Gethsemane

Gethsemane (meaning: a very fat or plentiful vale, from Aramaic gat shemanim, oil press) was the garden on the western slope of the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley from Jerusalem, where Jesus went to pray on the night of his betrayal and arrest. Luke describes it as a place Jesus was accustomed to going (Luke 22:39), indicating regular use. The synoptic Gospels record his agonized prayer — not my will but yours be done — and John describes the garden as the place where Judas led the soldiers to arrest him (John 18:1).

The garden contained olive trees, as the name suggests, and lay in the familiar route Jesus and his disciples walked between Jerusalem and Bethany. Gethsemane represents in the narrative the moment of supreme internal conflict in Jesus's passion — the free human acceptance of the cup of suffering in submission to the Father's will. Mark 14:32 names the place specifically. The site has been venerated by Christians from the early centuries, and the Church of All Nations stands today adjacent to an enclosure containing ancient olive trees — some with root systems potentially dating to antiquity — on the traditional site at the foot of the Mount of Olives.