Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed to stop any violence between orthodox Christians celebrating Easter in Jerusalem's old city.
Every year tens of thousands of Christian pilgrims descend on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to witness the ritual of "holy fire", the supposedly spontaneous flame that appears from the tomb where many believe Jesus was buried.
In other years fist fights have broken out between Armenian, Greek and Coptic Christians, over who has first rights to enter the tomb.
This year about 4,000 Israeli police and soldiers were deployed to prevent a repeat of last year's violence.
Scuffles broke out before the ritual began.
Thousands of pilgrims were denied entry to the holy city until the ceremony was over.
By ABC Australia.
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