic Center Jericho and the Association pro Terra Sancta met on this aspect. For more than three years, the association and the Mosaic Center have been working in Bethany on the crusader archaeological site located next to the Sanctuary of the Custody of the Holy Land. Here the tradition locates the house of Marta, Maria and Lazzaro. "We have been invited to participate in the Mosaic Center training courses and to tours organized by them to educate the kids around the area, to the consciousness of their heritage, the importance of preservation and above all to beauty, which was exactly what we habe always been doing!". Since February, the school has started to follow some ancient mosaic production courses and, after visiting Bethany, it has followed other visits organized by the Association pro Terra Sancta and the Mosaic Center to the Mount of Olives and Jerusalem and to discover the roots of Christianity through the Terra Sancta Museum multimedia video.

"This collaboration has really been a great discovery of ecumenism, sharing and collaboration!" Khader says, "our girls were delighted! We hope we can continue to reconstruct Bethany again toghether, next year. "

Private: The ecumenism in Bethany: together to discover the beauty, together to build

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