As a kid growing up in Evangelical churches, I would occasionally hear about the ultimate in Christian travel—the Holy Land tour. And the tour would be followed up some months later by a slide show showing where its members had gone. The slides featured ancient stone buildings, panoramic views of Jerusalem, and sunglass-wearing Americans standing atop of the Mount of Olives with the golden Dome of the Rock in the background. But I don’t remember anyone ever talking about the Christians living there. There were pictures of churches, sure, but did anyone actually go to church there?
It was an empty space that was passed over in silence in my childhood, but it’s something I began thinking about more frequently after my conversion to the Orthodox Church in college. I joined the Antiochian Orthodox Church—founded by Ss. Peter and Paul in Antioch—and I began to meet the people who went to church in the Holy Land.
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