WEST BANK: ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS OBSERVE MIDNIGHT MASS IN BETHLEHEM TO CELEBRATE EASTER

Record ID: 566135

  • Title: WEST BANK: ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS OBSERVE MIDNIGHT MASS IN BETHLEHEM TO CELEBRATE EASTER
  • Date: 1st May 2005
  • Summary: (BN5) BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK (MAY 01, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 0.06 2. SV BELL TOWER 0.11 3. CLOSE-UP OR BELL TOWER 0.18 4. CU BELLS TOLLING 0.23 5. SLV PEOPLE ENTERING CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY 0.39 6. VARIOUS OF MASS INSIDE CHURCH (4 SHOTS) 1.14 7. SV/PAN VARIOUS OF WORSHIPPERS WALKING WITH CANDLES IN PROCESSION (4 SHOTS) 2.11 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 16th May 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA3VCPXDB7LWG3OJW69EK3B04DB
  • Story Text: Orthodox Christians observe mignight Mass in
    Bethlehem to celebrate Easter.




    Hundreds of Christian Orthodox worshippers gathered
    at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity at midnight on Sunday
    (April 30) to celebrate their Easter.

    The actual Orthodox Easter festival begins on Good
    Friday and worshippers go to church to see how priests and
    monks take down the icon of Jesus off the cross, wrap it in
    linen and put it in a casket covered in flowers symbolising
    the tomb in which Jesus was buried after his crucifixion.

    It is a religious tradition that on the Saturday before
    Easter Sunday, called Holy Saturday, worshippers attend
    midnight Masses, carrying with them unlit candles.

    At midnight a priest announces the resurrection of
    Jesus and the worshippers light their candles from the
    "Holy Flame" - a flame which is believed to appear
    spontaneously in Jesus's tomb in the Church of the Holy
    Sepulchre in Jerusalem. On Holy Saturday the flame is
    brought from Jerusalem to Bethlehem's Nativity Church.

    Traditionally, after midnight Mass, worshippers go home
    for a meal, ending their Easter fast.

    The Easter holiday culminates on Easter Sunday when
    Christians believe Jesus rose from the dead.

    Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity is one of
    Christianity's holiest sites and is traditionally believed
    to be the site where Jesus was born.


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