What I Saw In The Holy Land, 15
At the foot of the Mount of Olives is the Church of The Virgin's Tomb, which according to the Orthodox is the site where the Virgin Mary was buried. I'd no idea the Orthodox thought was that Mary died, was buried and then was assumed. Seems complicated to me, but we can think what we like, as there is no definitive Tradition beyond the fact of Mary's Assumption.
See the shadow in the above photo? Just to the right of 
the entrance to the Church is this little grotto, which I entered before I knew what I was seeing. Pausing to just take the site in, I suddenly got a creepy feeling, as if some evil was present here. I don't mean to be overly dramatic --there were no rats, no sudden chill in the room-- I just didn't like the place. Turns out this is where Christ left the disciples praying while he went off "a stone's throw" to pray; and the place where Judas betrayed him when he returned to wake his sleeping friends. Yes, friends, I am RC2, your humble mystic blogger!
Up the mount a little ways --yes, it's really "a stone's throw" if the person is not throwing like a girl-- is the place where Christ entered his agony. We came twice. By day as sight-seers; but truly moving was receiving permission from the Franciscans to return by night and do our holy hour here Thursday evening. This is one of eight ancient olive trees in the garden that have been carbon-dated to show they're at least 2000 years old. The Franciscans call them "the silent witnesses" to Christ's prayer.
Inside, "The Church of All Nations" (so-called because collections from the whole world paid for it) is built over the rock where Christ knelt to pray the cup would pass from him, and yet deferred to the Father's will. 
