WILLACY: A commemoration of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ, Easter is supposed to be a time of solemn reflection and repentance. Here at the very place where Christians believe the Son of God was crucified then resurrected, now stands the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Shared by six denominations, it is a church riven by a confusing and complex series of spiritual battles.
This Easter, neither the Greek Orthodox nor the Armenian priests practice what they preach. It takes a squad of Israeli police to quell a potential riot around Christ’s tomb, religious row number one.
COMMANDER YORAM HALEVI: The incidents can begin with pushing, regretfully followed by violence, by blows as well, people beating each other up… depends on who’s involved. We are located in the midst of the incident and very often we receive the blows.
WILLACY: Every Easter the Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches celebrate the lighting of the Holy Fire. With their superior numbers, the Greeks invariably emerge from the tomb of Christ triumphantly clutching the flame but this time, the ceremony of the holy lights came perilously close to descending into the ceremony of the holy fights.
The Armenian Superior of the Holy Sepulchre, Father Samuel Aghoyan, claims he was simply defending his rights.
FATHER SAMUEL AGHOYAN: [Armenian Church] I won’t hit unless I’m hit. When it comes to defending your rights and I will not, I did not give up my rights and that’s why he was angry and he tried to actually hit it, extinguish the candle that I lit from the lamp inside and that’s where it started, the pulling and pushing.
WILLACY: A charge rejected by Greek Orthodox Priest, Father Irineos.
FATHER IRINEOS: [Greek Orthodox Church] Violence was used by the Armenian representative and defence on the part of the Patriarch who was protecting his right.
WILLACY: Patrolling Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police know every twist and turn, shop and shrine. Over the millennia, this walled city has been conquered by Jews, Persians, Arabs and Ottomans. Now it’s under the control of Israeli Police Commander, Yoram Halevi.
COMMANDER YORAM HALEVI: It is precisely because I’m a Jew that this issue is clearer to me. I know that religious war can be bloody and is stronger and more significant than any war.
WILLACY: For Christians, this place, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has even greater significance then the Vatican or Westminster Abbey. The Protestants are not here, the Roman Catholics are. They’re in a chapel just over here near the Tomb of Christ. At the other end of the tomb is a tiny annex used by the Egyptian Coptics and just a few feet away from there, is a small cave where the Syrians hold their services. Nearby is the Armenian Orthodox. They often have their services on the move. Up on the roof are the Ethiopians and perhaps the most powerful force here, is the Greek Orthodox Church but what’s been going on here among the denominations is anything but Christian.
Along with the Greek Orthodox and Latin Catholic churches, the Armenian Church is one of the three principal custodians of the Holy Sepulchre. Each of these denominations jealously guards its territory within the ancient basilica.
In an effort to end property disputes a hundred and forty years ago, the ruling Ottomans drafted a decree - ‘The Status Quo of the Holy Places’ - setting out ownership of every candelabra, flagstone and chapel inside the church.
As well as the annual push and shove during the lighting of the Holy Fire, there’s the occasional flaring of centuries old squabbles over territorial rights inside the church.
FATHER SAMUEL AGHOYAN: [Armenian Church] The denominations sometimes are in competition, quote unquote competition which doesn’t sound good for Christian churches you know. Sometimes you have to be rude. You will be rude. Sometimes you will be aggressive, you will be aggressive.
WILLACY: The Armenians claim to have arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre more than fifteen hundred years ago. To this day, they control the subterranean chapel where it’s believed the true cross of Christ was discovered.
The Armenians are not just at odds with their Greek neighbours but also with the Syrian Orthodox Church in war of worship number two.
ARCHBISHOP SEWERIOS MALKI MURAD: [Syrian Church] The treat us with a lot of aggression and violence. They are so far away from the Christian spiritual life.
WILLACY: Syrian Archbishop Murad accuses his Armenian opposite number of breaking one of the Ten Commandments ‘thou shall not steal’.
ARCHBISHOP SEWERIOS MALKI MURAD: [Syrian Church] We are the mother of all churches and now the children are stealing from their mother.
WILLACY: Just around the corner from the Syrians in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are the Egyptian Coptics. Thirty years ago they became virtual cast-outs. In this holy place, it seems pettiness is next to Godliness. One of the most violent territorial fights in recent times erupted between the Egyptian Coptics and the Ethiopians, all over a position of a chair.
Father Antonios el-Orshaleemi is the Secretary of the Egyptian Coptic Church in Jerusalem and a witness to Christian combat number three.
FATHER ANTONIOS el-ORSHALEEMI: [Egyptian Coptic Church] I challenge anyone to prove that the Coptics started the violence. This whole thing was an ugly sight for all Christians and their (the Ethiopians) behaviour was a barbaric act and a disgrace to Christianity.
WILLACY: The clash between the Coptics and the Ethiopians was sparked by a turf war. The Ethiopians once controlled a large section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but now they’re forced to hold their main mass outside the historic Old City.
In 1838 the Ethiopian ranks were thinned by a plague that ravaged Jerusalem. The Egyptians took the opportunity to move in. Ethiopian Bishop Abb Abasadi believes this created bad blood.
BISHOP ABB ABSADI: [Ethiopian Church] We pray in this church to Jesus to bring peace but it is not only us fighting, they are all fighting there.
WILLACY: A dozen or so Ethiopian monks now maintain a tenuous presence in this tiny monastery on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but when Coptic Priest Father Abdul Malak moved his chair on to what the Ethiopians believed to be their piece of roof, all hell broke loose.
FATHER ANTONIOS el-ORSHALEEMI: [Egyptian Coptic Church] Suddenly we see people coming with sticks and iron bars threatening our bishop. We could not tolerate any harm so we went to protect him and we were attacked by a large mob with stones and sticks. It was like a war. Our priest Abdul Malak was sitting on his chair, not moving and they started beating him. But our priest defied them and stayed on the chair.
WILLACY: The act of violence, an attack on his Christian faith.
FATHER ABDUL MALAK: [Egyptian Coptic Church] [Sobbing] They hit me here on my arm. I suffered for three months. I don’t know… this is what we get from the Ethiopians.
WILLACY: Equally the Ethiopians did not escape the wrath of God. They too suffered casualties with seven of their monks taken off to hospital.
FATHER YOHANNES: [Ethiopian Church] Our blood is boiling today. We believe that God will take revenge on our behalf. We the monks hope our God will revenge our blood.
WILLACY: The most seriously injured Ethiopian was Father Wolde Giorgis. He sustained brain damage when he was hit over the head with an iron bar.
FATHER WOLDE GIORGIS: [Ethiopian Church] My life at this very moment moves through an unclear path. Sometimes I tend to fall, sometimes it’s hard for me to talk. It is very difficult for me.
WILLACY: At the entrance to the tomb of Christ, it’s the turn of Father Peter Madros, a Palestinian and a Latin Catholic to celebrate mass.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Some clergymen or some monks are doing a bit of a monkey business, which means that the Ethiopian is fighting for the rights of Ethiopia, the Greek for Greece, the Coptic for Egypt, the Syrian for Syria and Armenian of course for Armenia.
WILLACY: Father Peter Madros regrettably concedes the integrity of the various Christian churches in Jerusalem has taken a battering.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Violence is never to be justified. The violence is not only nasty, it is stupid. People who make recourse to violence are weak and they are weak minded, with all my respect to everyone.
WILLACY: While the Israeli police are often called upon to keep the peace among the various Christian denominations, the biggest brawl going on at the moment is the one threatening to split the Greek Orthodox Church.
Today Commander Halevi is joined on patrol by the newly elected Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos and well may he need protection. He’s caught up in the mother of all scandals – an affray triggered by his predecessor centred on shady multi-million dollar property deals.
The biggest sinner in this parable is this man, outgoing Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos, now condemned by his own priests.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] We consider Irineos dangerous to the unity of the Church, dangerous to the Orthodox Church and congregation, dangerous to the Church and its properties.
WILLACY: Father Atallah Hanna was appointed the official spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land by Patriarch Irineos. Along with many in the church in Jerusalem, he no longer recognises the authority of his former boss.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] He lacked administrative skills and I wonder how a man so weak was chosen to lead the Orthodox Church. His election was a historical mistake.
WILLACY: Disgraced and demoted to the humble rank of mere monk, former Patriarch Irineos has been branded a traitor and denounced as a crook for his part in selling valuable church real estate in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish settlers.
Jaffa Gate is one of the seven main gates to Jerusalem’s Old City built by Suleyman the Magnificent. Just inside this gate is the Imperial Hotel, built on land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, this historic hotel is run by Walid Dajani a childhood friend of the former Patriarch.
WALID DAJANI: [Proprietor of Imperial Hotel] There is no doubt that this man broke my heart and I don’t want really to go back and think of these things because this makes me sick.
WILLACY: Walid Dajani first learnt that his hotel had been sold out from under him from an Israeli journalist. The sale was brokered in secret by a close aide to Irineos. The aide’s now vanished and is wanted by Interpol.
It was just one of a number of controversial property deals approved by the Patriarch.
Representing the majority of Palestinian Christians, the Greek Orthodox Church is the largest landowner in Jerusalem, after the State of Israel and selling any real estate to the Jews here is seen as more than just a breach of faith, it’s an act of betrayal, treason.
For Walid Dajani, his friend’s deception has shattered both his business and his family.
WALID DAJANI: [Proprietor of Imperial Hotel] It’s a rape. I mean as if you have a lovely daughter and somebody rapes her. That was my immediate feeling.
WILLACY: The Patriarch or the former Patriarch has been holed up in this building for months now, protected by Israeli soldiers and police, which is ironic because the Israelis for years refused to recognise the Patriarch. The Israelis it seems are now among the Patriarch’s few friends.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] First of all he is not a patriarch any more – he is now a monk, and carries no official responsibilities. He brought people with connection to crime and corruption, and gave them positions inside the Church.
WILLACY: The sin that Patriarch Irineos might have personally profited is venal compared to the outrage that he sold out his flock, that he’s done a deal with the Jews at the expense of the Palestinians. For all that, he still has his supporters.
FATHER IRINEOS SUPPORTER: [Greek Orthodox Church] Of course the Patriarch has been used. He has been the victim of a trap – and exploitation by his own people who he trusted.
WILLACY: Greek Orthodox Priest Father Irineos is a confidante of his namesake. The deposed Patriarch declined our offers of an interview but Father Irineos insists his former leader has nothing to hide.
FATHER IRINEOS SUPPORTER: [Greek Orthodox Church] The Patriarch has dedicated his whole life to Christ. He has never betrayed his faith and he will never betray the holy shrines. From the beginning the Patriarch has proceeded with purchases of estates, apartments, hotels and other properties inside and outside Jerusalem. It is not logical to claim that on the one hand he was buying and on the other hand he was selling.
WILLACY: While he refuses to relinquish his position, it’s certain that Irineos will never again lead his flock in the revered Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] We ask God to forgive Irineos for his actions but we also ask Irineos to return all the things that have been stolen and to return them to the church again. We want him to confess, and repent his actions and sins and go to lie in one of the monasteries as a monk.
WILLACY: In a theological twist, the people charged with opening and closing the main door of this hallowed basilica are not even Christians. Wajeeh Nusseibeh is from a Muslim family who have locked and unlocked the Holy Sepulchre’s front door every day for the last eight hundred years.
WAJEEH NUSSEIBEH: For Muslims we believe Mohammed, Jesus and Moses are prophets and we believe that Mary is one of the holy of the holiest women on the earth. So this is one is a very important place for us too.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Imagine, you know, that the keys of the mosque back there in Mecca or in Medina are in the hands of a Christian family. I mean this is simply unbearable!
WILLACY: That Christian charity doesn’t extend to a humble Muslim gatekeeper is hardly a revelation. By the grace of God or Allah, the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are in the hands of a family whose daily ritual closes the door on a shabby spiritual soap opera.
This Easter, neither the Greek Orthodox nor the Armenian priests practice what they preach. It takes a squad of Israeli police to quell a potential riot around Christ’s tomb, religious row number one.
COMMANDER YORAM HALEVI: The incidents can begin with pushing, regretfully followed by violence, by blows as well, people beating each other up… depends on who’s involved. We are located in the midst of the incident and very often we receive the blows.
WILLACY: Every Easter the Armenian and Greek Orthodox churches celebrate the lighting of the Holy Fire. With their superior numbers, the Greeks invariably emerge from the tomb of Christ triumphantly clutching the flame but this time, the ceremony of the holy lights came perilously close to descending into the ceremony of the holy fights.
The Armenian Superior of the Holy Sepulchre, Father Samuel Aghoyan, claims he was simply defending his rights.
FATHER SAMUEL AGHOYAN: [Armenian Church] I won’t hit unless I’m hit. When it comes to defending your rights and I will not, I did not give up my rights and that’s why he was angry and he tried to actually hit it, extinguish the candle that I lit from the lamp inside and that’s where it started, the pulling and pushing.
WILLACY: A charge rejected by Greek Orthodox Priest, Father Irineos.
FATHER IRINEOS: [Greek Orthodox Church] Violence was used by the Armenian representative and defence on the part of the Patriarch who was protecting his right.
WILLACY: Patrolling Jerusalem’s Old City, Israeli police know every twist and turn, shop and shrine. Over the millennia, this walled city has been conquered by Jews, Persians, Arabs and Ottomans. Now it’s under the control of Israeli Police Commander, Yoram Halevi.
COMMANDER YORAM HALEVI: It is precisely because I’m a Jew that this issue is clearer to me. I know that religious war can be bloody and is stronger and more significant than any war.
WILLACY: For Christians, this place, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has even greater significance then the Vatican or Westminster Abbey. The Protestants are not here, the Roman Catholics are. They’re in a chapel just over here near the Tomb of Christ. At the other end of the tomb is a tiny annex used by the Egyptian Coptics and just a few feet away from there, is a small cave where the Syrians hold their services. Nearby is the Armenian Orthodox. They often have their services on the move. Up on the roof are the Ethiopians and perhaps the most powerful force here, is the Greek Orthodox Church but what’s been going on here among the denominations is anything but Christian.
Along with the Greek Orthodox and Latin Catholic churches, the Armenian Church is one of the three principal custodians of the Holy Sepulchre. Each of these denominations jealously guards its territory within the ancient basilica.
In an effort to end property disputes a hundred and forty years ago, the ruling Ottomans drafted a decree - ‘The Status Quo of the Holy Places’ - setting out ownership of every candelabra, flagstone and chapel inside the church.
As well as the annual push and shove during the lighting of the Holy Fire, there’s the occasional flaring of centuries old squabbles over territorial rights inside the church.
FATHER SAMUEL AGHOYAN: [Armenian Church] The denominations sometimes are in competition, quote unquote competition which doesn’t sound good for Christian churches you know. Sometimes you have to be rude. You will be rude. Sometimes you will be aggressive, you will be aggressive.
WILLACY: The Armenians claim to have arrived at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre more than fifteen hundred years ago. To this day, they control the subterranean chapel where it’s believed the true cross of Christ was discovered.
The Armenians are not just at odds with their Greek neighbours but also with the Syrian Orthodox Church in war of worship number two.
ARCHBISHOP SEWERIOS MALKI MURAD: [Syrian Church] The treat us with a lot of aggression and violence. They are so far away from the Christian spiritual life.
WILLACY: Syrian Archbishop Murad accuses his Armenian opposite number of breaking one of the Ten Commandments ‘thou shall not steal’.
ARCHBISHOP SEWERIOS MALKI MURAD: [Syrian Church] We are the mother of all churches and now the children are stealing from their mother.
WILLACY: Just around the corner from the Syrians in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, are the Egyptian Coptics. Thirty years ago they became virtual cast-outs. In this holy place, it seems pettiness is next to Godliness. One of the most violent territorial fights in recent times erupted between the Egyptian Coptics and the Ethiopians, all over a position of a chair.
Father Antonios el-Orshaleemi is the Secretary of the Egyptian Coptic Church in Jerusalem and a witness to Christian combat number three.
FATHER ANTONIOS el-ORSHALEEMI: [Egyptian Coptic Church] I challenge anyone to prove that the Coptics started the violence. This whole thing was an ugly sight for all Christians and their (the Ethiopians) behaviour was a barbaric act and a disgrace to Christianity.
WILLACY: The clash between the Coptics and the Ethiopians was sparked by a turf war. The Ethiopians once controlled a large section of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but now they’re forced to hold their main mass outside the historic Old City.
In 1838 the Ethiopian ranks were thinned by a plague that ravaged Jerusalem. The Egyptians took the opportunity to move in. Ethiopian Bishop Abb Abasadi believes this created bad blood.
BISHOP ABB ABSADI: [Ethiopian Church] We pray in this church to Jesus to bring peace but it is not only us fighting, they are all fighting there.
WILLACY: A dozen or so Ethiopian monks now maintain a tenuous presence in this tiny monastery on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but when Coptic Priest Father Abdul Malak moved his chair on to what the Ethiopians believed to be their piece of roof, all hell broke loose.
FATHER ANTONIOS el-ORSHALEEMI: [Egyptian Coptic Church] Suddenly we see people coming with sticks and iron bars threatening our bishop. We could not tolerate any harm so we went to protect him and we were attacked by a large mob with stones and sticks. It was like a war. Our priest Abdul Malak was sitting on his chair, not moving and they started beating him. But our priest defied them and stayed on the chair.
WILLACY: The act of violence, an attack on his Christian faith.
FATHER ABDUL MALAK: [Egyptian Coptic Church] [Sobbing] They hit me here on my arm. I suffered for three months. I don’t know… this is what we get from the Ethiopians.
WILLACY: Equally the Ethiopians did not escape the wrath of God. They too suffered casualties with seven of their monks taken off to hospital.
FATHER YOHANNES: [Ethiopian Church] Our blood is boiling today. We believe that God will take revenge on our behalf. We the monks hope our God will revenge our blood.
WILLACY: The most seriously injured Ethiopian was Father Wolde Giorgis. He sustained brain damage when he was hit over the head with an iron bar.
FATHER WOLDE GIORGIS: [Ethiopian Church] My life at this very moment moves through an unclear path. Sometimes I tend to fall, sometimes it’s hard for me to talk. It is very difficult for me.
WILLACY: At the entrance to the tomb of Christ, it’s the turn of Father Peter Madros, a Palestinian and a Latin Catholic to celebrate mass.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Some clergymen or some monks are doing a bit of a monkey business, which means that the Ethiopian is fighting for the rights of Ethiopia, the Greek for Greece, the Coptic for Egypt, the Syrian for Syria and Armenian of course for Armenia.
WILLACY: Father Peter Madros regrettably concedes the integrity of the various Christian churches in Jerusalem has taken a battering.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Violence is never to be justified. The violence is not only nasty, it is stupid. People who make recourse to violence are weak and they are weak minded, with all my respect to everyone.
WILLACY: While the Israeli police are often called upon to keep the peace among the various Christian denominations, the biggest brawl going on at the moment is the one threatening to split the Greek Orthodox Church.
Today Commander Halevi is joined on patrol by the newly elected Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theofilos and well may he need protection. He’s caught up in the mother of all scandals – an affray triggered by his predecessor centred on shady multi-million dollar property deals.
The biggest sinner in this parable is this man, outgoing Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos, now condemned by his own priests.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] We consider Irineos dangerous to the unity of the Church, dangerous to the Orthodox Church and congregation, dangerous to the Church and its properties.
WILLACY: Father Atallah Hanna was appointed the official spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church in the Holy Land by Patriarch Irineos. Along with many in the church in Jerusalem, he no longer recognises the authority of his former boss.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] He lacked administrative skills and I wonder how a man so weak was chosen to lead the Orthodox Church. His election was a historical mistake.
WILLACY: Disgraced and demoted to the humble rank of mere monk, former Patriarch Irineos has been branded a traitor and denounced as a crook for his part in selling valuable church real estate in Jerusalem’s Old City to Jewish settlers.
Jaffa Gate is one of the seven main gates to Jerusalem’s Old City built by Suleyman the Magnificent. Just inside this gate is the Imperial Hotel, built on land owned by the Greek Orthodox Church, this historic hotel is run by Walid Dajani a childhood friend of the former Patriarch.
WALID DAJANI: [Proprietor of Imperial Hotel] There is no doubt that this man broke my heart and I don’t want really to go back and think of these things because this makes me sick.
WILLACY: Walid Dajani first learnt that his hotel had been sold out from under him from an Israeli journalist. The sale was brokered in secret by a close aide to Irineos. The aide’s now vanished and is wanted by Interpol.
It was just one of a number of controversial property deals approved by the Patriarch.
Representing the majority of Palestinian Christians, the Greek Orthodox Church is the largest landowner in Jerusalem, after the State of Israel and selling any real estate to the Jews here is seen as more than just a breach of faith, it’s an act of betrayal, treason.
For Walid Dajani, his friend’s deception has shattered both his business and his family.
WALID DAJANI: [Proprietor of Imperial Hotel] It’s a rape. I mean as if you have a lovely daughter and somebody rapes her. That was my immediate feeling.
WILLACY: The Patriarch or the former Patriarch has been holed up in this building for months now, protected by Israeli soldiers and police, which is ironic because the Israelis for years refused to recognise the Patriarch. The Israelis it seems are now among the Patriarch’s few friends.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] First of all he is not a patriarch any more – he is now a monk, and carries no official responsibilities. He brought people with connection to crime and corruption, and gave them positions inside the Church.
WILLACY: The sin that Patriarch Irineos might have personally profited is venal compared to the outrage that he sold out his flock, that he’s done a deal with the Jews at the expense of the Palestinians. For all that, he still has his supporters.
FATHER IRINEOS SUPPORTER: [Greek Orthodox Church] Of course the Patriarch has been used. He has been the victim of a trap – and exploitation by his own people who he trusted.
WILLACY: Greek Orthodox Priest Father Irineos is a confidante of his namesake. The deposed Patriarch declined our offers of an interview but Father Irineos insists his former leader has nothing to hide.
FATHER IRINEOS SUPPORTER: [Greek Orthodox Church] The Patriarch has dedicated his whole life to Christ. He has never betrayed his faith and he will never betray the holy shrines. From the beginning the Patriarch has proceeded with purchases of estates, apartments, hotels and other properties inside and outside Jerusalem. It is not logical to claim that on the one hand he was buying and on the other hand he was selling.
WILLACY: While he refuses to relinquish his position, it’s certain that Irineos will never again lead his flock in the revered Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
FATHER ATALLAH HANNA: [Greek Orthodox Church] We ask God to forgive Irineos for his actions but we also ask Irineos to return all the things that have been stolen and to return them to the church again. We want him to confess, and repent his actions and sins and go to lie in one of the monasteries as a monk.
WILLACY: In a theological twist, the people charged with opening and closing the main door of this hallowed basilica are not even Christians. Wajeeh Nusseibeh is from a Muslim family who have locked and unlocked the Holy Sepulchre’s front door every day for the last eight hundred years.
WAJEEH NUSSEIBEH: For Muslims we believe Mohammed, Jesus and Moses are prophets and we believe that Mary is one of the holy of the holiest women on the earth. So this is one is a very important place for us too.
FATHER PETER MADROS: [Latin Catholic Church] Imagine, you know, that the keys of the mosque back there in Mecca or in Medina are in the hands of a Christian family. I mean this is simply unbearable!
WILLACY: That Christian charity doesn’t extend to a humble Muslim gatekeeper is hardly a revelation. By the grace of God or Allah, the keys to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are in the hands of a family whose daily ritual closes the door on a shabby spiritual soap opera.