With processions, chants and ululations, thousands of Christian Palestinians and pilgrims celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony at Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday, the first to be held since Israel imposed new restrictions on attendance. Citing public safety, Israeli authorities sought to limit participation to 1,700 worshippers, a move criticised by church leaders as an infringement of the right to freedom of worship. It was subsequently increased to 4,000. Metropolitan Fenidictus, the Patriarchate of Bethlehem, attends the Holy Fire ceremony, in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank April 23, 2022. REUTERS/Mussa Qawasma The mysterious, millennium-old ceremony, which celebrates Jesus's resurrection, has drawn over ten thousan...
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Orthodox Christians flocked to Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Saturday to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony, gathering in far greater numbers than last year because coronavirus restrictions have eased. This season’s religious holidays in the Holy Land, home to religious sites sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims, have been overshadowed by tragedy, as Israel mourns the death of 45 Jewish worshippers killed in a stampede overnight between Thursday and Friday at a religious festival in the north of the country. Children were among the casualties. Orthodox Christian worshippers attend the Holy Fire ceremony amid eased coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City, May 1, 2021. REUTERS/Ammar Awad “I listened to th...
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