Pesach – the Jewish Passover – which commemorates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt – is being celebrated in Jerusalem at the moment.
At the same time, the Christians are getting ready for the Easter of the Resurrection with the rites of Holy Week. The solemnity of these days, which will commemorate the most dramatic and glorious events of the human experience of the Son of God, is marked by the singing of the “Passio Christi”.
Hic. Here. In the places where everything happened, in the Holy City where everything began over two thousand years ago, the events of the Passion of Christ are recited as they are related in the four Gospels. Three lectors, at the altar, sing the last days of the life of Jesus in Latin during the Solemn Masses celebrated on Palm Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Good Friday. The days leading up to Easter, which become more intense from Thursday with the memory of the Last Supper, are never “empty” in Jerusalem and the song of the Passion is one of the ways in which preparation for the moment that is the foundation of Christian faith is expressed. It is a rite where reading the Word of God is interwoven with the movement of the faithful gathered in assembly: they listen standing, then seated and bow at the time of the death of Christ and then stand up again.
After the Gospel according to Matthew, read on Sunday, this morning at 7.30, the Chapel of the Flagellation was the setting – during the Mass celebrated by the Vicar of the Custody, Brother Artemio Vitores – of the Passion according to Mark. The words of Luke will be sung tomorrow at Gethsemane, to end with the evangelist John on Friday.
On this Good Tuesday, under an overcast sky, cooler than the past few days, the rite brought together the Latin Christians of Jerusalem inside and outside the small church standing on the spot where, according to tradition, the flagellation took place and Jesus was condemned to death and which today is the starting point of the Viae Crucis of the pilgrims.
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso
At the same time, the Christians are getting ready for the Easter of the Resurrection with the rites of Holy Week. The solemnity of these days, which will commemorate the most dramatic and glorious events of the human experience of the Son of God, is marked by the singing of the “Passio Christi”.
Hic. Here. In the places where everything happened, in the Holy City where everything began over two thousand years ago, the events of the Passion of Christ are recited as they are related in the four Gospels. Three lectors, at the altar, sing the last days of the life of Jesus in Latin during the Solemn Masses celebrated on Palm Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Good Friday. The days leading up to Easter, which become more intense from Thursday with the memory of the Last Supper, are never “empty” in Jerusalem and the song of the Passion is one of the ways in which preparation for the moment that is the foundation of Christian faith is expressed. It is a rite where reading the Word of God is interwoven with the movement of the faithful gathered in assembly: they listen standing, then seated and bow at the time of the death of Christ and then stand up again.
After the Gospel according to Matthew, read on Sunday, this morning at 7.30, the Chapel of the Flagellation was the setting – during the Mass celebrated by the Vicar of the Custody, Brother Artemio Vitores – of the Passion according to Mark. The words of Luke will be sung tomorrow at Gethsemane, to end with the evangelist John on Friday.
On this Good Tuesday, under an overcast sky, cooler than the past few days, the rite brought together the Latin Christians of Jerusalem inside and outside the small church standing on the spot where, according to tradition, the flagellation took place and Jesus was condemned to death and which today is the starting point of the Viae Crucis of the pilgrims.
By Serena Picariello
Photos by Marco Gavasso