Orthodox Easter Jerusalem 2020

Via Dolorosa during Good Friday in Jerusalem in April 2019 and April 2020. Ammar Awad / Reuters                                                              Source: INSIDER

The lead up to Easter in Jerusalem is often chaotic as thousands of pilgrims and visitors throng the Old City. In 2020, in common with towns and cities around the world, Jerusalem is in lockdown.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is closed, the first time the doors have remained shut during Easter since the Black Death in 1349 according to doorkeeper and traditional key holder Adeeb Jawad Joudeh al-Husseini whose Muslim family have held the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for centuries.

He told Al Jazeera that he considered the Holy Sepulchre as his second home and it was "very hard to see it closed, especially during this blessed time."

Retracing the steps Jesus is believed to have taken ahead of his crucifixion, "a handful of friars were allowed to walk the traditional route through the rain-soaked Old City".

The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli authorities will allow "usual Easter-related ceremonies" in Jerusalem to proceed but with "the restrictions put in place to combat the coronavirus pandemic".

The Holy Fire ceremony will proceed. There will likely be "10-15 people in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher representing the different Eastern Orthodox churches" instead of the mass of witnesses seen in 2019 and for centuries before.

Some of the fire is put into special containers and taken to planes waiting at Ben-Gurion Airport to  distributed it to Eastern Christendom via churches in Greece, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and other countries.

The exact mechanics of the ceremony have not been worked out yet a Foreign Ministry source told The jerusalem Post because "the Health Ministry may put more restrictions in place, but flights to bring the fire to Russia, Ukraine and Greece have already been arranged."

The report also states that the entire Holy Fire ceremony will be live-streamed online. No link is given but at the time of writing this entry RUPTLY is live-streaming.

Postscript

Holy Fire lit in near-empty Jerusalem

Happy Easter to our Orthodox brothers and sisters!