"Holy Fire" ceremony dates back 1,200 years (Orthodox Easter Ceremony in Jerusalem) - 2016

story from USA TODAY (online edition 5/2/2016):
Orthodox Easter was celebrated across the world Sunday with a fire ceremony, roasted lamb, cakes and street processions through the streets of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.
Protestants and Roman Catholics celebrated Easter in March, according to the Gregorian calendar, to commemorate the day followers believe Jesus was resurrected more than 2,000 years ago. But Eastern Orthodox churches celebrate this week, following the older Julian calendar.
In Jerusalem, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre — built where Jesus was crucified and resurrected — priests entered a small chamber marking his tomb and emerged with “holy fire.” In a ceremony that dates back at least 1,200 years, they shared the flames with the faithful who used candles to pass it from person to person until the light filled the streets outside.
Worshipers, some carrying crosses, walked the 14 stations of the cross, along streets lined with hundreds of Israeli security forces deployed to regulate the flow of people, according to the Daily Mail.
Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem also handed the flame to delegations who took it to Orthodox churches around the world. A Greek delegation, led by Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannis Amanatidis, took it to Athens Saturday, and from there to more than a dozen locations around the country, according to Greek news outlet Kathimerini.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/05/01/orthodox-easter-spreads-holy-fire-around-world/83789138/