Presiding Bishop Spends Holy Week and Easter with Episcopalians in the Holy Land
Episcopal News Service. April 4, 1991 [91086]
Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and his wife, Patti, spent Holy Week and Easter on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land as an expression of support for the ministry and witness of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem (ECJ), celebrating its 150th anniversary.
On Maundy Thursday, Browning and his host, Bishop Samir Kafity of the ECJ, gathered in St. George's Cathedral for the historic footwashing service. In his sermon, the presiding bishop urged the congregation to be "humble and compassionate, for only then will we be able to cleanse the world of hatred and injustice." After the service participants walked to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray.
Browning and Kafity joined the Lutherans from Church of the Redeemer to pray at stations of the cross, a tradition dating back to the Crusader era. The joint walk underscored the common history of the two churches in the Middle East since both were established by the Anglo-Prussian Episcopate in the mid-19th century. The bishops bore a large wooden cross along the Via Dolorosa, stopping at each station to sing hymns and pray for peace.
As a sign of continuing tensions in the region, West Bank Episcopal parishes were prevented by Israeli authorities from joining in a Good Friday service at the cathedral in East Jerusalem.
Browning and Kafity were guests of the Greek Orthodox patriarch at dinner Holy Saturday where Browning received two decorations -- the Star of Bethlehem and an order in Knights of the Holy Sepulchre -- in tribute to his tireless efforts on behalf of peace and reconciliation in the Middle East. Kafity said that the awards honored the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the entire Anglican Communion.
On Easter Sunday, Browning preached to the English- and Arabic-speaking congregations of St. George's Cathedral, contending that "the role of the church is to offer a message of hope in a world of death." That evening the bishops visited Episcopal facilities in Ramallah on the West Bank and participated in a service at St. Andrew's Church.
The Brownings also visited refugee camps in the Gaza Strip and the headquarters of the Near East Council of Churches. Browning spoke with families whose sons had been killed in the Palestinian resistance movement known as intifada, expressing his sympathy and underscoring the church's efforts to seek peace and reconciliation. In a conversation with Palestinian leaders, Browning was praised for his stand in opposing the recent Gulf War.
Another stop on the Gaza Strip visit was Ahli Arab Hospital, owned and maintained by the Episcopal Diocese of Jerusalem. The next day the group visited another hospital sponsored by the diocese, St. Luke's, in Nablus on the West Bank. Both hospitals provide medical assistance to Palestinian casualties of the intifada.
Browning also met with other religious leaders, including the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Saad Eddin El-Alami, who is religious leader of the area's Muslims and a member of the High Islamic Council. Several other members of the council joined the grand mufti in briefing Browning about continuing tensions in maintaining Islamic holy places in Israel and the occupied territories. The presiding bishop's visit received considerable attention in the local press, which emphasized that he was the highest ranking religious leader to visit the Holy Land following the Gulf War.