Christians celebrated their "Holy Fire" ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Saturday against a backdrop of rising tensions with Israel, which imposed new restrictions on attendance this year that it said were needed for safety.
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Israel says it wants to prevent another disaster after a Lag B'Omer stampede last year left 45 people dead. Christian leaders say there is no need to alter a ceremony that has been held for centuries.
In the dense confines of Jerusalem's Old City, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims must share their holiest sites, even small changes can cause prophetic angst.
The city has already seen a week of clashes between Arab rioters and Israeli police at the nearby Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the third holiest site in Islam, which stands on the holiest site for Jews known as the Temple Mount.
This year, major Jewish, Christian, and Muslim holidays have converged against a backdrop of renewed violence. Tensions have soared as tens of thousands of people flock to Jerusalem's Old City to visit some of the holiest sites for all three faiths for the first time since the lifting of pandemic restrictions.
Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that on the Saturday before Easter, a miraculous flame appears inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a sprawling 12th-century basilica built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected.
On Saturday, Greek Patriarch Theophilos III entered the Holy Edicule, a chamber built on the traditional site of the tomb and returned with two lit candles, passing the flame among thousands of people holding candles, gradually illuminating the walls of the darkened basilica. The flame will be transferred to Eastern Orthodox communities in other countries on special flights.
The source of the Holy Fire has been a closely guarded secret for centuries.
Two years ago, the church was nearly empty because of a coronavirus lockdown, but Israel made special arrangements for the flame to be carried abroad. Hundreds attended last year when travel restrictions were in place and the ceremony was limited to the fully vaccinated.
This year, Israel applied a safety law that limits crowd size based on space and the number of exits. Authorities say they want to prevent a repeat of last year's stampede on Mount Meron in northern Israel during a religious festival attended by around 100,000 mostly ultra-Orthodox Jews.
It was one of the worst disasters in the country's history, and authorities came in for heavy criticism over alleged negligence.
"There's never a problem until there's a problem, and this is what happened last year in Meron," said Tania Berg-Rafaeli, the director of interreligious affairs at the Foreign Ministry.
If something were to happen at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, "we would have to take responsibility for that, and we want to avoid any problem," she said.
Authorities said they would allow a total of 4,000 people to attend the Holy Fire ceremony, including 1,800 inside the church itself, which has a single large entryway with a raised step. Berg-Rafaeli said Israeli authorities have been in close contact with the churches and would revise the quota upwards next year if more doors in the basilica can be opened.
"It's totally about safety and not at all about anything else," she said.
Church leaders rejected any restrictions on principle, saying they infringe on religious freedom. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, like Al-Aqsa, is governed by a decades-old set of informal arrangements. As at Al-Aqsa, seemingly minor violations of the status quo have ignited violence, including notorious brawls between monks of different denominations.
In a statement released earlier this month, the Greek Patriarchate said it was "fed up with police restrictions on freedom to worship."
"The orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem has decided, by the power of the Lord, that it will not compromise its right to provide spiritual services in all churches and squares," it said. "Prayers will be held as usual."
According to the patriarchate, up to 11,000 people attend in normal years.
Police sealed off the main entrances to the Christian Quarter with barricades. Large crowds jostled to get in, as the police waved through a trickle of local residents and some foreign tourists.
In recent years, however, tensions have risen with the local Christian community, most of whom are Palestinian Christians, a population that has steadily dwindled.
In recent years, the Greek Patriarchate has been locked in a legal battle with a Jewish group over the sale of three properties in the Old City, including two Palestinian-run hotels. The patriarchate says it has proof of corruption in the disputed 2004 sale.
The Supreme Court upheld the sale in 2019, ruling in favor of Ateret Cohanim, an Israeli organization that seeks to expand the Jewish presence in east Jerusalem.
The group took over part of one of the hotels – a popular backpacker hostel – last month. Christian leaders denounced the move, accusing them of trying to change the religious character of Jerusalem's Christian Quarter.
The frustration could be felt outside the New Gate leading to the Christian Quarter on Saturday, as crowds waited to enter. Some lifted baby strollers and small children over the barricades as they were waved through.
"It's like this every year and every year there's a different excuse," said Dr. Muna Mushahwar, a physician who argued with police as she tried to organize the entry of a foreign delegation.
"They don't want the Christians here. The more you push people the more frustrated they get and then they leave."
The Hamas terrorist organization has tried to take advantage of the situation and present itself as a defender of Christian believers in Jerusalem. In a statement, Hamas said: "Israeli restrictions on the number of Christian participants at the Holy Fire events at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are a blatant violation of freedom of worship."
The Islamic Jihad condemned the "Occupation's violations of the Christian holy places in Jerusalem." It said, "The occupation turns all members of our people from all ethnicities and groups into targets."
The Palestinians are portraying a version of events online that could harm Israel's image in the Christian world, according to which Israeli security forces are preventing Christians from celebrating the Holy Fire ceremony. The goal is to promote the Palestinian narrative that Israel is preventing access to both Christian and Muslim holy sites.
The Palestinian Authority has cooperated with the effort. On one hand, PA ministries have issued statements calling for calm, while on the other hand, encouraging anti-Israel dialogue.
In a statement, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry called on the US administration to pressure Israel into removing the "obstacles that stand in the way of worshippers." It condemned Israeli "aggression" at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre "and the steps preventing many participants from arriving for the Holy Fire prayer at the church Saturday. This is a violation of Christian sensitivities and the continued Judaization of Jerusalem and its holy places, in particular Al-Aqsa Mosque."
In Israel, similar sentiments were voiced by the Joint Arab List faction.
On Twitter, JAL MK Sami Abu Shehadeh wrote: "In the 'Jewish democracy, it is forbidden and difficult for Muslims to arrive at Al-Aqsa Mosque and for Christians [to arrive] at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Who is allowed to pray and not in their synagogue? Radical Jews under the protection of the police and security forces. They are allowed to abuse the sensitivities of 1.5 billion Muslims and enter the mosque. Yes to freedom of worship. Not to occupation and racism."
The ceremony, which goes back at least 1,200 years, has not always passed peacefully.
In 1834, a frenzied stampede broke out in the darkened church, and the ruler of the Holy Land at the time barely escaped with his life after his guards drew swords and hacked their way through the crowd, the historian Simon Sebag Montefiore recounts in his history of Jerusalem. Some 400 pilgrims died in the melee, most from suffocation or trampling.
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