Christianity – आवारा मुसाफिर

Holy Fire lights up Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre

April 24, 2022663 Views

With processions, chants and ululations, thousands of Christian Palestinians and pilgrims celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday, the first to be held since Israel imposed new restrictions on attendance. Citing public safety, Israeli authorities sought to limit participation to 1,700 worshippers, a move criticised by church leaders as an infringement of the right to freedom of worship. It was subsequently increased to 4,000. Metropolitan Fenidictus, the Patriarchate of Bethlehem, attends the Holy Fire ceremony, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma The mysterious, millennium-old ceremony, which celebrates Jesus's resurrection, has drawn over ten thousan...

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Easter chants echo in ancient cistern near birthplace of Christianity

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 23, 2022952 Views

Eastern churches prepared to mark Easter one week after the Roman Catholic celebration A few steps from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a small opening leads to an underground cistern where clerics have found the perfect place to practise chants ahead of the holiest day in the Christian calendar. As Eastern churches prepared to mark Easter one week after the Roman Catholic celebration, Barakat al-Masri stood deep underneath Saint Helena’s Coptic Orthodox church, chanting hymns in Coptic and Arabic. The cistern is not much to look at, but al-Masri, the cantor at the Coptic church, says the sound it produces is unique. A woman climbs the stairs of a cistern, which according to Jerusalem tour guide Bashar Abu Shamsiyeh, was relied upon for water during the construction ...

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Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulchre ‘resurrected’ for Palm Sunday mass as pilgrims return

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

April 10, 2022226 Views

Prayers in Arabic and Latin echoed in the rotunda of Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Sunday as Christians from around the world were once again able to attend Palm Sunday mass after two years of COVID-19 travel restrictions. Around 500 worshippers passed through the huge wooden doors of the church that is the focus of the most important festival in the Christian calendar as the site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and resurrected. "After two years of COVID, of restrictions, of closed churches, today we are in a normal atmosphere. We have a lot of pilgrims, a lot of local Christians. We are very happy. For us, it's a kind of resurrection," the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, told Reuters. Father Rami Asakriyah sprinkles holy water ...

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Last Christmas was grim, Bethlehem hopes this year will be better

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

November 24, 2021352 Views

The trickle of tourists is sometimes scarcely enough to fill a manger, let alone an inn, but Bethlehem's Palestinians are hopeful that numbers will rise in the month before Christmas. The traditional birthplace of Jesus was all but shuttered by the pandemic last year, ravaging the tourism-dependent economy and leading some hoteliers to consider selling up. But this year Israel has eased curbs on foreign tourists in time for Christmas, although everyone remains wary of a winter coronavirus wave. Foreign tourists stand in Manger Square as they visit the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank November 18, 2021. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma While grateful for the return of some foreign tourists and Christian Palestinians from the West Bank and Israel, it is a f...

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Ziggurat hopes to bring together several faiths – and hopefully lure more visitors

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

February 22, 2021778 Views

Pope Francis is due to hold an inter-religious prayer service at the ancient Mesopotamian site of Ur when he visits Iraq next week - an event local archeologists hope will draw renewed attention to the place revered as the birthplace of Abraham. Popular with Western visitors in the 1970s and 1980s, Ur is scarcely visited today after decades of war and political instability shattered Iraq’s international tourism industry. The coronavirus crisis now also keeps local tourists away. A general view of the ancient archeological site of Ur, traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, ahead of the planned visit of Pope Francis, in Ur near Nassiriya, Iraq February 18, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Aty Located about 300 km (200 miles) south of the capital Baghdad, the site comprises a...

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After Hagia Sophia, Turkey’s historic Chora church also switched to mosque

AWARA MUSAFIR BUREAU

August 21, 20201135 Views

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan reconverted the historic Chora church, one of Istanbul’s most celebrated Byzantine buildings, into a mosque on Friday, a month after opening the famed Hagia Sophia to Muslim worship. The mediaeval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, built near the ancient city walls of Constantinople, contains 14th century Byzantine mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories. FILE PHOTO: Turkish police officers stand guard atop the Kariye (Chora) museum, the 11th century church of St. Savior, during a visit by Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla in Istanbul, November 28, 2007. REUTERS/Fatih Saribas They were plastered over after the city was conquered by the Muslim Ottomans in 1453, but brought to light again when - like Hagia Sophia - th...