Sicaminon
The port at the foot of Mount Carmel, today Haifa.
Description
Maria Valtorta gives a detailed description of the place."At the end of the gulf, there is a deserted beach where there are fishermen's huts (...) the extreme point of the bay that stretches into the sea like a curved arm (...) the small pebble-covered coast (...) the small rocky beach (...) They move away from the dwellings by about two hundred meters, and they sit on a large rock. I do not know if these are the remains of a pier, or the extension of a reef that plunges into the sea, or the ruins of a hut half-submerged by the waters, perhaps a projection of the coast that has occurred over the centuries[1]"Today, it is enough to observe satellite views to appreciate the extreme precision of this description written in 1945.[2].
Significant events
The significant event does not specifically concern Sicaminon, but the journey in which it is included. In the spring of the second year of his public life, Jesus organizes the first apostolic journey accompanied by the Women Disciples, throughout Galilee: from Nazareth to Sicaminon and Caesarea on the Sea.Mary of Magdala (Magdalene), a new convert, fears returning to the places of her past wanderings, but this will be the way to publicly show her victory over herself."Where shall we go to begin, Master?""To Bethsaida, then through Magdala, Tiberias, Cana, to Nazareth. From there, through Japhia and Shimron, we will go to Bethlehem in Galilee and then to Sycaminon and Caesarea ..."
Jesus is interrupted by a sob from Mary Magdalene. He looks up, looks at her, and then continues as if nothing had happened: "At Caesarea you will find your chariot. I have given this order to the servant and you will go to Bethany. We will then see each other again at the Tabernacles." Mary Magdalene quickly regains herself and does not answer her sister’s questions, but she leaves the room and withdraws, perhaps to the kitchen, for a moment.
"Mary suffers, Jesus, upon hearing that she must go to certain towns. We must understand her... I say this more for the Disciples than for You, Master," says Martha, humble and anxious.
"That is true, Martha. But it must be so. If she does not immediately confront the world, and break that horrible Tyrian which is human respect, her heroic conversion remains paralyzed. Immediately and with us.[3]"
Its name
Sicaminon, Sykaminon, Tel Shikmona, Haifa. The name Sykaminon, under which the port was known in Antiquity, would come from the Sycamore fig.
Where is it mentioned in the work?
EMV 239 EMV 250
Learn more about this place
The village was located on the tip of the Carmel cape, at the western end of the bay of present-day Haifa. Excavations carried out in 1963-1964, 1.3 km southwest of the Carmel cape, proved that the site was occupied since the Bronze Age.
Explore
- 32° 49’ 31’’ N / 34° 57’ 20’’ E /
- +10m.
Notes and references
.
- ↑ EMV 250.1/3.
- ↑ Article partially written based on the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel, J.-F. LAVÈRE.
- ↑ EMV 239.3.