Thousands celebrate Orthodox Easter “holy fire” ceremony in
Jerusalem’s Old City

AP Worldstream; Apr 22, 2006
LAURA RESNICK

A flame, believed by some faithful to be miraculously ignited,
illuminated thousands of worshippers’ torches and candles at
Christianity’s holiest site on Saturday, as tense hours of waiting
and shoving culminated in the celebration of the Orthodox Easter
“holy fire” rite.

With pilgrims from all over the world attending the ceremony, security
was extremely tight in and around the Church of the Holy Sepulcher,
where tradition says Jesus was crucified and buried.

Tempers flared as thousands of worshippers waited to pass through
security barricades into Jerusalem’s Old City, with priests and
pilgrims shoving and punching police. Inside the church, people
scuffled with each other and with officers as they waited for the
ceremony to begin.

Believers see the passage of the flame among worshippers as connecting
many of the 200 million Orthodox Christians worldwide to their
spiritual roots.

The ritual dates back at least 1,200 years. The precise details of
the flame’s source are a closely guarded secret, but some believe it
appears spontaneously from the burial area, as a message from Jesus on
the eve of the Orthodox Easter that he has not forgotten his followers.

The strains of the long wait on Saturday receded as the Greek
and Armenian Orthodox patriarchs in the Holy Land descended into
the church’s underground tomb to bring out the flame. Worshippers
clutching bundles of unlit tapers and torches waited in the darkened
church for the church leaders to emerge.

When the church leaders reappeared with lighted torches, church bells
pealed. Worshippers cheered, shrieked “Christ, Christ,” and ululated.
The flames were then passed around to the thousands of faithful
who packed that area of the church. Light _ and smoke _ filled the
cavernous church within seconds.

Jeanette Gennetian, 66, of Watertown, Massachusetts, said the
experience brought her greater religious strength.

“My connection to Jesus is stronger, my connection to Jerusalem is
stronger now,” said Gennetian, a member of the Armenian Apostalic
church.

Police, she said, knocked down her 68-year-old husband, Sarkis
Gennetian, a church deacon.

“I’m very disappointed with the whole Israeli setup,” he said. “This
is not the spirit of Christianity.”

Religious observations historically have touched off clashes among
the different Orthodox denominations, who have argued over protocol.
Just a day earlier, screaming Coptic priests threw punches over
where and how long different sects would stand during the Good
Friday service.

The sectarianism was also in evidence Saturday as groups of people
shouted, “Armenia, Armenia” in Armenian, and “Greece, Greece”
in English.

The holy fire ceremony took place without incident despite talk that
the ousted Greek Orthodox patriarch of the Holy Land, Irineos I,
might put in an appearance.

An attempt by Irineos to directly challenge the authority of his
successor, Theofilos III, at the flame ceremony would have almost
irreparably ruptured the already splintered Greek Orthodox church in
the Holy Land.

Church officials deposed Irineos last year over accusations he leased
prime church properties in east Jerusalem to Jews seeking to bolster
Israel’s claim to that largely Arab section of the city. Irineos
has refused to recognize his dismissal and still commands a band
of loyalists.

Palestinians claim east Jerusalem as the capital of a future state,
and the church’s mostly Palestinian flock in the Holy Land denounced
the leases as weakening the Arab presence in the disputed city.

Israeli security was heightened last year because of showdowns over
the land deal. This year, police said the heavy security was standard
practice at large public events.

Dimitri Diliani, who leads a coalition of Palestinian Christians,
said Israeli police blocked Palestinian Christians from entering the
Old City, allowing only foreign worshippers in.

“We’re not going home,” he vowed.

Orthodox churches use a different calendar from Roman Catholics and
Protestants, who celebrated Easter last week.