(Fixes spelling in first paragraph)By Henriette ChacarJERUSALEM (Reuters) - 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. The mysterious, millennium-old ceremony, which celebrates Jesus's resurrection, has drawn over ten thousand worshippers in previous years. For Sophia Gorgis, 65, who fled the Syrian war to Sweden, it had been a lifelong dream to celebrate the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem. The Holy Sepulchre lies at the heart of the Old City's Christian Quarter in East Jerusalem, which Israel captured in a 1967 war and later annexed in a move that has not won international recognition. The Greek and Armenian Orthodox churches share custody of the Holy Sepulchre with the Roman Catholics, who celebrated Easter last week.

Source: Ethiopian News April 23, 2022 22:29 UTC