PRESS RELEASE
Armenian Patriachate of Jerusalem
P.O. Box 14235
Jerusalem (Old City), Israel
Contact: Bp. Aris Shirvanian, Fr. Issahag Minasyan
Tel: +972 2 626 4853
Fax: +972 2 626 4861
E-mail: arminf@netvision.net.il
Web:

12 April 2004
OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE

EASTER EVE HOLY FIRE CREMONY CONDUCTED PEACEFULLY

The Easter Eve Holy Fire Ceremony was held on Saturday, 10 April 2004 and,
despite tension, dispute and concern of break out of violence, was conducted
peacefully in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

This year’s representative of the Armenian Patriarch as torch-bearer was
Bishop Vicken Aykazian a senior member of St. James Armenian Brotherhood,
and the Diocesan Legate, and the executive director of the ecumenical Office
of the Armenian Church in Washington DC. Accompanying the Greek Orthodox
Patriarch Irenios I Bishop Vicken entered the Holy Tomb of our Risen Lord
together with The Greek Orthodox Patriarch where each lit his bundle of
candles from the oil lamp placed on the Holy Tomb.

Then both proceeded towards the respective windows in the chapel of the
Angel, through which each respectively passed the candles out to the
faithful. The ceremony was held under heavy police presence and security
measures, and the number of participating Christian faithful of the
Armenian, Greek, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox Churches was initially limited
by the Police. These measures were taken after the failure of the intensive
negotiations between the Armenian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Patriarchs to
reach a solution over the burning issue of centuries long Status-Quo
protocol regarding the Holy Fire Ceremony. The issue of the Holy Fire
ceremony is not yet legally resolved.

However, the Israeli government undertook to finally resolve this issue in
the immediate future.

DIVAN OF THE ARMENIAN PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM