Christian pilgrims mark Easter in Jerusalem

(April 5, 2010) Thousands of Christian pilgrims streamed into Jerusalem's cavernous Church of the Holy Sepulchre to celebrate Easter Sunday at the traditional site of Jesus' crucifixion and burial. Incense filled the air in Christianity's holiest site as Western and Orthodox pilgrims packed into the maze of chapels and crypts lit by thousands of candles as services were held at the grotto where Jesus is believed to have risen from the dead. The centuries-old church is shared by six denominations of Jesus Christ's followers - Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Armenian Orthodox, Egyptian Copts, Syrian Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. In his Easter message, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal spoke of the need for hope and "a special kind of strength in order to conquer the evil that is within us and around us." "Today more than ever we need a lively hope in the midst of so much violence, in the midst of bloody clashes and ethnic and religious divisions," said the highest-ranking Roman Catholic prelate in the Holy Land. Archbishop Twal particularly noted that this year different Christian denominations celebrated Easter on the same day, saying that "this year, then, our joy is double." "Perhaps someone might be disturbed by the overlapping of prayers and songs that are heard at the same time and in diverse rites," he mused. "Yet this seeming cacophony, lived in faith, becomes instead a symphony that expresses the unity of faith and of the joyful resurrection of the Lord's victory over evil and death." Jews meanwhile, continued to celebrate Passover, the final day of which was marked in Israel on Monday.