Results 2021

Category Stories

1st place: Gali Tibbon, Israel

As reports of the pandemic coming from Asia and Europe the local authorities together with the three main Christian denominations (Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian) sharing custody of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre closed its heavy wooden doors on 25 March 2020 for two month, a historical event in Christianity’s holiest site .
In order to maintain the 1852 Ottoman Status Quo agreement between the various Christian denominations inside Christianity’s holiest site, all the Easter liturgies and ceremonies were held in the same ritualistic way exactly like in past centuries, only in 2020 it was in an empty church due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and lockdown.
For the first time in centuries the ceremonies were held without any worshippers, only a limited number of clergy were allowed in the empty big shrine.