The Progress from Clearfield, Pennsylvania • Page 25

THE PKOGKES, CUor field, Mothonnon Volley, Sotordoy, March 25, 1967 PAGE THIRTEEN Remains Ever Constant This rare Victorian Raster card, a lithograph-of the first Easter morning, dates from 1885 and is one of the 70,000 antique in the Hallmark Historical Collection. WASHINGTON As Easter dawns in Jerusalem, a lone figure crosses a cobbled courtyard to unlock the heavy wooden doors of the holiest shrine in Christendom. This is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, first built in A. D. 326, the National Geographic Society says.

It stands where, in Christian tradition, Christ was slain and buried. Richly ornamented altars and mosaics mark'the site of the crucifixion and tomb. Pilgrims from around the world have long come to worship at this hallowed spot in present-day Jordan. Hojy Week Rites Various Christian sects have their own chapels in the church. The ma jar portion of the shrine is held by the Greek Orthodox Church, but the Roman Catholic, Armenian, Syrian, and Coptic churches are all represented.

All sects have" Access to the main chapel above Christ's supposed tomb. The Stone of Unction, hallowed by the tradition that mourners here anointed the body of Christ, has been worn smooth by the countless kisses and tears of worshippers. Many special ceremonies are celebrated during Holy Week. On Maundy Thursday, Greek and Armenian clergy don ornate vestments for the wasbing-of-tlie-feet ceremony. Commemorating the Last Supper, the Greek Patriarch humbly washes the feet of 12 priests.

A Religious On Easter Sunday, a silver -altar is placed in front of Jesus's tomb, and the sacred story of the Passion is chanted from the B'ble. Since it was erected more than 1,600 years ago, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has suffered considsrable damage from the clashes of belligerent armies and militant faiths in the Holy City. The original marble-and-gold edifice was built by the 4th-century Emperor Constant inc. The magnificent structure was destroyed by invading 1 Persians in 614, later rebuilt on a smaller scale, then burned and demolished by- llth-century Moslems. The'rock-cut tomb was a.

great prize for the Crusaders. Jerusalem's streets ran with blood in A. D. 1099 as knights wrested the holy shrine from Moslem control. The Crusaders rebui the church, but it was gutted by fire in' 1808 and battered by an earthquake in 1927.

Restoration Begins After the earthquake, British mandate officials shored the interior and facade with steel scaffolding. Even this well-intentioned gesture, contributed to the church's decay. Scorching days and chilly nights in Jerusalem made this scaffolding expand and contract, thus loosening the very stones supposedly being reinforced. General neglect of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre over the centuriss may be ending. Recently, the three major sects whose shrines occupy the greater part of the church Armenian Orthodox.

Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic began an ambitious two-million-dollar building program designed to restore Christendom's first shrine to its original beauty. Why the Easter Bunny Lays Eggs Ever wondered why the Easter bunny builds a bird's nest and lays eggs? Quite logical, really. bunny was once a bird. According to legend, original Easter bunny was a bird with brilliant the pet bird of Eostre (Goddess of Spring). But one day to the delight of generations of children since Eostre changed her pet bird into a rabbit.

From Eostre's name comes our word for Easter, and Eostres rabbit has been building nests every spring for more than a thousand years, proudly filling grass nests with gaiiy-' colored eggs. Through the centuries, the Easter egg has remained a universal symbol of spring. The Persians and Egyptians regarded the world being hatched from an egg on the first day of spring, and they exchanged red and blue dyed eggs to celebrate the new season. Brightly-decorated eggs have been exchanged as Easter greetings since the Middle Ages. But by the mid-1800s, plaques and cards with drawings of eggs began to replace the fragile eggs themselves.

These keepsakes, many of them elaborate and prohibitively costly, were the forerunners of our modern Easter greeting cards. Rare specimens of these early greetings are now housed in the Hall- mark Historical Collection. Among the earliest known Easter cards were dainty, hand-painted sketches of eggs enwreathed by spring flowers. Later designs from Edwardian England '-depict eggs with loveable little chicks and ducklings bursting forth with "Happy EasterJ" One rare Easter card from the Victorian Era, a now- faded lithograph, featur spring flowers surrounding an angelic young girl in a prayerful pose above a nest of Easter eggs. Today's Easter greetings still offer the traditional floral patterns and brightly decorated eggs.

Even the humorous Easter cards feature egg designs. lEWSPAPERf NEWSPAPER!.