Because all Christians are celebrating Easter together this year, and because no war or terrorist attack has disturbed the calm of the last few weeks, there is a large number of pilgrims in Jerusalem. Most of them direct their footsteps to the Holy Places of the city to participate in the various services, to visit these places and pray there.
For all, even if only for a quick visit, it is a grace to enter the Basilica of the Resurrection during these days. Sometimes it is also disconcerting. Here the sacred is not (always) expressed through silence, but pilgrims can find the silence inside themselves.
The most disconcerting of all for the pilgrim-visitors on Maundy Thursday is to find that at 12:00 noon the doors close. It’s like that every Maundy Thursday. After the Latins’ Pontifical Mass, the doors are closed and they are furtively re-opened only four times during the day, at around 2:45 pm, 5:00 pm, 8:00 pm and finally at around 9:00 pm. They then remain closed for the rest of the night.
Each opening creates a certain amount of hustle and bustle among those who want to come in and those who want to leave through the single door. The Israeli Police try to bring a little order to the scramble, and above all to caution the pilgrims that under no circumstance will the door be opened at other than the appointed times.
Although pilgrims can freely enter the basilica these days, such was not always the case.
As can be seen, there is only one door to enter the basilica, while the Crusader Basilica had twelve. This single door was kept closed from 1187 until 1832. To have it opened, Christians had to pay a price that varied with the times. The Franciscans, who already had a convent in the basilica, received a discount. Actually, they did not have to pay anything when they accompanied pilgrims. The Turks made them swear that none of the friars with the group was a pilgrim in disguise.
Since the friars’ livelihood was totally dependent on pilgrims and their charity, in their absence they remained shut up in the basilica (with the religious of other denominations who lived under the same conditions), having no way to pay to have the doors opened. This could be for several months or even years.
In 1217 Pope Honorius III threatened to excommunicate pilgrims who agreed to pay the entrance fee to the Holy Sepulcher. Even so, the tax was not abolished, and after a time, Christians took that risk, if they hadn’t actually forgotten about it.
It wasn’t enough just to pay for the doors to be opened; the schedule had to be respected. It was only possible to enter after 3:00 pm and to leave at around 9:00 am the next day. The pilgrims spent the night, then, in the basilica, under the care of the religious who lived there. The schedule became somewhat more flexible in the 17th century, thanks to a little supplementary baksheesh.
The pilgrims were resigned to their lot. Resigned, but sometimes bitter. Not only was this the second time they had to pay a tax – the first was on arrival for the right to enter the city – but even more because it sometimes happened that even after they paid the doors remained closed, the Muslim family who were responsible for opening the doors doing so only as it pleased them.
Only twice a year was the entry free of charge: From Good Friday to Easter Monday and for the Vigil of the feast of the Discovery of the Holy Cross.
The tax on pilgrims was abolished by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832, but even in our own day the Christian communities who live in the Holy Sepulcher still pay the Muslim family who, every evening and every morning, open the doors. They were also paid for the various “simple” or “solemn” openings and closings on feast days and special occasions. In any case, they are still subject to the predetermined door opening and closing schedule.
While it’s bad luck to find the doors closed on Maundy Thursday (a large part of Good Friday), the rest of the year, it is a grace that they are open!
It is within this historical context that the ceremony of the presentation of the key to the basilica to the Custodial Vicar on Maundy Thursday should be considered. This privilege of “entering into possession of the key” is granted to the Franciscans for the first opening of the afternoon.
The delegation of Muslim keepers of the key presents itself at Saint Saviour’s Monastery, bringing the key to the Custodial Vicar. After having welcomed them with the traditional coffee, the latter, accompanied by a few friars and ceremoniously bearing the key, descends to the Holy Sepulcher. Before the basilica door, he presents the key anew to the Muslim who is responsible for it who proceeds with the opening.
Father Artemio Vitores, Custodial Vicar, carried out the ceremonial task once again this year. The atmosphere was relaxed, both jovial and moving. Jovial, because no one is oblivious to the fact that this is one of the most caricatural facets of the status quo ; moving, because the key is ancient and opens in a most archaic manner the most important basilica in Christendom.
MAB et AV
For all, even if only for a quick visit, it is a grace to enter the Basilica of the Resurrection during these days. Sometimes it is also disconcerting. Here the sacred is not (always) expressed through silence, but pilgrims can find the silence inside themselves.
The most disconcerting of all for the pilgrim-visitors on Maundy Thursday is to find that at 12:00 noon the doors close. It’s like that every Maundy Thursday. After the Latins’ Pontifical Mass, the doors are closed and they are furtively re-opened only four times during the day, at around 2:45 pm, 5:00 pm, 8:00 pm and finally at around 9:00 pm. They then remain closed for the rest of the night.
Each opening creates a certain amount of hustle and bustle among those who want to come in and those who want to leave through the single door. The Israeli Police try to bring a little order to the scramble, and above all to caution the pilgrims that under no circumstance will the door be opened at other than the appointed times.
Although pilgrims can freely enter the basilica these days, such was not always the case.
As can be seen, there is only one door to enter the basilica, while the Crusader Basilica had twelve. This single door was kept closed from 1187 until 1832. To have it opened, Christians had to pay a price that varied with the times. The Franciscans, who already had a convent in the basilica, received a discount. Actually, they did not have to pay anything when they accompanied pilgrims. The Turks made them swear that none of the friars with the group was a pilgrim in disguise.
Since the friars’ livelihood was totally dependent on pilgrims and their charity, in their absence they remained shut up in the basilica (with the religious of other denominations who lived under the same conditions), having no way to pay to have the doors opened. This could be for several months or even years.
In 1217 Pope Honorius III threatened to excommunicate pilgrims who agreed to pay the entrance fee to the Holy Sepulcher. Even so, the tax was not abolished, and after a time, Christians took that risk, if they hadn’t actually forgotten about it.
It wasn’t enough just to pay for the doors to be opened; the schedule had to be respected. It was only possible to enter after 3:00 pm and to leave at around 9:00 am the next day. The pilgrims spent the night, then, in the basilica, under the care of the religious who lived there. The schedule became somewhat more flexible in the 17th century, thanks to a little supplementary baksheesh.
The pilgrims were resigned to their lot. Resigned, but sometimes bitter. Not only was this the second time they had to pay a tax – the first was on arrival for the right to enter the city – but even more because it sometimes happened that even after they paid the doors remained closed, the Muslim family who were responsible for opening the doors doing so only as it pleased them.
Only twice a year was the entry free of charge: From Good Friday to Easter Monday and for the Vigil of the feast of the Discovery of the Holy Cross.
The tax on pilgrims was abolished by Ibrahim Pasha in 1832, but even in our own day the Christian communities who live in the Holy Sepulcher still pay the Muslim family who, every evening and every morning, open the doors. They were also paid for the various “simple” or “solemn” openings and closings on feast days and special occasions. In any case, they are still subject to the predetermined door opening and closing schedule.
While it’s bad luck to find the doors closed on Maundy Thursday (a large part of Good Friday), the rest of the year, it is a grace that they are open!
It is within this historical context that the ceremony of the presentation of the key to the basilica to the Custodial Vicar on Maundy Thursday should be considered. This privilege of “entering into possession of the key” is granted to the Franciscans for the first opening of the afternoon.
The delegation of Muslim keepers of the key presents itself at Saint Saviour’s Monastery, bringing the key to the Custodial Vicar. After having welcomed them with the traditional coffee, the latter, accompanied by a few friars and ceremoniously bearing the key, descends to the Holy Sepulcher. Before the basilica door, he presents the key anew to the Muslim who is responsible for it who proceeds with the opening.
Father Artemio Vitores, Custodial Vicar, carried out the ceremonial task once again this year. The atmosphere was relaxed, both jovial and moving. Jovial, because no one is oblivious to the fact that this is one of the most caricatural facets of the status quo ; moving, because the key is ancient and opens in a most archaic manner the most important basilica in Christendom.
MAB et AV