Easter in Jerusalem draws small crowds as war forces scaled-back celebrations

On this Resurrection Sunday (Easter), small crowds of Christians are gathering at traditional venues in Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Garden Tomb, and several other centuries-old traditional church buildings in and around the Old City. Most of these venues are filming their services to livestream them online.

Some traditional Holy Week events, such as the Palm Sunday procession down the Mount of Olives into the Old City and the Good Friday procession along the Via Dolorosa, were significantly scaled back this year due to wartime safety restrictions. Fragments of intercepted Iranian ballistic missiles have landed in the Old City, including one impact just yards from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The Israel Police and Home Front Command said they cannot allow large crowds into the area’s narrow alleys, where there are few protected spaces, and, in the event of an alert, it would be nearly impossible for most people to reach safety in time.

Following the Palm Sunday events in which senior Catholic officials were barred from entry into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Latin Patriarch Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa presided over a traditional mass at the church on Easter Sunday, in the company of a handful of other senior clergy. Small crowds of Catholic lay people, apparently including both locals and tourists from abroad, attempted to join them but were stopped by security forces.

The Passover priestly blessing ceremony at the Western Wall on Sunday morning drew only a small handful of senior rabbis and others, instead of the massive crowds that usually pack the plaza.

It is generally quiet in the Old City, with most locals staying indoors and very few tourists visiting the area. However, the livestreamed services have been widely viewed worldwide.

Of particular interest to Protestants are the small sunrise services held at the Garden Tomb, located a 400-meter walk from the Damascus Gate, and at Christ Church, the Anglican chapel just inside the Jaffa Gate, directly across from the entrance to the Tower of David museum. Both of these historic sites held ceremonies to mark highlights of Holy Week, including sunrise services on Resurrection Sunday.

The general tone of prayers and messages at these events, whether held by Catholics or Protestants, included appeals for leaders to have wisdom, and for mercy and healing for those in harm’s way. There was an almost visible effort to remain apolitical—an approach that some viewed as a political statement in itself, and even as an outrageous failure to condemn evil and defend truth and righteousness.