Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him.On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed,“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow.“Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Luke 22:39-46

Getsemane is a part of a two part complex, the Garden of Getsemane and the adjacent Church of All Nations, now also referred to as the Basilica of the Agony. The word Getsemane itself comes from the Hebrew words Gat Shmanim, which mean Olive Press. This was logical, as farmers would gather their olives from the Mount of Olives, and bring them down into the valley, here, and press them into oil. Here Jesus left several of his disciples, reminding them to remain awake. It was the middle of the night. The disciples had just received an explanation, at the Last Supper, of the meaning of the Bread and the Wine. Jesus removed himself from his disciples and began to pray. Upon his return to the disciples he awakened them and all of them then returned to the other disciples, waiting elsewhere in the valley. Shortly thereafter Roman soldiers and Temple officers, tipped off by Judas, descended upon Jesus and arrested him.

The Church elements, dark purple alabaster windows, stars imbedded on the domed roof, are inspired by the events recorded in Luke. They succeed in conveying to the pilgrim the fear and depression which Jesus felt as he found the rock, located at the front of the church, and began to pray to his father in heaven for intercession. In that brief sentence: “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus prays for mercy from his fate yet also accepts what must be done to him in the service of mankind.