10,000 worshipers crowd into Jerusalem's Church of Holy Sepulchre to mark ceremony in lead-up to Easter holiday
By JONAH MANDELChurch of Holy Sepulchre(photo credit: REUTERS)
Hours of tense waiting, fatigue and rivalry turned instantaneously to joy and relief when the densely packed Church of the Holy Sepulchre was lit up on Saturday afternoon with fire, swiftly spreading between the Christians attending the Holy Fire ceremony.Police estimated that at least 10,000 worshipers crowded the ancient church in Jerusalem’s Old City, which is, according to Christian tradition, the site of Jesus’s burial and resurrection.RELATED:Chapels of Holy Sepulchre recount Jesus' last daysIn Jerusalem: Top Christian Sites (Premium)The ceremony is the holiest event for the Orthodox Christian sects, as evident in the heavy presence of Greek, Russian, Armenian, Coptic and Syrian Christians, with some Catholics also visible in the crowd.As the anticipant believers – many of whom had been in the complex since the early morning – waited behind police barriers keeping the groups apart and the pathways free for the clergymen, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, Theofilos III, accompanied by a senior Armenian priest, exited the Edicule, a small structure within the church marking Jesus’s grave, with burning candles.These were used to light three more candles borne by young men – one who sprinted to light the candle of a senior clergyman, and the other two, who touched the candles outstretched by the believers, whistling and yelling their enthusiasm as bells began to toll and the air became thick with smoke.Burning candles will also be flown out to Orthodox communities throughout the world.The faithful believe that it is through divine intervention that the first flame comes to life – much like Jesus did at the same spot a day after his crucifixion, marked by Saturday’s midnight Easter Mass.“This was fantastic,” beamed Sambart, a physician from Armenia, who was one of the young men ensuring ahead of the ceremony that the Armenians received the meters of church space that were their due. It is his fourth time in Jerusalem for the ceremony.“Everyone must see it,” he said. “I feel stronger.”
Other people swiftly passed a hand through the fire burning on their multi-wicked candles, then wiped their faces and heads. “I feel clean, pure, like I was just born,” another man from Russia said.To Andrew, a member of a group of Russian Orthodox Christians from Belarus who was attending the Holy Fire for the first time, “the fire represents that life prevails over death,” and “the ceremony shows the unity of the Orthodox Church.”Tensions between different Greek and Armenian Orthodox Christians have in the past climaxed in fights within the church, which is run by a status- quo committee composed of members of those churches as well as Roman Catholics.Copts, Assyrians and Ethiopians Orthodox also bear certain rights to the building, which contains various chambers built, destroyed and rebuilt since the fourth century, when the site was destined a church.But on Sunday, the peace was well kept between the laymen of these groups, although there was the inevitable vying for a better view of the ceremonial action. Policemen heavily deployed throughout the church, carrying small fireextinguishers on their backs, ensured that none of the enthused pilgrims went beyond their destined limits, and the entire ceremony was broadcast live throughout the world.Sami, a Maronite Catholic from Jaffa who came to be part of the ceremony but didn’t carry a candle, noted that Easter fell on the same day for Catholics and Orthodox Christians, an event that happens on average once every three years due to the different calendars used by the groups.“To me,” he said, “the most important part of the event is the unity between the different parts of the church.”
