CHRISTMAS IN BETHLEHEM

Evening Star, Issue 20053, 19 December 1928, Page 13

CHRISTMAS IN BETHLEHEM

A TRIPLE CELEBRATION SCENES AT THE GROTTO OF THE NATIVITY [By Major Edward Keith-Roach, 0.8. E., in the ‘ Observer,’] Most countries keep one Christmas, but the birthplace of our Lord celebrates three, according to the Latin or Western, the Orthodox or Eastern, and the Armenian rites, on Deeenlber 25, and on' January 7 and 20 respectively. All three have rights to worship in the Grotto of; the Nativity, situated 20ft below the Catholicon of the Church. Tho Basilica of the Nativity, dedicated to St, Mary, is one of the noblest Christian monuments in existence, and the one building of greatest antiquity still in constant uso for religious worship. As early as tho second century the cave was shown as the scene of our - Lord’s birth, and the present building has been a place of pilgrimage and devotion without interruption since the days of Constantine. Built by Constantino in k.p. 330, it was restored and enlarged in tho sixth century by Justinian. Baldwin the First was crowned here on Christmas Day, 1101. During the Latin kingdom of the Crusades, the Fourth of England in 1482 supplied the lead for the roof, which w r as unfortunately removed by the Turks in the early part of the seventeenth century for the manufacture of bullets. THE LATIN CELEBRATION.

Tho Grotto of the Nativity, approached by stairways in the northern and southern transepts, is 30ft by lift in extent, and at the east end there is an altar on which any 'one of the three rites may officiate during special festivals., Under this altar a silver star, surrounded _by the Latin inscription, “Hie de Virgine Maria Jesus Christu.s Natus Est,” marks the spot where Christ was born. Above tho star, sixteen silver lamps are always burning, six Orthodox, four Latin, and six Armenian. Almost opposite the recess of the Nativity is the Chapel of the Manger, where Latin tradition says tho sacred manger lay.

The entrance to the Basilica is through a low door—“ the eye of the needle”—a protection against the entrance of camels and donkeys; therefore, all who enter have to bow the head. On the Western Christmas Eve the Latin Patriarch, leaving Jerusalem, enters Bethlehem soon after noon ; with great ceremony. At half-past 9 m the evening ho requests the Orthodox to open the iron door of the Basilica. He clebrates midnight Mass in the Latin Church adjoining the north side of the Basilica. Forty-five minutes after midnight the Orthodox Church holds a Mass in the Catholicon, and at about 2 o’clock in the-morning the Latin procession enters the Grotto. An image of the Infant Jesus is placed by His Beatitude the Latin Patriarch on the Star of the Nativity, and after prayer is removed to the manger. During the celebration the Orthodox and Armenian Dragomans stand on either side of the Star of the Nativity, and immediately after the procession leaves the Grottp. THE EASTERN RITES,

At 11 a.m, on Eastern Christmas Eye the Orthodox Patriarch arrives with his suite in Bethlehem, and is received by tho clergy in sacerdotal vestments, by banner-bearers, cross-carriers, ■ and thurifers. After vesting, His Beatitude proceeds through the Basilica, descends to the Grotto, and censes the Star of the Nativity and tho Manger. He then leaves the Grotto, and, sitting upon his throne in the Catholicon, attends the reading of tho four Gospels; sunset prayers then begin. At 4 p.m. these prayers being over, Latin clergy, accompanied by the Father Gustos of the Holy Land, proceed to the Grotto in procession, and after a short ' prayer - in commemoration of Epiphany the Image of the, Infant Jesus is removed from the Manger and taken to the Latin Church. At 10 o’clock the Patriarch re-enters the Catholicon and is seated upon his throne. At midnight His Beatitude goes to the Grotto in procession, where a portion of the Gospel is read and prayers are offered for His Majesty King George V. and tho Orthodox Kings, and tho sacred Star is censed and kissed. During the service a Latin sexton stands at the southern end of the Chapel of the Manger. Tho procession then leaves the Grotto and marches three times round the Church, after which His Beatitude proceeds to his Altar, where the Mass is completed. After Orthodox procession is over representative Bishops of the Syria nJacobites and tho Coptic Church hold services there, followed by Masses at the Armenian Altar in the north transept. ARMENIAN DEVOTIONS. In the Armenian Church Christmas and Epiphany are celebrated the same night. His Beatitude the Patriarch applies to the Orthodox Church in the evening for tho opening of the door at 9.30, and, after Mass at their Altar, they descend to the Grotto. Each of these services is singularly different, ami singularly beautiful. The extreme dignity of the Pontifical Mass of the Latins; the rich vestments of the Orthodox, including tho crown of gold, scintillating with gems, worn by His Beatitude; the handsome embroideries of the Armenians, surmounted with their black watered-silk headdress culminating in a peak; and tho oriental splendour of tho Copt and Jacobite all tend to make Bethlehem’s three Christmases unique. At each service the Church is crowded with worshippers who have come from near and far. We do not expect Occidental and Oriental, northerner and southerner, to worship in the same way, but in Bethlehem the differences of,- race and language seem very little, and which over Christmas Day we attend, we cannot but realise we are taking part in a ceremony hallowed through the centuries by the devotion and worship of countless pilgrims. Peasant woman and rich American, high official and poor man, Easterner or Westerner, -we all sit or kneel together, commemorating, each in our own way, the birthday of One who brought a message of love and peace to tho world.