Jerusalem - Thousands of Christian pilgrims flocked to Jerusalem Sunday, to mark the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as recounted in the New Testament. Catholics celebrated Easter Sunday mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is believed to be where Jesus was crucified and then resurrected.

Delivering his first Easter sermon since taking up his post, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fuad Twal gave an apolitical homily, noting that the festival was the climax of the Christian year and that "we are participants in the mystery of salvation."

Outside Jerusalem's Old City, several hundred metres from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Protestants conducted their own Easter Sunday service at the Garden Tomb.

Palestinians said the Israeli closure of the West Bank on the Passover holiday resulted in fewer Palestinian Christians arriving in Jerusalem to attend the mass.

The current world financial crisis has also seen fewer pilgrims in Jerusalem from abroad.

Orthodox priests, meanwhile also filed into the ancient church for the Palm Sunday celebrations, to commemorate the day Jesus entered Jerusalem. The Orthodox Churchcelebrates Easter next week

And by the Western Wall - Judaism's holiest prayer site - Orthodox Jews, celebrating the week-long festival of Passover, congregated to participate in the traditional priestly blessing, a ritual dating form the time of the Biblical temple. (dpa)