 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
| Mensa Christi Church | |
|---|---|
 Church exterior | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Roman Catholic |
| Leadership | Franciscan Order |
| Location | |
| Location |  Nazareth, Israel |
| Architecture | |
| Completed | 1861 |
Mensa Christi is a Roman Catholic church located in Nazareth, northern Israel.
Mensa Christi (Latin for "table of Christ") contains a large rectangular block of limestone [1] (3.6 x 2.7 x 9 m) [2] ) that, according to a pious legend, served as a table when Jesus had a meal with his disciples in his hometown. [3] When a biblical reference needs to be applied, the quoted passage is from the Gospel of Mark (Mark 16:14), where Jesus appears to the eleven remaining apostles after his resurrection and finds them reclining at the table and eating, and he scolds them for not believing those who had witnessed him having returned from the dead. [4]
The three decades Jesus spent in Nazareth are commonly called "the silent years", with the Gospels telling us close to nothing about that long period in his life. Over the centuries, Christians have sought for sites suitable for commemorating events from Jesus' life in his home village. [1]
In 1781 the Custody of the Holy Land bought the ruined church from the Muslims. [4] The Franciscans initially built a chapel at this site in the latter half of the 18th century. [1]
The current church, a renovation of the earlier chapel, was completed in 1861. [1]
The Israeli government, in a joint project with the local municipality, recently completed an $80 million renovation and restoration of the old city of Nazareth as part of the Millennium celebrations of the year 2000. A part of this project was the restoration of the church's frescoes and dome. [1]
The church is located within a dense neighborhood, above the church district, in the Old City of Nazareth. It is north of the Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo Convent, and near the Maronite Church of the Annunciation and Ecumenical Christian Child Care Center. It can be accessed only by foot down a steep road from the Carmelite convent, or above the Synagogue Church. This type of walkway is typical of small alleys in Nazareth and other Arab villages in Israel. The church is locked most of the time, but can be visited upon request.
A very similar significance is attached to the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter in Tabgha, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, where the altar is built upon a cliff known in Latin as Mensa Christi, the Table of Christ, where the resurrected Jesus prepared bread and fishes over a fire for his disciples. This church also commemorates Jesus' reinstatement of Peter as chief apostle.
The Acts of the Apostles is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message to the Roman Empire.
The Gospel of Matthew is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people but is rejected by them and how, after his resurrection, he sends the disciples to the gentiles instead. Matthew wishes to emphasize that the Jewish tradition should not be lost in a church that was increasingly becoming gentile. The gospel reflects the struggles and conflicts between the evangelist's community and the other Jews, particularly with its sharp criticism of the scribes and Pharisees with the position that through their rejection of Christ, the Kingdom of God has been taken away from them and given instead to the church.
Matthew the Apostle is named in the New Testament as one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to Christian traditions, he was also one of the four Evangelists as author of the Gospel of Matthew, and thus is also known as Matthew the Evangelist, a claim rejected by most biblical scholars, though the "traditional authorship still has its defenders."
The Last Supper is the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus shared with his apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper is commemorated by Christians especially on Holy Thursday. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "Holy Communion" or "The Lord's Supper".
John the Apostle or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee and Salome. His brother James was another of the Twelve Apostles. The Church Fathers identify him as John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Disciple, and testify that he outlived the remaining apostles and was the only one to die of natural causes, although modern scholars are divided on the veracity of these claims.
Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin mentioned in three places in the Gospel of John:
The Church of Jesus Christ is an international Christian religious denomination headquartered in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, United States. The church is a Christian Restorationist church, the third-largest church to believe in the Book of Mormon as scripture. The church considers itself the gospel restored, or the original church and good news as established by Jesus Christ in the New Testament, restored upon the earth. It also claims to be the spiritual successor to the Church of Christ, organized by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. The church sees Sidney Rigdon as Smith's rightful successor following the assassination of Smith because Rigdon was Smith's first counselor in the First Presidency. The church is not officially affiliated with any other church, organization or denomination.
In Christianity, the Great Commission is the instruction of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his disciples to spread the gospel to all the nations of the world. The Great Commission is outlined in Matthew 28:16–20, where on a mountain in Galilee Jesus calls on his followers to make disciples of and baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The Via Dolorosa is a processional route in the Old City of Jerusalem. It represents the path that Jesus would have taken, forced by the Roman soldiers, on the way to his crucifixion. The winding route from the former Antonia Fortress to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — a distance of about 600 metres — is a celebrated place of Christian pilgrimage. The current route has been established since the 18th century, replacing various earlier versions. It is today marked by fourteen Stations of the Cross, nine of which are outside, in the streets, with the remaining five stations being currently inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The Cenacle, also known as the Upper Room, is a room in Mount Zion in Jerusalem, just outside the Old City walls, traditionally held to be the site of the Last Supper, the final meal that, in the Gospel accounts, Jesus held with the apostles.
The Catholic Church in Israel is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, in full communion with the Holy See in Rome. The Catholic Church in Israel is divided into three main jurisdictions: the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, and the Salesian Mission. Each of these jurisdictions has its own responsibilities and areas of operation.
The ministry of Jesus, in the canonical gospels, begins with his baptism in the countryside of Roman Judea and Transjordan, near the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and ends in Jerusalem, following the Last Supper with his disciples. The Gospel of Luke states that Jesus was "about 30 years of age" at the start of his ministry. A chronology of Jesus typically sets the date of the start of his ministry at around AD 27–29 and the end in the range AD 30–36.
The Church of the Primacy of Saint Peter is a Franciscan church located in Tabgha, Israel, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It commemorates, and allegedly marks the spot, of Jesus' reinstatement of Peter as chief among the Apostles.
The Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Apostles, in common use simply Church of the Apostles is the church at the centre of the Greek Orthodox Monastery of the Holy Apostles at Capernaum, standing among the ruins of ancient Capernaum near the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel. It is also known as simply the Greek Orthodox church at Capernaum, to differentiate it from the Franciscan monastery standing in the southern part of Capernaum. It is sometimes named as the Church of the Seven Apostles, based on the seven disciples mentioned in John 21, but it is actually dedicated to all the twelve apostles of Jesus.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Christianity:
Zion Lutheran Church is located in Fredericksburg, in Gillespie County, in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the oldest Lutheran Church in the Texas Hill Country and one of the oldest in Texas. The church was built by six families in 1852. On January 13, 1853, twelve founders signed its articles of organization. The cornerstones for the church were set on March 6, 1854. Designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1964, Marker number 10132.
The Last Supper of Jesus and the Twelve Apostles has been a popular subject in Christian art, often as part of a cycle showing the Life of Christ. Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art date back to early Christianity and can be seen in the Catacombs of Rome.
Acts 2 is the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The book containing this chapter is anonymous but early Christian tradition affirmed that Luke composed this book as well as the Gospel of Luke. This chapter records the events on the day of Pentecost, about 10 days after the ascension of Jesus Christ.
The Monastery Saint Claire, also known as the Convent of Mary's Fear and by other names, is a convent of the Poor Clares on Tremor Hill in southern Nazareth, Israel. Established in 1884, it is primarily known for the productive time the now-sainted Charles de Foucauld spent there at the end of the 19th century. Expelled from the Ottoman Empire at the onset of World War I, the nuns of the abbey relocated to Malta, founding a new community there. The Sisters of St Clare returned to Nazareth in 1949 but used newer facilities on 3105 Street on the north slope of Tremor Hill. Their former location beside what is now Paulus HaShishi Street was repaired by the Servants of Charity for use as a special needs school in the 1970s.
