A good friend, who lucky for me does not have a blog, has kindly allowed me to show you her great photos of the foot washing ceremony.She climbed up to the roof to get them!
Please double-click on the pictures to see the many details.
Don't miss the priest perched up on the side of the wall!
And notice the large number of official photographers on the dais.
Both photos courtesy of a friendThis ceremony took place two days ago, on Holy Thursday.
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus III washed the feet of twelve of his clergymen, following the example of Jesus who washed his twelve apostles' feet on the day before the first Good Friday.
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Eastern Orthodox Christians are now in the Triduum and tomorrow they will celebrate Easter.
Today they have the ceremony of the Holy Light, which happens only in Jerusalem, only in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, only on Great Saturday.
The Holy Fire miraculously comes down to the tomb of Jesus, the pilgrims believe, and the Greek Patriarch emerges and passes it on to the joyous faithful.
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(See also my post about the Holy Sepulchre getting wired in preparation.)
(See details about the Holy Fire ceremony in the Jerusalem Post.)
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Soon the Easter Vigil will begin.
Easter blessings to all the Orthodox Christians!
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UPDATE The Jerusalem Post now has a video of the Holy Fire. Take a look!
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Amazing captures of Maundy Thursday's foot washing ceremony. This is an instance when I find the photographers intrusive to the event they seek to record. Although in essence the same, the visual is quite different from what my friend reported from the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Toronto.
ReplyDeleteFrancisca, thanks for the nice link.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was at the Holy Sepulchre on Wednesday, the Ethiopians had set up a big tent on the roof for their Holy Week ceremonies. The door side of the tent was in the colors of the flag of Ethiopia.
Ethiopian monks live in tiny cells in their monastery on the roof of the church.
That, too, must have been quite the sight, Dina! And what a very different life that must be, so stoic.
ReplyDeleteFrancisca, I will have to post about the roof dwellers soon. The Ethiopian monks count it a great privilege to live in Jerusalem, at the Holy Sepulchre, even in great poverty.
ReplyDeleteI love this tradition! My daughter-in-law participated in this at her church Holy Thursday night. The deacon washed the feet of 12 parishioners. From thence they each washed another's. After that, each who'd had their feet washed, washed the feet of the next person until all who wanted to participate had had theirs washed and done the same thing to another.
ReplyDeleteSorry...I hope I didn't confuse you.
Interesting how different we celebrating this holiday season..
ReplyDeleteHope you have a happy weekend:-)
Great pictures from top!
Thank you very much for this coverage, and thoughtful writing, commentary.
ReplyDeleteThe fire is later brought to Greece by aeroplain and than shared from church to church.
Please have a good Sunday ahead.
Very interesting images indeed. Thanks for sharing this, Dina.
ReplyDeletehello beautiful Dina,
ReplyDeleteI will catch up on a few posts. ah how I love this idea of the fire, the light being passed on to the joyous faithful.If the light hasn't passed on then the worship is not fruitful.
Happy Pesach. As a child I simply adored this biblical story of the sea parting thankyou for bringing it to light here. Your cartoon is cute.
How I love your photo of the classic dress up in the old jerusalem. when I see these roads here of Old Jerusalem I can't help but think that they are so magical.
Oh how generous of the people who promise to give a bone marrow transplant,they have received the light.
shalom
I had a great visit.
also thankyou for your beautiful artwork here. the photos are wonderful and your words and the quotes-BEAUTIFUL and filled with grace.
ReplyDeleteThis always fascinates me...
ReplyDeleteThanks to your friend for the interestinf pictures...
ReplyDeleteInteresting images and post, thanks for sharing, Dina.
ReplyDeleteWow! Amazing to have seen this, from this point of view!
ReplyDeletePriceless photos! I will zoom them now for so very interesting details.
ReplyDeleteI never heard about the ceremony, so full of wisdom.
Thank you for this beautiful post about the foot washing tradition. On Maundy Thursday we have holy communion in our churches.
ReplyDeleteI see that there are actually monks living on the roof of the church.
How brave of your friend to climb on the roof to take these photos.