At the Holy Sepulchre the Easter Vigil is celebrated on Saturday morning, and not during the night, as happens in the rest of the world.
This particularity is due to the Status Quo, the complex system of historical norms that regulates the coexistence, spaces and times of the different Christian confessions present in the Holy Places.
The morning celebration also preserves an ancient liturgical practice of the Latin Church, prior to the reforms of Pius XII in the 1950s, when the Vigil was traditionally celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.
While elsewhere the liturgy has been restored to the night, in Jerusalem the Status Quo has preserved its original timing, making it unchangeable without the consent of all the Churches involved.
This uniqueness makes Jerusalem the first place in the world to announce the Resurrection, which is why the Vigil here is rightly called the "mother of all vigils".
As in previous days, a small group of friars of the Custody accompanied and welcomed at the Holy Sepulchre the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, who presided over the celebration.
The central moment was the lighting of the paschal candle, fueled by the fire taken from the lamp that burns above the empty tomb, a gesture rich in meaning, making tangible the proclamation of the Resurrection of Christ.
In the afternoon, coinciding with the first vespers of Palm Sunday according to the calendar of the Orthodox Churches, the Custos took part in the solemn Easter procession inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre.
In this context, the different Christian communities made their entrance, initiating the celebrations of their own Holy Week.
Throughout the day, the other Latin communities of Jerusalem also celebrated the Easter Vigil at different times, the Indian community of migrant workers in the early afternoon, the local parish following, and finally the friars of the Custody at 8:00 pm at the Basilica of Gethsemane.
Here the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr. Francesco Ielpo, presided over a recollected and intense liturgy. In the homily he recalled, "This night is different from all other nights. It is a night of vigil, inhabited by waiting. It is night, but we await the dawn."
As in the days of the Triduum, the celebration took place in a climate of great sobriety and recollection, with the presence of some religious sisters, few faithful and collaborators of the Custody.
The basilica, wrapped in darkness and silence, offered a particularly favorable setting for prayer and meditation.
The city too experienced moments of relative quiet, with rare alarms and sirens, allowing a more serene unfolding of the celebrations.
The day finally concluded with the night prayer at the Holy Sepulchre, presided over by the Custos together with the friars of the community and a small number of confreres, a discreet and profound seal on a day that, in the heart of Jerusalem, continues to speak to the whole world of the mystery of life that conquers death.
Fr. Alberto Joan Pari
