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(Romans 8:2)

“Agony in the Garden” – Wikipedia

The following is an article from Wikipedia about Jesus’ suffering and three prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane:

Agony in the Garden

St. Albans Psalter, English, ca. 1130,

Hildesheim cathedral library

The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane is an episode in the life of Jesus, which occurred

after the Last Supper and before his betrayal and arrest, all part of the Passion of Jesus leading

to his crucifixion and death. This episode is described in the three Synoptic Gospels in the New

Testament.

[1][2][3] According to these accounts, Jesus, accompanied by three of his apostles,

Peter, John and James, enters the garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives where he

experiences great anguish and prays to be delivered from his impending suffering, while also

accepting God's will.

This episode is a significant event in Christian tradition, especially in Catholic devotional

practices. The agony of Jesus in the Garden is the first (or second) station of the Scriptural Way

of the Cross (modern version of the Via Crucis) and the first "sorrowful mystery" of the

Dominican Rosary, and it is the inspiration for the Holy Hour devotion in the Eucharistic

adoration. It has been a frequent theme in Christian art depicting the life of Jesus from the

beginning. It is part of the 6th-century mosaic cycle with scenes from the Passion of Christ in

the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna. The earliest known surviving illuminated

manuscript of the New Testament, the Rossano Gospels, probably from 6th-century Syria

written in Greek, comprises a depiction of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Agony in the Garden by El Greco, c. 1590

According to the Synoptic Gospels, immediately after the Last Supper, Jesus retreated to a

garden to pray. Each gospel offers a slightly different account regarding narrative details. The

gospels of Matthew and Mark identify this place of prayer as Gethsemane. Jesus was

accompanied by three Apostles: Peter, John and James, whom he asked to stay awake and pray.

He moved "a stone's throw away" from them, where he felt overwhelming sadness and anguish,

and said "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. Nevertheless, let it be as You, not I,

would have it." Then, a little while later, he said, "If this cup cannot pass by, but I must drink it,

Your will be done!" (Matthew 26:42;[4]

in Latin Vulgate: fiat voluntas tua)

[5] He said this

prayer thrice, checking on the three apostles after each prayer and finding them asleep. He

commented: "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". An angel came from heaven to

strengthen him. During his agony as he prayed, "His sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood

falling down upon the ground" (Luke 22:44).[6]

At the conclusion of the narrative, Jesus accepts that the hour has come for him to be

betrayed.

[7]

Gospel narratives

In Agony in the Garden, Jesus prays in

the garden after the Last Supper while

the disciples sleep and Judas leads the

mob, by Andrea Mantegna c. 1460.

In Roman Catholic tradition, the Agony in the Garden is the first Sorrowful Mystery of the

Rosary[8] and the First Station of the Scriptural Way of the Cross (second station in the

Philippine version). Catholic tradition includes specific prayers and devotions. These Acts of

Reparation to Jesus Christ do not involve a petition for a living or dead beneficiary, but aim to

"repair the sins" against Jesus. Traditionally, prayers honoring the Agony in the Garden are

most influential during the Holy Hour. Some such prayers are provided in the Raccolta Catholic

prayer book (approved by a Decree of 1854, and published by the Holy See in 1898) which also

includes prayers as Acts of Reparation to the Virgin Mary.

[9][10][11] Furthermore, Passio

Domini, a central devotion in the spirituality of Opus Angelorum, is strongly centered on the

Agony in the Garden.[12]

In his encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor on reparations, Pope Pius XI called Acts of

Reparation to Jesus Christ a duty for Catholics and referred to them as "some sort of

compensation to be rendered for the injury" with respect to the sufferings of Jesus.[13]

Catholic tradition holds that Jesus's sweating of blood was literal and not figurative.[14]

In the Catholic tradition, Matthew 26:40[15]

is the basis of the Holy Hour devotion for

Eucharistic adoration.

[16]

In the Gospel of Matthew:

Then He said to them, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death; remain here, and

watch with Me.'

Tradition

Holy Hour

—Matthew 26:38[17]

Coming to the disciples, Jesus found them sleeping and, in Matthew 26:40, asked Peter: "So,

could you not watch with Me one hour?"[16]

The tradition of the Holy Hour devotion dates back to 1673 when Saint Margaret Mary

Alacoque stated that she had a vision of Jesus in which she was instructed to spend an hour

every Thursday night to meditate on the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of

Gethsemane.[18][19][20]

Martin Pable, OFM Cap suggests that Jesus experienced fear, loneliness, and perhaps a sense of

failure.[21]

Justus Knecht gives three possible causes for Christ's sadness and agony:

1. He saw before him the many and inhuman torments which awaited him. He pictured all

these terrible sufferings, enduring them in anticipation.

2. Christ took the sins of men on himself, so as to offer satisfaction to the divine justice in their

stead. Now that he was on the point of completing his work of redemption, the horrible mass

of evil, abomination and guilt came before his soul and filled it with abhorrence and

aversion.

3. He knew beforehand how many souls would be eternally lost in spite of his bitter Passion

and death, because they would not believe in him and would not love him.[22]

Roger Baxter in his Meditations reflects on the angel comforting Christ, writing, "Good God! is

it possible that the eternal Son of God should borrow comfort from His creatures? Observe how

the Father of lights at last sends comfort to those who persevere in prayer. Imagine what

reasons the angel might use in comforting your agonizing Saviour. He probably represented to

Him the necessity of His passion for the redemption of mankind, and the glory that would

redound to His Father and Himself. All this Christ understood infinitely better than the angel,

yet He did not refuse the proffer of consolation, in order to teach you to respect the advice and

consolation of your inferiors."[23]

Commentary

Artistic depictions

Basilica di San Marco, Venice (13th ct.)

There are a number of different pictorial depictions of the Agony in the Garden, including:

Codex purpureus Rossanensis, Byzantine illuminated manuscript in Greek, Syria, 6th

century, Diocesan Museum Rossano (Calabria)

Book of Gelati, Georgian, 12th ct., in Georgian scripts, Georgian National Centre of

Manuscripts, Tbilisi (Q908, 163v)

Agony in the Garden and Betrayal of Christ, Royal Psalter, British Gothic, ca. 1270, MET,

New York (sf22-24-4s1)

Passional of Abbess Kunigunde, Bohemia, early Luxembourg court workshop[?], 1312–21,

National Library of the Czech Republic, Prague (XIV A 17, fol. 10r)

Jacquemart de Hesdin, Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, 1400–10, Bibliothèque

nationale de France, Paris (Latin 919, fol. 69)

Hours of Mary of Burgundy, 1477, Austrian National Library, Vienna (Cod. 1857, 56v)

Zanobi Strozzi, Adimari Book of Hours, Renaissance Florence 1448, Walters Art Museum,

Baltimore (W767124R (https://art.thewalters.org/object/W.767.124R/))

Agony in the Garden as part of an 13th-century altarpiece with eight scenes from the Life of

Christ, Alana collection, Delaware

The Agony in the Garden, left panel of a Gothic winged altarpiece with Scenes from the

Passion of Christ by Andrea Vanni, 1380s, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Agony in the Garden by Sassetta of the Sienese school, 1437–44, Detroit Institute of Arts

Agony in the Garden by Italian Renaissance artist Andrea Mantegna, 1455–1456, National

Gallery, London[24]

Agony in the Garden, an Early Netherlandish painting by Gerard David (formerly attributed

to Adriaen Isenbrandt), ca. 1510s, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg

Agony in the Garden by High Renaissance artist Correggio, 1524, Apsley House, London

Christ on the Mount of Olives by Baroque painter Caravaggio, c. 1605, destroyed, formerly

Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

The Agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane by Flemish Jacob Jordaens, ca. 1608–

40, private collection (Netherlands)

Agony in the Garden, a painting by romantic poet and artist William Blake, c. 1800, Tate

Britain, London

Miniatures in illuminated manuscripts

Paintings

Christ on the Mount of Olives by Paul Gauguin, 1889, Norton Museum of Art, West Palm

Beach, Florida

Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane Arkhyp Kuindzhi, 1901[25]

The Agony in the Garden in illuminated manuscripts

Rossano

Gospels,

6th ct.

Book of Gelati,

Georgian, 12th ct.

British,

ca. 1270

Passional of

Abbess

Kunigunde,

1312–21

Très Riches

Heures du

Duc de

Berry,

1400–10

Zanobi

Strozzi,

Florence

1448

Hours of

Mary of

Burgundy,

1477

The Agony in the Garden in painting

Italian,

ca. 1250~75

Andrea

Vanni,

1380s

Sassetta, 1437–44 Mantegna, 1457–59

[26] Corregio, 1524

Jacob

Jordaens,

ca. 1608–40

Adriaen van de Velde,

1665

Paul

Troger,

ca. 1750

William Blake, 1800 Paul Gauguin, 1889

Arkhyp Kuindzhi, 1901

Christ on the Mount of Olives – an oratorio by classical composer Ludwig van Beethoven

"Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)" – In the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice

and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus sings this song in which he confronts God about his

coming fate, ultimately accepting it by the end of the song. An orchestral reprise is heard

after the crucifixion in the form of "John Nineteen: Forty-One".

Alfred de Vigny, "Le Mont des oliviers"

Gérard de Nerval, "Le Christ au Mont des oliviers"

Silence by Masahiro Shinoda (Japan, 1971)

In music

In literature

In film

The Passion of Christ by Mel Gibson (US, 2004)

Silence by Martin Scorsese (US, 2016), remake of Shinoda's film

Some in the medical field have hypothesized that Jesus's great anguish caused him to

experience hematidrosis (a medical term for sweating blood).

In the traditional viewpoint (that Luke wrote the Gospel of Luke), it is believed that only Luke

described Jesus as sweating blood because Luke was a physician.[27]

Life of Jesus in the New Testament

Christ in the Garden., a poem by Felicia Hemans published in The Amulet annual for

1826.

Baxter, Roger (1823). "On Christ's Prayer in the Garden." (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Me

ditations_For_Every_Day_In_The_Year/From_Septuagesima_Sunday_To_Easter#179).

Meditations For Every Day In The Year. New York: Benziger Brothers.

Knecht, Friedrich Justus (1910). "The Agony of Jesus in the Garden" (https://en.wikisource.

org/wiki/A_Practical_Commentary_on_Holy_Scripture/LXIX._The_Agony_of_Jesus_in_the_

Garden). A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture. B. Herder.

1. Matthew 26:36–46 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew%2026:36–46&version=nrs

2. Mark 14:32–42 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark%2014:32–42&version=nrsv)

3. Luke 22:39–46 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Luke%2022:39–46&version=nrsv)

4. Matthew 26:42 (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Matthew%2026:42)

5. Matthew 26:42 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26:42&version=

vulgate)

6. Luke 22:44 (https://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:Luke%2022:44)

7. Matthew 26:46 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Matthew%2026:46&version=nrsv); Mark

14:41 (https://bible.oremus.org/?passage=Mark%2014:41&version=nrsv); cf. John 18:4 (htt

ps://www.biblica.com/bible/?osis=niv:John%2018:4): "Knowing all that was going to happen

to Him"

8. "The agony in the Garden: 1st Sorrowful Mystery" (https://www.vatican.va/special/rosary/do

cuments/popup/popup01_dol_en.html). www.vatican.va. Retrieved 17 July 2023.

Medical conjectures