Holy Land Christians Celebrate Easter Amid War

“Holy Week is a small pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” said Fr. Juan María Solana, LC, director of the Magdala Center in St. Mary Magdalene’s hometown of Migdal, Israel. “It’s accompanying Jesus more or less in a chronological and geographical...

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“Holy Week is a small pilgrimage to the Holy Land,” said Fr. Juan María Solana, LC, director of the Magdala Center in St. Mary Magdalene’s hometown of Migdal, Israel. “It’s accompanying Jesus more or less in a chronological and geographical order in what pertains to his passion.”

Holy Week — from Palm Sunday to the Easter Triduum — is the highest liturgical feast for Catholics throughout the world. It is, as Fr. Solana says, a spiritual pilgrimage to the Holy Land, inviting Catholics to enter into the mystery of Christ’s passion. Easter recurs yearly, but each celebration draws the Church into the singular, eternally present occasion of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection. It is not just a spiritual feast, but a physical one as well. Christ really did die and rise, and he did so in Jerusalem. 

With Israel at war since the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, Holy Week and Easter in the Holy Land look different than in years prior. The Israel–Hamas war has greatly decreased the number of pilgrims and tourists who would otherwise attend Holy Week liturgies, and it has dramatically shaped the Easter celebrations of Christians throughout the Holy Land. 

Subdued Celebrations in Jerusalem

Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, presided over the traditional Palm Sunday celebrations in Jerusalem, though only about 3,000 people attended — far fewer than previous years. Christians joined the traditional procession from Gethsemane that marks the beginning of Holy Week, following the path of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. 

“Even though we are few, it is important that there has been this triumphant entry,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. “We have many problems, but we are truly happy that Jesus is our Lord! He is our joy and our strength.”

Cardinal Pizzaballa advocated for permits to allow Palestinian Christians to celebrate Holy Week in Jerusalem. “We insisted, saying that as they had given permits to Muslims for Ramadan, they should also give them to Christians for Easter,” he said. “Even if the numbers are smaller, we will have several thousand permits both for Palm Sunday and for Easter.”

A number of Palestinian Christians from the West Bank had hoped to attend the Palm Sunday liturgy outside Jerusalem. Though 2,000 permits were issued, Catholic News Agency reported that only a limited number of Christians from the Palestinian territories were able to travel on such short notice.

“It will be a difficult Easter,” Cardinal Pizzaballa said. “I think of the loneliness of Jesus in Gethsemane, which is now shared by all of us.”

Gazan Christians Seek Shelter in Churches

In Gaza, Church officials report about 750 Christians remaining in the region. Prior to Oct. 7, the number of Christians hovered around 1,017. Since Hamas attacked Israel, several hundred Christians have fled Gaza, and 31 have died from wounds, illness, or artillery. 

The National Catholic Register reports that nearly all Gazan Christians have been displaced from their homes, and many have taken shelter at Holy Family Catholic Church or the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Porphyrius. In October, St. Porphyrius — the oldest church in Gaza — was hit by a strike on Gaza City, killing 18 people and wounding at least 20 of the 400 displaced civilians sheltering in the church complex. 

“There is no safe place in Gaza, so we put our faith in Jesus during this Holy Week to give courage and to stop this war. We pray for peace, for justice, without revenge,” said Fr. Gabriel Romanelli, a parish priest of Holy Family Church who has been unable to rejoin his flock in Gaza since the war began. 

On Oct. 6, Fr. Romanelli was in the West Bank to get medication for the parish’s sisters. Israel closes border crossings on Shabbat, and the surprise attack on Oct. 7 caused Israel to seal its border with Gaza, leaving Fr. Romanelli marooned. Despite requests from the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Israeli government has not allowed Fr. Romanelli to return to Gaza, so he has remained in Jerusalem since the war’s beginning. 

With Fr. Romanelli away, Fr. Youssef Asaad is the sole priest at Holy Family. The Catholics at the parish pray, say the rosary, and celebrate Mass each day, though the church’s supply of sacramental wine is running very low due to Gazan prohibitions on selling alcohol. 

Pope Francis Writes to Holy Land Catholics Before Easter

Amidst tribulation, Pope Francis has not forgotten his flock in the Holy Land and frequently calls Cardinal Pizzaballa. On March 27, just prior to the start of the Triduum, Pope Francis wrote a letter to Catholics living in the Holy Land, expressing his daily prayers

“Easter, the heart of our faith, is all the more significant for you who celebrate this feast in the very places where our Lord lived, died, and rose again,” Pope Francis wrote. “The history of salvation, and indeed its geography, would not exist apart from the land in which you have dwelt for centuries.” 

He expressed the Church’s solidarity with Christians suffering in the Holy Land and thanked bishops, priests, and religious for serving communities amidst deep suffering. 

Jerusalem is far from home for American Catholics, but the Scriptures and the celebration of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection nonetheless bring it close to the heart. Though the ongoing war has led to an Easter for Holy Land Christians that is, in Pope Francis’ words, “so overshadowed by the Passion,” all Christians can trust that their sufferings will be redeemed by Christ’s resurrection, which no war can take away. 

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