GETHSEMANE
Derived from Aramaic: “oil press.”
Name of the garden on the Mount of Olives where the Lord Jesus frequently met with his disciples. It was there that he spent part of the night after the last Passover, and where he suffered intense agony at the prospect of having to drain the cup of divine wrath for sin.
There angels came to serve him. There he was also betrayed by Judas with a kiss, and arrested (Mt. 26:36; Mark 14:32; Luke 22:39; John 18:1, 2).
The traditional site is fully fenced, and maintained as a garden, on the northwest slope of Mount Olivete.
It is in front of and not far from Saint Stephen’s Gate.
There are some venerable olive trees, which are said to be those that were there in the time of the Lord. However, they cannot be the same, since Titus, during the siege of Jerusalem in the year 70, had all the trees near the city cut down (Wars, 6:1, 1).
The existing ones, although very old, must be later. There is no certainty as to the exact location of the site where the Lord spent his agony, despite the traditional location.