Jerusalem ? Thousands of Christians from around the world gathered at Jerusalem holy sites to celebrate Easter Sunday, marking the day with prayer and hymns.

The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, celebrated Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built over the skull-shaped rocky mount believed to be the place where Jesus was crucified.

Worshippers light candles on the ledge of a structure that some Christians believe is the tomb of Jesus Christ, within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem's Old City.

More than 20 Armenian priests cloaked in black gowns and headdress followed Sabbah into the candlelit church singing the Lord’s Prayer. The Catholic priest emerged from the Sepulcher with a flame and lit worshippers’ candles, which gradually illuminated the painted dome ceiling erected in the Crusader era.

The Easter services underlined one of Christianity’s doctrinal differences: Roman Catholics believe Jesus was buried in the Holy Sepulcher, while many Protestant denominations believe he was buried in the nearby Garden Tomb.

The recent calm in Israeli-Palestinian fighting has attracted many more foreign pilgrims to Jerusalem this year for the Holy Week than in recent years. But the numbers were still lower than before the outbreak of violence in September 2000.

Karen Abel, 39, a secretary from Eclectic, Ala., was among the Protestants gathered at sunrise to mark the day at the site of the Garden Tomb. She said she did not hesitate to make her first trip to the Holy Land.

“Christ died here for our sins,” she said. “I feel mighty protected by that.”

Bix Baker, 53, and his wife Becky, 51, came from Minnesota to spend the Easter holiday with their daughter, who does consulting work for city officials in Ramallah.

Sitting inside Christianity’s holiest church with his wife and daughter, the high school science teacher said his students told him he was crazy to travel to Israel.

“We weren’t afraid to come,” Baker said. “Things seem to be different now, but we would have come anyway because this is where our daughter lives.”