Jerusalem/Moscow - Hundreds of Orthodox Christians made a pilgrimage yesterday to the traditional site of the burial of Jesus in Jerusalem's Old City on Orthodox Easter.
Pilgrims, many from Greece and eastern Europe, packed the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the adjoining courtyard as Muslim guards clad in Turkish costume cleared the way for a procession of Orthodox clergy bearing candles and incense.
Prayers in the church, a tangled warren of chapels divided between rival branches of Christianity, passed off quietly after scuffles broke out on Saturday between Syrian Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox worshippers.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, the city's mayor, Mr Yury Luzhkov, and the former prime minister, Mr Viktor Chernomyrdin, were among those who attended a service at a cathedral in eastern Moscow, led by the Russian patriarch.