For the first time in ten centuries, the Holy Fire ceremony took place behind closed doors due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III passed the lit fire to the servants of the Greek Church and representatives of other faiths who own the church of the Holy Sepulcher. Usually, pilgrims and believers attend the ceremony, RIA Novosti reports.
Diplomats from other countries received a shrine at the Jaffa Gate of the Old City. The Russian ambassador to Israel, Anatoly Viktorov, got the fire and will hand it over to the delegation of the Andrew the First-Called Foundation, which will deliver the shrine to Moscow.
