Easter chants echo in ancient cistern near birthplace of Christianity

A woman takes pictures of the interior of a cistern, which according to Jerusalem tour guide Bashar Abu Shamsiyeh, was relied upon for water during the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the fourth century, and now is used to record Christian hymns because of its acoustic quality, in Saint Helena's Coptic Orthodox church in Jerusalem's Old City, April 14, 2022. Picture taken April 14, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

A few steps from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a small opening leads to an underground cistern where clerics have found the perfect place to practise chants ahead of the holiest day in the Christian calendar.

As Eastern churches prepared to mark Easter one week after the Roman Catholic celebration, Barakat al-Masri stood deep underneath Saint Helena's Coptic Orthodox church, chanting hymns in Coptic and Arabic.