Jerusalem, March 27, 2020
Photo: squarespace-cdn.com
Following up on yesterday’s news that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was closed for at least one week as part of state measures closing all places of worship, the Jerusalem Patriarchate and the other churches that serve in the Holy Sepulchre have clarified that services will continue.
However, the time and number of visitations will be severely limited.
In a statement published on the Church’s website, the Jerusalem Patriarchate, together with the Custody of the Holy Land of the Franciscans and the Armenian Patriarchate in Jerusalem, “inform that the celebrations of the Communities … will continue regularly, even though for safety reasons and in order to avoid the risk of the diffusion of the COVID-19 infection, the number of participants in the celebrations will be limited to few persons and the Basilica will be accessible during the Liturgies only.”
The statement emphasizes that intensified prayers will continue inside the Holy Sepulchre for the end of the pandemic, for the sick, for medical personnel, for wisdom for pastors and politicians, and for the salvation of all those who have lost their lives.
“We raise this prayer from the very place where, through the sacrifice of His own life on Calvary and through His Resurrection from the Sepulchre on the third day, the only begotten and beloved Son Jesus Christ, defeated evil, sin and death,” the statement concludes.
