Veneration and Liturgies at the Holy Sepulchre: a Bi-polar Basilica
On Thursday 22 January 2026, at 6.00 pm, the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem will be pleased to welcome Fr Stéphane Milovitch, OFM, liturgist and former President of the Community of the Holy Sepulchre, for the lecture:
“Veneration and Liturgies at the Holy Sepulchre: a Bi-polar Basilica.”
A place without parallel in Christian history, the Holy Sepulchre is at once an architectural space, a sanctuary of Gospel memory, and a living stage for a plurality of rites. In a single location it brings together the veneration of the sites of the Passion and the Resurrection, along with the coexistence of complex liturgical celebrations—expressions of different Christian traditions.
Why can this basilica be said to function according to a bi-polar logic? It is a place of devotion and pilgrimage, marked by gestures of veneration that are sometimes very ancient, but also a liturgical space structured by precise rites, rooted in distinct ecclesial traditions yet sharing a common setting.
Through a historical approach to liturgy, Fr Stéphane will offer an analysis of the—often fragile—balances between ritual practices, immemorial customs, and institutional regulations. The Holy Sepulchre thus emerges as a living laboratory in which the tensions between the unity of the holy place and the plurality of liturgical expressions can be observed with particular intensity.
Free admission.