The Archbishop in Jerusalem the Most Rev. Hosam Naoum received the United Kingdom’s Consul General, Helen Winterton, on March 30 for an exchange of Holy Week greetings, as the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem pressed ahead with Holy Week observances in conditions shaped by a regional war that has placed every nation within the province’s ecclesiastical boundaries under some form of military threat.
The meeting, posted on the Archbishop’s Facebook page, came one day after Israeli police had barred the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr Francesco Ielpo, from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday — an incident that drew swift international condemnation and prompted direct intervention by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. By Holy Monday, the Latin Patriarchate and the Custody of the Holy Land confirmed in a joint press release that access for the churches had been secured: “The matters concerning the Holy Week and Easter celebrations at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have been addressed and resolved in coordination with the relevant authorities.”
The statement was careful about conditions. “In light of the current state of war, the existing restrictions on public gatherings remain in force for the time being. Accordingly, the Churches will ensure that the liturgies and prayers are broadcast live to the faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world.” The Patriarchate expressed gratitude to President Herzog “for his prompt attention and valued intervention” and to the heads of state who had made direct representations.
Winterton was appointed His Majesty’s Consul General to Jerusalem in December 2024, taking up the role with prior experience as UK Ambassador to Tunisia and a previous posting in Jerusalem itself. The Holy Week call on Naoum follows an established pattern: the Heads of Churches of Jerusalem hold an annual briefing for the diplomatic corps, and bilateral calls on the Archbishop during the high Christian seasons are a regular feature of the British consulate’s engagement with the city’s Christian leadership.
The significance of the visit lies in its timing. The Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East encompasses the Dioceses of Jerusalem, Cyprus and the Gulf, Egypt with North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and Iran — a geographical span that places it at the centre of the current conflict. When the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran on February 28, Archbishop Naoum wrote immediately to the global church. “Every single nation now engaged in this combat, and those bearing the brunt of the retaliatory strikes, resides within our ecclesiastical boundaries,” he said in his pastoral letter, sent the same day. “Our brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Iran are currently enduring the terror of aerial bombardment; our members in the Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf are witnessing the arrival of war at their doorsteps.”
That letter described sirens across the Holy Land, missiles striking Gulf installations, and a province that found itself “battered and bruised, but not defeated.” Naoum called the situation “the very soul” of a province under existential pressure, and appealed to “the wider Anglican Communion and all people of goodwill: Intercede for us now. The hour is late, and the danger is great.”
In the weeks since, the Diocese of Jerusalem has continued to function. Palm Sunday was celebrated at St George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, with services proceeding despite the cancellation of the traditional Mount of Olives procession on security grounds. A joint Easter message from the Patriarchs and Heads of Churches in Jerusalem was published March 27. The diocese’s website records a clerical ordination, a joint clergy retreat with the Irish dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, and a Heads of Churches diplomatic briefing during this period — the machinery of institutional church life proceeding under conditions of active war.
The Mount of Olives procession cancellation, the Holy Sepulchre access crisis, and the wartime restrictions on public gatherings are not Anglican-specific events, but they fall directly on Naoum’s territory. All of the Old City’s major religious sites including the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were closed by the Israeli National Police due to the on-going war with Iran. The traditional Anglican Palm Sunday procession — which descends from the Mount of Olives to St George’s Cathedral and has been a fixture of Jerusalem’s Holy Week calendar for generations — did not take place this year.
Winterton’s visit on Holy Monday, the day after the Sepulchre crisis was resolved, placed the British government visibly alongside the Archbishop at the most pressured moment of the Christian year. Orthodox Easter falls on April 12, when the question of Holy Sepulchre access and crowd restrictions will arise again for Eastern Christian communities.