EASTER CEREMONIES; PILGRIMS FIGHT POLICE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31031, 11 April 1966, Page 9

EASTER CEREMONIES; PILGRIMS FIGHT POLICE

(JV.Z. Press Association —Copyright) JERUSALEM (Jordanian Sector), April 10.

“He is risen” the church bells of Jerusalem rang out this Easter Sunday as 25,000 pilgrims from the four corners of the earth commemorated Christ’s resurrection, reports the Associated Press.

In the crumbling, centuries-old church of the Holy Sepulchre, where most Christians believed Jesus was buried, in an oniondomed Russian church in the Garden of Gesthemane and in countless other churches in the Holy City, worshippers knelt to pray at the climax of the Easterweek pageant.

Chandeliers swung to and fro above the pilgrims’ heads

to repall the earthquake which shook Jerusalem as Christ’s soul ascended to heaven. Police threw a cordon around a mass of frenzied worshippers yesterday as religious fervour turned to near hysteria at a ceremony of “holy fire.” A screaming crowd of 10,000 pilgrims inside the church the Holy Sepulchre completely submerged police lines as they struggled to be first to light candles from a flame lancing out of Christ’s grave.

The ceremony of holy fire is the supreme moment for Eastern rite Christians. The

flame symbolises Christ’s resurrection.

About 300 policemen struggled to keep order, but were overcome by the crush.

A score of firemen held hoses at the ready as the flame rapidly spread from candle to candle. Because the fire is considered holy, some worshippers rubbed the flames on their clothes or held their hands in the smoke and rubbed their faces.

Church laymen extinguished the candles before the fire could get out of hand. Thousands of people jeered and shouted “God is dead” while Alexi, Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias. heralded Easter by leading a candle-lit procession around the cathedral in Moscow. Yelokhovsky Cathedral was jammed with the faithful for the four-hour midnight service. Noisy Crowd The high point of the service was the procession around the ornate old cathedral in the symbolic search for the body of the crucified Christ. The 87-year-old patriarch, with priests, deacons and parishoners, slowly moved around the great building, guarding the great flickering flames of their candles with cupped hands against the cool night wind. As the cathedral bells pealed they sang the traditional hymns of the Russian Orthodox faith, ignoring the din of the crowd. The faithful in the proces-

sion were separated from the derisive crowd by an iron picket fence. Ten mounted policemen, about a hundred regular uniformed police and plainclothes men prevented any incidents, but had a hard time struggling with the rowdier elements, who surged forward again and again. Bomb March

In Britain, more than 2000 ban-the-bomb demonstrators marched from High Wycombe, site of the Royal Air Force bomber command headquarters, on their way to London’s Trafalgar Square. Britons, Americans, Europeans and others took part in the 30-mile march, which is timed to end tomorrow.

In Berlin, the border wall opened again, and 50,000 West Berliners streamed through, laden with Easter gifts for relatives in the eastern sector.