Jerusalem, Israel — Christians from places as far flung as Australia, the United States and Sri Lanka crowded the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route Jesus took to his crucifixion.
At least 2,000 pilgrims, many of them carrying heavy wooden crosses over their shoulders, wended their way through the narrow lanes of the Old City as they followed Jesus' footsteps down the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows. Their path took them to 14 stations that commemorate events that befell Jesus as he was led to his death.
Christ in You, a Catholic ministry from Brea, California, re-enacted Jesus' last hours before his crucifixion. A Lebanese man living in Israel and studying to be a priest played the role of Jesus, because the group's message this year was peace for the entire Middle East.
An oversized crown of thorns circled Rhody Noura's head, a white cloth circled his loins, and he hauled a 10-foot cross. Fake blood was daubed on his face and torso.
Noura fled with his family to the northern Israeli city of Acre after Israel ended its 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon in 2000. Because his family was affiliated with an Israeli-allied militia in Lebanon, they can not go back to their homeland.