The Romanian consul in Haifa denied rumors about the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Passover

Reports that Easter services and the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem have been banned because of the military conflict in the Middle East are inaccurate. Officials urge believers not to panic and to trust only verified information.

According to the Greek Orthodoxia News Agency, Romanian Consul in Haifa Adrian Brincoveanu called the data circulating online «fake news.» In his official address, the diplomat emphasized that the claims about the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Easter liturgies are not true. «I urge you not to act on the basis of this unverified information and to get information only from official and reliable sources,» Brincoveanu noted, adding that true faith is based on prudence and peace.

Archimandrite Ioan Meiu, representative of the Romanian Patriarchate in the Holy Land, reiterated this position. In a commentary for Basilica.ro, he specified that at the moment neither the State of Israel nor the Patriarchate of Jerusalem have taken any official decisions regarding the cancelation or restriction of services during the Easter holiday.

Despite the fact that the Temple of the Resurrection may be temporarily closed to pilgrims on the instructions of the police solely for security reasons due to the threat of terrorist attacks, there have been no official notifications about changing the order of services of Holy Week and the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire on Holy Saturday.

Recall, on Monday, March 16, about 15:00 local time, a large fragment of a missile, shot down by an air defense system, fell 100 meters from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The incident occurred during a rocket fired by Iran towards Jerusalem.