1. Christian clergymen walking down stairs toward Church of the Holy Sepulchre

2. Clergymen walking towards Church of the Holy Sepulchre

3. Clergymen entering church

4. Clergymen walking and praying inside church

5. More of Christian worshippers praying in church

6. Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah praying during mass

7. Sabbah handing palm fronds

8. Close up of Sabbah''s hands

9. Priests bowing at alter

10.Clergymen shaking palms, walking in circle

11.Clergymen walking past the Stone of Unction

12.Christian worshippers walking past the Stone of Unction

13. Pan down exterior of worshippers walking in church of Holy Sepulchre

Christians gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate Palm Sunday - the first day of Holy week and the Sunday before Easter.

Palm Sunday marks Jesus'' entrance into Jerusalem by donkey on the Sunday before his crucifixion.

His followers laid palm branches in his path.

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Catholic Church''s most solemn period - the week that ends with Easter next Sunday.

Processions of priests and bishops made their way from the Mount of Olives along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The 800-year-old church is one of the most important Christian sites and is believed to be the site of Jesus'' crucifixion, burial, and resurrection.

Thousands of tourists and pilgrims who usually attend the event have been kept away this year by the continuing political crisis in Israel and Palestinian territories.