The two millennia-old celebration, symbolising Jesus’s resurrection, usually draws large crowds to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City’s Christian Quarter in East Jerusalem, where Christians believe Jesus was buried.
But Israeli police this year have significantly limited access to the event, citing safety concerns.
After hours of anticipation, Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch emerged from the sealed empty tomb with a lighted candle, an act considered an annual Holy Saturday miracle before Orthodox Easter Sunday.
Worshippers passed the light from person to person, illuminating the darkened church as the crowd roared and bells tolled.
In contrast to previous years, when as many as 10,000 worshippers packed into the church, attendance was limited to 1,800 people inside and 1,200 more outside.
“These numbers are based on a safety engineer’s analysis,” said an Israeli police spokesperson. A statement by the Greek Orthodox…
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