Every year, on the evening of Good Friday, the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem hosts one of the most moving celebrations of Christianity in the Holy Land: the Funeral Procession of Christ. This rite, dating back to the 15th century, evokes the descent of Christ from the cross and his burial, as told in the Gospels, and takes place exactly where tradition situates the events of the Passion.
The ceremony starts in the Chapel of the Apparition, where the Franciscan friars of the Custody of the Holy Land, wearing black vestments embroidered in gold and silver, intone Psalm 51, "Miserere mei, Deus", creating an atmosphere of profound contemplation. The Crucifix, with a statue of Christ nailed to it, is carried in procession towards Calvary, accompanied by the silence and prayers of the faithful.
When they reach Golgotha, two deacons symbolically remove the crown of thorns and the nails from the hands and feet of the statue. The body is then laid on a sheet and taken to the Stone of Unction, where the Custos of the Holy Land carries out the burial rites, anointing it with perfumed oils (the same ones that were blessed on Holy Monday in Bethany), following the example of Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus.
This rite, unique of its kind, represents a moment of profound spirituality and prayer, reminding the faithful of the sacrifice of Christ and the infinite love he showed with his death. The celebration comes to an end with laying the body in the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre, where the joyous proclamation of his Resurrection in the night of Easter (Saturday morning in the Holy Land, where the celebrations follow different times from the rest of the world, due to the Status Quo).
The “Funeral Procession” of Good Friday in Jerusalem is not only a historical evocation, but a living experience of faith which unites Christians of different confessions and cultures in the contemplation of the mystery of the Cross, in the contemplation of he who gave his life and whose Resurrection we await.
Francesco Guaraldi
