Officials in Eastern Europe and the Middle East urged people not to attend services, fearing this would lead to a spike in coronavirus infections.
However, in Georgia, worshippers are still able to attend churches.
The traditional Holy Fire ceremony went ahead in a near-deserted Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
The church was closed last month and only a handful of Orthodox clergy, some of them wearing black masks, were allowed in for the ceremony on Saturday.
But the coronavirus pandemic has shut down those celebrations in many Orthodox Christian countries, including Greece, Romania and Serbia.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians, has implored the faithful to follow government orders for their own health.
Moscow Patriarch Kirill, who leads 150 million believers, has urged the faithful to pray at home and not go to church until he gives his blessing.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is dropping his usual attendance at an Easter service and will go to a chapel in the grounds of his residence outside Moscow.
In Moscow and the surrounding region, where most Russian COVID-19 cases are concentrated, churches will hold services behind closed doors with broadcasts online or on television.
However churches will remain open in many regions of the country, which has reported around 36,800 cases of coronavirus and more than 300 deaths.
