Where does the descent of the Holy Fire take place? Miracles of the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem

A scandal erupted in the Orthodox world on the eve of Easter. The Armenian priest said that the Holy Fire does not descend to people from heaven, but is lit from an ordinary lamp. According to legend, the absence of this miracle foreshadows the imminent end of the world. What is the meaning of the Holy Fire, whether there is a basis for the priest’s words and how representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church reacted to them - in the material “360”.

The Miracle of the Oil Lamp

The Holy Fire is one of the main miracles for Orthodox Christians, which symbolizes the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is believed that this is a miraculous light, and on the eve of Easter candles and lamps are lit from it in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This is one of the main Easter ceremonies, for which thousands of pilgrims come to Jerusalem. And so one of the priests declared that the miraculous nature of the Holy Fire is a fiction, and there is nothing mystical in it.

The representative of the Armenian Patriarchate in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Samuil Agoyan, spoke on the Israeli TV channel Hadashot 2, the Israel News website reports. The priest stated that he was in the Edicule three times - that is, the chapel where the Holy Sepulcher is located - during the lighting of the Holy Fire. He saw the patriarchs lighting wax candles from an oil lamp. “God works miracles, but not for the amusement of people,” Agoyan said.

These words outraged a representative of the Coptic Church, who was nearby at the time of the interview. The priest accused Agoyan of lying and demanded to stop filming. The Armenian priest retorted that a representative of the Coptic Church cannot know how the descent of the Holy Fire occurs, because the Copts are not present at this sacrament.

“360” talked with the Archpriest of the Russian Orthodox Church, Father Oleg, who explained that Armenians do not enter the place where the Holy Fire descends. They stand only in the Angel's porch - at the pedestal with part of the sacred stone rolled away by the angel. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church are also not present at the lighting of the Holy Fire.

“In general, a miracle is not something decisive in Christianity. A miracle is a crutch for those who doubt. And there is a danger - when people chase miracles, they can run away: when the main miracle worker - the Antichrist - comes, fire will fall from the sky,” the clergyman added.

It is believed that the day when the Holy Fire does not descend will be the last for the people who are in the temple. The temple itself will be destroyed. According to legend, this will also become one of the signs of the approaching end of the world.

Scandal before Easter

The Russian Orthodox Church considered the statement of the Armenian priest a provocation. Deputy Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and the Media Vakhtang Kipshidze told “360” that Agoyan’s words are an attempt on Easter.

We deeply regret that during Lent, when many believers belonging to the Orthodox Church in Russia and other countries are preparing to celebrate the great event of Easter, attempts are being made to compromise the spiritual tradition of the Descent of the Holy Fire. We believe that these attempts result in a disruption of the prayer structure that accompanies many believers during Lent

- Vakhtang Kipshidze.

The archpriest of the Church of Theodore the Studite at the Nikitsky Gate, Vsevolod Chaplin, in a conversation with “360”, said that Agoyan succumbed to the provocation of the Israeli TV channel. According to Chaplin, many want to downplay the significance of the Holy Fire. “There are forces in Israel and in the world who would like to belittle the descent of the Holy Fire in every possible way, but, on the other hand, this is not the first time that some people who serve or previously served in Jerusalem say that the fire is lit from a lamp,” - he said.

He called on the Jerusalem Patriarchate to comment on these rumors and give a clear answer where the Holy Fire comes from.

I am convinced that the miracle took place for many centuries, but if what the Armenian cleric said is true, and what I heard regarding the lighting of the Holy Fire from some people who served in Jerusalem is true, then a very serious question arises: did it take away Does our Lord have this miracle, seeing how the world retreats from him. If indeed the Holy Fire does not descend for many years, it means that something is wrong with our world, which means that God’s mercy is being taken away from it.<…>If a miracle is taken away from us, then our world is doomed

- Vsevolod Chaplin.

What is the Holy Fire?

The descent of the Holy Fire takes place on Holy Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. This is a symbolic image of the passion of Christ, the Burial and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The ceremony is conducted by priests of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church, the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, representatives of the Syrian and Coptic churches.

On the eve of the sacrament, all candles and lamps in the church are extinguished, and shortly before the arrival of the patriarch, the main lamp is brought in. The Holy Fire and 33 candles should burn in it. The number of candles is equal to the age of Christ.

Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family Issues Dmitry Smirnov told “360” how the sacrament of the descent of the Holy Fire occurs and what events accompany it.

Those priests whom I know well, who were there on Holy Saturday, observed the following phenomenon: fire appeared in the atmosphere of the Edicule in the form of lightning and radiance. And we observed the self-lighting of candles. This is not every year, but it was told by those who went to Jerusalem for Easter. The fire was not just local at one point, but throughout the entire temple

Dmitry Smirnov.

Orthodox Christians come from all over the world to meet the Holy Fire. Near the Edicule, they, together with the clergy, are waiting for the patriarch to come out with fire. Having appeared, he distributes the flame from his candle. It is believed that for the first few minutes the fire does not burn or scorch the hair, so believers seem to wash themselves with it.

Later, the Holy Fire is delivered by plane to Orthodox countries, where it is greeted with honor and used at Easter services.

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For nearly two thousand years, Orthodox Christians have been celebrating their greatest holiday - the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

Every time, everyone who is inside and nearby the Temple witnesses the descent of the Holy Fire on Easter.

The Holy Fire has been appearing in the temple for more than a millennium. The earliest mentions of the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ are found in Gregory of Nyssa, Eusebius and Silvia of Aquitaine and date back to the 4th century. They also contain descriptions of earlier convergences. According to the testimony of the Apostles and Holy Fathers, the uncreated Light illuminated the Holy Sepulcher shortly after the Resurrection of Christ, which one of the Apostles saw: “Peter presented himself to the Sepulcher and the light in vain was horrified in the tomb,” writes St. John of Damascus. Eusebius Pamphilus narrates in his “Church History” that when one day there was not enough lamp oil, Patriarch Narcissus (2nd century) blessed to pour water from the Pool of Siloam into the lamps, and the fire that came down from heaven lit the lamps, which then burned throughout the entire Easter service .

The litany (church ceremony) of the Holy Fire begins approximately one day before the start of Orthodox Easter. Pilgrims begin to gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, wanting to see with their own eyes the descent of the Holy Fire. Among those present there are always many heterodox Christians, Muslims, and atheists; the ceremony is monitored by the Jewish police. The temple itself can accommodate up to 10 thousand people, the entire area in front of it and the enfilade of surrounding buildings are also filled with people - the number of people willing is much greater than the capacity of the temple, so it can be difficult for pilgrims.

A lamp filled with oil, but without fire, is placed in the middle of the bed of the Life-Giving Sepulcher. Pieces of cotton wool are laid out throughout the bed, and tape is laid along the edges. Thus prepared, after inspection by the Turkish guards, and now by the Jewish police, the Edicule (Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher) is closed and sealed by the local Muslim key keeper.

Before the descent, the temple begins to be illuminated by bright flashes of the Holy Light, small lightning flashes here and there. In slow motion, it is clearly visible that they come from different places in the temple - from the icon hanging above the Edicule, from the dome of the Temple, from the windows and from other places, and fill everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and walls of the temple, quite visible lightning flashes, which often pass through standing people without any harm.

A moment later, the entire temple turns out to be surrounded by lightning and glare, which snake down its walls and columns, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple and spreading across the square among the pilgrims. At the same time, the candles of those standing in the temple and in the square are lit, and the lamps located on the sides of the Edicule are lit (with the exception of 13 Catholic ones). The temple or its individual places are filled with an unparalleled radiance, which is believed to have first appeared during the Resurrection of Christ. At the same time, the doors of the Tomb open and the Orthodox Patriarch emerges, blessing those gathered and distributing the Holy Fire.

How does the Holy Fire light up in the Holy Sepulcher?

"...The most vivid description dates back to 1892, where a wonderful picture of the ignition of the Holy Fire is given from the words of the Patriarch. He said that sometimes, entering the Edicule, and not having time to read the prayer, he already saw how the marble coffin slab was covered with small multi-colored beads that looked like small pearls. And the stove itself began to emit an even light. The Patriarch swept away these pearls with a piece of cotton wool, which merged like drops of oil. He felt the warmth in the cotton wool, and touched the wick of the candle with it. The wick flared up, like gunpowder - the candle caught fire. On The slab is first covered with cotton wool.According to eyewitnesses, this is sometimes done by non-believers to eliminate doubts on this matter.

There is also other evidence. The Metropolitan of Trans-Jordan, who received the Holy Fire more than once, said that when he entered the Edicule, the lamp standing on the Tomb was burning. And sometimes - no, then he fell and with tears began to ask for mercy from God, and when he rose, the lamp was already burning. From it he lit two bunches of candles, carried them out and gave the fire to the people waiting for him. But he himself never saw the fire light up.

After the Patriarch leaves the Edicule, or rather he is taken to the Altar, the people rush inside the Tomb to venerate. The whole slab is wet, as if it had been wet by rain.” Excerpt taken from the book: Holy Fire over the Holy Sepulcher, 1991.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire does not burn for the first minutes after the descent. Here's what they write:

“Yes, and I, a sinful slave from the Metropolitan’s hands, lit 20 candles in one place and burned my candles with all those candles, and not a single hair curled or burned; and having extinguished all the candles and then lit them from other people, I warmed those candles, so and on the third day I too lit those candles, and then without touching anything, not a single hair was scorched or writhed, and I am damned, not believing that the heavenly fire and the message of God, and so I lit my candles three times and extinguished, and before “The Metropolitan and before all the Greeks said goodbye to the fact that he blasphemed God’s power and called heavenly fire, that the Greeks are doing sorcery, not God’s creation; and the Metropolitan blessed me with all his forgiveness and blessings.” The life and journey to Jerusalem and Egypt of Kazan resident Vasily Yakovlevich Gagara (1634-1637).

"Father Georgy films everything with a video camera, takes photographs. I also take several pictures. We have ten packs of candles prepared with us. I extend my hand with candles to the burning bundles in people’s hands, light them. I scoop up this flame with my palm, it is large, warm, light - light yellow, I hold my hand on fire - it doesn’t burn! I bring it to my face, the flame licks my beard, nose, eyes, I feel only warmth and a gentle touch - it doesn’t burn!!!" Priest from Novosibirsk.

“It’s amazing... At first, the Fire doesn’t burn, it’s just warm. They wash themselves with it, rub it over the face, apply it to the chest - and nothing. There was a case when one nun’s apostolate caught fire, and there was no trace left. Another burned through her cassock. She carried it home with a hole, but when I came, there was no hole.” Archimandrite Bartholomew (Kalugin), monk of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1983.

“I try to take Fire in my palm and find that it is material. You can touch it, in your palm it feels like a material substance, it is soft, neither hot nor cold.” Parishioner of the Church of St. Nicholas in Biryulyovo Natalia.

The people who are in the temple at this time are overwhelmed with an indescribable and incomparable in its depth feeling of joy and spiritual peace. According to those who visited the square and the temple itself when the fire descended, the depth of feelings overwhelming the people at that moment was fantastic - eyewitnesses left the temple as if born again, as they themselves say - spiritually cleansed and cleared of sight.

Many non-Orthodox people, when they first hear about the Holy Fire, try to reproach the Orthodox: how do you know that it was given to you? What if he was received by a representative of another Christian denomination? However, attempts to forcefully challenge the right to receive the Holy Fire from representatives of other faiths have happened more than once.

The most significant incident occurred in 1579. The owners of the Temple of the Lord are simultaneously representatives of several Christian Churches. The priests of the Armenian Church, contrary to tradition, managed to bribe Sultan Murat the Truthful and the local mayor to allow them to individually celebrate Easter and receive the Holy Fire. At the call of the Armenian clergy, many of their co-religionists came to Jerusalem from all over the Middle East to celebrate Easter alone. The Orthodox, together with Patriarch Sophrony IV, were removed not only from the edicule, but also from the Temple in general. There, at the entrance to the shrine, they remained to pray for the descent of the Fire, grieving over their separation from Grace. The Armenian Patriarch prayed for about a day, however, despite his prayer efforts, no miracle followed. At one moment, a ray struck from the sky, as usually happens during the descent of Fire, and hit the column at the entrance, next to which the Orthodox Patriarch was located. Splashes of fire splashed out from it in all directions and a candle was lit by the Orthodox Patriarch, who passed on the Holy Fire to his co-religionists. This was the only case in history when the descent took place outside the Temple, actually through the prayers of the Orthodox, and not the Armenian high priest. “Everyone rejoiced, and the Orthodox Arabs began to jump for joy and shout: “You are our one God, Jesus Christ, our one true faith is the faith of Orthodox Christians,” writes monk Parfeniy. At the same time, in the enfilades of buildings adjacent to the temple square there were Turkish soldiers. One of them, named Omir (Anvar), seeing what was happening, exclaimed: “One Orthodox faith, I am a Christian" and jumped down onto the stone slabs from a height of about 10 meters. However, the young man did not crash - the slabs under his feet melted like wax, capturing his traces.For the adoption of Christianity, Muslims executed the brave Anwar and tried to scrape off the traces that so clearly testified to the triumph of Orthodoxy, but they failed, and those who come to the Temple can still see them, as well as the dissected column at the door of the temple. The body of the martyr was burned, but the Greeks collected the remains, which until the end of the 19th century were in the convent of Great Panagia, exuding fragrance.

The Turkish authorities were very angry with the arrogant Armenians, and at first they even wanted to execute the hierarch, but later they had mercy and decided to edify him about what happened at the Easter ceremony to always follow the Orthodox Patriarch and henceforth not take direct part in receiving the Holy Fire. Although the government has long since changed, the custom continues to this day.

The Holy Fire is the greatest miracle of God for all people. For believers - indescribable bliss and joy in Christ, for non-believers - the opportunity to see and believe!

The Descent of the Holy Fire is a miracle that occurs every year on the eve of Orthodox Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. In 2018, Orthodox Christians celebrate the Holy Resurrection of Christ on April 8.

On Holy Saturday, tens of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world flock to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher to wash themselves with its blessed light and receive God's blessing.

Not only Orthodox Christians, but also representatives of various faiths are excitedly awaiting the greatest miracle.
For many hundreds of years, people have been trying to understand where the Holy Fire comes from. Believers are sure that this is a real miracle – God’s gift to people. Scientists do not agree with this statement and try to find an explanation for this phenomenon from a scientific point of view.

Holy Fire
According to many testimonies, both ancient and modern, the appearance of the Holy Light can be observed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher throughout the year, but the most famous and impressive is the miraculous descent of the Holy Fire on Holy Saturday, on the eve of the Holy Resurrection of Christ.

Throughout almost the entire existence of Christianity, this miraculous phenomenon has been observed annually by both Orthodox Christians and representatives of other Christian faiths (Catholics, Armenians, Copts and others), as well as representatives of other non-Christian religions.

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulcher has been known since ancient times; the fire that descended has a unique property - it does not burn in the first minutes.
The first witness to the descent of the fire was the Apostle Peter - having learned about the Resurrection of the Savior, he hurried to the tomb and saw an amazing light where the body had previously lay. For two thousand years this light has descended every year on the Holy Sepulcher as the Holy Fire.

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was erected by Emperor Constantine and his mother Queen Helena in the 4th century. And the earliest written mentions of the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ date back to the 4th century.

The temple with its huge roof covers Golgotha, the cave in which the Lord was laid down from the cross, and the garden where Mary Magdalene was the first of the people to meet His resurrection.

Convergence
At approximately noon, a procession led by the Patriarch leaves the courtyard of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The procession enters the Church of the Resurrection, heads to the chapel erected over the Holy Sepulcher, and, having walked around it three times, stops in front of its gates.

All the lights in the temple have been extinguished. Tens of thousands of people: Arabs, Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Jews, Germans, British - pilgrims from all over the world - watch the Patriarch in tense silence.

The Patriarch is unmasked, the police carefully search him and the Holy Sepulcher itself, looking for at least something that can produce fire (during Turkish rule over Jerusalem, Turkish gendarmes did this), and in one long flowing tunic, the Primate of the Church enters.

Kneeling in front of the Tomb, he prays to God to send down the Holy Fire. Sometimes his prayer lasts a long time, but there is an interesting feature - the Holy Fire descends only through the prayers of the Orthodox Patriarch.

And suddenly, on the marble slab of the coffin, fiery dew appears in the form of bluish balls. His Holiness touches them with cotton wool, and it ignites. With this cool fire, the Patriarch lights the lamp and candles, which he then takes into the temple and hands over to the Armenian Patriarch, and then to the people. At the same moment, tens and hundreds of bluish lights flash in the air under the dome of the temple.

It’s hard to imagine the jubilation that filled the crowd of thousands. People shout, sing, the fire is transferred from one bunch of candles to another, and a minute later the whole temple is on fire.

Miracle or trick
This wonderful phenomenon at different times had many critics who tried to expose and prove the artificial origin of fire. The Catholic Church was also among those who disagreed. In particular, Pope Gregory IX in 1238 disagreed about the miraculous nature of the Holy Fire.

Not understanding the true origin of the Holy Fire, some Arabs tried to prove that the Fire was allegedly produced using any means, substances and devices, but they had no direct evidence. At the same time, they did not even witness this miracle.

Modern researchers have also tried to study the nature of this phenomenon. In their opinion, it is possible to produce fire artificially. Spontaneous combustion of chemical mixtures and substances is also possible.

But none of them are similar to the appearance of the Holy Fire, especially with its amazing property of not burning in the first minutes of its appearance.
Theological scholars and representatives of various faiths, including the Orthodox Church, have repeatedly stated that the burning of candles and lamps in the Temple from the supposed “sacred fire” is a falsification.

The most famous statements in the middle of the last century were made by professor of the Leningrad Theological Academy Nikolai Uspensky, who believed that in the Edicule the fire is lit from a secret hidden lamp, the light of which does not penetrate into the open space of the Temple, where all the candles and lamps are extinguished at this time.

At the same time, Uspensky argued that “the fire lit on the Holy Sepulcher from a hidden lamp is still sacred fire, received from a sacred place.”

Russian physicist Andrei Volkov allegedly managed to take some measurements at the Holy Fire ceremony several years ago. According to Volkov, a few minutes before the removal of the Holy Fire from Edicule, a device recording the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation detected a strange long-wave pulse in the temple, which no longer appeared. That is, an electrical discharge occurred.

In the meantime, scientists are trying to find scientific confirmation of this phenomenon, and in contrast to the complete lack of evidence of the skeptics’ statements, the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire is an annually observed fact.

The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire is available to everyone. It can be seen not only by tourists and pilgrims - it takes place in front of the whole world and is regularly broadcast on television and the Internet, on the website of the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate.

Every year, several thousand people present in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher see: the Patriarch, whose clothes were specially inspected, entered the Edicule, which had been checked and sealed. He came out of it with a burning torch of 33 candles and this is an indisputable fact.
Therefore, the answer to the question of where the Holy Fire comes from can only be one answer - it is a miracle, and everything else is just unconfirmed speculation.

And in conclusion, the Holy Fire confirms the promise of the Risen Christ to the apostles: “I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

It is believed that when the Heavenly Fire does not descend on the Holy Sepulcher, this will be a sign of the onset of the power of the Antichrist and the imminent end of the world.

Non-burning “holy” fire in your apartment

Learn chemistry... :)

Initially, the ceremony dedicated to the so-called. The Holy Fire was celebrated at night from Saturday to Sunday. Constant fights between believers forced the Muslim authorities in Jerusalem to move the divine miracle from night time to day time. Prof. AA Dmitrievsky, referring to prof. AA Olesnitsky writes: “Once upon a time, the festival of fire at the Holy Sepulcher was connected directly with Easter Matins, but due to some disturbances that occurred during this celebration, at the request of the local authorities, it was moved to the previous day” (*_*).
In ancient times, the first whistleblowers (devout Muslims) did not particularly bother themselves with serious research work. They believed that fire appears with the help of a special device filled with compounds for spontaneous combustion.
This is how the 12th century historian Ibn al-Kalanisi described this technology: “When they are there on Easter... they hang lamps in the altar and arrange a trick so that the fire reaches them through the oil of balsam wood and devices made from it, and its property is the appearance of fire when combined with jasmine oil. It has a bright light and brilliant shine. They manage to pass a stretched iron wire like a thread between neighboring lamps, running continuously from one to another, and rub it with balsam oil, hiding it from view, until the thread passes to all the lamps” (*_*).

According to Islamic writers, there is an agreement between Muslim authorities and priests on mutually beneficial cooperation and fair distribution of funds received from donations from pilgrims. So al-Jaubari (d. 1242) writes: “Al-Melik al-Mu'azzam, the son of al-Melik al-Adil entered the Church of the Resurrection on the day of the Sabbath of Light and said to the monk (attached) to it: “I will not leave until I see this light go away." The monk said to him: “Which is more pleasing to the king: this wealth that flows to you in this way, or familiarity with this (business)? If I reveal its secret to you, then the government will lose this money; leave it hidden and receive this great wealth.” . When the ruler heard this, he understood the hidden essence of the matter and left him in his previous position” (*_*).

The income from the miracle is really big, prof. Dmitrievsky writes: “...Palestine feeds almost exclusively on the gifts that are brought to it by the admirers of the holy tomb from Europe. Thus, the Feast of the Holy Sepulcher is a holiday of happiness and prosperity of the country” (*_*). Muslims even thought of charging an entrance fee to an Orthodox church, a truly unique case. By the way, tickets are still being sold, only the profit goes to the Israeli treasury (*_*).
Around the 13th century, the ceremony of finding BO underwent an important change; if earlier fire was expected outside the Edicule and its appearance was judged by the white flash of light coming out from there, then after the 13th century they began to enter inside the Edicule to find fire. All past revelations talking about a special mechanism have lost their relevance. However, after such a change, the priests were very quickly caught in the act by a meticulous Muslim researcher (Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256)), who decided to independently find out how fire appears: “I lived in Jerusalem for ten years and went to the Temple of the Resurrection on their Easter and other days. I researched how the lamp is lit on Sunday - the festival of light. (...) When the sun sets and it becomes dark, one of the priests takes advantage of his inattention, opens a niche in the corner of the chapel, where no one can see him, lights his candle from one of the lamps and exclaims: “The light has come and Christ has had mercy.”. ." (*_*).

In other words, the fire is lit from a lamp hidden in a niche behind the icon. Naturally, such a trifle did not touch the greedy hearts of the local rulers, and this revelation was simply forgotten. The presence of niches behind icons is no longer a secret; they can even be seen in photographs of pilgrims posing against the backdrop of the slab of the Holy Sepulcher.

In principle, with some exceptions, Muslims did not doubt the fraud in connection with BO; only greed and other vices, the required funding, allowed them to calmly coexist with their religious competitors. In rare cases, when fanaticism and pure faith prevailed, the Muslims did not bother themselves with revelations, but simply destroyed the temple on the basis of suspicion alone, which, as we know among fanatics, is the queen of evidence (*_*).

The next exposer of the BO fraud was Polotsk Archbishop Melety Smotrytsky. His tossing soul tried to try on Catholics and Orthodox, which led him to the union. The devil pulled him to visit Jerusalem and join in the sacrament of the appearance of the Holy Fire to strengthen the Orthodox faith. To his former teacher, the Patriarch of Constantinople Cyril Lucaris in 1627, he writes: “Your Eminence, probably remember that I once asked you why your predecessor Meletius wrote against the new Roman calendar and tried to prove the superiority of the old before a new one, cites various miracles to confirm his opinion, not excluding those that are no longer repeated, but does not mention at all about this famous, annual miracle in Jerusalem? Your Eminence answered this question to me in the presence of two of your household dignitaries, protosyncellus Hieromonk Leontius and archdeacon Patriarch of Alexandria, that if this miracle had really happened in our time, then all the Turks would have believed in Jesus Christ long ago.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, the same one who takes this fire, takes it out and distributes it to the people, spoke even more harshly about this. Thus, it is sad to say that our Orthodox co-religionists, regarding this miraculous fire, which once really appeared, but now, for our sins, has ceased to appear, prefer to be at one with the heretics, such as the Eutychians, Dioscorites and Jacobites, rather than with the Catholics, who are the miracle of this They are not allowed for very respectful reasons, especially when they see what the Abyssinian heretics are doing at the tomb at that time. This is what worries me, these are the four worms that, having sunk into my soul during my stay in the East, still do not stop sharpening and gnawing at it"(*_*).
Throughout all the centuries of the existence of the miracle of BO, Christians could not calmly perform this ritual without hurting each other’s faces. This shame is even recorded in Mark Twain’s book, “Innocents Abroad”: “Every Christian sect (with the exception of Protestants) under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has its own special chapels, and no one dares to cross the boundaries of other people’s possessions. It has long been and definitively proven that Christians are not able to pray peacefully all together at the tomb of the Savior" (*_*).

Not only ordinary priests fight, but also the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite who entered the Edicule to wait for the fire (). Because of this, the Israeli authorities decided that at the moment of the fire, an Israeli policeman must be present in the Edicule to maintain order; in one of the videos, it is seen how a policeman first enters the Edicule, then the Greek patriarch, and then the Armenian archimandrite ( Video, 1.20-1.28). In a word, they were outrageous.

It was the outrages in the temple that caused the loudest revelation of the Holy Fire.
In 1834, a fight in the temple escalated into a brutal massacre, in which the Turkish army had to intervene. About 300 pilgrims died (*_*). The English traveler left memories of a conversation with the local chief Ibrahim Pasha, which describes the ruler’s determination to publicly expose this deception, but also his fear that this action could be perceived as oppression of Christians in the holy land (*_*)
We learn about the actions taken by Ibrahim Pasha after 15 years from the diaries of a prominent scientist and leader of the Orthodox Church, founder of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem, Bishop Porfiry (Uspensky). Porfiry kept a diary, where he recorded his impressions of events of historical scale, thoughts on abstract topics, descriptions of monuments and various little things. They were published in 8 volumes by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at the expense of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society under the editorship of P. A. Syrku after the death of Uspensky, the third volume was published in 1896. Here's the exact quote:

“In that year, when the famous lord of Syria and Palestine Ibrahim, Pasha of Egypt, was in Jerusalem, it turned out that the fire received from the Holy Sepulcher on Holy Saturday is not a blessed fire, but a kindled one, just as any fire is kindled. This Pasha decided to make sure whether the fire really suddenly and miraculously appeared on the lid of the Tomb of Christ or was lit by a sulfur match. What did he do? He announced to the patriarch’s governors that he wanted to sit in the edicule itself while receiving the fire and vigilantly watch how he appears, and added that in case of truth they would be given 5,000 pungs (2,500,000 piastres), and in case of lies, let them give him everything money collected from deceived fans, and that he will publish in all the newspapers of Europe about the vile forgery. The governors of Petro-Arabia, Misail, and Metropolitan Daniel of Nazareth, and Bishop Dionysius of Philadelphia (currently of Bethlehem) came together to consult what to do. During the minutes of deliberation, Misail admitted that he was lighting a fire in a cuvuklia from a lamp hidden behind a moving marble icon of the Resurrection of Christ, which is near the Holy Sepulcher. After this confession, it was decided to humbly ask Ibrahim not to interfere in religious affairs and a dragoman of the Holy Sepulcher monastery was sent to him, who pointed out to him that there was no benefit for his lordship to reveal the secrets of Christian worship and that the Russian Emperor Nicholas would be very dissatisfied with the discovery of these secrets. Ibrahim Pasha, having heard this, waved his hand and fell silent. But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believed in the miraculous appearance of fire. Having told all this, the Metropolitan said that God alone is expected to stop (our) pious lies. As he knows and can, he will calm the peoples who now believe in the fiery miracle of the Great Saturday. But we cannot even begin this revolution in minds; we will be torn to pieces right at the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. “We,” he continued, “notified Patriarch Athanasius, who was then living in Constantinople, about Ibrahim Pasha’s harassment, but in our message to him we wrote instead of “holy light,” “sanctified fire.” Surprised by this change, the most blessed elder asked us: “Why did you start calling the holy fire differently?” We revealed to him the real truth, but added that the fire lit on the Holy Sepulcher from a hidden lamp is still sacred fire, received from a sacred place” (*_*).

In this post, it is important to pay attention to the following points:
1. The recognition was made in a close circle of the highest hierarchs of the Orthodox Church.
2. A direct participant in the events told Uspensky what happened. An eyewitness to the confession of forgery.
3. Ibrahim was threatened with aggravation of relations with Russia. Let me note that the Crimean War showed how dangerous it is for the authorities to interfere in the religious life of the Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.
4. “But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believed in the miraculous appearance of fire.” This means that the result of the recognition was the loss of faith in the miracle of the Holy Sepulcher clergy. Bishop Porfiry himself has already witnessed this.
After 500 years, nothing has changed. The same lamp behind the icon.
Several decades later, doubt spread beyond Palestine, as the famous orientalist I. Yu. Krachkovsky writes in 1914:
“The best representatives of theological thought in the East also notice the interpretation of the miracle that Prof. allows. A. Olesnitsky and A. Dmitrievsky talk about “the triumph of the consecration of fire at the Holy Sepulcher”” (*_*).

The most complete Orthodox criticism of BO was revealed by an outstanding figure of the Orthodox Church, professor of the Leningrad Theological Academy ND Uspensky (a student of Dmitrievsky AA) and reported at a church meeting in an assembly speech on October 9, 1949. Having analyzed ancient evidence, Uspensky comes to the following conclusion:
“Your Eminence, Your Eminence, dear colleagues and dear guests! (...) We can agree with the explanation of Metropolitan Dionysius of Bethlehem, “that the fire lit on the Holy Sepulcher from a hidden lamp is still sacred fire, received from a sacred place,” and add our own to these words of the Vicar of the Patriarch of Jerusalem “that for us this fire is, was and will be sacred also because it preserves the ancient Christian and universal tradition” ().
A former professor at the Leningrad Theological Academy, who broke with religion and became one of the most prominent atheists and critics of religion, A. A. Osipov, left notes on the reaction to this report by the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Having studied ancient manuscripts and texts, books and testimonies of pilgrims,” writes A. A. Osipov about Uspensky, “he proved with exhaustive accuracy that there was never any “miracle”, but there was and is an ancient symbolic rite of burning over the coffin by the clergy themselves Lamps. (...) And as a result of this whole matter, the now deceased Metropolitan of Leningrad Gregory, also a man with a theological degree, gathered a number of theologians of Leningrad and told them (many of my former colleagues probably remember): “I also know that this is only a legend ! What... (here he named the author of the speech and research by name and patronymic) is absolutely right! But don’t touch the pious legends, otherwise faith itself will fall! ”(*_*).

Before continuing with further revelations, I want to describe the sequence of actions during the ceremony.

1. They examine the Edicule (two priests and a representative of the authorities).


2. The entrance doors of Edicule are sealed with a large wax seal.


3. The keeper of the coffin appears and brings a large, capped lamp inside the coffin. The seal is removed in front of him and he goes inside Kuklii, and after a few minutes he comes out.


4. A solemn procession appears, led by the Greek patriarch, and circles the Edicule three times. The patriarch is stripped of his robes of patriarchal dignity and he, together with the Armenian archimandrite (and the Israeli policeman) enters the Edicule.


5. After 5-10 minutes, the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite come out with fire (before this they managed to distribute fire through the windows of the Edicule).

So, after the search and before entering the Edicule of the Patriarch, a priest enters there with a lamp (perhaps the same one that is unquenchable) and places it on the coffin (or in a niche behind the icon), which is uncertain.

As I already noted, the Armenian archimandrite enters the Edicule. Although in his recent interview this Armenian church leader did not directly talk about the forgery, he noted an important fact.
“Tell me, how do you pray? Is this a special prayer according to a prayer book, or an impromptu prayer, the one that comes from the soul? How does the Greek Patriarch pray?
- Yes, the prayer is read according to the prayer book. But, in addition to the prayers from the prayer book, I also offer my heartfelt prayer. At the same time, we have a special prayer for this day, which I recite by heart. The Greek patriarch reads his prayer from a book, this is also a special prayer for the Ceremony of Light.
- But how do you read prayers from a prayer book if it’s dark there?
- Yes. It’s not easy to read because of the darkness” ().
Indeed, it is impossible to read without light; there must be a source.
To correctly understand this hint, you can turn to the information disseminated by another priest of the Armenian Church, the abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Archangels (AAC) Hieromonk Ghevond Hovhannisyan, who was present at the ceremony of consecrating the fire for 12 years, and is personally acquainted with the priests of the Armenian Apostolic Church entering inside the Edicule for consecration of the fire together with the Greek patriarch. He's writing:
“By one o’clock in the afternoon the doors of the Coffin are sealed with wax. Where there are 2 clergymen: an Armenian and a Greek. By two o'clock, the doors are torn off and the Greeks bring in a closed (lit) Lamp and place it on the Tomb. After which the procession of the Greeks around the Tomb begins, on the 3rd circle the Armenian archimandrite joins them and together they move towards the doors. The Greek patriarch enters first, followed by the Armenian. And both enter the Tomb, where both kneel down and pray together. After the first, the Greek lights the candle from the lit lamp, and then the Armenian. Both go and serve candles to the people through the holes, the first to emerge from the coffin is the Greek, followed by the Armenian, who is carried in his arms to our abbot’s room” (). You can chat with Ghevond in his LiveJournal.
It remains to be stated that the Armenian church, although a direct participant in the ceremony, does not support the belief in the miraculous appearance of fire.
The words of Patriarch Theophilus about the Holy Fire are interesting:
“Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem: This is a very ancient, very special and unique ceremony Jerusalem Church. This ceremony of the Holy Fire takes place only here in Jerusalem. And this happens thanks to the very Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you know, this Holy Fire ceremony is, so to speak, an enactment that represents the first good news, the first resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This representation- like all sacred ceremonies. It's like our burial ceremony on Good Friday, isn't it? How we bury the Lord, etc.
So, this ceremony is taking place in a holy place, and all the other Eastern Churches that share the Holy Sepulcher would like to take part in this. People like Armenians, Copts, Syrians come to us and receive our blessing, because they want to receive the Fire from the Patriarch.
Now, the second part of your question is actually about us. This is an experience, which, if you like, is similar to the experience that a person experiences when he receives Holy Communion. What happens there also applies to the Holy Fire ceremony. This means that a certain experience cannot be explained or expressed in words. Therefore, everyone who takes part in this ceremony - priests or laymen, or laywomen - each has their own indescribable experience.”
Protodeacon A. Kuraev commented on his words:
“His answer about the Holy Fire was no less frank: “This is a ceremony that is a representation, like all other ceremonies of Holy Week. Just as the Easter message from the Tomb once shone and illuminated the whole world, so now in this ceremony we perform a representation of how the news of the Resurrection from Kuvukpia spread throughout the world.” There was neither the word “miracle”, nor the word “convergence”, nor the words “Holy Fire” in his speech. He probably couldn’t have said more frankly about the lighter in his pocket” (). A real political struggle unfolded around these words of the patriarch, including a new “interview” with Theophilus, where he, using quotes from articles by Russian apologists of the Holy Fire, confirms the miraculous nature of fire. Kuraev declared this material to be fake. Details of this story have been collected.

By the way, during the gift between the Armenian priest and the Greek patriarch, the Armenian’s candles were extinguished inside the Edicule and he had to light them with a lighter (*_*). So rumors that the Armenians will not be able to get fire on their own are baseless.

Indirect evidence of the kindling of fire from the already burning lamp is the text of the patriarch’s prayer, which he reads inside the Edicule. This text is discussed in the article “The Myth and Reality of the Holy Fire” by Protopresbyter George Tsetsis:
“..The prayer that the patriarch offers before lighting the holy Edicule is completely clear and does not allow for any misinterpretation.
The Patriarch does not pray for a miracle to happen.
He only “remembers” the sacrifice and three-day resurrection of Christ and, turning to Him, says: “Having reverently accepted this kindled (*******) fire on Your luminous Tomb, we distribute the true light to those who believe, and we pray to You, You showed him the gift of sanctification."
The following happens: the patriarch lights his candle from the unquenchable lamp, which is located on the Holy Sepulchre. Just like every patriarch and every cleric on the day of Easter, when he receives the light of Christ from the unquenchable lamp, which is on the holy throne, symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher” (*_*).

Wonderful flashes, non-burning fire, spontaneous combustion of candles.
Thanks to cinema, we can see everything that happens with our own eyes. Unlike pilgrims, who are in a crowd and find it difficult to distinguish anything, we will be shown everything from the most advantageous positions, we can re-watch interesting moments, and even in slow motion. I have at my disposal 7 recordings of video broadcasts, two Orthodox films of not very good quality and a high-quality secular film about the Holy Fire. That is, 10 films about 9 ceremonies. At various forums where I participated in discussions about the Holy Fire, I asked to see video materials proving the miraculous spontaneous combustion of candles or the non-burning properties of fire. No one has ever managed to do this.

Unburning Fire.

Pilgrims write in their testimonies that the fire does not burn for a period of time, which lasts from 5 minutes to several months. You can find evidence in which pilgrims tell how the Holy Fire brought to Moscow (their temple) still did not burn, or how they washed themselves with the Holy Fire when visiting Jerusalem in winter. Mostly they write about not burning the Holy Fire during the first 5 - 10 minutes. A huge number of videos watched of pilgrims washing themselves with fire show that they simply move their hands through the fire, scoop fire with their hands, or move fire in front of their face and beard. The same thing is easy to repeat using a burning bunch of candles with regular fire (as I do). By the way, the wicks of the Holy Fire candles are lit quite easily, which would be strange if the fire were warm.

LiveJournal user Andronic (andronic) wrote about an interesting experiment @ 2007-04-08 07:40:00:
“Yesterday, on the daily news on NTV, a few minutes after the descent of the Holy Fire, Evgeniy Sandro, live, slowly moved his hand in the candle flame and confirmed that it practically does not burn. I became interested, and at midnight, when my wife, at the start of the procession of the Cross (where I went with her “for company”), lit a Jerusalem thirty-three candle bundle in front of the church, I also put my hand into the fire, and slowly stirred it there too. Although this flame was not lit from the Holy Fire, the hand did not immediately become hot. I repeated Sandro’s trick a couple more times, and was so carried away that I did not notice how my actions attracted the attention of those around me who came to the Easter procession. The believers ran up, began to light their candles from our thirty-three candlestick, joyfully thrust their hands into its flame and shouted “It doesn’t burn!” It doesn’t burn!” Some tried to “catch” the fire, like water, with their hands folded into a “ladle” and wash themselves with it. The influx of people wishing to take part in the miracle was so great that we could not move and the procession left without us. Thus, I unwittingly became the culprit of an outbreak of religious enthusiasm. It is curious that the “affection” of fire towards those who partake of it depended in a rather amusing way on the degree of faith. Those who doubted it cautiously brought their palms to the upper tip of the flame and fearfully pulled it back. The enthusiastic ones (like me before) boldly put their hands directly into the center of the flame, where the temperature of the fire is significantly lower, and did not get burned. As a result, everyone received it according to faith”().

Of all that I have seen, and this is about a hundred washings with the Holy Fire, I can repeat all the washings with fire, except one. In only one video, the pilgrim held his hand over the Holy Fire for a full 2.2 seconds, which is difficult to repeat without getting burned. My record is 1.6 seconds.
Two explanations for this case can be put forward: firstly, religious ecstasy allows one to reduce pain sensitivity. Many have seen how people in a state of religious stupefaction beat themselves with iron-tipped whips, crucify their bodies and commit many other disgusting acts, while their faces are illuminated by grace. Hence the pilgrims do not feel the burning properties of the fire. The second explanation is a draft in the temple. Thanks to the wind, the flame is deflected and an air cushion is created between the hand and the fire; if you “catch the wind,” you can simulate holding your hand over the fire for 3 seconds.
I spoke with many pilgrims who attended the ceremony and not all of them testify to the burning flame:

Hieromonk Flavian (Matveev):
“Unfortunately, it sets fire. In 2004, an acquaintance of mine, literally five minutes after receiving the fire of the flame (we didn’t even leave the temple), tried to “wash ourselves with fire.” The beard seemed to be small, but it began to flare up noticeably. I had to shout at him to put it out. I had a video camera in my hands, so this sad incident remained documented. (...) He himself took an example from others, held his hand over the fire. Fire like fire. It burns!” (The post was deleted from the forum).

Solovyov Igor, Orthodox Christian (novice):
“I don’t know how much time passed since the Holy Fire descended, but when the fire reached me and I tried whether it burned or not, I singed the hair on my arm and felt a burning sensation. (...) In my opinion, the burning sensation was normal. From our group, some people were quite close to the Holy Sepulcher, but none of them said that fire does not burn” ().

Alexander Gagin, Orthodox Christian:
“When the fire went down and it was handed over to us (a few minutes later), it burned as usual, I didn’t notice anything special, I didn’t see any men putting their beards into the fire for a long time” ().

In the article “In Defense of the Holy Fire,” Y. Maksimov writes:
“If we look at least at the video footage posted online, we will see, for example, that in one case a pilgrim holds his hand in the flame from a whole bunch of candles for three seconds, in the second case another pilgrim holds his hand over the flame for five seconds, but the third shot where another elderly pilgrim holds his hand in the flame for five seconds" ().

However, in the video offered in the text of the article, people just pass their hands through the fire, but do not hold parts of their body over the fire for 2 or 3 or 5 seconds. At the Orthodox forum of A. Kuraev, this point was raised in a topic with the same article title, and an Orthodox Christian was the first to draw attention to this discrepancy when he bothered to check Maksimov’s words (). It’s amazing how an Orthodox apologist can present video fragments that do not correspond to the caption in the article, and this can be easily found out by just watching the video. Why do people so easily accept words without checking?

Wonderful flashes.
There are dozens of journalists with special equipment for taking photographs in darkened rooms and hundreds of amateur photographers in the temple. That's why there are a lot of flashbulbs there. Typically, on a high-quality video, the flash trail is 1 - 2 frames long and has a white or slightly bluish color. In 5 well-made live broadcasts, and in a secular film, all the flashes of light are exactly like that. On video of poorer quality, color may vary depending on defects in video setup, development quality and video processing features. As a result, flashes in different videos will appear different colors. The worse the quality of the video, the more varied in time and color the flash can be displayed on it. It is interesting that the criteria put forward by apologists for distinguishing a flash from a photographic flash fit into the possibilities of the “trace” of a regular photographic flash on videos of different quality. Hence the impossibility, using the criteria of apologists, to distinguish a miraculous flash from a flash trace by color, especially after video processing. Thus, it is difficult to refute or prove the presence of flashes based on video.

What do the evidence left behind in the years when there were no cameras give?
It is especially interesting to compare the testimonies of modern pilgrims and the testimonies of pilgrims of 1800 - 1900, written down in a language understandable to contemporaries and quite detailed. There is nothing in these testimonies about flashes of light in the temple during the ceremony. And for some reason the whistleblowers don’t try to explain them at all, as if they don’t know about them, but only talk about the deception of lighting the fire in the Edicule. Although such flashes would be an even greater miracle.
Apologists for the miracle were able to find evidence that seemed to confirm the flashes, for example, pilgrims until the 13th century said that the ignition of a fire was accompanied by a bright white flash. The single flash at the moment the fire appeared is explained by the peculiarity of the ceremony of that time - they did not enter the Edicule and the ignition of the fire inside was accompanied by a bright flash. This is how the 12th century Islamic historian Ibn al-Qalanisi, already quoted here, describes the spontaneous combustion substances used in the ceremony:
“...so that fire can reach them through the oil of balsam tree and devices made from it, and its property is the emergence of fire when combined with jasmine oil, it has a bright light and brilliant radiance.”

"Holy" fire in hands

Cold Fire - Salicylic Acid.

Potatoes + fluoride toothpaste + salt = Holy Fire

Who needs deception with the so-called and why? Holy Fire in Jerusalem

Our Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died on the Cross, was buried in a tomb that belonged to Nicodemus, and rose from the tomb on the third day after His death. Where was Mount Calvary - the place of the Savior’s suffering and the place of His burial? According to Holy Tradition, in the Gospel era, a rock called Golgotha, which exists to this day, on which the Crucifixion of Christ took place, was located almost immediately outside the walls of what was then Jerusalem, on the outside. The Holy Tomb - the cave in which the body of the Savior was located for three days, was carved into a small rock located at a distance of ten meters from Golgotha, which rises somewhat above the rock of the Holy Tomb. In terms of its internal structure, the Holy Tomb was a cave carved into the rock, in which there were two rooms: the far one, which was the actual burial chamber, with a bed - arcosalium - and the entrance room in front of it. In the 4th century, by order of Saint Helen Equal to the Apostles, a magnificent temple was erected over the site of Golgotha ​​and the Holy Tomb - the Basilica, and both Golgotha ​​itself and the Holy Tomb were enclosed under its arches. Until our time, the Basilica was rebuilt several times, even destroyed (614), restored and is now known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

Since ancient times, directly above the burial cave of the Savior there has been a special chapel - the Edicule. The word "Edicule" means "royal bedchamber." To designate a tomb, this word is used in the only place on earth - in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the “King of kings and Lord of lords” was laid down for a three-day sleep. Here He rose again, the firstborn from the dead, opening the way to the Resurrection for us all. The modern Edicule is a chapel measuring about eight meters long and six meters wide, located under the arches of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. As in evangelical times, the Holy Sepulcher, the Holy Sepulcher, currently consists of two rooms: a small “burial chamber” 2.07 × 1.93 meters, almost half occupied by a stone bed - arcosalium, and the entrance room (room), called side chapel of the Angel, measuring 3.4x3.9 meters. In the middle of the Angel's chapel there is a pedestal with a part of the sacred stone, which was rolled away at one time from the Holy Tomb by the Angel and on which he sat, addressing the myrrh-bearing women.

The modern Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a huge architectural complex, including Golgotha ​​with the site of the Crucifixion, the rotunda - an architectural structure with a huge dome, under which the Edicule is directly located, the Catholicon, or cathedral Temple, which is the cathedral for the Patriarchs of Jerusalem, the underground Church of the Finding of the Life-Giving Cross, the Holy Church Equal to the Apostles Helena, several chapels - small churches with their own altars. There are several active monasteries on the territory of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher; it includes many auxiliary rooms, galleries, etc. Moreover, various parts of the Temple belong to several Christian denominations. For example, the Franciscan Church and the Altar of Nails - the Catholic Order of St. Francis, the Church of Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen, the chapel of the “Three Marys” - the Armenian Apostolic Church, the grave of St. Joseph of Arimathea, altar on the western part of the Edicule - Ethiopian (Coptic) church. But the main shrines - Golgotha, Edicule, Catholicon, as well as the general management of services in the Temple, belong to the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem. Since the time Jerusalem began to belong to Orthodox Christians, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been located within the city, surrounded by a high square wall under Sultan Suleiman; The length of each of the four sides is exactly one kilometer.

Since ancient times it has been known about the Miracle of the Descent of the Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulcher. The Fire that descended has a unique property: it does not burn in the first minutes. By commanding the Fire to descend, the Lord testifies to His Resurrection. The first witness to the descent of the Holy Light into the Holy Sepulcher was, according to the testimony of St. Fathers, Apostle Peter. Having run to the Tomb after the news of the Resurrection of the Savior, he, in addition to the burial shrouds, as we read in the Gospel, saw an amazing light inside the Tomb of Christ. “Having seen this, Peter believed, he saw not only with sensual eyes, but also with a high apostolic mind: the Sepulcher was filled with light, so that although it was night, he saw it in two images: internally, sensually and spiritually.” This is how Saint Gregory of Nyssa tells us about this. The earliest written testimony of an eyewitness to the appearance of the Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulcher dates back to the 4th century and was preserved by the church historian Eusebius Pamphilus.

Although according to many, both ancient and modern evidence, the appearance of the blessed light can be observed in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher throughout the year, the most famous and impressive is the miraculous descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the Feast of the Holy Resurrection of Christ, on Holy Saturday. Throughout almost the entire existence of Christianity, this miraculous phenomenon has been observed annually by both Orthodox Christians and representatives of other Christian faiths (Catholics, Armenians, Copts, etc.), as well as representatives of other non-Christian religions. To see the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire, people have been gathering at the Holy Sepulcher since Good Friday; many stay here immediately after the procession of the Cross, which takes place in memory of the events of that day. The descent of the Holy Fire itself takes place on Holy Saturday in the afternoon. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is so filled that people stand close to each other on Saturday morning, even in the most remote places of the Temple. Those who do not get inside the Temple fill the square and the entire surrounding area. According to the most conservative estimates, the capacity of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is up to 20 thousand people, the area around the Temple and the immediate surroundings of the Temple can accommodate another 50 thousand people. On Holy Saturday, the Temple, the square in front of the Temple, and the immediate surroundings are filled with people awaiting the descent of the Holy Fire. This is how it was, according to the descriptions of Russian pilgrims, a hundred, two hundred, and nine hundred years ago.

One of the most ancient descriptions of the descent of the Holy Fire belongs to Abbot Daniel, who visited the Holy Tomb in 1106-1107. This is how he describes this event:

« And when seven o'clock on the Sabbath day arrived [about 12-13 o'clock modern time. - Author], King Baldwin went [the Temple at that time belonged to the Crusaders. - Auth.] with his army to the Holy Sepulcher from his house, everyone went on foot. The king sent messengers to the courtyard of the monastery of Sava the Sanctified and called the abbot and the monks, they went to the Sepulcher, and I, thin, went with them. We came to the king and bowed to him. Then he bowed to the abbot and all the monks and ordered the abbot of the Sava monastery and me, the thin one, to go near him, and he ordered the other abbots and all the monks to go in front of him, and ordered his army to go behind. And they came to the western doors of the Temple of the Resurrection [The temple in those days looked different from the modern one. - Author]. And many people surrounded the church doors and could not then enter the Temple. Then King Baldwin ordered his soldiers to disperse the people by force, and a road was built among the crowd, like a street, all the way to the Sepulcher. We walked to the eastern doors of the Holy Sepulcher, the king went ahead and took his place, on the right side of the fence of the great altar, opposite the eastern doors and the doors of the Sepulcher. Here was the seat of the king, created on an eminence. The king ordered the abbot of the Sava monastery with his monks and Orthodox priests to stand over the Tomb. He ordered me, a thin man, to be placed high above the very doors of the Tomb, opposite the great altar, so that I could see through the doors of the tomb. The doors of the tomb are all three [in the modern Edicule there is one. - Author], were sealed with the royal seal.

Catholic priests stood in the great altar. And when the eighth hour of the day arrived, the Orthodox priests began the service at the top of the Sepulchre, all the spiritual men and many hermits were there. The Catholics in the great altar began to squeal in their own way. So they all sang, and I stood here and diligently looked at the tomb doors. And as they began to read the proverbs of Holy Saturday, at the first reading of the proverbs, the bishop and the deacon came out of the great altar, approached the tomb doors, looked into the Tomb through the sacrum of the doors, saw no light in the Tomb and returned back. And as they began to read the sixth proverb, the same bishop approached the tomb doors and saw nothing. Then all the people screamed with tears: “Kyrie, eleison!” - which means “Lord, have mercy!” And when the ninth hour had passed and they began to sing the passage song “We sing to the Lord,” then suddenly a small cloud came from the east and stood over the uncovered top of the Temple, a little rain began to fall over the Sepulcher and very wet us standing at the Sepulcher. Then suddenly the light shone in the Holy Sepulchre, a bright brilliance emanated from the Sepulcher.

The bishop came with four deacons, opened the tomb doors, took a candle from King Baldwin, entered the Tomb, lit the first royal candle from the light of the saint, took this candle out of the Tomb and handed it to the king himself. The king stood in his place, holding the candle with great joy.

From the king's candle we lit our candles, and from our candles all the people lit their candles. The holy light is not the same as earthly fire, but wonderful, it glows differently, its flame is red, like cinnabar, glows unspeakably».

Almost the same procedure occurs now. Only the modern Temple does not have a hole in the dome; the knightly guards were replaced by Israeli police and Turkish guards. The entrance to the modern Temple is not from the east, but from the south, and Catholics now do not participate in the descent of the Holy Fire, but are present at it. Both historical and modern practice testify that during the descent of Fire it is necessary There are three groups of participants.

First of all - Patriarch of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church or one of the bishops of the Jerusalem Patriarchate with his blessing (as was the case in 1999 and 2000, when the Fire was received by the Guardian of the Sepulcher, Metropolitan Daniel). Only through the prayers of this obligatory participant in the sacrament of the Holy Fire is the miracle of its descent performed. This is an experience proven over centuries. In 1578, when the Turkish mayor of Jerusalem was replaced, the Armenian priests agreed with the new mayor to transfer the right to receive the Holy Fire instead of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem to a representative of the Armenian Church.

The Orthodox Patriarch and the clergy in 1579 on Holy Saturday were not even allowed into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They stood in front of the closed doors of the Temple from the outside. The Armenian clergy entered the Edicule and began to pray to the Lord for the descent of the Fire. But their prayers were not heard. The Orthodox priests standing at the closed doors of the Temple also turned to the Lord with prayers. Suddenly a noise was heard, the column located to the left of the closed doors of the Temple cracked, Fire came out of it and lit candles in the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. With great joy, the Orthodox priesthood entered the Temple (the Turks immediately expelled the Armenian priests from Edicule) and praised the Lord. Traces of the descent of Fire can still be seen on one of the columns located to the left of the entrance.

Since 1579, no one has challenged or attempted to receive the Holy Fire bypassing the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Representatives of other Christian faiths are necessarily present in the Temple on Holy Saturday, but receive the Fire from the hands of the Orthodox Patriarch.

Mandatory participants in the sacrament of the descent of the Holy Fire are the abbot and the monks of the Lavra of St. Savva the Sanctified. Of all the ancient monasteries of the Judean Desert, which once flourished with great ascetics, only this monastery, seventeen kilometers from Jerusalem, in the Kidron Valley, not far from the Dead Sea, has been preserved in its original form. In 614, during the invasion of Shah Hasroi, the Persians killed fourteen thousand monks here. There are fourteen monks in the modern monastery, including two Russians. But the presence of the abbot of the monastery with the monks was mandatory both during the pilgrimage of abbot Daniel, and during the descent of Fire in modern times.

And finally, the third group of obligatory participants are local Orthodox Arabs. On Holy Saturday - twenty to thirty minutes after the sealing of the Edicule - Arab Orthodox youth, shouting, stomping, and beating drums, riding on top of each other, rush into the Temple and begin singing and dancing. There is no evidence about the time when this ritual was established. The exclamations and songs of the Arab youth are ancient prayers in Arabic, addressed to Christ and the Mother of God, who is asked to beg the Son to send Fire, to St. George the Victorious, especially revered in the Orthodox East. Young Orthodox Arabs loudly exclaim, literally shout, that they are “the most eastern, the most Orthodox, living where the sun rises, bringing with them candles to light the Fire.”

According to oral traditions, during the years of British rule over Jerusalem (1918-1947), the English governor once tried to ban “savage” dances. The Patriarch of Jerusalem prayed for two hours: The fire did not go down. Then the Patriarch ordered with his will to let in the Arab youth. After they performed the ritual, the Fire descended. All three of these groups necessarily take part in the modern litany of the Holy Fire.

In our time, the descent of the Holy Fire usually occurs on Holy Saturday between 13:00 and 15:00 Jerusalem time. Around ten o'clock on Holy Saturday, all the candles and lamps in the entire huge architectural complex of the Temple are extinguished. After this, the procedure for checking the Edicule for the presence of sources of fire and sealing the entrance to the Edicule with a large wax seal takes place. Representatives of the Jerusalem mayor's office, the Turkish guards, the Israeli police, etc., who carried out the inspection, put their personal seals on the large wax plaque. Then you become a witness to a miraculous phenomenon. At first, occasionally, and then more and more, the entire air space of the Temple is pierced by flashes of light, flashes of light. They have a bluish color, their brightness and size increase in waves. A short time after the sealing of the Edicule, young Orthodox Arabs, as already mentioned, begin to offer their prayers to Christ, the Most Holy Theotokos, and Saint George for the granting of the Holy Fire. Their emotional prayers, exclamations and dancing, accompanied by beating the drums, take place directly at the Edicule for 20-30 minutes. After some time, usually about thirteen o’clock, the litany itself begins (in Greek, “prayer procession”) of the Holy Fire - a procession of the cross from the altar of the Catholicon through the entire Temple with access to the rotunda and a three-fold circumambulation of the Edicule. In front are the banner bearers with twelve banners, behind them are the youths with ripids, the crusader cleric and, finally, His Beatitude the Patriarch of Jerusalem himself. The abbot and the monks of the Monastery of Saint Sava the Sanctified also take part in the procession. The Patriarch stops just before the entrance to the Edicule; he is unmasked: his festive vestments are removed and he is left in one white vestment. At the same time, sometimes the Patriach is searched. Although this is not mandatory every time, government officials can exercise this right every time, which has often been done in the past. This depends on the order of the immediate authorities of Jerusalem: if the ruler hates Christians, they can search. In only one vesture the Patriarch enters the Edicule. Now everything depends on him, on his secret kneeling prayer. The tension reaches its highest point, many of those gathered are seized by the feeling that, due to his sins, the Great Miracle may not happen. After the Patriarch enters the Edicule, the intensity and frequency of bluish light flashes increases. Bluish lightning strikes with Greek “tricks”) [In Moscow, a certain abbot of an unspecified confession, Innokenty Pavlov, also believes that there is no miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire, but that “the Patriarch of Jerusalem simply lights a candle from a lamp and then gives it to the believers.” - Approx. ed.], and in the last almost fifty years the Jews have been participating in both the sealing of the Edicule and the search of the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

A little needs to be said about the possibility of forgery. The fact is that the land itself on which the Temple is built belongs to a Turkish family. Every morning an interesting ritual takes place: the priests standing in front of the main gate await the opening of the Temple, hand over the rent established long ago and then, accompanied by members of the Turkish family, enter the Temple. Any procession in the Temple, for example the Easter procession around the Edicule, is accompanied by kawas - Turks who protect the processions from provocations of Muslims and Jews. Before entering the Edicule of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, it stands sealed, under the supervision of two Turkish guards and the Israeli police. On Holy Saturday, as has already been said, before entering the Edicule, the Patriarch is unmasked and thoroughly searched, although not always. The safety of the seal on the entrance doors of the Edicule is checked before the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the Armenian high priest enter it. To receive the Fire, two people enter the Edicule - the Patriarch of Jerusalem and a representative of the Armenian Church. The representative of the Armenian Church, entering together with the Patriarch of Jerusalem into the Edicule to receive the Fire, remaining in the chapel of the Angel, sees all the actions and has the opportunity to intervene. Considering the almost two-thousand-year interest of non-Christian participants in this Great Miracle in exposing and disrupting at least one descent of the Holy Fire, the version of forgery can only bring a smile to people living in Jerusalem. Even Muslim Arabs who consider it necessary to bring the Holy Fire home will consider any discussion of forgery to be a deception. They have a legend that in the year when the Holy Fire does not descend, the end of the world will come.

The question of how the Holy Fire descends on the Savior’s three-day bed has long been of interest to the curious. There is direct evidence of the painting of the lighting of the Holy Fire. In the letter of Arefa, Metropolitan of Caesarea of ​​Cappadocia, to the Emir of Damascus (beginning of the 10th century) it is written: “ Then suddenly lightning appears and censers are lit, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem take from this light and light a fire" The Constantinople cleric Nikita wrote (947): “ At about six o'clock in the afternoon, looking at the Divine Tomb of the Savior, the Archbishop sees the Divine manifestation of light: for through the chapel of the Angel he has access to the door. Having seized the time to transmit this light to the polycandiles located in the holy church of God, as he usually does, he had not yet emerged from the Tomb, when one could suddenly see the entire church of God, filled with inimitable and Divine light" Trifon Korobeinikov wrote (1583): “ And then all people see the grace of God coming from heaven to the Holy Sepulcher, fire walking along the board of the Holy Sepulcher like lightning, and every color can be seen in it: the Patriarch approaches the Tomb holding candles to open the Sepulcher, and fire descends from the Holy Sepulcher onto the patriarchal hands and for candles. At the same time, Christian incense burned itself, like that over the Holy Sepulchre." Hieromonk Meletius, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1793-1794, conveys the story of the descent of Fire from the words of Archbishop Misail, Epitrope of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who received the Fire for many years. " “When I entered,” he said, “inside the Holy Tomb, we saw on the entire lid of the Tomb a shining light, like scattered small beads, in the form of blue, white, scarlet and other colors, which then, copulating, turned red and transformed over time into substance of fire; but this fire, for as long as one can slowly read “Lord, have mercy” fourty times, does not burn, and from this fire the prepared candles and candles are lit».

All of the above sources report either the condensation of liquid small drops of “fire beads” directly on the bed-arcosalia of the Holy Sepulcher with the existing dome above the Edicule, or the fall of rain drops above the Edicule and the presence of “small beads” on the lid of the Holy Sepulcher due to rain when the dome of the Temple is open and about bluish flashes - lightning that precede the descent of the Holy Fire. Both of these phenomena simultaneously take place during the kneeling prayer of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and at the present time. His prayer leads to the ignition of the Holy Fire from small drops of liquid in the presence of flashes - lightning; at the same time, the wicks of candles or lamps on the lid of the Holy Sepulchre are spontaneously lit. It is also possible to light the wicks of Orthodox lamps hanging near the Edicule. This is how it happened almost two thousand years ago, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses, and this is how the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire takes place, according to the descriptions of eyewitnesses, even today. Our Lord Jesus Christ commands Fire to ignite from droplets of “rain” on the lid of the Holy Tomb or on the wick of an Orthodox lamp near the Edicule, according to the prayer of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as if reminding us, sinners, every year on Holy Saturday of His Resurrection and victory over hell. But sinful people perceive the fact of the descent of the Holy Fire differently. To those who seek and doubt, the Lord testifies to the truth of His Resurrection precisely at this place in Jerusalem in Gospel times and strengthens them in faith. To those who are indifferent and not striving for their salvation and eternal life, He testifies to His Resurrection and the upcoming Last Judgment. He testifies to His conscious opponents of His victory over hell and the eternal torment that awaits all His opponents after the Last Judgment. Accordingly, different religions interpret the fact of the descent of Fire differently. Almost all Christian denominations (including Catholics before the Great Schism of 1054 - that is, before the separation of Catholicism from Orthodoxy - who took an active part directly in the litany) are present in the Temple and receive the Holy Fire from the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Muslims are not officially present in the Temple, but they do not deny the fact of the descent of the Holy Fire, honoring our Savior Jesus Christ as one of their Prophets. Only Jews and atheists deny the fact of the descent of the Holy Fire, as well as the fact of the Resurrection of Christ. It is they who spread, including in the press, rumors about the “cunning” of dishonest priests. The officials who checked the Edicule, searched the Patriarch and were thus guarantors that there were no forgeries, under Christian and Muslim control over Jerusalem, were representatives of the authorities who could execute for slander, and under the existing Israeli control of the authorities, according to Israeli laws, For libel, they can be subject to a substantial fine in court.

With all possible options during the miracle, the descent of the Holy Fire remains absolutely inexplicable from the point of view of modern science the following phenomena.

1. The presence of flashes of light preceding and accompanying the ignition of the Holy Fire. After the Patriarch entered the Edicule, an extraordinary phenomenon was observed in the Temple. Throughout the Temple, but mainly near the area of ​​the Katholikon and Edicule (the domes are located above them), flashes of a bluish color begin to appear, reminiscent of lightning, similar to those that everyone observed in the evening in the sky. These lightning flashes can flash in any direction - from top to bottom, and from left to right, not necessarily under domes. Flashes have characteristic features: light sparkles without a visible source, flashes never blind anyone, and there is no sound (thunder) characteristic of ordinary lightning. All this gives eyewitnesses the impression that the source of the flashes is, as it were, outside our world. It is not difficult to distinguish them from camera flashes. Filming the anticipation and descent of Fire on his video camera, M. Shugaev was able to see clear differences. Using the frame-by-frame viewing mode and using still images, you can easily differentiate them: camera flashes are shorter in time and have a white color, lightning flashes are longer in time and have a bluish color. According to the testimonies of the monks who perform obedience directly at the Edicule, bluish flashes can be seen in the Temple not only on Holy Saturday. But these are one-time and short-term flashes, long-lasting flashes of light that follow each other at short intervals occur only on Holy Saturday, somewhere from twelve to sixteen or seventeen hours.

2. The phenomenon of the appearance of liquid droplets. To begin with, it should be noted that only people on official business can see the Holy Tomb directly on Holy Saturday: clergy participating in the litany, and official representatives of the Jerusalem authorities sealing the Edicule and ensuring order. The information that is available may come either directly from such people, or in retellings from loved ones. In addition to the sources already cited, you can use the story of a 19th century pilgrim who interviewed the Patriarch: “Where, your Beatitude, do you deign to receive the Fire in the Edicule?” The elderly archpastor, not paying attention to what was heard in the tone of the question, calmly answered like this (I wrote down what I heard almost word for word): “I, dear sir, if you please know, am no longer a reader without glasses. When I first entered the Angel’s chapel and the doors closed behind me, there was twilight. Light barely penetrated through two openings from the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre, also dimly lit from above. In the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre, I could not discern whether I had a prayer book in my hands or something else. One could barely notice a whitish spot against the black background of the night: then, obviously, the marble plaque on the Holy Sepulcher was white. When I opened the prayer book, to my surprise, the seal became completely accessible to my vision without the help of glasses. Before I had time to read three or four lines with deep emotional excitement, looking at the board, which was becoming more and more white and so that all four of its edges were clearly visible to me, I noticed on the board there were, as it were, small scattered beads of different colors, or rather, it looked like pearls the size of a pinhead and even smaller, and the board began to positively emit light. Unconsciously sweeping away these pearls with a large piece of cotton wool, which began to merge like drops of oil, I felt a certain warmth in the cotton wool and just as unconsciously touched it with the candle wick. It flared up like gunpowder, and - the candle burned and illuminated three images of the Resurrection, just as it illuminated the face of the Mother of God and all the metal lamps above the Holy Sepulchre" (Nilus S. Shrine under a Hidden. Sergiev Posad, 1911). There are no official documents studying the chemical composition of droplets. Informal analytical studies conducted by modern enthusiasts indicate the essential oil content of the drops (similar compounds may be of a plant nature).

3. The phenomenon that Fire does not burn or scorch, although the heat spreads. An ordinary candle fire has a temperature of many hundreds of degrees, close to a thousand degrees Celsius. If you try to perform ablution with such fire for more than five seconds, burns on your hands and face are guaranteed. Hair (beard, eyebrows, eyelashes) will catch fire or begin to smolder. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, more than ten thousand people light about twenty thousand bunches of candles within two to three minutes (most pilgrims light two or three bunches of candles). People stand close to each other. The volume of the Temple is limited. Try lighting twenty thousand bunches of candles in a dense crowd of people within a few minutes with ordinary fire. We think that most women's hair and clothing will definitely catch fire. With a thousand-degree fire temperature and twenty thousand fire sources in a closed room, heat strokes and fainting will occur, especially in the elderly. Holy Fire has a property that distinguishes it from the fire we are used to. Not only does it not burn, but it also does not burn for a period of time sufficient to say “Lord, have mercy” approximately forty times, and while continuously washing the human face with it (without removing the hand with the candles). Holy Fire heats, but does not burn!

It should be noted that the candles are easily lit by Fire and the Fire, which does not burn a person, spreads throughout the Temple due to the combustion of candles - one from the other. From the Patriarchal Candles, the Fire spreads throughout the entire Temple within a few minutes. Naturally, pilgrims with burning bundles of candles are in emotional delight, paying very little attention to the behavior of their neighbors. But Fire does not set fire to any hanging parts of clothing (kerchiefs, belts) or long hair of women! The age of most pilgrims, as a rule, is above average; they spend almost a day in the Temple, but heat strokes and fainting are not observed. In the entire history of the descent of Fire there has not been a single fire.

4. The presence of the joint appearance of all the above-described miraculous phenomena precisely on Holy Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter(in accordance with the Alexandrian Paschal, which is currently adhered to only by the Orthodox Churches). We can say that the phenomena observed during the descent of the Holy Fire partially occur in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and in ordinary times. According to the testimonies of the monks who perform obedience directly at the Edicule, bluish flashes can be seen in the Temple not only on Holy Saturday. But these are one-time flashes. Numerous outbreaks with a short time interval occur only on Holy Saturday, from approximately 12 to 16-17 hours. The spontaneous lighting of lamps, also sometimes observed on other days, may be due to these flashes. But in ordinary times, such spontaneously igniting fire does not have the property of not burning. It seems that any attempts to reproduce the descent of the Holy Fire in a laboratory built in close proximity to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher will be forced to face the problem of reproducing the above-mentioned miraculous property of Fire. With a lot of work, it is possible to recreate the chemical composition of the drops, and with the help of special modern equipment, artificially recreate intense flashes of light (most likely accompanied by sound or thunder), but this property of Fire will never be reproduced! And the incident that occurred in 1579, when Fire descended from a column, indicates that the above description is a description of only the most common properties of the descent of Fire. But the Fire itself can descend in another way. It is impossible not to see that the descent of Fire on Holy Saturday on the Holy Sepulcher is the result of a direct Divine (in the language of science - transcendental) influence. The Lord has commanded every year for more than two thousand years that Fire should descend at the site of His suffering on the Cross and earthly death, and He commands it on the day before His Resurrection.

The descent of the Holy Fire is observed only on the eve of Orthodox Easter, according to the Orthodox calendar and only through the prayers of the Orthodox Patriarch; The fire descends only on the candles of the Orthodox Patriarch, which is indisputable evidence of the undoubted truth and divine grace of Orthodoxy - in contrast to many other faiths that only call themselves Christian.

History remembers two cases when representatives of other Christian denominations tried to obtain Fire. The unsuccessful attempt of the Armenian clergy to obtain Fire has already been mentioned. In 1101, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, who owned Jerusalem at that time, independently tried to obtain the Fire. The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire in Edicule did not happen until Orthodox Christians were invited to participate in this rite. “The first Latin Patriarch Arnold of Choquet started unsuccessfully: he ordered the expulsion of the heretical sects from their territory in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then he began to torture Orthodox monks, trying to find out where they kept the Cross and other relics. A few months later Arnold was succeeded on the throne by Daimbert of Pisa, who went even further. He attempted to expel all local Christians, even Orthodox Christians, from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and admit only Latins there, completely depriving the rest of the church buildings in or near Jerusalem. God's retribution soon struck: already in 1101 on Holy Saturday, the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire in Edicule did not happen until Eastern Christians were invited to participate in this rite. Then King Baldwin I took care of returning their rights to local Christians” (S. Runciman. Eastern Schism. M., 1998, pp. 69-70).

And since then, none of the non-Orthodox has tried to repeat such attempts, fearing failure and the shame that inevitably follows.

The Miracle of the Holy Fire is one of the few miracles of Orthodoxy, in principle accessible to everyone who wants to know the truth: “come and see!” Any doubter, having paid 600-700 dollars (this is the price of a standard tourist trip to the Holy Land - Jerusalem, Tiberias - for 7 days), is quite able to personally verify the authenticity of the fact and all the above-described details of the descent of the Holy Fire. The miracle occurs in front of the whole world, “all progressive humanity” (and is even regularly broadcast on Russian television and on the Internet, on the website of the Jerusalem Orthodox Patriarchate). But how many people respond with their hearts to this obvious call, obvious to everyone?..

Once upon a time, many hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, before His redemptive suffering and Resurrection, the inhabitants of Israel (and through them - before all humanity) faced the question of who was right: the servants of the True God or the servants of the pagan gods ? This was the case when a dispute arose between the servants of the idol of Baal and the prophet of God Elijah (see: 1 Kings 18:21-39). And after much debate, Elijah offered them a simple way to check who was right. We, people of the 21st century, can rightly call this method the experimental method - in accordance with the exact criteria of the experimental method accepted in modern science. The proposal was this: “Let each of us call on the name of his God, and the God who gives the answer through fire is the true God. And if the Lord is God, then let us follow Him, and if Baal is God, then let us follow Baal.” And then, by the grace of God, it was revealed who the true God is and who is His true admirer, because the fire came down then only through the prayer of the prophet Elijah and burned the sacrifice, the wood, and the stone altar itself, which, having encroached on, the priests of Baal suffered complete fiasco. And then it became clear to everyone where true worship of God was.

The situation of the descent of the Holy Fire on the Holy Sepulcher every year practically reproduces this experimental situation that took place many hundreds of years before the Nativity of Christ. And here there are many praying representatives of different faiths, and here there is a true servant of the true God, through whose prayer (and only through his prayer!) Fire miraculously descends, possessing supernatural properties. But aren’t there now ministers of other faiths trying to dispute their right to receive Fire from God, as was the case under Elijah? Due to the fact that such attempts, as history shows, always end in failure, and there is no one else willing to take risks and disgrace themselves... God is unchangeable, this is clearly evidenced by the biblical Old Testament text: I am the Lord your God, and I will not change (Mal. 3:6). And just as then, in the distant times of Elijah, God, unchangeable in nature, gives an answer to questioning humanity, the answer to the question of where true faith is, gives an answer through fire. The answer is not false, just as the one who answers Himself is not false - the Lord is the truth (Jer. 10:10). And anyone who accepts the biblical text as truth must, by virtue of his faith in the unchangeable God and faith in the authenticity of the mentioned story about the descent of fire from heaven through the prayer of the prophet Elijah, with logical necessity, draw the conclusion that fire is sent by God only through the prayer of His true minister. But, as a rule, no one makes this conclusion... In that ancient story about the descent of fire through the prayer of the prophet Elijah, perhaps the most amazing thing was not even the miracle of its descent, but the fact that, having at first received with delight the miraculous testimony of True God, the Israelites almost immediately fell back into apostasy. The children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, destroyed Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword; I was left alone, but they are also looking for my soul in order to take it away (1 Kings 19:10) - this is how the prophet Elijah complains to God about them only a short time after the miracle of the descent of the fire. This is what is most striking about all this ancient history.

A similar picture remains in our time - the joy of rejoicing about the descent of the Holy Fire is replaced by a retreat into the darkness of lies for the majority of witnesses of its descent in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher... The Fire descends, leaving fallen and blind humanity unrequited, unrequited in the face of the Righteous Judge. They did not accept the love of the truth for their salvation (2 Thess. 2:10) - this is the pattern of behavior of the human race drowning in sins, and even an obvious Miracle of God cannot do anything with this vicious pattern, a conscious and voluntary pattern...

Nikolai Kolchurinsky, Mikhail Shugaev

“Holy Fire”, No. 10, 2003
photo by Mikhail Levit

HOLY LAND. Descent of the Holy Fire

Movie information
Name: HOLY LAND. Descent of the Holy Fire
original name: Holy Land. Descent of the Holy Fire
Released: 2006
Genre: Documentary
A country: Russia/GEO
Directors: Leonid Kruglov
Production: DWW, Konica Minolta, RENTV

About the film:
The action of this documentary film takes place in the Holy Land, during the main Christian holiday - “The Descent of the Holy Fire”. Our guide is the keeper of the keys of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - Muslim Waja Nuseibeh. In the film we learn amazing things about the history of the Temple and its shrines.

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