Photos: Christians celebrate Holy Fire ritual under restrictions
Christian worshipers have crowded the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in occupied East Jerusalem to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony, an ancient ritual that has sparked tensions with Israeli police this year.
In the annual ceremony observed for more than a millennium, a flame from the tomb of Jesus in the church is used to light the candles of believers in Greek Orthodox communities. The pious believe that the origin of the flame is miraculous and shrouded in mystery.
On Saturday, after hours of anticipation, a priest reached into the dim tomb and lit his candle. Worshipers passed the light to each other and turned to their neighbor so that they could light one of their candles. Little by little, the darkened church began to glow as the tiny specks of light merged to finally illuminate the entire building.
Bells rang. “Christ is risen!” cried the multilingual worshippers. “He is risen indeed!”
Many in the church – built on the site where, according to Christian tradition, Jesus was crucified, buried and resurrected – were delighted to celebrate Orthodox Easter week in Jerusalem. But for the second consecutive year, Israel’s strict restrictions on the capacity of events crushed the hopes of other Christians.
Israel has limited the ritual to 1,800 people and Israeli police say they must be strict as they are responsible for maintaining public safety.
But minority Christians in Jerusalem fear that Israel is using the extra security measures to change their status in the Old City, allowing access to Jews while limiting the number of Christian worshippers.
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate has denounced the restrictions as an obstacle to religious freedom and is calling on all believers to flood the church despite Israeli warnings.
As early as 8am (05:00 GMT), Israeli police turned most of the worshipers away from the gates of the Old City, including tourists flying in from Europe and Palestinian Christians arriving from across the occupied West Bank. Instead, they sent them to an overflow area with a live stream.
Angry pilgrims and clergymen thronged to get through as police struggled to stop them, allowing only a trickle of ticketed visitors and locals to enter. More than 2,000 police officers swarmed the stone ramparts.
After the ceremony, Palestinian Christians carried the Holy Fire through the streets and lit the candles of worshipers waiting outside. Chartered planes will carry the flickering lanterns to Russia, Greece and beyond.
The dispute over church capacity has erupted as Christians in the Holy Land, including the head of the region’s Roman Catholic Church and local Palestinians and Armenians, say the most right-wing government in Israel’s history has empowered hardline Jews escalated their vandalism of religious property and harassment of Christian clergy.
Israel said it is committed to ensuring freedom of worship for Jews, Christians and Muslims.