The Church of Gethsemane was built in the 4^th century. The name Gethsemane derives from the Hebrew words “Gat-Semen”, which mean “olive oil press”. The torrent (river) in the background of which is situated Gethsemane, is called “Torrent of the Cedars” which according to Christian tradition is connected with the place in which the last divine judgment will take place. Another name of the torrent is known as the “Valley of Jossaphat”. The name Jossaphat derives from the Hebrew words “Yiahve-Saphot” which means “God judges” used as a name of the place, by the Prophet Joel 3:2.

According to the New Testament, the road to martyrdom of Christ (Matt 26:36, Mark 14: 32, John 18) started from Gethsemane. At Gethsemane Christ prayed before His passion, where He received the kiss of betrayal from Judas and where He was arrested by the soldiers of Pilate, by the mob and the servants of the Pharisees. Already from the 4^th century, these events of the New Testament were topographically identified and the places where they occurred proved sacred and venerable Christian Shrines.

Gethsemane is not only connected with the agony and passion of Christ but also by the burial of the Virgin Mary. The determination of the Tomb of the Most Holy Theotokos is traced back to the mid-1^st century. Almost the same period the first Church of the Assumption was built, possibly during the time of emperor Marcianus in 450-457AD and of the first Patriarch of Jerusalem Juvenalius.