the christian orthodox repeating miracle of the holy fire in jerusalem

7/22/2019 THE CHRISTIAN ORTHODOX REPEATING MIRACLE OF THE HOLY FIRE IN JERUSALEM

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Vol"INo. llMay2AA2The Miracle of the Hoty Fire in Jerusalem

By Dr Niels Chrtsfian HvidtThis arcount of the Mkrcle of the Holy Fire firct appeared in tlre August 15frt, 1998 rssre of fhe Danish puhlicat'ran 'furlirgskeTidende' and was later expanded and updated in 2M0 to form a chqter in the bmk'Mirrc#is: Encounters between Hearcn aNEafth'. The author, DrNrb/s Christian Hvidt" is a Danish Roman Cr/rhalicttrcohgian and rcademic wlro fras studied atkeTlreo-Wcal Facul$ of the University of C;openhagen, and the Ponlifinl Grqorian University d'td tl:r- Pontifrcal lrctitute tor MdStudies in Rome. He is adlvely engaged in the ecumeninl mwenent and LdhercrdCatlplic dialoge. The auttnr trarclled tolsrael in Apil 1998, and again for Pascha 2ffi0, on a study vislt to the Greek Afthodox Pfuiarchde of Jerusalem for tlr- OfthdoxChristian celehration of Pascha aNto be prcsent attlrc annualeremony of the Hoty Fhe.This Miracle of the Holy Firc has wuned yearly for centuies and irdldes the unexpkinable evert oflhe Hfi Firc sponfarewsly igniting candles and oil lamps. Orthodox Chri#ians cherish lt as the greafesf of mirrchs and see fr as a anfiinuws rvminder of the Lard's Resunedion, and a mnfirmdion of the Ofthdox Chislian faih. Qrtffiox pilgrtns yearly crwd the Awdrof theResunectian to wlness the mirrcle on Holy aN Great Satwday, adtlrcre are abudant teslimonbs totlre sightirry af tlrcblue flame flashing throughout the building and the sponfaneous ignition of candles.This nigltg mirrcle is all btl unknown to westem Chistians, Roman hhalic or Protestaft, aN usually defidd by then as ahou or mass illusion. Ihus fhis a6ount, written two years ago by a rnwOfthdox, is fidetesfnrg for its synpdhetb am;ptawof Orthodox Chrislian claims and expeienes."On Holy Saturday believers gather in greatcrowds in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For on thisday fire comes down from Heaven and puts fire onlamps in the church."This ceremony, described above by one of themany pilgrims visiting Jerusalem during Easter, has oc-curred yearly for centuries and includes the unexplain-able event of the Holy Fire igniting candles and oillamps. Orthodox Christians cherish it as the greatest ofmiracles and see it as & continuous reminder of theLord's resurrection.The author and his companions travelled to Israelto be present at this ceremony and to speak to some ofthe persons who have witnessed the miracle and whoselives it has inspired.The ceremony of the Holy Fire has taken placeever year for nearly fifteen centuries, at the same time,in the same manner, and at the same location. It drawsever-growing crowds of pilgrims to the Holy City eachEaster season. The ceremony sulrounding 'oThe Miracleof the Holy Fire" appears to be one of the oldest recur-ring Christian ceremonies in the world. From the fourthcentury AD all the way up to our own time, sources re-call the cerernony.The Church Historian, Eusebius, writes in trisVita Constantini which dates from around 3ZB about aninteresting occurrence in Jerusalem of Easter in the year162. When the churchwardens were about to fill thelamps to make them ready to symbolise the resulrectionof Christ, they suddenly noticed that there was no moreoil left to pour in the lamps.Upon this, Bishop Narkissos ordered the candlesto be filled with water. He then told the wardens to ig-nite thern. In front of the eyes of all present every singlelarnp burned as if filled with pure oil.The Orthodox Church believes that this miracle,which predates the consffuction of the Holy Sepulchrein the fourth Century, is related to the hdiracle of the

(Contirued on page 4)

The Tomb of Christ the structure built over the place of ChristorNr $aviour's Burial and Flis Resumection on the third day. ltcon$i$ts of Mo rlxlms-4he first called the Ghapel of the Angel,and beyond that the small room containing the Tornb of Christ.This structure is inside the Holy $epulchre or CIhurcir of tlaeResurrection which also contains the gite of Golgotha {theplace of our tord's Cruciflxlon), and the Anointing stone {ttresite where I'lis Body was prepar*d for burla ).


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4(Contimredfrom page i)Holy Fire. They admit that the two differ, as the formerwas a one-time occrrrence while the Miracle of theHoly Fire occurs every year. However, they have incommon premise that God has produced fire wherethere logically speaking should have been none.Around 385 Etheri1 a noble woman from Spain,traveled to Palestine. In the account of her journey, shespeaks of a ceremony by the Holy Sepulchre of Christ,*here a light comes forth (eiicitur) from the smallchapel enclosing the tornb, by which the er$ire church isfilled with an infinite light (lumen infinitum)-It is not clear, whether her words refer to an al-leged miraculous occuffencs or to the bishop, whoemerged from the tomb with the flame, possibly ignitedfrom a perpetual flame insidethe sepulchre chapel.Things become clearer inan itinerary written by a monknamed Bernhard after his jour-ney to Jerusalem in the Year870. He describes an angel whocilme down after the singing ofthe 'oKyrie Eleison" and ignitedthe lamps hanging over the bur-ial slab of Christ, whereuponthe Patriarch passed the flame tothe bishops and tcl everyone elsein the church.In 926 the Arabic histo- rxrian Ma'sfidi travelled to Pales- ;tine, and his account describes asimilar event: on Easter Satur-day Christians gathered fromthe entire country at the sePul-chre, as on that particular dayfire came down from heavenigniting the candles of thosepresent.Different sources revealvarying practices around theceremony of the HolY Fire. Arl-cient and modern sources alikerelate that pilgrims see the firenot only inside the HolY SePul-chre but also in Saint JamesChurch next to the sePulchre

Before the service begins Arab Orthodox Christiansparade inside and outside the Holy $epulchre exuber.antly and loudly proclaiming the primacy of the Orthedox Christian faith,

The Voicewith the closed oil lamps standing on the tomb... 'otheGreek lamps being there where the head luy, and that ofSaint Sabas and all the monasteries in the position of thebreast.t'While the doors rernained ssale4 the entirechurch waited for the Holy Fire. The next duy, after thefire had come, the "Bishop, followed by fotn deacons,then opened the doors of the Tomb and entered with thetaper of Prince Baldwin so as to light it first with theHoly Lighf'. Daniel concludes, "'We lighted our tapersfrom that of the Prince, ffid so p{tssed on the flame toeveryone in the church".It appears that during some vigils pilgrims waitedfor hours for the fire to come, as it did not always ap-pear at the same hour. Thus Theoderich, who wrote hisacconnt in 1172, says thatsometimes the Holy Fire a'peared about the first hour,

sometimes about the third hour,the sixth, the ninth hour, or evenso late as the time for Compline.Also Theoderich admits that thefire would appear first in a vari-ety of places - sometimes in theHoly Sepulchre, sometimes inthe Temple of the Lord, andsometimes in the Church of St.John outside the Holy Sepulchreitself.The number of similar testimo-nies have increased along withthe growing number of pilgrimsgoing to the Holy Lanq produc-ing an unintemrpted flow offirst-hand accounts riglt to ourtinnes. However, the report writ-ten by the English chronicler,Gautier Vinisauf, deseroes spe-cial attention as it relates a veryinteresting anecdote about theceremony as it occurred in theyear 1192"In 1 187, the Saracens under thedirection of Sultan Salatr ad-Dlntook Jerusalem. In that year, theSultan desrged to be present atthe celebration, even though hewas not a Christian. Gautieritself, although the basic ele-ments of the miraculous ignition of candles remain the

same. The Russian abbot Daniel, in his itinerary, writtenin the years 1106-07, presents the "Miracle of the HolyLight" and the cersmonies that frame it in detail. Ac-rorOittg to Daniel, the night before the miracle, church-wardens cleaned the chtrch and all the lamps inside it-They then filled the lamps with pure oil and left themdarkened.Daniel reports that the tomb was sealed with wil(at the second hour of the night, and remained sealed

Vinisauf tells us what happened: "On his arrival, the ce-lestial fire descended suddenly, and the assistants weredeeply moved.The Christians demonstrated their joy by chant-ing the greatness of Go4 the Saracens on the contrarysaid that the fire which they had seen to come down wasproduced by fraudulent means. Salah ad-Din" wishing toexpose the imposture, caused the lamp, which the firefrom heaven had lighted, to be,,extinguished, but thelamp relit immediately.He caused it to be extingUished a second time and


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Vol. I No. 1l May 2002

a third time, but it relit as of itself. Thereupoff, the Sul-tan confounded cried out in prophetic transport: 'Yes,soon shall I die, or I shall lose Jenrsalem.' This proph-ecy was accomplished, for Salah ad-Din died the fol-lowing Lnt."But what exactly happens in the Holy SepulchreChurch on Easter Saturday? Why does it have such animpact on the orthodox tradition? And why does itseem as if nobody has heard anything about this miraclein Protestant and Catholic countries when it in manyways is more stunning than many Western miracles ?one of the Most Famous cereneonies ina theOrthodox ChurchIn fact, the miracle still occurs today in theChurch of the Holy Sepulchre in much the same manner

as medieval sources reported it. It is no coincidence thatmillions of believers consider this the holiest place onearth: theologians, historians and archaeologists believeit includes both Golgotha, the little hill on which JesusChrist was crucified, as well as the "new tomb" nearGolgotha that received Christ's dead body, according tothe Gospel account. It is on this srme spot that Christrose from the dead.since constantine the Great built The Holy sep-ulchre Church in the middle of the fourth century, thechurch has been destroyed many times. The Crusadersconstnrcted the church that we see today. Around Jesus'tomb was erected a little chapel with fwo rooms, onelittle room in front of the tomb and the tomb itseltwhich holds no more than four people. It is this chapelthat is the centre of the miraculous events.Being present at the celebration fully justifies theterm "event," for on no other day of the year is the HolySepulchre Church so packed than on Orthodox EasterSaturday. If one wishes to enter it, one has to reckonwith six hours of queuirg, and each year hundreds ofpeople cannot enter because the crowds are so large.Pilgrims come from all over the world, the major-ity from Greece, but in recent years increasing numbers

5The fur to the Tomb is shut and sealed byrepreentatives of the Armenian Church(oriental orthodox or Honophysite) (secwdfrwn leftl and the Orthodox Patriarchate ofJerusalcm fsecond and frrird frwt tha rtghg.First frcnr the ri,ght can bc seen a cleanshaven Rornan Catholic Franciscan friar. ThsFranciscan Order is the repreentative d theRoman Gatholic Church in the Flo-ly Land.Franciscan friars tend the Roman Gatholicchurchee and pilgrimage $itos. Horcyer, ffreRoman Catholic Church officially lgnorw frsMiracle of the Holy Fire, and in their E4gllshlanguage publications in Jerusalem clalm theilimcls of the Holy Fire is a hoax and fmudperpetrated by the Orthdox ktriarchate ofJerusalem or downplay it as a Fculiarly &-thodox Fite. Yet each year friars and offrerCatholics join the Orthodox to watch themiraclehke place More their eyeslll

from Russia and the former communist eastern Euro-pean countries have also come.ln order to be as close to the tomb as possible, thepilgrims camp around the tomb-chapel on Good Fridayafternoon in anticipation of the wonderfirl event onHoly Saturday. The miracle happns at Z:00 pM, but byl1:00 AM the church is bustling with activity.Every yff, small fights occur between the differ-ent Soups of Christians in the Church. If one finds noother reason why christians ought to seek greater unityit would be enough to go to Jerusalem for the csremonyof the Holy Fire to observe the confusion and lack ofpeace that reigns in the Holy Sepulchre among &emany Christian denominations present.From around I l:00 AM till l:00 pM, the chris-tian Arabs sing traditional songs in loud voices. Thesesongs dttg back to the Turkish occupation of Jerusalemin the 13th Century, a period in which Christians werenot alfowed to sing their songs anywhere brx in theChurches."'we are the christians, this we have been forcenturies and this we shatl be for ever and wer, Amen "they sing at the top of their voices, accompanied by thesound of drums. The drum-players sit on the shouldersof others who dance ferociously around the sepulchreChapel. But at 1:00 PM the songs fade out, leaving si-lence - a tense and loaded silence electrified by the an-ticipation of the manifestation of God that all are wait-ing to wihess.At l:00 PM a delegation of the local authoritieselbows through the crowds. Even though these officialsare not Christian, they are part of the ceremonies. In thetime of the Turkish occupation of Palestine they wereMoslem Turks; today they are Israelis. For centuries thepresence of these officials has been an integral part ofthe ceremoilyo as their function is to represent the Ro-mans in the time of Jesus.The Gospels speak of Romans that went to sealthe tomb of Jesus, so his disciples #ould not steal his

(Contimted on page 6)


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A rmonk's joy on receiving the Holy Fire. Offihodox pilgnimocensider the flarne a great treasutre.(Cantinuedfrom page 5)body and claim tre had risen. In the sarne tvay the Israeliauthorities on this Easter Saturday come and seal thetomb with \,vax. Before they seal the door it is custom-ary that they enter the tomb to check for any hiddensouroe of fine, whicla could produce the miracle throughfraud. Just as the Romans were to guerantee that ttaerewas no deceit after the death of .Iesus, likewise the Is-raeli Local Authorities are to guarantee that there willbe no trickery in the Year 2000"

After the tornb has been checked and sealed, allpeople in the Church chant the Kyrie Eleisorz (Lordhave msrcy). At 1:45 PfuX the Patriarch enters the scene"In the wake of a large procession holding liturgical ban-ners? he circtres the tomb three times and then stops infront of its entrance"Then he takes off his royal liturgical vestments,leaving upon himself only his white alba as a sigr ofhumility and respect in front of the portent of God thathe is about to witness. All the oil-lamps have beenblown out prior to the cerelnoily, and now all remains ofartiflcial tight are extinguished, so that the Church isenveloped in darkness.Holding two large unlighted candles, the patri-

The Voicearcla entem the Chapel of the F{oly Sepulchre - first intothe small room in &ont of the tomb and from there intothe tomb itself.To understand what happens when the Patriarchenters the inner room, we need to hear his personal tes-timony" The following testimony is that of F{is tseati-tude, Patriarch Diodorus Il"

H$tesryiew with FAis Beafi*sgde Fatriarafu Hllodoraae Eem tfue Mf,rs*9e sf tfue E{oEY SireHis Beatitude Fatriarch Diodon$ n was born in

1923. He first came to Jerusalem in 1938 and assistedthe Miracle of the Holy Fire ever since, ln 19Bl he waselected Patriarch and was thus the key witness {o theHoly Fire 19 times until his deattrr in December 2S00, as{he Greek-Onhodox patriarchs always enter the littletomb ctrapel wtrere the ftrame fint occurs. I spoke withtrim at the Orthodox Easter, 2000."Your Beafitude, what actually occurs when youenter the tomb on Holy Saturdsy during the ceremorryof the Holy Fire? "

O$hodox nuns and pilgrims share in ttrre ffiinaclE of the ${olyFire. The flarne is received with the same emthueiasm everyyear, ffiactr ye&r, pilgrirns repffi wltneeslng the blue flame silBov*ing and actlnrg freely, igmitlng haradheld candles and hamging otllanrps in the chunch. i

rHis Beatitude patriarch Diodoros died in December 2000. His successor, Patiarch Irineos I, was enthroned in September' 2001


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Vol. I No. 1l May 2001o'After all the lights are extinguished, I bow downand enter the first chamber of the tomb. From here Ifind my way through the darkness to the inner room ofthe tomb where christ was buried. Here, I kneel in holyfear in front of the place where our Lord lay after Hisdeath and where He rose again from the dead.Praying in the Holy sepulchre in itself for me isalways a very holy rnoment in a very holy place. It isfrom here that He rose again in glory and ipread Hislight to the world. John the Evangelist writes in the firstchapter of his gospel that Jesus is the light of the world.Kneeling in front of the place where He rose fromthe dead, we are brought within the immediate close-ness of His glorious resurrection. Catholics and Protes-tants call this church o'Ths church of the Holy sepul-chre." we call it "The church of the Resumectiono'. Theresulrection of Christ for us Orthodox is the centre ofour faith, as Christ has gained the final victory overdeath, not just His own death but the death of all thosewho will stay close to Him.I believe it to be no coincidence that the HolyFire comes in exactly thisspot. In Matthew 28:3, theGospel says that whenChrist rose from the dead,an angel came, dressed allin a fearful light. I believethat the intense light thatenveloped the angel at theLord's resur,recfion is thesame light ttrat appeas mi-raculously eveiy Easttr Sat-urday. Christ wants to re-mind us that His resurrec-tion is a reality and not justa myth; He really came tothe world in order to offerthe necessary sacrifice

7Patriarch in Jerusalem and have received the Holy Fire.The tight is of a different consistency than the normalfire that burns in an oil-lamp."At a certain point the light rises and forms a col-umn in which the fire is of a different nature, so that Inm able to light my candles from it. When I thus havereceived the flarne on my candles, I go out and grve thefire first to the Armenian Patriarch and then to the Cop-tic- Thereafter I give the flame to all people present inthe Church.""How do you yourself experience the miracle andwhat does it mean to your spiritual life?,,"The miracle touches me just as deeply every sin-gle ysar. Every time it is another step towards conver-sion. For me it is of great comfort to consider Christ'sfaithfulness towards us, which He displays by grving usthe holy flame every year in spite of o* human frailtiesand failures. We experiencC many wonders in ourchurcheso and miracles are nothing strange to us.It happens often that icons cr], when Heavenwants to display its closeness to us; likewise ws havesaints, to whom God gwesmany spiritual grfts. Butnone of these miracles havesuch a penetrating and sym-bolic meaning for us as theMiracle of the Holy Fire.The miracle is almosi like asacrament. It makes the res-urrection of Christ as real to

us as if He had died only afew ysars ago."After the Patriarch pa-ssesthe fire to the Armenian andCoptic metropolitans, theyin turn pass it through holesThe author of this article, Dr Hlels Ghristian Hvidt (tef1interview.ing the late Patriarch of Jerusalem Di_odorosl fight)through His death and resurrection so that man could bere-united with his Creator.In the tomb, I say particular prayers that havebeen handed down to us through the centuries ando hav-ing said them, I wait. Sometimes I may wait a few min-utes, but nonnally the miracle happens immediately af-ter I have said the prayers. From the core of the verystone on which Jesus lay an indefinable light poursforth. It usually has a blue tint, but the colour maychange and take on many different hues. It cannot bedescribed in human tsrms. The light rises out of thestone as mist may rise out of a lake - it almost looks asif the stone is covered by a moist cloud, but it is light.This light behaves differently each year. some-times it covers just the stone, while other times it giveslight to the whole sepulchre, so that people who arestanding outside the tomb and look into it see the tombfilled with light. The light does not burn - I have neverhad my beard burnt in all the sixteen years I have been

in the walls of the tombchapel to runners who areready to carry it swiftly tothe various quarters of the denomination* in the church.Thus, the fire spreads like brush-fire.while the Patriarch remains inside the chapelkneeling in front of the stone, outside the tomb it is darkbut far from silent. One hears a rather loud mumbling,and the affiosphere is vely tense. When the Patriarchfinally emerges with the lir candles shining brightly inthe darkness, a roar ofjubilee resounds in the Chrlrch.

TesfimoniesAs with any other miracle, the Miracle of theHoly Fire is a matter of faith and conviction, md thereare those, both non-orthodox and Orthodox, who do notbelieve it actually happens. Both Greek and Latin au-thors have proposed the idea that the miracle is fraudand nothing but a masterpiece of Orthodox propaganda.ThgV suggest that the Patriarch has a lighter or matchesinside of the tomb and lights his candles-.himself.such understandable criticism is, howevm, con-(Contirued on page B)


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B(Contiruedfrom Wge 7)fronted with a number of problems. Matches and othermeans of ignition are recent inventions. Not many dec-ades ngo, lighting a fire was an undertaking that lastedmuch longer than the few minutes during which the Pa-triarch is inside the tomb.One could suggest that he had an oil lamp burn-ing inside, from which he kindled the candles, but theIsraeli authorities always have confirmed that they havechecked the tomb and for:nd no light inside it.The best arguments against fraud, however, arenot the testimonies of the various pafiarchs but thethousands of independent pilgrims who during the cen-turies have written of how they satv the blue light out-side the tomb spontaneouslylighting the candles in &ontof their eyes without anypossible explanation.Often closed oil-lampshanging in different placesin the church beyond thereach of the pilgrims caughtfire by themselves. And theperson who experiences themiracle at close range, see-ing the fire igniting the can-dle or the blue light swayingthrough the church, usuallyleaves Jerusalem changed.For many pilgnms I spoke towho attended the cerernony,there was a *'before and af-tero' the Miracle of the HolyFire. Several books havebeen written in Greek con-taining testimonies of thoservho experienced the mira-cle" However none of thesecontain testimonies from re-cent decades. ArchbishopAlexios of Tiberias hastaken upon himself this taskof cotrlecting more currenttestimonies from pilgrimswho had miraculous experi-ences during the ceremonyof the Holy Fire.During four years, he

The VoiceSepulchre.I blinked my eyes and looked again, yet the crossremained. I rushed on to the roof of the house, thinkingthe cross might be the product of the sun's reflections inthe golden cross standing on the roof, However, once Ihad arrived on the domeo I saw the s{tme phenomenonthat I had seen from the window: Many meters abovethe dome's golden cross, another cross of red light washovering, extending its rays far beyond the dome itself,"This experiencs was very profound for me,"Archbishop Alexios continues. o'I have assisted rt theceremony since I was young and seen and experiencedmany unexplainable things there. But this sigrr was soclear that I today can never doubt God's miraculous in-terventions. If people saythey don't believe in theMiracle of the Holy Fire, Iam not the one to try to cor-rect dtem, but I know they

are wrong."Metropolitan Vasilis, Ilele-gate of Jerusalem Gresk Or-thodox Fatriarch Diodorus I,confirms Archbishop Alex-ios' affirmation. "I havebeen in Jerusalem since1939 when I came to the cityat the age of frfteen. I haveattended the ceremony of theHoly Fire drning all theseyears, and have thus been awitness to the miracle 61times. For me it is not aquestion of whether tr believein the miracle or not.I bww it is hle. Like manyother believffi, I testify thatthe Holy Fire does not burn.Many times I passed theHoly Flame under my beardit was not burned. Year afteryeffi, I have seen the imme-diate and spontaneous light-ing of the candles that thebelievers held enclosed intheir hands, ffid I have heardmany teStimonies of peoplewho either had their candleslit or saw the miraculous

His Beatitude Diodoros l, late Ofthdox Patriarch of Jerusalem,on Holy and Great Saturday, fr100, emerging from the interior dthe Holy $epulchre, where the bunched candles in his handwere miraculously and spontaneously ignited, and passing onthe Holy Fire to umiting clergy and pilgrimshas gathered these testimonies, signed by the pilgrims,and his aim is to publish these in the near future.Archbishop'Alexios, who has pafiicipated in the cere-mony every year since 1967 decided to do this work af-ter an experience related to the Holy Fire in 1996."After the ceremoryo I went home to my apart-ment situated in the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate, upthe hill west of the Holy Sepulchre", he explains. "Fromhere I looked out of my window, and suddenly I saw agfeat luminous red cross over the Dome of the Holy

flame as it passed through the church of the Holy Sepul-chre. To me the miracle is very important, especially asa memorial of the resurrection of Our Lord. The Holytsible says that when the Lord rose from the dead, Histomb was bright, shining as if it were day. I believe it isin memory of this most central element of our faittl thatthe Lord gives this marvellous sigr, and so that it may

i-never be forgotten "hdr. Souhel Thalgieh, a young engineer from


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Vol. I No. 11 May 2002

ArchHshop Alexios of Tibedas frutt the Orthodox Patdarchate of Jerusalem, hinga the Holy Firc to Athens d Pascha fiXXl, on aflight of Oympic Airways and is recelved with the honours of a stal$man. Prior to WorH War I the Russian lmperial ilarry pwidedtransport for clergy and pilgdms to bdng the Holy Fire to Russla for distibution lhroughout the country.Bethlehem, is another witness. Mr. Thalgieh has beenpresent at the ceremony of the Holy Fire since his earlychildhood. In 1996 he was asked to film the ceremonyfrom the balcony of the dome of the Church.Present with him on the balcony were a nun andfour other believsffi, including the mother of Metropoli-tan Timothy. The nun stood at the right hand of Thal-gieh. On the video one can see how he aims the cameradown at the crowds. At the designated moment, alllights are turned off and the Patriarch enters the tomb toreceive the Holy Fire.While the Patriarch is still inside the tomb onesuddenly hears a scream of surprise and wonder origi-nating from the nun standing next to Thalgieh. Thecamera begins to shake, and one hears the excitedvoices of the other people present on the balcony.The c{rmera then turns to the right, capturing thecause of the emotion: A large candle, held in the handof the Russian nun, caught fire in front of all people pre-sent apparently before the Patriarch curme out of thetomb. With shaking hands she holds the candle whileover and over'making the sigr of the Cross in awe ofthe portent she has witnessed.In another of the many testimonies, ArchimedesPendaki of Athens, Greece, reports that the experienceof the miracle became the impetus that eventually ledhim to become an Orthodox priest. Father Pendaki ex-perienced the miracle in 1983. ln the preceding years,he had drifted further and further away from the Crtho-

dox faith of his family, and only rarely did he enter achurch.His mother, who was very religious, convincedhim after much arguing to come to Jerusalem and wit-ness the Miracle ofthe Holy Fire. While mother and sonwere standing in the Holy Sepulchre Church it so hap-pened that the candle of Pendaki's mother lighted spon-taneously before their eyes.Archimedes at first raged at her, accusing her oftrickery to make him believe, but deep inside he knewvery well that she would never invent such a thing. Fur-thermore she was not able to produce the poffent her-self. The event continued to disturb his thoughts until hecould not ignore it any more, and the need to explorethe faith of his youth in depth led him to the HolyMountain of Athos. After some years, he decided to be-come a pnest.ln the year 2000, the blue flame again lighted thecandles of many people. According to ArchbishopAlexios, a monk was standing close to the door of thesepulchre. While the Patriarch was still inside the tombothe monk received the flame on his candle to the greatastonishment of the people standing around him. Fromhis candle, the fire spread on the side of the tomb.

A young man from the Greek island of Rhodostestified that he saw the fire coming as a cloud abovethe monk, descending to light his candles.(Contimted on page I0)


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{Continuedfrom page 9}F'frre Rmd T'fue Preseasce of GodThe Orthodox Christians are not the only ones toassociate light with the presence and activity of God. Inthe Biblical writings, light often accompanies great mi-raculous works of God. About fufoses' meetings withGod on Mount Sinai the Bibtre says: "Mount Sinai wasentirely wrapped in srnokeo because Yahweh had de-scended on it in the form of fire.The smoke rose like smoke from a furnace andthe wtrole mountain shook violently" (Ex 19:18 tr)-Later in Exodus, it says: "To the watching Israelites, theglory of Yahweh trooked like a devouring fire on themountain top" {Ex 24:17).After Moses had stood faceto face with God, his face shone so powerfully that hehad to cover it, lest the people get hurt (Ex 34:29 ff).When Jesus was transfigured in front of the disci-ples on Mount Tabor, "the aspect of His face changedand His clothing becanne sparkling white" (Lk. 9:29).Likewise, after "Iesus' resurrection, the women met bythe grave "fwo men in brilliant clothes" (Lk 24:4)" Lightand the mighry works of God go hand in glove"

The Voice

The Church Fathers considered light to be a sym-bol of God, especially of God's love, Thus Gregory theGreat (530-604AD) writes: "God is called light becauseF{e embraces the flames of His love - the souls in whichHe abides.'o ln the siune w&y, Orthodox Christians con-sider the Miracle of the Holy Fire a naanifestation ofGod's power and of His presence."Sy'e believe the flarne to be holy"o saysArchbishop Alexios, "almost as a sacrament, ontologi-cally related directly to God Himself" The pilgrimsmove their hands back and forth over the flame and ca-ress their faces with the hands that touched the flames""

Tfue Pan-Srthodox $flgxa$fHcsxace of fue CenemsxayThe miracle is important not only to the indivi&ual Christians whose faith it strengthened but also be-cause it plays a very important ecumenical rotre. Theceremony takes place every year on the Orthodox EasterSaturday and is celebrated together with all the Ortho-dox Christian communities. There are many fypes ofOrthodox Christians: Syrian, Arrnenian, Russian andGreek Orthodox as well as CoPts-z

2 The author here fails to distinguish between orthodox Christians and non-orthodox. The Syrian Arm_ enian ryd copticchurches follow the monophyrit"-h"r"ry and deny the dogmatic teachings of the orthodox Church, specifically rejecting the;;;ht";;;ifl* ttt', tth,;th';d 7ft Ecumenical Councils. It is a common ploy among promoters of ecumenism and the "branch"theory Jf Cn irti*ity to imply, by including these monophysite groups with canonical Orthodox, there is thus no dogmatic dif-ference between their teachinir *a mor" oith" ot*toaoi ihurch. This is dishonest and theological and historical revisionisn


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Vol. I No. 1l May 2002

Ahove; A closeup view of the great split in the marHe columnflanking the entrance to the Church of the Resunedion. OnHoly Saturday in 1549 the Holy Fire blazed forth from this holeto light the candlas of the Orthdox Patriarch. He had henlocked out of the Ghurch in a futile attempt by the ron-Chalcedonian Armenian patdarch and his flock to appropriatethe miracle for themselvss.

In the Holy Sepulchre Church alone there areseven different Christian Denominations, and all, exceptthe Catholics, take part in the ceremony. The OrthodoxEaster date is fixed according to the Julian Calendar,which means that their Easter normally falls on a differ-ent date than the Protestant and Catholic Easter which isdetermined by the European Gregorian calendar. Thusin the year 2000 the Orthodox Easter fell one week afterthe Easter of the'West....

(Metropolitan Timothy, o senior hierarch of thePatriarchate explained) ...'ofiie flame first comes in amiraculous way from Christ to the Greek Orthodox Pa-triarch inside the Tomb. He gives it to the Armenianand Coptic metropolitans, who hand it on to the remain-ing communities and they in turn, spread it to their ownpeople.From them it passes beyond the Holy Sepulchreto every corner of the Orthodox world. After the cere-mony is over, believers from all Israel and Palestinecarry it to the homes of their relatives.Pilgrims who come from far away make provi-sions, buying special oil-lamps with which they carrythe flqme to their countries. Olympic Airways helps theOrthodox to distribute the flame to many countries, es-pecially to Alexandria in Egypt and to Russiq but also(Contiwed on page 12)

Above: The courtyard and ensance to the Church of the Reur-lsgtie*-the Holy $epulchre. Odginally there rero tum dools,but the ons on the right was scaled. The keys to the fur areke$ by a Huslim fami$, a custsn egtablished by &rlhnSuleiman in 15m AD bryu$o d confficts over enfy and mr.ship rights by the various churchm. The dmrs arc $uroundedby marble columns,On the ldt, one of the columns showe a large, gaping cmck.Thls hapted in 15{g AD when $u}tan Hurat and the Turldshauthorities in Jsrusalem, after being biM by the monophpiteArmenian ptriarch, hned fte Orthodox Pafriarch Sofronios lVfrom goirq into the church on Holy $aturday to prfonn theceremony of tha Floly Fire.Holy Satuday anived and the Armenians gathelud in thcChurch d the Resunwtion and the Tu*ish army drove the Or-thodox Christians out. The time for the Holy Fire to coms forthFssed, bnt nothing happerd. The frightend Annenians b'gan to cry and reGp, and rek Gd to send thom the Fire; butthe Lord did not hsr them. Half an hour pssed and still noHoly Fire.Pdriarch $ofronios s'ith his clergy and faithful ropls ruaitedweeping oubide the locked door, and hgan to chant and Fy.Suddenly there leas a loud clap of thundsr, the marble columnto the left of the door uuas s$it and the Holy Fire blazed forthnlighting the Patriarch's candles.Then all the Orthodox reioiced, and the Sthodox Arabs pre-sent bqan to skip and cry out "Thou art our ono God, JwusChrist,rone is our True Faith, that of the Orthdox Christians.'and they San to run all over Jerusalem and raise a din, andshotfr all over the cig. And to this day they still do this in mennory of this incident and they jump and shout, running aroundthe Holy Sepulchre.A tuslim named &nir rw$ guarding fre nearby monastery ofSt Abraham. When he sar these evenb he cried ouil *The feithof the Ghristians is gredl One is the real Gd, the God of theChristiansl I believe in Christ the resunettd from the ded" Ikneel to Him as my Gd". After his confession of faith heiutn@ down to the Christians in the courtyard from a height of35 feet and landed unharmed on his feet &nir took his srcrdand thrust it into the stone pillar as if it rrere soft ruax and bs,gan to glonfy Gd unceasingly. For this the Tur*s capturcdhim, decapitatd him, and burnt his body. His bones sme gath.ered up by the Orthodox Ghdstians, and his fragrant relics arekept until to this day in the Orthodox ilonastery of the GreatVirgin in Jerusalem.The Amenian patriarch and his people inside the Ghurch rFceived nothing and were left only with their shame. The Sultanissued a frrman (decree| that recnised the authority of theGreek Orthodox Patriarch thereafter to always officiate at theservice of the Holy Fire.


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(Contiruedfrom page I I)to Georga, Bulgari4 and the USA.Each year we write letters of recommendation tothe Israeli Ministry of Religious Affairs, which in turnassists pilgrims who carry the lanterns with the HolyFire through customs and into their respective aircrafts.This is ho-rv important the spreading of the flame is tous. It is holy, and it keeps reminding us of how theone Holy Spirit is present in all the parts of the Body ofChrist. Like blood being pumped by the heart into allmembers of a body, so the fire spreads from Jerusalemto all parts of the Orthodox community, reminding thefaithful of the origins and unity of their faith. It has atremendous uniffing power to the Orthodox commun-ion,'o Metropolitan Timothy concluded.One might ask the question why the Miracle ofthe Holy Fire is hardly known in Western Europe. In theProtestant areas it may be explained by the fact thatthere is little fiaditional teaching regarding miracles;people don't really know how to approach them, andthey don't take up much space in newspapers.The Catholic Church, however, has a long tradi-tion of miracleso so why is the Miraculous Fire not bet-ter known among Western Catholics? One importantreason may be that the ceremony is performed only byOrthodox Christians, on the Orthodox Holy Saturday;hence, Christians of other cofirmunities may consider itan internal Orttrodox affair.

Also, apologetic motives could play a role. SomeOrthodox might insist that the miracle occurs in thepresence of Orthodox Christians because the OrthodoxChurch is the only legitimate Church of Christ in theworld....Taken from the book 'Miracles: Encounters betweenHeaven and Esrth' (in Donish) W Dr Niek ChristianHvi& - no publication details avoilable.

the christian orthodox repeating miracle of the holy fire in jerusalem

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