Pilgrims from all over the world and local Christians celebrated Easter Sunday in Jerusalem, with Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah calling on Israel to have the courage to give "freedom to the Palestinian people."Sabbah celebrated mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the traditional site of Jesus' tomb in Jerusalem's Old City. Representatives of the other Christian churches, including the Greek Orthodox, the Armenians and the Copts, celebrated afterwards in the same church.
This year the Easter holiday is celebrated by all major Christian sects on the same day, something occurs only every several years.
In his Easter homily, Sabbah (pic'd here) said that "the spirit of Easter invites all those who, in this Holy Land, are responsible for making peace and waging war to have recourse to new criteria and to a new vision.""Until now, oppression has bred violence, and violence has bred oppression. It is imperative that the initial oppression, the occupation, and the refusal to recognize each other cease so that we can set out resolutely on the road to peace," he said.
Pointing out that Jews are celebrating Passover, the commemoration of the biblical Exodus from Egypt, he asked whether "Israel, some day, ever have the courage to celebrate Passover by giving freedom to the Palestinian people in order to recover its own complete freedom?
"It would bring to an end a century of inability to make peace, and it would set in motion the work of the Resurrection and of a new life in this Land," he added.
Palestinian sources said that only few Palestinian Christians were able to take part in the celebrations due to Israeli roadblocks.
Thousands of pilgrims appeared at the church on Saturday to participate in the "Holy Fire" ceremony, as hundreds of Israeli police officers were deployed throughout the area to maintain security.
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Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce