Jerusalem Committee

Graziano Motta

It was defined as an anticipation of how the Mother Church could celebrate the two thousand years of Christ; certainly the inaugural ceremony of the restored cupola of Anastasis at the beginning of the three years of preparation for the Great Jubilee was an event of great ecumenical importance, with significant local consequences of the socio-political order and others of international significance. In fact, in the Resurrection Basilica, for the first time around the tomb of Christ, Patriarchs and heads of all the Christian denominations, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant were gathered together, some with many of their dignitaries and each in the varieties of dress and traditional markings; the Custodian of the Holy Land with very many of his Fransiscan confreres; the Apostolic Nuncio representing the Holy See. The ceremony was sung and prayed in the Byzantine, Armenian and Latin liturgy; the discourses in various languages, from the appreciation of the extraordinary circumstances one was opened to the vision of the desired recomposition of the Churches' unity.

And nearby could be found Israeli and Palestinian political authorities - the mayor, ministers and deputies of the autonomous regime - thus Jewish, Muslim and Christian representatives, a sign of the wished-for peaceful co-existence among the three religions in Jerusalem which adore the same God of Abraham. The countless number of diplomats, really General Consuls, witnessed to the interest the international community has for the Holy City.

«An event unimaginable just the day before, and certainly willed more by God than by men» says, without hesitation, Bishop Kamal-Hanna Bathish, president of the Jerusalem Committee for the Great Jubilee. In effect, it was a series of providential events which prepared it: one need only remember that for more than a good thirty years the Rotunda of Anastasis was obscured by the tubular scaffolding which should have been serving the restoration of the cupola, but the work never began; sometimes for technical difficulties, sometimes financial, other times juridical, more than it was the intention among the co-proprietor communities. It seemed a mess which would never untangle, until suddenly two years ago the "Pontifical Mission" - a charity organism directed by Catholics in the United States - succeeded at having their offers accepted; both the generous offer of a work financier (George Doty, already head of the lieutenant-ship of New York of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcre, remaining anonymous until the inauguration day); and the plan of restoration by the Californian artist, Ara Normart. Then a singular association: at the vigil of Christmas before last, the contract to begin the work and be finished in one year was signed in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate a few minutes before all the heads of the Churches of Jerusalem announced their decision at an historic press conference to celebrate the Jubilee together. Finally the secular divisions were far from the place - revealed the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Diodoros I - «which teaches the forgiveness, reconciliation, love and unity given by Him in Whom we believe and whom we proclaim Lord who "stretched out his arms and reunited that which was divided", calling all "to be one". We pray therefore that this be the spark of our spiritual coming-closer». Concluding with two thoughts with ecumenical weight: «We are able to be introduced in the Third Millennium in the light of truth which is Christ.... We pray to the Lord that He brings us together again to celebrate more of these blessed events».

Diodoros I was one of the three "fathers of the house" who promoted the historic reunion; the others were, for the Latin Church, the Custodian of the Holy Land, Father Giuseppe Nazzaro, O.F.M. - he also spoke highly of the event's significance - and, for the Armenian Orthodox Church, the Patriarch Torkom Manougian; to whom belongs the credit for remedying a grave lacuna in the official ceremony. It happened that after the Churches' three discourses, they prayed one after the other, without being able to say together a single prayer. And so at the conclusion of an evening meal, His Beatitude Manougian proposed to the other guests to recite together, each in his own language, the Our Father. This, too, was no small event because in Jerusalem, as it happened even this year in the Ottavario for unity, there remains a resistance on the part of some of the Byzantine Orthodox Churches to unite themselves in common prayer, considering it a manifestation of an already realized unity.

The new decoration of the cupola of Anastasis consists in 12 golden rays on a pearl colored background which accentuates the natural luminosity coming from the lantern (whose glass panels have been renewed) and from the artificial light which is emitted by the light bulbs hidden by the rays. These symbolize the twelve apostles and the diffusion of the Church throughout the world. Every ray is divided in three parts to signify the mystery of God One-in-Three.

Thus the pilgrims and visitors of other faiths which every day crowd the Resurrection Basilica are finally able to admire the Holy Place in splendor, in which, as the Easter liturgy says, "the light of the Eternal King conquered the darkness of the world". Now planned is the delicate restoration of the tabernacle walls which guard the empty Sepulcre of Jesus Christ, a work which one hopes can be completed before the year 2000.