Mount Carmel
The high place near Sicaminon.
Description[edit | edit source]
Rocky ridge culminating at 530 m starting from the bay of Sicaminon (Haifa) and extending 25 km to the southwest. Pierced with caves and adorned at its heights with groves, lush woods, water springs, and rock tables like natural altars, Mount Carmel has always been dotted with high places, including the worship of Baal. This explains the divine contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal.
Notable facts[edit | edit source]
It is on this high place that Jesus, taking with him his cousin James (the Lesser), entrusts him with his destiny as bishop of Israel (Jerusalem) and reveals to him the destiny of his nascent Church.[1]
Its name[edit | edit source]
Carmel means "garden," "fertile land," or "Plantation." Other names: Har Karmel, Jebel Kurmul.
Where is it mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
GRM 257 GRM 258
Learn more about this place[edit | edit source]
It is there that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal.[2] Baal was still worshiped on Carmel under the name "Zeus Heliopolitanus Carmel" until 200 BC.
Excerpt from the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel According to Maria Valtorta by Jean-François Lavère:The first time she "discovers" Carmel, Maria Valtorta writes: "It is a very green mountainous chain, in which all the most beautiful shades of green are present."[3] The great scholar S. Munk confirms it: "Carmel, as well as its surroundings, are covered with trees and greenery: on the summit, you see pines and oaks, lower down olive trees and laurels..."[4] Maria Valtorta admires the panorama (Judea): "And where the mountain ends, there is the sea, a shining, open, endless sea […] washing the shores, which from the promontory formed by the last ramifications of Mount Carmel extend towards Ptolemais and other towns and then fade away in the mist near the Syro-Phoenician coast."[3] It is on the slopes of Mount Carmel that Jesus announces to his cousin James the difficult task that will fall to him: "to be the head of the Church of Israel".[5]Mount Carmel and Sicaminon in 1890
A limestone hill range stretching about 50 km from the bay of Akko to the plain of Megiddo. It is there that Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal and Acherah[6], as Jesus recalls to James: "After assembling the false prophets on Mount Carmel, Elijah stepped out in front of all the people: ‘How long’ he said ‘do you mean to hobble first on one leg then on the other?".[7]
Explore[edit | edit source]
• 32° 43’ 12’’ N / 35° 03’ 00’’ E
• +546m.