Greetings blog readers,
I made a special visit today. I went to the place where Prince Philip of England's Mother is buried on the Mount of Olives at the Church of Mary Magdalene which is within 1/2 mile of the Old City. She is known as Princesse Andrew of Greece or Alice of Battenberg. She was an amazing woman. She was born deaf and lived in Greece at the time of WWII. When the Nazis occupied Greece and were rounding up Jews to send to the death camps, she was contacted by a Jewish family she had previously know, and they asked if she could help them in any way. She hid them in the royal palace in Athens for the duration of the war, and several times the Nazis came to search the palace and she kept them out by using her deafness and claiming not to understand them. The truth is that she spoke five languages and was a skilled lip reader and risked her own life to save her friends. Had her Jewish friends been discovered she would have been taken away with them.
When I went to the Church of Mary Magdalene on the Mount of Olives I climed up the stairs to the church only to be told by an nun to take off my hat and that Princess Andrew of Greece was at the Greek church downstairs. I had already tried that door and it was locked. She said to see the nun in the gift shop who had the key. I went to the gift shop and asked if I could see the place where Princesse Andrew was buried. Without hesitation she asked "are you a friend of the Royal Family?" At that moment I figured that I wasn't getting in. I immediately responded "I'm haven't met the Royal Family but I did write to Prince Philip(a true statment) about my visit. I told her what I knew about the heroic acts of Princess Andrew during World War II. Something I said changed her mind and she got up and said I should follow her. She took me to what I expected was the door of the church. She opened it and I was faced with a tiny room no bigger than 8 by 10 feet. Right in the middle of the room, two feet inside the door was a platform with the coffin of Princess Andrew on it. She closed the door behind us and we spent fifteen or twenty minutes talking about the Princess and I learned a lot more about her. She showed me pictures of Prince Philip (who visits privately every once in a while). I was standing right where Prince Philip was standing in the pictures. I then remembered I had the stone in my pocket I was given at my Synagogue on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The stone was to leave at the gravesite of one we remember. I explained the Jewish tradition to her and asked if there was a place I could leave it. I expected her to reject the idea. Without hesitation she pointed to a place on a ledge on the wall at the foot of Princess Andrew's coffin and I placed the stone there. By then I was in tears. Even though I kept thanking the nun, she kept bowing to me. I went back to the gift shop with her and bought a $2 refrigerator magnet. They took dollars or Israeli Sheckels. I gave her a $10 bill and told her to keep the change as a donation to the church. She refused and I had to fight her to get her to take it. She snuck five postcards into the bag with the magnet. That was an incredible event for me and I hope you get some enjoyment about my telling it to you and I think I owe Prince Philip a letter of thanks. The following are pictures of the Church and the door behind which lies the remains of Alice of Battenberg. I think I experienced back to back miracles, yesterday and today.
From there I walked down the Mount of Olives to the Garden of Gesthemene and viewed the gardens. Then I walked to the City of David and archeological dig of what is believed to be the home of King David. The visit includes walks through a pitch dark (I was a Boy Scout and I had a flashlight) wet tunnel or a dry lighted one. Some tourists said the dark one was exciting if you can get in there alone. There were some incredibly noisy school groups in the wet tunnel so I went down the dry one. I was the only one in the tunnel.
I think I experienced back to back small miracles today and yesterday.
Enjoy,
Vic
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