Christ’s restored tomb inaugurated in Jerusalem

March 24, 2017

Prelates from the Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Armenian Apostolic churches gathered at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to mark the inauguration of the restored Edicule, the 18th-century shrine that surrounds Christ’s tomb.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople was also in attendance, as was Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.

The three churches oversee different parts of the historic church and jointly paid for the Edicule’s restoration. Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, hailed the event as an ecumenical breakthrough for the area’s Christian communities.

“The Holy Sepulchre, in which all the Christians make the memory of death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, is the custodian of our faith, but also of our respective histories, our identities,” he said. “It is the mirror of what we are. And while we see in this building our wounds that our historical divisions have created, we want today to celebrate and to show also our desire to cure these wounds.”

 

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Further information:

• Unprecedented ecumenical ceremony marks inauguration of restored Edicule of the Tomb of Christ (Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem)
• Address of the Apostolic Administrator, Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem