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Good Friday pilgrims follow Biblical footsteps

Thousands of Christians from around the world crowded the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route the Bible says Jesus took to his crucifixion.
Image: Thousands of Christians from all over the world crowd the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City.
Christian pilgrims carry a large wooden cross through Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday. Some stopped at 14 stations that commemorate events the Bible says  befell Jesus as he was led to his death. Peter Dejong / AP
/ Source: The Associated Press

Thousands of Christians from around the world crowded the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route the Bible says Jesus took to his crucifixion.

Some pilgrims carried large wooden crosses as they walked down the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, stopping at 14 stations that commemorate events that Christians believe befell Jesus as he was led to his death.

Many pilgrims prayed in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which tradition holds was the site of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. Some chanted hymns, while others prostrated themselves on a smooth stone slab marking the spot where Jesus' body was believed to have been placed after being removed from the cross.

The crowd in one of the Old City's streets included two dozen members of an American church group from Ohio, dressed in white. Eileen Joiner, 43, from Akron, said she was moved to be in Jerusalem.

"You see a picture and it looks impressive. You see it in person, and it's always so much more," she said.

'Presence of God'
The group's pastor, Janice Skeen, said a recent shooting attack in Jerusalem had not deterred them. "You can't escape the feeling and the presence of God here. This is his special land," she said.

The March 6 attack by a Palestinian gunman killed eight young students at a Jewish seminary in the city.

Police said thousands of security personnel were deployed around Jerusalem for Good Friday and the Jewish festival of Purim, which also falls this weekend. Jews celebrate Purim by dressing up in costumes and reading the Book of Esther, which recounts a victory by the Jews over their enemies in ancient Persia.

At a Purim celebration just outside the walls of the Old City, hundreds of Jewish children dressed up as angels, superheroes and rabbits, and were entertained by jugglers and clowns.

Police are also on high alert because of fears of a revenge attack for the February slaying of a high-ranking commander in the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Israel denied involvement, but Hezbollah threatened to avenge his death with an attack on Israeli targets. Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the alert level Friday was one below the maximum.

Attacks feared
Israel banned West Bank residents from entering Israel for fear militants might carry out attacks, but the closure also meant many Palestinian Christians couldn't make it to Jerusalem.

Samir Helou, an engineering lecturer from east Jerusalem, said there were markedly fewer local Christians in the Old City this year.

"We pray every year for a better situation, and then every year becomes worse," he said.

Anita Ekka, a Catholic nun from Madhya Pradesh, India, said she appealed for an end to conflict.

"We pray here for the peace of the world, of the heart and of the mind," she said.