Easter Eve at Jerusalem

Hokitika Guardian, 17 June 1922, Page 4

Easter Eve at Jerusalem

FLAME OF THE ATONING EIRE. GORGEOUS PROCESSION. Bv Lailv Irene Cuizoii): JERUSALEM. April 17. By ten o'clock the centre id the. Christian Faith, the Holy Sepulclue, had clinging and swaying against it waves on waves, hundreds on hundreds of devotees, with the waiting flutter in their hearts for the coming til oiling li'l'itnn ,\ rnii'lWti i»f liul If'ZZl'S

Holy Mamo. A ear pot ion lezzi's showed the packed masses, surging un- i evenly backwards and forwards, as pro- , cessions anil incoming priests weie waved through the.gesticuhil ing. lien-, zied people by protecting police. Galleries and balconies glittered with brilliantly clothed women and rang with the eomplain'ts of infants. Ihe throbbing, expectant people’s attention was diverted by a fanatical Copt waving a stick front the uncertain seat ol a mail’s shoulders and encouraging scores to clap to his rhythm, while the Coptic women twittered shi illy through their fingers. As tho waiting heated hours dragged on little sections had their disputants and wranglers. A scull lo anil some blows a It'd high-pilehcii abuse broke up the surging waves into little whirlpools. From the dim Orthodox Greek Basilica, crowded with less huAy watchers held hack by a cordon ol police for the eventual passage ol the Patriiirch, there issued, preceded *> banners, a wild, brown, white-trmiserei figure balancing on the shoulders <n another and shouting a refrain to he instantly taken up in a roar of •‘Oh, King George, may you merry ee, God to our Faith gives victory.”

TRIBUTE TD HIUTiMi. Swaying and singing, he passed, the out i a nee to the Holy Sepulchre at whose doors stood the Christian Governor, and in his chant paid a tribute to British rule. That little hand o calm Englishmen, in Governor aml pi,lice, standing before the Holy I Dee seemed fitting guardians i>! the restingplme of that humble Son ol God who hm| Met in motion' such stupendous tones in the hearts of Armenian and Miah. Greek, Abyssinian, and Copt. A stir behind the altar <>! the Basilica and the dimly distant glitter oi moving mitre and gorgeous siulls quelled even- ripple on that sea of exp.-elan faces. "Turning their eyes to the out white-bearded Greek Patriarch, in stilt white silver brocade, with jewels on his breast and in his mitie, preceded brocade-coped bishops and chanting choir, they watched him slowly pass three times round the Sepulclue through their masses, like a current oi ~ulf-stream bringing to them the eventual glow for which their hearts were '"'“""THE BURSTING POINT Into that little door, disrobed by an attendant acolyte in palest blue and old ros*. the old white-haired man disap1. T! bursting paint of the people's hearts was'leached in the desire to veil or in the sudden wil 1 rush oi » little 'Mcv haired man over and on the heads",rid shoulders of the mass to h the window of the Holy hire anil ui'tch the hr. t flicker. The highest bidder from among the Coptic pilgrims from Egvpr. a bare beaded ample figure in < ■•a ic and silk. M.«.d b,ih tliat ominous oval to roeene the lirsi llniiie of tlie atoning lite. Suddenly the lire leaped forth am (burned from candle to caudle, upliltc. and scattered hv hundreds ol must,..!,lied hands. Hearts hurst in one roar of absolution. B 11s groat and -mall in svneopation pealed noth as lliis little force for the cleansing ot sm lirsi slowly spread and spicail until, a tlm symbol of its faith preached nineteen hundred years ago, it rt ached shore to shore. The lierv zeai of Christ's soul seeme i to he blazing ill the Sepulchre as the door hurst open and tevcaled the atriareh. Grasping tinea burning torches he rushed forth, hair streaming, ill a frenzy to impart his message, through fifty "yards ol imminent peril. limn r frantic, pressing mob. Swaying and staggering, protected In a cool litl.e ring of British odious, he reeled am stacgei ed through Us Basilica G reach sanctuary at, his High Attar, a e i...... 1.11. mi n I burning 11 nil t.

BLESSING TIIE MASSES. The sins anil si ot thousands sped up now into the huge llamiiig waving thrilling torches. Dimming in ; | eh .splendour the myiiml silver lamps coloured balls and gilt icons into a blood red glow ben,-aill. their m. s.-age failed into an exhausted and restless .tii v smoke at,ove. that climbed the spirals of the glinting sunlight throng' ill.* windows and passed away heavenwards. The glories and Helios of the Heads of the Churches of ihe Orient wore then thing before the eyes of the exhausted people in gorgeous profession coiling tluee times around tiie Holy Sepulchre, headed by the' Armenian Patriarch, solemn and dignified in jewelled mitre and pink and rose hroiade. l’reeeded by twelve bishops in varied Dowered hVocaile, be blessed the wailing masses with his cross.

'iTcii followed in white and gold the Coptic I’aliinrch with the Gospels in siher ami purple binding borne before him by priests led by crimson and goldrobed acolytes. Syrians striped with gorgeous green and blue and amaranth surrounded their Patriarch hooded and cloaked in deep chrome yellow. Hie guardians and the symbols of the Faith of all these peoples in all tlieii wealth and glory slowly vanished out ol the chinch followed by the dwindling multitude, leaving in a mist of candlelight and smoke the llolv Sepulchre, the place that had lmlil the Body of the Soil of God and Man, Who preached humility to all, tho giving away ot riches and wealth and a blessing on the poor lor they should inherit the Kingdom of God.