“Christ is risen ! “ “ He is truly risen! “ the crowd says in reply to the priest of the Latin parish, Fr. Ibrahim Faltas ofm. “ Christ is risen !” he cries again. “He is truly risen !” exclaims the crowd once again. “You don’t seem to be convinced,” comments the priest who repeats, “Christ is risen !” “He is truly risen !” shouts the assembly this time! The parish is Latin but the tradition is Oriental. In the cradle of Christianity, the Latin church has come into line with the local style and begins the celebration of its vigil with a triple proclamation of the faith.
Moreover, in the crowd for the Easter vigil there are not only Christians of the Latin rite. It is a family celebration and in the Christian community of Jerusalem ecumenism is an everyday reality. The number of Christians living in the Holy City is estimated to be about ten thousand and when it is time to get married, young people hope to find a Christian partner; the rite takes on secondary importance, so that on evenings of celebration, families decide each time where to go depending on their affiliations. This year, with all the Christian communities celebrating Easter at the same time, there are countless possibilities for prayer so that it is possible to attend Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant services… In the Old City, there is only one Christian community and no longer any distinction between Churches as everyone feels the same degree of frustration : the events of the morning such as the gatherings of young people and the scouts’ parade waiting for the Holy Fire to be lit have been banned by the Israeli authorities « for security reasons ». For the Arab Christians this is a restriction on their religious freedom and an umpteenth vexation that prevents families from gathering together as those who live outside the Old City are prohibited from going into the Old City, so that families cannot be together. It is more complicated than that with various factors coming together.
Since midnight on Friday the Old City has been in a state of siege. The police, backed up by the border police, have invaded the city. It is possible to leave but impossible to go in and even inside the city the Christian quarter is isolated and surrounded by checkpoints.
The authorities want to prevent Muslim extremists, taking advantage of the crowds, from attacking the many Jewish pilgrims who are in the city for Passover which is also this week and will end on the evening of Monday 5th April. The tension of the past few weeks is still in the air. On the other hand, the Israelis who have the de facto control of the city do not want the Christians to fall victim to accidents during their celebrations. In the past few years, the number of pilgrims coming for Easter has been steadily increasing with the record number of visitors being broken each year, but the walls of the Basilica of the Anastasis are not extendible and an even more pilgrims cannot be allowed to enter without putting them at increasing risk, when there are already many risks, especially at the ceremony of the Holy Fire. However this commendable attention is transformed into a penalising measure when everything seems to be sloppily organised, based on random criteria and with a respect for the pilgrims that often leaves a lot to be desired. On Friday evening, we learned that the Israeli authorities had decided that the Armenian Christians would enter the city by the Sion Gate, the other Orthodox (all the Russian, Romanian, Greek and Cypriot pilgrims) by the Jaffa Gate and the Latins by the New Gate. This could have been a good idea if there existed, for an Israeli soldier, a way to tell an Orthodox from a Latin Christian. The result was that everybody was blocked at the New Gate at 5.30 in the morning and in doubt, the soldiers did not let anybody at all enter. It took Fr. Athanasius Macora, after having himself proven his identity and that he is responsible for the Status Quo, to have the barriers opened, having assured the soldiers that he could recognise “his” faithful. Whilst he and an officer were in conversation, in bad English a solider questioned the pilgrims who were pressing against the barrier “like madmen”: “Catholic?” “ Da, da !” the answer in Russian did not bother him at all… or perhaps he thought that a Christian would not lie on Easter day ? This way some Orthodox were able to sneak in… They joined the group of faithful packed in St. Saviour who were wondering how to get past the next checkpoint. Some will try their luck on their own at the next block, others wait for a more official solution. At 6.45 a.m., the Franciscans wait for their turn to be authorised to leave for the Patriarchate… A group of about fifteen Ethiopian worshippers cut through the crowd…. Their office is at 8.00 p.m. this evening… They won’t be late, that’s for sure! They are led by an Ethiopian soldier and if the groups can cross the city because they are guided by a fellow countryman that is no way of rationalising the situation.
From St. Saviour to the Holy Sepulchre there are 4 blocks in 500 metres and this small group of pilgrims would not have been able to get through without the help of Saliba, a Christian Israeli Arab police officer who is in charge of the Old City. Once everyone is inside the Basilica, the Easter vigil mass, presided by the Patriarch His Beatitude Mons. Fouad Twal, despite its time having been brought forward, takes place in the calm and meditative atmosphere of a joyful prayer.
How many Latin Catholics are present? 150 at the most, as many as the policemen and soldiers packed between the esplanade and the basilica. However, there can be said to be a flaw in the organisation which ends up by preventing people from going to pray in the holy places or dissuading them from trying to do so. The small group of Latin Catholics who have been able to experience this beautiful celebration on the very spot of the resurrection give up their place to the Orthodox at around 9.30 a.m. The Old City is surprisingly calm, but it is still cordoned off. As soon as a Greek or a Cypriot leaves the house where he has rented a room for the week, he comes to a checkpoint and is taken “somewhere else” , apparently to the Jaffa Gate… where a giant screen has been installed to broadcast the celebration. It is clear that not everyone will be able to enter and so this is a good idea.
There is no atmosphere of celebration in the Christian quarter. The gatherings of young people who traditionally get excited singing and shouting slogans which are genuine professions of faith, “Christ is risen and the saviour”, accompanied by comments which are not always very flattering for the other religions they live with , have been prohibited. Even the scouts’ procession has been cancelled. Nevertheless, a very small group of Greek Orthodox are able to have a walk round at about midday.
Around 1.30 p.m. the inhabitants of the quarter start to come out into the streets, in front of their homes, waiting for the Holy Fire to be brought to them. All the televisions are tuned into the channels broadcasting the ceremony live. 2.20 p.m.…. The fire leaves the Tomb, the Basilica is alit with candles and at 2.45 p.m. the fire reaches the Old City. At 3 all the barriers are opened and the celebrations can begin: the scouts march in their procession, the young people shout and their slogans say that the Jews can prevent their celebration but not the resurrection of Christ who is the saviour for eternity and for the whole world…
It will be like that all night long… You would think that all the Arab Christians of Jerusalem were in the Old City. They throng the streets which are chock-a-block, just like the Basilica of the Resurrection which throughout the night resonates with songs and prayers.
For Easter Day, the Patriarch should celebrate Mass in front of the tomb at 10 a.m. but the other confessions are running late in cascade and the Mass can only begin at around 10.45. It takes place in the same meditative atmosphere as the day before but the conditions are more difficult, with the Patriarch saying in his sermon : “Some are perhaps disturbed by the overlapping of prayers and songs of the different rites which can be heard all at once. However, experienced with faith, this apparent cacophony can become a symphony that expresses our unity in the faith and in the joyous celebration of the victory of Our Lord over evil and death, the victory of He who, on the third day, rises from this tomb. Yes, we are the Church of the Calvary, the Church of the Empty Tomb and the Church of the glorious Resurrection!”
Before the Patriarch’s blessing, the priests and the Franciscan seminarians and those of the Patriarchate make a solemn procession around the Empty Tomb. The Gospel is proclaimed four times, at the four cardinal points of the Tomb, because the Resurrection is for everyone.
“Christ is risen !” “He is truly risen!”. An exciting and splendid celebration: Easter in Jerusalem.
Mab
Easter Sunday 2010 - Homily of Patriarch Fouad
Moreover, in the crowd for the Easter vigil there are not only Christians of the Latin rite. It is a family celebration and in the Christian community of Jerusalem ecumenism is an everyday reality. The number of Christians living in the Holy City is estimated to be about ten thousand and when it is time to get married, young people hope to find a Christian partner; the rite takes on secondary importance, so that on evenings of celebration, families decide each time where to go depending on their affiliations. This year, with all the Christian communities celebrating Easter at the same time, there are countless possibilities for prayer so that it is possible to attend Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant services… In the Old City, there is only one Christian community and no longer any distinction between Churches as everyone feels the same degree of frustration : the events of the morning such as the gatherings of young people and the scouts’ parade waiting for the Holy Fire to be lit have been banned by the Israeli authorities « for security reasons ». For the Arab Christians this is a restriction on their religious freedom and an umpteenth vexation that prevents families from gathering together as those who live outside the Old City are prohibited from going into the Old City, so that families cannot be together. It is more complicated than that with various factors coming together.
Since midnight on Friday the Old City has been in a state of siege. The police, backed up by the border police, have invaded the city. It is possible to leave but impossible to go in and even inside the city the Christian quarter is isolated and surrounded by checkpoints.
The authorities want to prevent Muslim extremists, taking advantage of the crowds, from attacking the many Jewish pilgrims who are in the city for Passover which is also this week and will end on the evening of Monday 5th April. The tension of the past few weeks is still in the air. On the other hand, the Israelis who have the de facto control of the city do not want the Christians to fall victim to accidents during their celebrations. In the past few years, the number of pilgrims coming for Easter has been steadily increasing with the record number of visitors being broken each year, but the walls of the Basilica of the Anastasis are not extendible and an even more pilgrims cannot be allowed to enter without putting them at increasing risk, when there are already many risks, especially at the ceremony of the Holy Fire. However this commendable attention is transformed into a penalising measure when everything seems to be sloppily organised, based on random criteria and with a respect for the pilgrims that often leaves a lot to be desired. On Friday evening, we learned that the Israeli authorities had decided that the Armenian Christians would enter the city by the Sion Gate, the other Orthodox (all the Russian, Romanian, Greek and Cypriot pilgrims) by the Jaffa Gate and the Latins by the New Gate. This could have been a good idea if there existed, for an Israeli soldier, a way to tell an Orthodox from a Latin Christian. The result was that everybody was blocked at the New Gate at 5.30 in the morning and in doubt, the soldiers did not let anybody at all enter. It took Fr. Athanasius Macora, after having himself proven his identity and that he is responsible for the Status Quo, to have the barriers opened, having assured the soldiers that he could recognise “his” faithful. Whilst he and an officer were in conversation, in bad English a solider questioned the pilgrims who were pressing against the barrier “like madmen”: “Catholic?” “ Da, da !” the answer in Russian did not bother him at all… or perhaps he thought that a Christian would not lie on Easter day ? This way some Orthodox were able to sneak in… They joined the group of faithful packed in St. Saviour who were wondering how to get past the next checkpoint. Some will try their luck on their own at the next block, others wait for a more official solution. At 6.45 a.m., the Franciscans wait for their turn to be authorised to leave for the Patriarchate… A group of about fifteen Ethiopian worshippers cut through the crowd…. Their office is at 8.00 p.m. this evening… They won’t be late, that’s for sure! They are led by an Ethiopian soldier and if the groups can cross the city because they are guided by a fellow countryman that is no way of rationalising the situation.
From St. Saviour to the Holy Sepulchre there are 4 blocks in 500 metres and this small group of pilgrims would not have been able to get through without the help of Saliba, a Christian Israeli Arab police officer who is in charge of the Old City. Once everyone is inside the Basilica, the Easter vigil mass, presided by the Patriarch His Beatitude Mons. Fouad Twal, despite its time having been brought forward, takes place in the calm and meditative atmosphere of a joyful prayer.
How many Latin Catholics are present? 150 at the most, as many as the policemen and soldiers packed between the esplanade and the basilica. However, there can be said to be a flaw in the organisation which ends up by preventing people from going to pray in the holy places or dissuading them from trying to do so. The small group of Latin Catholics who have been able to experience this beautiful celebration on the very spot of the resurrection give up their place to the Orthodox at around 9.30 a.m. The Old City is surprisingly calm, but it is still cordoned off. As soon as a Greek or a Cypriot leaves the house where he has rented a room for the week, he comes to a checkpoint and is taken “somewhere else” , apparently to the Jaffa Gate… where a giant screen has been installed to broadcast the celebration. It is clear that not everyone will be able to enter and so this is a good idea.
There is no atmosphere of celebration in the Christian quarter. The gatherings of young people who traditionally get excited singing and shouting slogans which are genuine professions of faith, “Christ is risen and the saviour”, accompanied by comments which are not always very flattering for the other religions they live with , have been prohibited. Even the scouts’ procession has been cancelled. Nevertheless, a very small group of Greek Orthodox are able to have a walk round at about midday.
Around 1.30 p.m. the inhabitants of the quarter start to come out into the streets, in front of their homes, waiting for the Holy Fire to be brought to them. All the televisions are tuned into the channels broadcasting the ceremony live. 2.20 p.m.…. The fire leaves the Tomb, the Basilica is alit with candles and at 2.45 p.m. the fire reaches the Old City. At 3 all the barriers are opened and the celebrations can begin: the scouts march in their procession, the young people shout and their slogans say that the Jews can prevent their celebration but not the resurrection of Christ who is the saviour for eternity and for the whole world…
It will be like that all night long… You would think that all the Arab Christians of Jerusalem were in the Old City. They throng the streets which are chock-a-block, just like the Basilica of the Resurrection which throughout the night resonates with songs and prayers.
For Easter Day, the Patriarch should celebrate Mass in front of the tomb at 10 a.m. but the other confessions are running late in cascade and the Mass can only begin at around 10.45. It takes place in the same meditative atmosphere as the day before but the conditions are more difficult, with the Patriarch saying in his sermon : “Some are perhaps disturbed by the overlapping of prayers and songs of the different rites which can be heard all at once. However, experienced with faith, this apparent cacophony can become a symphony that expresses our unity in the faith and in the joyous celebration of the victory of Our Lord over evil and death, the victory of He who, on the third day, rises from this tomb. Yes, we are the Church of the Calvary, the Church of the Empty Tomb and the Church of the glorious Resurrection!”
Before the Patriarch’s blessing, the priests and the Franciscan seminarians and those of the Patriarchate make a solemn procession around the Empty Tomb. The Gospel is proclaimed four times, at the four cardinal points of the Tomb, because the Resurrection is for everyone.
“Christ is risen !” “He is truly risen!”. An exciting and splendid celebration: Easter in Jerusalem.
Mab
Easter Sunday 2010 - Homily of Patriarch Fouad