Thousands of Christians gathered in the cavernous church in the Holy Spulcher for a secular sacred fire ceremony.
Holding unlit candles, they packed in the 12th century sprawling basilica built on the site where, according to tradition, Jesus was crucified and buried.
In the almost total darkness, the Greek patriarch entered the Holy Edict and emerged with two lit candles. The flame was transmitted from one candle to another, the light overcoming darkness in the rotunda. The flame was then transferred to Orthodox communities in other countries on special flights.
Oriental Orthodox Christians believe that light appears miraculously inside the Holy Edict, built on the traditional site of the tomb of Jesus, while the skeptics returning to the Middle Ages rejected it as a carnival tip for the masses.
Anyway, the ceremony, which goes up at least 1,200 years, is a show to see. He also triggered security problems.
In 1834, a frantic jostling broke out in the dark church, and the sovereign of the Holy Land at the time was barely escaped after his guards pulled swords and made his way through the crowd, the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore tells in his story of Jerusalem. Some 400 pilgrims died in the fray, most of suffocation or trampling.
Israeli authorities have sought to limit participants in recent years, citing security problems. This has aroused demonstrations of the church leaders, who accused them of having turned the delicate and unwritten arrangements around the saints of Jerusalem known under the name of the status quo.
On Saturday, there was a strong military presence when thousands of faithful crossed Israeli checkpoints to enter.
Some faithful deplored that the participation rate was missing from figures this year due to the War of Israel at 18 months against Gaza. “The number of police officers is greater than the number of pilgrims,” said Adeeb Joude, a key holder of the Saint-Spulcher.
Israel captured Jerusalem-Est, including the old town with major sites sacred for the Jews, Christians and Muslims, in the War of the Middle East of 1967, and annexed it in an unrecognized international decision. The Palestinians want Jerusalem-Est to be the capital of their future state.
The old town has a long history of tensions between the Israelis and the Palestinians, among different religious groups which share its hilly limits and even in certain confessions. The offenses perceived on the status quo in the church of the Holy Sepulcher led to fights between monks of different confessions.
Israel says he is committed to ensuring freedom of worship for the Jews, Christians and Muslims, and has long presented himself as an island of tolerance in the Middle East.
In recent years, however, tensions have increased with the local Christian community, most of whom are Palestinian Christians, a population that has decreased through decades of conflict because many have evolved abroad.
