Crossroads in Carinthia

crossroads

Way of the Cross on the Kreuzbergl in Klagenfurt, Station 5: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross.

(Bild: Uta Rojsek-Wiedergut)

14 stations of suffering and pain stand before the resurrection of Jesus, which gives Christians hope. Works of art were and are created for this purpose. For centuries, believers have walked the last path of Jesus during Lent, which is intended to provide support during their own difficult stages of life.

As early as the 4th century, pilgrimages to the holy places in Jerusalem were common - but not everyone could afford the journey. So the stations of suffering of Christ were also symbolically depicted in Carinthia. In the beginning, there were only a few stations, often in a beautiful landscape on a hill, on a Calvary, reminiscent of the Golgotha execution site.

In Carinthia, the first Stations of the Cross were built at the end of the 17th century, very often on a hill, on the Calvary. In some places, the 15th station, which shows the resurrection, marks the end of the 14 Stations of the Cross. A church often stands at the high point of the Way of the Cross.

Especially in the pre-Easter period, the Stations of the Cross invite you to follow Jesus' path of suffering in prayer - from the condemnation by Pontius Pilate to the burial of Jesus.

1st station: Jesus is condemned to death
The chief priests and elders wanted to see Jesus on the cross, but governor Pontius Pilate found no guilt in the accused. However, as the crowd became increasingly angry, he confirmed the death sentence - and washed his hands of the crime.

2nd station: Jesus takes the cross on his shoulders
Jesus, crowned with thorns, mocked and whipped, is depicted carrying the entire cross. Researchers have since established this: The condemned man had to carry the crossbeam; no one could have carried the entire cross made of roughly hewn wood on their own.

3rd station: Jesus falls under the cross for the first time
Completely exhausted after the torture, Jesus collapses under the weight.

4th station: Jesus meets his mother
Stunned and full of unbearable pain, Mary must have stood on today's Via Dolorosa: Her son had tangled with the powerful, he had to go to his death - a horror scenario for a mother.

The Way of the Cross in Millstatt is one of the most remarkable late Baroque Stations of the Cross in Carinthia.

(Bild: Diözesan-Pressestelle Assam)

5th station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross
The Gospel of Luke (23:26) says: "As they led Jesus out, they seized a man from Cyrene named Simon, who had just come from the field. They loaded the cross on him so that he could carry it behind Jesus."

6th station: Veronica hands Jesus the sweatcloth
When Jesus wiped the sweat and blood into the cloth, his face is said to have been miraculously imprinted on the fabric.

7th station: Jesus falls for the second time under the cross
Once again the maltreated body collapses under the weight.

8th station: Jesus meets the weeping women
The disciples had fled and were afraid, but the women were there when Jesus went on his last journey. In the Gospel of Luke (chapter 23), Jesus says to them: "Do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and your children!"

In Schilterndorf, a small village to the north of Bleiburg, the filial and pilgrimage church of Heiligengrab can be seen from afar on Calvary Hill. A Way of the Cross with a total of 15 stations leads to the Calvary.

(Bild: Diözesan-Pressestelle Assam)

9th station: Jesus falls under the cross for the third time
Jesus collapses once again.

10th station: Jesus is stripped of his clothes
The soldiers throw dice for his clothes.

11th station: Jesus is nailed to the cross
The soldiers pierce his hands and feet and nail him to the cross. Then they lift him up.

12th station: Jesus dies on the cross
At the ninth hour he cries out with a loud voice: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And dying, he prayed: "It is finished. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."

13th station: Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in his mother's lap
Joseph of Arimathea took the Lord's body down from the cross with grief and reverence. Then they lay Jesus in Mary's lap.

14th Station: The holy body of Jesus is laid in the tomb
Joseph of Arimathea wraps the body in a clean linen cloth, lays it in a new rock tomb and places a large stone in front of it.

15th station:Jesus has risen from the dead