Good Friday events in Holy Land kick off with mass

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men hold up a Torah scroll as they pray during the Passover Holiday in the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem’s old city, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Passover holiday celebrates the biblical story of the Israelites’ escape from slavery and exodus from Egypt. AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner

JERUSALEM — Hundreds of Christians are marking the crucifixion of Jesus in the Holy Land.

Worshippers have packed Jerusalem’s Holy Sepulcher church, where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected, for a morning mass that started Good Friday events.

Roman Catholics and Protestants will walk in processions following Jesus’ footsteps in Jerusalem’s Old City later in the day. And a mass at a church in Bethlehem, built atop the site where Jesus is believed to have been born, takes place in the evening.

Pilgrims and tourists from around the world descend on holy sites in Jerusalem for Easter week.

Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday. Orthodox Christians, who follow the older, Julian calendar, will this year mark Good Friday in May.