Church of the Tears of Christ in Jerusalem

Dominus Flevit is Latin for the Church of the Tears of Christ. The church is located on the slope of the Mount of Olives, facing the Old Town of Jerusalem and the Valley of Kidron.

Traditionally, it is believed that Jesus Christ stopped there before he entered Jerusalem and then he crossed the Valley of Kidron and ascended the Temple Mount by way of the Gold Gate, which was later blocked up by the Muslims so that Christ couldn`t ascend the Temple Mount at the time of the Second Coming.

Christ shed tears over Jerusalem foreseeing its near destruction. And so it happened when the emperor Titus, suppressing the Jewish rebellion of 70 completely ruined the city, together with the Second Temple, of which only the west outer wall remained now the Wailing Wall.

In 20 century archaeological excavations were conducted on the territory of the Church of the Tears of Christ, where were discovered a lot of artifacts, the ruins of a Byzantine church dating back to 5 century and an ancient necropolis.

The altar of the Church of the Tears of Christ is facing west, the Old Town of Jerusalem, and not east as is the rule with all Christian churches. It is said that Christ looked this way when he bewailed the ruin of the city. The altar has an unusual shape. In the glass window one can see the outlines of the crown of thorns, with the Christian cross against the background of the Dome of the Rock in the middle.