The Oriental Christians are very superstitious, and have implicit faith in all the stories connected with the Sepulchre. They believe that the ceremonies of Easter carry with them saving grace, and during this Holy Week they are in a state of religious frenzy. The officers of the various churches do all they can to increase this excitement, with the result that there is a series of religious pageants in which each patriarch and his bishops try to outshine the other churches in splendour and gorgeous ceremonials. The competition is so great that at times the various sects break out into unchristian fights, and once there was a riot in the Holy Sepulchre in which more than three hundred pilgrims were suffocated or trampled to death.
During the ceremonies of Easter, companies of soldiers are stationed in the more holy places of Jerusalem, and several companies surround the various patriarchs in their church exercises.
Waiting for the Holy Fire to come down from Heaven, a “miracle” celebrated by the Greek Church during Easter Week. From the candle mysteriously lighted inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, others are lighted in rapid succession
The use of ladders to gather the olive crop has replaced the old, wasteful method of beating the trees to shake off the fruit. The olive grows best where its roots can find their way into the crevices of a rock
The celebrations begin with Palm Sunday. The patriarchs bless the palms which are distributed by the thousands to the people. Every man, woman, and child in Jerusalem seems to be waving palm branches, and the court and Church of the Sepulchre are filled with green. The Greek Patriarch and his bishops march three times around the grand aisle outside of the rotunda of the church, bearing a cross of gold and preceded by clouds of incense from urns carried by the bishops in gorgeous white brocaded silk gowns covered with roses of red and gold. In the procession there are a score or more of bishops with crosses of diamonds six inches long upon their breasts, and with their long hair flowing from under their high caps and down upon their shoulders. The Greek Patriarch, the central figure of all of these celebrations and the head of the Greek Church in Palestine and Arabia, carries the gold cross-like staff of his office. He is dressed in the most gorgeous of gowns of cloth of gold and silver, and upon his handsome gray head is his cap of high place—a great dome-like tiara of silver and gold, fairly blazing with diamonds, emeralds, and rubies, each of them worth a fortune.
Every day of Holy Week has its ceremonies, and between times the pilgrims visit the spots made sacred by association with Christ’s life about Jerusalem. They kiss the ground on which Stephen was stoned; they visit the monastery which now stands on the floor of the house of Pontius Pilate; they pray before Christ’s prison, and they hold services all along the Via Dolorosa, kneeling and praying at the various stations.
The Easter festival itself is not so wonderful in comparison with the services of the week. The day is ushered in with the ringing of bells. The Russian pilgrims rush into each other’s arms and give the “kiss of peace.” The Easter celebrations are more notable for the display of fine vestments and gorgeous plate than for the excellence of the music or unusual features in the ceremonies. The Latin churches hold their services in front of the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, the Latin Patriarch officiating. There is a solemn high mass in front of the Sepulchre, and after this the Patriarch and bishops, followed by the crowd bearing lighted candles, march around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, chanting and offering up their prayers on the spots made sacred by their association with the Saviour’s death and burial. The ceremonies of the Greek Church come later, when all over the hills about Jerusalem can be heard the voices of the people and the sound of the bells pealing forth the song of the risen Saviour.