Russian Church, Greek Princess and English King
The Church of Mary Magdalene is an Eastern Orthodox church built on the western slopes of Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. It is named after Mary Magdalene, a follower of Jesus who accompanied him during his crucifixion and was also the first to see him after he was resurrected. The area on which the church stands was purchased by the “Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society” established by the Russian Tsar Alexander III, and it was inaugurated in 1888. The church is one of the most recognizable and photographed sites in Jerusalem thanks to its golden domes designed in classic Russian style. The domes, covered in pure gold, are reminiscent of the Kremlin churches in Moscow, and they earned the church its nickname "The Onions Church".
Near the entrance to the church stands an ancient stone pillar whose origin is unknown, called the "Pillar of Judas’ Kiss". According to Christian tradition, the column marks the place where Judas Iscariot kissed Jesus, thereby handing him over to the Roman soldiers.
Alice of Battenberg was the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, the mother of Prince Philip of Edinburgh, and the grandmother of King Charles III. She was born in Windsor Castle in England in 1885, and was deaf from birth. In 1903, she married the Greek prince Andreas and lived in Greece until the royal family was expelled from the throne in 1917. In 1930, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and hospitalized in Switzerland. After she was released, she continued to live separately from her husband and dedicated her life to charity and piety. During World War II, Alice lived in Athens and helped hide Jewish families from the Nazis. Thanks to this, in 1994 (after her death) she received the title of Righteous Among the Nations from the Yad Vashem organization. After the war she continued to live in Greece, where she founded an order of nuns. Alice had five children. Philip, the only son born after four daughters, married princess Elizabeth who became Queen Elizabeth II of England. In 1967, after the military coup in Greece, Alice moved to Buckingham Palace to live with her son and daughter-in-law, where she died in 1969. She was buried in Windsor Castle, but in her will she asked to be buried in the Mary Magdalene Church in Jerusalem next to her aunt Elizabeth Feodorovna, the Grand Princess of Russia who was murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution. In 1988 Alice's request was fulfilled and her bones were moved to the crypt under the church.
Prince Philip and his sister Sofia arrived in Israel in 1994 to receive the title of Righteous Among the Nations on behalf of their mother. In 2016, Prince William, the eldest son of King Charles and heir to the British throne, attended the funeral of Shimon Peres, and during his visit to Israel also visited his great-grandmother's grave in Jerusalem.
(Anecdote authored by: עמיר)
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