Thousands of Christians last night attended the ceremony of the "holy light" at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

The ceremony symbolizes the culmination of the Easter celebrations for Eastern Orthodox Christians, which this year coincides with that of Catholics and Protestants.

The ancient church, where many Christians believe Jesus Christ was crucified and entombed, was filled with the smoke of blazing candles seconds after Orthodox religious leaders descended into an underground chamber and emerged with a flaming torch.

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Israeli police helped worshipers light candles from the flame, many of the faithful stretching their arms across barricades erected to keep the surging crowd back from the shrine marking the traditional site of Christ's crucifixion.

According to tradition, the holy fire descends from the sky onto the burial site of Jesus, at a time when the Greek Orthodox Patriarch and a representative of the Armenian Orthodox church are in the chamber. The two light their torches with fire and rush to deliver it to the faithful outside.

From the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the fire is delivered to Eastern Orthodox churches around the world. Special aircraft from the Ukraine, Armenia and Russia deliver the flame.

A local Greek Orthodox woman, Reem Carmi, 27, said she and two friends gained access by shouldering their way through police lines and into the crush of candle-waving celebrants.

"This is a beautiful occasion for me," she said. "Christianity is based on light and resurrection, but I was afraid my hair would burn."

In recent years, there had been a number of violent incidents involving competing churches and also pilgrims.

On this occasion, there were no reports of clashes, perhaps because of the replacement of the controversial Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Irineos, but also because of the heavy police presence.