|
By ALON BERNSTEIN
The Associated Press
Saturday, April 18, 2009; 1:54 PM JERUSALEM -- Thousands of Superstitious Orthodox faithful, carrying
torches and bundles of candles signifying the 33 years of Jesus' life,
packed into Christianity's holiest shrine on Saturday to celebrate
Easter Week's Pagan fire ritual.
Christians traditionally believe Jesus was crucified and buried at the
site in Jerusalem's Old City where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now
stands. The so-called holy, actually a pagan fire ritual, celebrated the day
before the Orthodox Easter, honors the beliefs of the Superstitious,
that a holy fire appears spontaneously from Jesus' tomb as a message
that he has not forgotten his followers. About 10,000 worshippers attended the afternoon ceremony, some arriving
before dawn to make sure they would be able to enter the cavernous,
heavily secured church. Believers who arrived too late celebrated
outside in the church's cobblestone courtyard, some of them beating on
hand drums.
ad_icon Inside the darkened church, worshippers clutching bundles of unlit
tapers and torches waited expectantly as the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in
the Holy Land, Theofilos III, descended with a group of Greek, Armenian
and other Orthodox clergy into Jesus' traditional tomb. After the flame
appeared there, Theofilos passed it from the tomb to believers inside
the church's main hall, who cheered and wept, and rushed to light their
own candles and torches. Within seconds, the cavernous church was filled with a sudden burst of
illumination and smoke. Many of the pilgrims held the light to their
faces to bask in the holy glow. Ukrainian, Russian and Greek believers were most heavily represented at
the church. "I feel very good and I feel the light, the light inside on our soul,
the light," said Georgios Papageorgiou, a Greek monk. Tom Vomastik, an American tourist from Milwaukee, Wis., said he found
the ceremony moving. "To be here for the procession of the holy fire, which is probably the
biggest event of the year, is pretty exciting." Light from the holy fire was taken afterward to the Church of the
Nativity in Bethlehem, West Bank, where tradition holds Jesus was born,
and aboard special flights to Athens and other cities. The ritual dates back at least 1,200 years. The precise details of the
flame's source are a closely guarded secret. Security was tight at the church, with thousands of police officers on
hand. In the past, the ceremony has been the scene of scuffles between
adherents of the various Orthodox denominations that control different
sections of the church. Tempers flared before the ceremony began, after pilgrims inside the
crowded church found themselves on the turf of other groups. Police
separated the various denominations in an effort to avoid any blows over
rights of worship inside the church. Barricades inside the shrine separated the different Orthodox groups. Greek Orthodox, Armenians and other Eastern rite Christians mark Easter
on Sunday, a week after observances by other Christian denominations,
because they follow a different calendar.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites  |
