THE city's most famous landmark has opened its doors to hundreds of partying youngsters.

The XL2002 Rave In The Nave event last night saw a throng of more than 600 teenagers converge on York Minster to pray, talk, listen, sing, dance and worship into the night.

Christian bands YFriday and In Deo rocked the show, along with Leeds-based DJ Lee Jackson. A festival of food and a candle-lit vigil in the Minster's ancient crypt were also on the menu. As part of the programme, Scarborough youth workers Andy Smith and Alice Hodson led an interactive brainstorming session on Living It Large - Following Christ Today. The Archbishop of York, Dr David Hope, was on hand to open and close the event and to meet young people from across the Christian spectrum.

He said: "Thousands of young people are part of church life across the area covered by the Diocese of York, from Middlesbrough to Hull.

"There are nearly 500 Church of England parishes alone here, and many churches belonging to our friends of other Christian denominations. So sometimes those thousands of young people can feel very thinly spread.

"XL2002 is a great opportunity - all too rare I'm afraid - to bring some of this huge group together. A clear feature of young people's spirituality is that they are troubled very little by denominational boundaries."

Updated: 09:31 Saturday, January 26, 2002