THOUGHTS ALONG THE JOURNEY

While reading the national newspaper called ‘The Jerusalem Post’ I discovered that the Israeli Government officially recognises three branches of Judaism; Orthodox, Conservative and Reform. Remarkable how it mirrors Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant in the Christian tradition. William Dalrymple in his book ‘From The Holy Mountain’ identifies the Islamic custom of facing Mecca to pray as coming from the Armenian monastic tradition of placing your prayer niche in the direction of Jerusalem which the psalms call the ‘true pole of the earth’ (Psalm 48 I think). Likewise the Muslim call to prayer is an imitation of the Angelus bell. Nothing new under the sun.