The sacred rite of the position of fire marking the resurrection of Jesus took place on Saturday in a nearly empty church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The bells rang when the Greek Orthodox patriarch Theophilus III came out of the crypt where The Christians Jesus was buried, but only the clergy and some Israeli policemen were at the site.
Tens of thousands of faithful from Armenia, Greece, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia and elsewhere flock to the Holy Land to witness the miracle, but the coronavirus pandemic has prevented the same old pilgrimage.
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According to Israeli media, Theophilos pulled the church’s flame to Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv, where he transported it to 10 countries.
The rite transmitted live from inside the crypt of the ancient church, thought as through maximum Christians to be the place of Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
Israeli police shut down Jerusalem’s Old City and allowed the church to open at 2 p. m. Saturday Fiesta.
While Theophilos wore a mask, some of the rite participants did not do so or practice the social esture protocols of the rite.
Jerusalem closed its holy sites at the end of March in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19, a measure implemented before the Easter holidays, held a separate week through the Orthodox Catholic and Christian churches.
Israel has taken excessive steps to combat the spread of the virus, including tracking cell phones to see who is breaking the blocking rules.
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Until Sunday morning, Israel had 13,362 performances and 171 deaths.