The cries of joy of the waiting faithful who have managed to catch a glimpse of it through the small side windows are already rising a few seconds before the flame of the Holy Fire emerges from the Aedicule of the Holy Sepulchre. It is the most eagerly awaited moment of Easter for Orthodox Christians in Jerusalem: the light, which according to tradition is prodigiously lit at the place where Jesus was buried, soon illuminates the entire Basilica. The ancient celebration of Holy Saturday for churches following the Eastern, Julian calendar, combines liturgy and popular festivities. In the morning, the Sepulchre, devoid of all the decorations usually found inside, is closed with a seal of honey and wax. The Basilica fills up, the faithful from the Christian quarter arrive with their songs, while the scouts play in the streets of the old city. The Greek Orthodox Patriarch, Theophilus III, makes three laps around the wayside shrine of the Sepulchre, from where he will emerge with the Holy Fire. After him, dressed in the most precious clothes, parade the heads of the Armenian, Syriac and Coptic Orthodox churches. In a few minutes the streets are filled with torches and candles, small flames or large torches pass from hand to hand until they reach the houses and all the people who pour into the streets to celebrate. But the light will arrive in a few hours much further away: at the Jaffa Gate a queue of waiting cars will take the lanterns to Tel Aviv airport, which, through special charter flights, will reach the capitals of the Orthodox countries, from Greece to Russia, from Poland to Ukraine. All the Orthodox churches will have to wait for the arrival of the fire from Jerusalem before they can begin to celebrate the Easter Vigil in the evening.