SPK 1 - 00.00. "... So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.” (Hebrews 13.12)   SPK 1 - 00.00. But where was this: "Judgment Gate" which Jesus would have walked through to reach Golgotha? Is it possible to worship this place today?   SPK 1 - 00.00. For some time, the Franciscans have identified it as the seventh station of the Way of the Cross, the place which commemorates where Jesus fell for the second time.   SPK 1 - 00.00. The archaeologist Br Eugenio Alliata wanted to emphasize that this place stands on the remains of the walls of the city belonging to the circle of the "second wall of Jerusalem", thus testifying that Calvary was outside the city.   SPK 1 - 00.00. The Russian Orthodox Church identifies this holy place within the "Hostel of Alexander", a Russian women's monastery, a few steps away from the Holy Sepulchre Basilica.   SPK 3 - 00.00. WOMAN eng Sister Ilenia Russian Orthodox Church "The Orthodox of the Imperial Palestine Society, financed by Grand Duke Sergey Aleksandrovic, promoted excavations and discovered some remains of the walls of the old city of Jerusalem and the gate by which our Saviour left the city on the road to Calvary. This gate is the closest to Golgotha, which is why it is unquestionable that Christ passed through it before crucifixion."   SPK 1 - 00.00. Archaeology claims that the Russian's "Hostel of Alexander" was one of the first important places discovered in Jerusalem in the 19th century. However, there is also another explanation for the remains found there.   SPK 2 - 00.00. MAN EN Br EUGENIO ALLIATA, ofm Archaeologist, Studium Biblicum Franciscanum " It is believed that the great walls that have been found are not the walls of the city, but rather the walls of the temple built by Emperor Hadrian on the site of Golgotha. Walls that have remained those of the Basilica of Constantine".   SPK 1 - 00.00. A place which is important from an archeological point of view, but it is also a holy place!   SPK 2 - 00.00. MAN EN Br EUGENIO ALLIATA, ofm Archaeologist Studium Biblicum Franciscanum "The Russians therefore certainly own an important place, a place that is part of the Basilica built by Emperor Constantine, one of the first built on a holy place, the place of Golgotha, the place of death and resurrection of Jesus.”   SPK 1 - 00.00. On the monumental wall we see this well-known "needle" that served as access to the city at night. This religious tells us how Jesus probably referred to this "needle" when he said: "...it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Luke 18:25)  SPK 1 - 00.00. Here you can also admire an arch dating back to about 135 A.D. which gave access to the Forum of Hadrian.   SPK 1 - 00.00. There are paintings of the Way of the Cross hanging on the walls all around ... which form a whole with the archaeological remains which helps us to enter into the mystery of the passion of Jesus. Read More