THE PATRIARCHATE OF JERUSALEM

Until the Middle Ages, Christianity attributed a central role to Jerusalem. There are numerous reproductions, in Western churches, of parts of the Holy Sepulcher Church (also called Anastasis, the Basilica of the Resurrection), both as an architectural model as for the reproduction of liturgical rites performed in the holy city.

Over time, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem has remained constantly a place of concrete and obliged meeting and exchange, with the interaction of the different rituals of the various Christian traditions: there, they saw one another, they looked at each other, they fecundated each other, even in spite of themselves. There is a tradition of Arabic popular sacred songs in Jerusalem, that is shared by all the Churches, despite the divisions that came about. 

Still, Jerusalem and the Holy Land retain their special and unique rituals, not performed elsewhere (all the more with the trend towards simplification of the rites), but that are found in every Church.

The tradition of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which should encompass what is in use at the Holy Places by all the Churches, has never been studied in its entirety and completeness: The Foundation wishes to work for this purpose, with the idea of collecting, cataloging, studying and transmitting, and again, supporting a careful performance: Where, if not in Jerusalem, at the Holy Places, must sacred music be splendid?

The Foundation plans to open a representative office in Jerusalem, where some members of the Foundation Board have, since years, established relationships of great trust and collaboration among the various Christian denominations.