The Mercury News

Israeli restrictio­ns on Holy Fire ignite outrage from Christians

- By Joseph Krauss

JERUSALEM >> Christians celebrated their Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Saturday against a backdrop of rising tensions with Israel, which imposed new restrictio­ns on attendance this year that it said were needed for safety.

Israel says it wants to prevent another disaster after a crowd stampede at a packed Jewish holy site last year left 45 people dead. Christian leaders say there's no need to alter a ceremony that has taken place for centuries.

In the dense confines of Jerusalem's Old City, where Jews, Christians and Muslims must share their holiest sites — no matter how reluctantl­y — even small changes can cause prophetic angst.

The city already has seen a week of clashes between Palestinia­ns and Israeli police at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. It stands on a hilltop that is the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount.

This year, major Jewish, Christian and Muslim holidays have converged against a backdrop of renewed Israeli-Palestinia­n violence. Tensions have soared as tens of thousands of people flock to Jerusalem's Old City to visit some of the holiest sites for all three faiths for the first time since the lifting of pandemic restrictio­ns.

Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that on the Saturday before Easter a miraculous flame appears inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a sprawling, 12th-century basilica built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrecte­d.

On Saturday, Greek Patriarch Theophilos III entered the Holy Edicule, a chamber built on the traditiona­l site of the tomb, and returned with two lit candles, passing the flame among thousands of people holding candles, gradually illuminati­ng the walls of the darkened basilica. The flame will be transferre­d to Orthodox communitie­s in other countries on special flights.

The source of the Holy Fire has been a closely guarded secret for centuries, and highbrow skeptics going back to the Middle Ages have scorned it as a carnival trick for the masses.

Two years ago, the church was nearly empty because of a coronaviru­s lockdown, but Israel made special arrangemen­ts for the flame to be carried abroad. Hundreds attended last year, when travel restrictio­ns were in place and the ceremony was limited to the fully vaccinated.

This year, Israel applied a safety law that limits crowd size based on space and the number of exits. Authoritie­s say they want to prevent a repeat of last year's stampede on Mount Meron in northern Israel during a religious festival attended by around 100,000 mostly ultraOrtho­dox Jews.

It was one of the worst disasters in the country's history, and authoritie­s came in for heavy criticism over alleged negligence.

“There's never a problem until there's a problem, and this is what happened last year in Meron,” said Tania Berg-Rafaeli, the director of interrelig­ious affairs at the Israeli Foreign Ministry.

If something were to happen at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, “We would have to take responsibi­lity for that, and we want to avoid any problem,” she said.

Authoritie­s said they would allow a total of 4,000 people to attend the Holy Fire ceremony, including 1,800 inside the church itself, which has a single large entryway with a raised step.

 ?? ARIEL SCHALIT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Christian pilgrims hold candles as they gather during the ceremony of the Holy Fire in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 1, 2021.
ARIEL SCHALIT — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Christian pilgrims hold candles as they gather during the ceremony of the Holy Fire in the Old City of Jerusalem on May 1, 2021.

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