After two years of absence, on 13 September 2025 the wooden image of the scourged Christ returned to its place in the Sanctuary of the Flagellation in Jerusalem. The statue, donated some time ago by a community in Barcelona, had been seriously damaged on 2 February 2023, when an extremist broke into the church, knocked down the sculpture and defaced its face. It was a violent act that left shock and sorrow among the faithful present, as the sisters and friars who witnessed the scene still recall today.
That day the Christian community of the Old City found itself wounded not only in the wood of the statue, but also in the heart, since the attack was part of a chain of episodes of religious hatred that for weeks had targeted Christian places and symbols in Israel.
The relocation of the Christ took place in an atmosphere of prayer and celebration, the Vicar of the Custody of the Holy Land, Br. Ulise Zarza, together with the friars, presided over the First Vespers of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The liturgical moment transformed a past sorrow into an occasion of hope, giving back to the church the image of the Ecce Homo, a point of reference for pilgrims walking the Way of the Cross.
The restoration, entrusted to the Spanish restorer Pedro Escudero, was a work of patience and skill. For two months, day after day, Escudero rebuilt the missing parts, strengthened the broken legs and brought back the brightness of the original colors, up to the final varnishing. It was not his first experience in the Holy Land, the previous year he had already restored precious goldsmith works destined for the Custody museum. But this time the challenge was different, it was not only about recovering an ancient artifact, but about restoring dignity to an image wounded by a sacrilegious act.
"I thought I would not have enough time," Escudero recounts, "but in the end I saw the joy of the people. It is beautiful to know that, if one hand destroyed, many others come today to venerate."
The return of the statue was also made possible thanks to the support of benefactors, such as the families of the Zaccaria Institute of Milan, who helped cover the restoration costs. The author of the vandalism, declared mentally incompetent, was repatriated to the United States without being able to answer legally for the act, so the economic and moral burden of recovery remained entirely in the hands of the Custody of the Holy Land.
But, as Br. Giuseppe Gaffurini, president of the Franciscan community of the Holy Sepulchre, emphasized, the statue does not speak only of a wounded past, "Every time we contemplate the Ecce Homo, we hear those words resound again, 'Behold the man'. Not as a condemnation, but as a revelation of God's dream for humanity."
Thus, what began as an act of hatred is now transformed into a sign of resilience, faith and communion. At the Shrine of the Flagellation, where the Way of the Cross begins, the image of the Flagellated Christ returns to speak of pain, yes, but also of hope that is reborn.
Francesco Guaraldi
