Every year on Orthodox Easter, a day after Good Friday and a day before Easter Sunday, local and pilgrim Christians gather in the thousands within and around the Orthodox Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem for a deeply meaningful traditional ceremony that celebrates Jesus’s resurrection, connecting it with Orthodox Christians worldwide.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, believed to be built on the site where Jesus was crucified, died, and rose again from the dead, is one of the holiest and most ancient Christian sites in the world.
One ceremony that has continued since the fourth century is the Miracle of the Holy Fire. It takes place every year on the Saturday preceding the Orthodox Easter (which is timed on its own calendar, different from the Catholic and Protestant Easter). On this day, known in English as Holy Saturday and locally as Sabt al-Nur (Saturday of the light), Palestinian Christians of the Old City of Jerusalem wait in anticipation to partake in the spectacle of the centuries-old ceremony known as Fayd al-Nur (the Thrust of Light).