The Holy Fire is an insoluble and mysterious mystery for scientists all over the world. But not for Christians! We know that the Holy Fire is an Easter symbol that God himself gives us from heaven! And the descent of this great and a wonderful gift from God comes from ancient times.

The Holy Fire has been appearing in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem for more than the first 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.

The day before, all candles, lamps, and chandeliers in the church are extinguished. Back at the beginning of the 20th century. This was carefully monitored: the Turkish authorities carried out a strict search inside the chapel; according to the slander of Catholics, they even went so far as to inspect the pockets of the officiating metropolitan, the vicar of the patriarch... because of suspicion, the patriarch was forced to strip down to his cassock, so that it would be clear that he was not bringing matches or anything else into the cave that could light a fire. During the reign of the Turks, close “Control” of the patriarch was carried out by Turkish Janissaries, who searched him before entering the Edicule, but currently the Patriarch is examined by Jewish police.

Shortly before the arrival of the patriarch, the sacristan brings a large lamp into the cave, in which the main fire and 33 candles should flare up - according to the number of years of the savior's earthly life. Then the Orthodox and Armenian patriarchs (the latter is also unmasked before entering the cave) go inside. They are sealed with a large piece of wax and a red tape is placed on the door; Orthodox ministers put their seals. At this time, the lights in the temple turn off.

After sealing the edicule, Orthodox Arab youth run into the temple, whose presence is also mandatory element Easter celebrations. Young people sit on each other’s shoulders like riders. They ask mother of god and gentlemen, so that he would grant the Holy Fire to the Orthodox. “There is no Faith Except the Orthodox Faith, Christ is the True God,” they chant. For European parishioners, accustomed to other forms of expression of feelings and calm worship services, it can be very unusual to see such behavior of local youth. However, the Lord reminded us that he accepted such childishly naive, but sincere appeal to him. During the time when Jerusalem was under the British Mandate, the English governor once tried to ban these “Savage” dances. The Patriarch prayed in the Edicule for two hours: the fire did not go down. Then the patriarch, by his own will, ordered the Arabs to be allowed in... And the fire descended." The Arabs seem to be addressing all nations: the Lord confirms the correctness of our faith by bringing down the Holy Fire on the eve of Orthodox Easter. What do you believe in?

All the people in the temple are patiently waiting for the patriarch to come out with fire in his hands. However, in the hearts of many people there is not only patience, but also a thrill of expectation: in accordance with the tradition of the Jerusalem church, it is believed that the day when the Holy Fire does not descend will be the last for the people in the temple, and the temple itself will be destroyed. Therefore, pilgrims usually take communion before coming to the holy place. IN different years The tedious wait lasts from five minutes to several hours.

Before the descent, the temple begins to be illuminated with bright flashes of blessed light, small lightning flashes here and there. When filming 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 flood everything around bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and walls of the temple, quite visible lightning, which often pass without any harm through standing people.

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 light up, the lamps on the sides of the edicule light up themselves (with the exception of 13 Catholic ones), like some others within the temple. "And suddenly a drop falls on the face, and then a cry of delight and shock is heard in the crowd. The fire in the altar of the catholicon is blazing! The flash and flame are like a huge flower. And the edicule is still dark. Slowly, slowly, along the candles, the fire from the altar begins to descend towards us ". And then a thunderous cry makes you look back at the Edicule. It shines, the entire wall shimmers with silver, white lightning streams along it. The fire pulsates and breathes, and from the hole in the dome of the temple a wide vertical column of light descended from the sky onto the coffin." 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 comes out, blesses those gathered and distributes the Holy Fire.

However, not everyone lights the fire from the patriarchal candle; for some, it lights up on its own. "The flashes of heavenly light became brighter and stronger. Now the blessed fire began to fly throughout the entire temple. It scattered in bright blue beads over the edicule around the icon of the "Resurrection of the Lord", and after that one of the lamps flared up, burst into the temple chapels, onto Calvary (lit on also one of the lamps), sparkled over the stone of anointing (here a lamp was also lit. For some, the wicks of candles were charred, for others, lamps and bunches of candles flared up on their own. The flashes became more and more intensified, sparks spread here and there through the bunches of candles One of the witnesses notes how standing nearby With him, the women lit up the candles themselves three times, which she twice tried to extinguish.

The first time - 3-10 minutes, the ignited fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, regardless of what candle and where it is lit. You can see how parishioners literally wash themselves with this fire - they rub it over their faces, over their hands, scoop up handfuls of it, and it does not cause any harm, at first it does not even singe their hair.

Indeed, this is one of the greatest miracles of both past centuries and the modern 21st century! The Lord shows all his followers, all Christians, that he is with us!

In Russia, the Holy Fire is delivered to many, many cities for the Easter service, and the joyful holiday of Easter intensifies and ascends to heaven, to the birthplace of the Holy Fire!

The descent of fire can be seen only once a year and in the only place on the planet - the Jerusalem Temple of the Resurrection. Its huge complex includes: Golgotha, a cave with the Cross of the Lord, a garden where Christ was seen after the resurrection. It was built in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine and the Holy Fire was seen there during the first service on Easter. Around the place where this happened, they built a chapel with the Holy Sepulcher - it is called Edicule.

At ten o'clock on the morning of Holy Saturday, all candles, lamps and other light sources in the temple are extinguished every year. Higher church ranks they personally monitor this: the last test is the Edicule, after which it is sealed with a large wax seal. From this moment on, the protection of holy places falls on the shoulders of the Israeli police (in ancient times, the Janissaries handled their duties Ottoman Empire). They also put an additional seal on top of the seal of the Patriarch. What is not proof of the miraculous origin of the Holy Fire?

Edicule

At twelve o'clock in the afternoon, a procession of the cross begins to stretch from the courtyard of the Jerusalem Patriarchate to the Holy Sepulcher. It is led by the patriarch: having walked around the Edicule three times, he stops in front of its doors.

“The Patriarch dresses in white robes. With him, 12 archimandrites and four deacons put on white vestments at the same time. Then clerics in white surplices with 12 banners depicting the passion of Christ and His glorious resurrection come out of the altar in pairs, followed by clerics with ripids and a life-giving cross, then 12 priests in pairs, then four deacons, also in pairs, with the last two of them in front of the patriarch holding bunches of candles in their hands in a silver stand for the most convenient transmission of the holy fire to the people, and, finally, the patriarch with a staff in right hand. With the blessing of the patriarch, the singers and all the clergy, singing: “Thy Resurrection, Christ the Savior, the angels sing in heaven, and grant us on earth to glorify You with a pure heart,” go from the Church of the Resurrection to the edicule and circle it three times. After the third circumambulation, the patriarch, clergy and singers stop with the banner bearers and the crusader in front of the holy life-giving tomb and sing the evening hymn: “Quiet Light,” recalling that this litany was once part of the rite of the evening service.”

The Holy Fire is one of the most powerful and significant characters faith among Orthodox Christians and the phenomenon higher powers its truth to all believers. Once again he will descend from heaven this year on Saturday, April 7, on the eve of Holy Easter in Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where the earthly journey of Jesus Christ was completed. We will talk to you today about the natural essence of the phenomenon, how the Holy Fire descends, how science is trying to explain it.

Holy Fire: mystery and essence of the phenomenon

Scientists and atheists have been trying to explain the nature of the Holy Fire for a long time, but so far to no avail. True believers do not need to explain anything; they accept Fire as God's grace. Skeptics, atheists, scientists with available data, scientific methods through experiments also want to reveal the nature of the phenomenon with scientific point maybe someday they will succeed... But for now it’s just a mystery, hidden from explanation.

On the eve of Orthodox Easter, we will also touch on this phenomenon.

Where and when does the Holy Fire descend?

The Holy Fire descends in one place, only in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in Israel, in Jerusalem and only on the eve Orthodox Easter.

This phenomenon has been observed year after year for more than a millennium. The first mentions date back to church historians in the 4th century.

I will give a description full of the feelings experienced by Archimandrite Savva Achilleos in the book “I Saw the Holy Fire.” For more than 50 years he was the chief novice at the Holy Sepulcher. Here are his impressions:

“….the patriarch bowed low to approach the Life-Giving Tomb. And suddenly, in the midst of the dead silence, I heard some kind of tremulous, subtle rustling. It was like a subtle breath of wind. And immediately after that I saw a blue light that filled the entire internal space of the Life-Giving Tomb.

Oh, what an unforgettable sight it was! I saw how this light was spinning, like a strong whirlwind or storm. And in this Blessed light I clearly saw the face of the Patriarch. Large tears flowed down his cheeks...

... the blue light again came into a state of movement. Then he suddenly became white... Soon the light acquired rounded shape and in the form of a halo stood motionless above the head of the Patriarch. I saw how His Beatitude the Patriarch took bundles of 33 candles into his hands, raised them high above him and began to pray to God to send the Holy Fire, slowly extending his hands to the sky. He barely had time to raise them to the level of his head when suddenly all four bundles lit up in his hands, as if they were brought closer to a blazing furnace. At that same second, the halo of light above his head disappeared. From the joy that overwhelmed me, tears flowed from my eyes...”

Holy Fire in Jerusalem. Story

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 believed, he saw not only with his sensual eyes, but also with the lofty Apostolic mind - the Sepulcher was filled with light, so that, although and the night was, however, two images I saw internally - sensually and spiritually,” we read from the church historian Gregory of Nyssa. “Peter presented himself to the Sepulcher and was terrified of the light in vain,” 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 . Among the earliest mentions are the testimonies of Muslims and Catholics. The Latin monk Bernard, (865) writes in his itinerary: “On Holy Saturday, which is the eve of Easter, the service begins early and after the service, Lord have mercy is sung until, with the coming of the Angel, the light is lit in the lamps hanging over the Tomb."

Video IS THIS TRUE? Holy Fire

Holy fire fact or fiction. Is the Holy Fire a hoax or true?

This obvious miracle has been repeated for many centuries, since ancient times.”
What kind of “obvious miracle” is this? On the eve of Orthodox Easter in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher, God creates amazing miracle, accessible to any child, lights a fire. This fire, however, does not “spontaneously combust” in public view! The principle here is the same as for all other tricks: the disappearance or appearance of an object is not carried out directly in front of the amazed public, but under the cover of a handkerchief or in a dark box, that is, hidden from the audience.
Two high-ranking priests enter a small stone chamber called an edicule. This is a special room inside the temple, like a chapel, where supposedly there is a stone bed on which the body of the crucified Christ lay. Having gone inside, the two priests close the door behind them, and after a while they take out fire from the edicule - a burning lamp and bunches of flaming candles. Crowds of fanatics immediately rush to them to light the candles they brought with them from the blessed fire. It is believed that this fire does not burn in the first minutes, so pilgrims, who had previously languished in anticipation for many hours, “wash” their faces and hands with it.
“Firstly, this fire does not burn, which is proof of a miracle,” hundreds of believers write on dozens of forums. - And secondly, what if not by God's miracle, can you explain that with such crowded people and so much fire, there were never fires in the Temple?”
Doesn’t it burn?.. There were no fires?.. The temple has already burned several times, which is not surprising given such old building. During one of the fires in the temple, 300 people were burned alive. And another time, due to a fire, the dome of the temple even collapsed, seriously damaging the edicule with the “grave” of Christ.
Nevertheless, the tale that the “miraculous” fire does not burn continues to circulate among believers.

Descent of the Holy Fire.

Every year, a colorful church ritual of the descent of the Holy Fire takes place in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. This event occurs on the Saturday before Easter.

It is believed that the first witness to the descent of the fire was the Apostle Peter. Having learned about the resurrection of Christ, he went to the tomb of Jesus and saw light in the place where the body of the Savior had previously lay. In 1810, the chapel Edicule was erected over the Holy Sepulcher. It is here that the Patriarch of Jerusalem, accompanied by an Armenian archimandrite, enters on Holy Saturday on the eve of Easter. Before entering the Edicule, the patriarch undresses to his cassock. Before this, the room is inspected by other church workers - they check that there are no matches or lighters in the chapel. The patriarch takes with him a bunch of unlit candles.

After some time, he appears before the believers with already burning candles. By lighting their lamps and candles from them, believers pass the Holy Fire to each other. In a matter of seconds, the fire spreads throughout the temple. It is believed that in the first minutes this fire does not burn, so those gathered in the temple “wash themselves” with it. Lamps are immediately lit from the Holy Fire and taken to different parts of the world.

The Holy Fire is delivered to Moscow from Jerusalem on Saturday evening on a special flight. The lamp is brought to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior on the main page Easter service Russia.

According to legend, if the fire does not go away, it will mean the imminent end of the world.

Scientists have tried to dispute the “divine” nature of the Holy Fire many times. They put forward many versions from electrical impulse to chemical reaction, causing combustion. About a month ago, the representative of the Armenian Patriarchate in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Samuil Agoyan, added fuel to the fire, declaring that there was no mysticism in the “descent”. The priest said that he personally saw candles being lit from an ordinary oil lamp. “God works miracles, but not for the amusement of people,” added Agoyan.

Hoping to catch the Orthodox in a fake, the city's Muslim authorities placed Turkish soldiers throughout the temple, and they drew scimitars, ready to cut off the head of anyone who was seen bringing or lighting a fire. However, in the entire history of Turkish rule, no one has ever been convicted of this. At the present time, the Patriarch is being examined by Jewish police investigators.

Shortly before the patriarch, the sacristan brings a large lamp into the cave, in which the main fire and 33 candles should flare up - according to the number of years of the Savior’s earthly life. Then the Orthodox and Armenian Patriarchs (the latter is also unmasked before entering the cave) go inside. They are sealed with a large piece of wax and a red tape is placed on the door; Orthodox ministers put their seals. At this time, the lights in the temple turn off and tense silence sets in - waiting. Those present pray and confess their sins, asking the Lord to grant the Holy Fire.

All the people in the temple are patiently waiting for the patriarch to come out with Fire in his hands. However, in the hearts of many people there is not only patience, but also a thrill of expectation: in accordance with the tradition of the Jerusalem Church, it is believed that the day when the Holy Fire does not descend will be the last for the people in the Temple, and the Temple itself will be destroyed. Therefore, pilgrims usually take communion before coming to the holy place.

The prayer and ritual continue until the expected miracle occurs. Over the years, the agonizing wait lasts from five minutes to several hours.

Convergence

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 light up, the lamps located on the sides of the Edicule light up themselves (with the exception of 13 Catholic ones), like some others within the temple. “And suddenly a drop falls on the face, and then a cry of delight and shock is heard from the crowd. The fire burns in the altar of the Catholicon! The flash and flame are like a huge flower. And Edicule is still dark. Slowly - slowly, along the candles, the Fire from the altar begins to descend towards us. And then a thunderous cry makes you look back at Edicule. It shines, the whole wall shimmers with silver, white lightning streams along it. The fire pulsates and breathes, and from the hole in the dome of the Temple a wide vertical column of light descended from the sky onto the Tomb.” 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.

The patriarchs themselves talk about how the Holy Fire ignites. “I saw how the Metropolitan bent over the low entrance, entered the den and knelt before the Holy Sepulcher, on which nothing stood and which was completely naked. Not even a minute had passed before the darkness was illuminated with light and the Metropolitan came out to us with a flaming bunch of candles.” Hieromonk Meletius quotes the words of Archbishop Misail: “When I entered inside the Holy Sepulcher, I saw light shining on the entire lid of the Tomb, like scattered small beads, in the form of white, blue, scarlet and other colors, which then copulated, turned red and turned into the substance of fire ... and from this fire the prepared kandil and candles are lit.”

Messengers, even when the Patriarch is in the Edicule, spread Fire throughout the temple through special holes, the circle of fire gradually spreads throughout the temple.

However, not everyone lights the fire from the patriarchal candle; for some, it lights up on its own. “The flashes of Heavenly Light are getting brighter and stronger. Now the Holy Fire began to fly throughout the entire temple. It scattered with bright blue beads over the Edicule around the icon of the “Resurrection of the Lord,” and one of the lamps flared up after it. He burst into the temple chapels, onto Golgotha ​​(he also lit one of the lamps on it), sparkled over the Stone of Confirmation (a lamp was also lit here). For some, the wicks of candles were charred, for others, lamps and bunches of candles flared up on their own. The flashes became more and more intensified, sparks spread here and there through the bunches of candles.” One of the witnesses notes how the candles of a woman standing next to him lit up on their own three times, which she twice tried to extinguish.

The first time - 3-10 minutes, the ignited Fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, regardless of what candle and where it is lit. You can see how parishioners literally wash themselves with this Fire - they rub it over their faces, over their hands, scoop up handfuls of it, and it does not cause any harm, at first it does not even scorch their hair. “He lit 20 candles in one place and burned his candle with all those lights, and not a single hair curled or burned; and having extinguished all the candles and then lit them with other people, I lit those candles, and on the third day I lit those candles, and I didn’t touch my wife with anything, not a single hair was singed or curled...” – one of the pilgrims wrote four centuries ago. Parishioners call the droplets of wax that fall from the candles the Graceful Dew. As a reminder of the Miracle of the Lord, they will remain on the clothes of witnesses forever; no amount of powder or washing will remove them.

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 reborn, as they themselves say - spiritually cleansed and cleared of sight. What is especially remarkable is that even those who are uncomfortable with this God-given sign do not remain indifferent.

Rarer miracles also happen. One of the videotapes shows the healings taking place. Visually, the camera demonstrates two such cases - in a person with a disfigured, rotting ear, the wound, smeared with Fire, heals right before his eyes and the ear takes on a normal appearance, and also shows a case of a blind man’s epiphany (according to external observations, the person had cataracts in both eyes before “washing” "Fire).

In the future, lamps will be lit from the Holy Fire throughout Jerusalem, and the Fire will be delivered by special flights to Cyprus and Greece, from where it will be transported throughout the world. Recently, direct participants in the events began to bring it to our country. In areas of the city close to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, candles and lamps in churches light up on their own.”

Is it only the Orthodox?

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? But 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 denominations have happened more than once.

Only for several centuries was Jerusalem under the control of Eastern Christians; most of the time, as now, the city was ruled by representatives of other teachings that were unfriendly or even hostile to Orthodoxy.

In 1099, Jerusalem was conquered by the crusaders; the Roman and local mayors, considering the Orthodox as apostates, boldly began to trample on their rights. The English historian Stephen Runciman cites in his book a story about this chronicler of the Western Church: “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 were. keep the Cross and other relics... A few months later, Arnold was replaced on the throne by Daimbert of Pisa, who went even further. He tried to expel all local Christians, even Orthodox Christians, from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and allow 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 did not happen in Edicule, until Eastern Christians were invited to participate in this rite. Then King Baldwin I took care of returning their rights to local Christians...”

The chaplain of the Crusader kings of Jerusalem, Fulk, says that when Western admirers (from among the crusaders) visited St. city ​​before the capture of Caesarea, for the celebration of St. Easter came to Jerusalem, the whole city was in confusion, because the holy fire did not appear and the faithful remained in vain expectations all day in the Church of the Resurrection. Then, as if by heavenly inspiration, the Latin clergy and the king with their entire court went... to the Temple of Solomon, which they had recently converted to from the Omar Mosque, and meanwhile the Greeks and Syrians who remained with St. The coffins, tearing their clothes, called upon the grace of God with cries, and then, finally, St. descended. Fire".

But 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 Parthenius. At the same time, there were Turkish soldiers in the enfilades of buildings adjacent to the temple square. One of them, named Omir (Anwar), seeing what was happening, exclaimed: “ One Faith Orthodox, 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, imprinting 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 late XIX centuries were in convent 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. However, this was not the only attempt by Muslims who deny the Passion and Resurrection of the Lord to prevent the descent of the Holy Fire. Here is what the famous Islamic historian al-Biruni (IX-X centuries) writes: “...once the governor ordered to replace the wicks with copper wire, hoping that the lamps would not light up and the miracle itself would not happen. But then, when the fire died down, the copper caught fire.”

It is difficult to list all the numerous events that occur before and during the descent of the Holy Fire. However, one thing deserves special mention. Several times a day or immediately before the descent of the Holy Fire, icons or frescoes depicting the Savior began to stream myrrh in the Temple. This first happened on Good Friday in 1572. The first witnesses were two Frenchmen; a letter about this from one of them is kept in the Central Paris Library. 5 months later, on August 24, Charles IX carried out the St. Bartholomew's Massacre in Paris. In 1939, on the night from Good Friday to Holy Saturday, she again cast myrrh. Several monks living at the Jerusalem monastery became witnesses. Five months later, on September 1, 1939, II began World War. In 2001 it happened again. Christians did not see anything terrible in this... but the whole world knows about what happened on September 11 of this year in the USA - five months after the myrrh-streaming.

Over the years, different people Other names were also used for the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire: Gracious Light, Sacred Light, miraculous Light, Grace.

“There are many substances that can spontaneously combust.”

The descent of the Holy Fire is a great Easter miracle. This year, on April 7, thousands of pilgrims will be waiting for his appearance, as always, in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. However, for many years, skeptics have been arguing: is fire really of divine origin, or is it the work of human hands? The latest scandal associated with the exposure of this miracle occurred almost a month before Easter: the representative of the Armenian Patriarchate Samuil Agoyan said that the patriarchs themselves light wax candles from an oil lamp.

"MK" decided to experiment and get fire chemically- without matches, lighters or other attributes that the priest definitely cannot carry with him.

Let us note right away: we do not want to offend anyone’s feelings with this text and do not set ourselves the goal of disproving the divine origin of fire. If a certain phenomenon can be imitated with the help of a trick or experiment, this does not mean that the phenomenon itself is a trick. We show that with the help of simple chemical manipulations you can reproduce something similar, get fire. But whether the Holy Fire itself is a miracle or the result of a chemical reaction - everyone decides for himself. In the end, everyone will be given according to their faith.

What do we know about the environment in which the fire descends? It is known that this is a closed phenomenon - only one person enters the chapel over the Holy Sepulcher, the Patriarch of the Jerusalem Greek Orthodox Church. Even those who stand directly next to the walls of the edicule cannot see what is happening inside. It is also known that the patriarch, before he goes inside to pray for the descent of the fire, is searched: he should not have any matches or lighters with him.

Fire - ordinary, human - can be obtained different ways. Mechanical: for example, by friction, or using a magnifying glass, glasses or binoculars, or even making a lens out of ice. However, it is unlikely that the priest will be able to carry some kind of device with him - then it would be easier to actually hide the lighter. The best way to simulate sudden spontaneous combustion of a candle is to use chemical methods.

Eat classic way, which was used by magicians back in the 19th century. A piece of white phosphorus is dissolved in carbon tetrachloride, a volatile, poisonous liquid. A wick is dipped into the solution. After the carbon tetrachloride evaporates, the phosphorus ignites itself and lights the candle. It is convenient that spontaneous combustion does not occur immediately - there is just enough time to move the candle or lamp to the right place.

There are many substances that can spontaneously ignite, for example alkali metals,” a professor at the Russian Chemical Technical University named after A. Mendeleev Dmitry Mustafin. - If you take a piece of potassium or sodium and throw it into water, it will start to burn. In addition, alkali metal carbides burn. Quite a lot of active metals, especially if they are crushed into powders, aluminum, zinc, cobalt, all spontaneously ignite in air. Some immediately, others after some period of time. You can mix two substances - an oxidizing agent and a reducing agent. If you take saltpeter or potassium permanganate and mix it with alcohol, the mixture should catch fire.

You can’t just buy white phosphorus or other self-igniting substances in a store. We chose the simplest and relatively safe way to obtain fire - mixing glycerin and potassium permanganate, known as potassium permanganate. We warn you: do not repeat this experience at home. This should only be done in rooms specially designed for this purpose (for example, in chemical laboratories) and only with a fire extinguisher at the ready.

Potassium permanganate is a strong oxidizing agent. When reacting, it decomposes to atomic oxygen, which oxidizes glycerol. The reaction is exothermic, that is, it is accompanied by a strong release of heat and ignition of the suspension.

Simple glycerin from the pharmacy will not work. In fact, it is not even glycerin, but glycerol - an 85% solution. This concentration of the active substance is not enough: the solution boils, but does not burn. Therefore, we bought a 99.5% glycerin solution at a specialized chemical store. Potassium permanganate, in turn, is simply not sold in pharmacies - only by prescription. We got it from our own old stocks.

The experiment should only be carried out in glass or porcelain dishes - in no case in plastic and preferably not in metal. We will not reveal the secret of “how much to weigh in grams”. IN glassware glycerin is poured (in concentrated form - a viscous transparent liquid). Potassium permanganate powder is added - there is no need to dilute it before this. After some time, the reaction begins sharply - everything seethes, boils and burns with a bright bluish flame. We placed a candle nearby, the wick of which was lit by chemical fire.

It is clear that no glassware will be brought into the edicule, and it is unlikely that members of the clergy are quietly chemistry in the corner. But there is a similar method where concentrated sulfuric acid is used instead of glycerin. The components taken in a certain ratio are used to make a paste. A small amount of it - literally a match head or less - is applied to the candle wick, which after some time lights up. To be sure, you can attach a tiny piece of paper to the wick. Alas, when we experimented with glycerin, we needed a fairly large volume of potassium permanganate, which definitely wouldn’t be possible to apply to the candle unnoticed.

There is one more property of the Holy Fire - it does not burn in the first minutes, and pilgrims can even wash themselves with it. A similar phenomenon of a chemical nature is used by illusionists in their work.

Part 1 – Source of the Holy Fire
Orthodox critics of the miraculous appearance of fire

Jerusalem, Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter. A ceremony is held in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher - the Litany of the Holy Fire. The Temple is filled with pilgrims, in the middle of the Temple a chapel (Edicule) is built, into which two priests (Greek Patriarch and Armenian Archimandrite) enter. After some time, they emerge from the Edicule with fire, which is passed on to the believers (see photo and video section ). IN Orthodox environment belief in the miraculous appearance of fire is widespread and various amazing properties. However, even at the beginning of the last century, even among the Orthodox, doubts arose about the miraculous nature of the emergence of fire and the presence of some special properties in it. These doubts were so widespread in society that it allowed the leading orientalist of the last century, IY Krachkovsky in 1915 to conclude: “U best representatives Theological thought and in the East the interpretation of the miracle that allows Prof. is noticeable. A. Olesnitsky andA. Dmitrievsky talk about the “triumph of the consecration of fire at the Holy Sepulchre”" ( 1 ). Founder of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, bishopPorfiry Uspensky , summarizing the consequences of the scandal with the Holy Fire, which led to the Metropolitan’s admission of forgery, left the following note in 1848: “But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believes in the miraculous appearance of fire” ( 2 ). A student of Professor Dmitrievsky mentioned by Krachkovsky, he is an Honored Professor of the Leningrad Theological AcademyNikolai Dmitrievich Uspensky in 1949, he gave an assembly speech at the annual report of the Council of the Leningrad Theological Academy, in which he described in detail the history of the Holy Fire, and based on the material presented, he made the following conclusion: “Obviously, once upon a time, without giving a timely energetic explanation to his flock about in true sense rite of St. fire in the future, they were unable to raise this voice in front of the ever-increasing fanaticism of the dark masses due to objective conditions. If this was not done in a timely manner, then later it became impossible to do without risking personal well-being and, perhaps, the integrity of the shrines themselves. All that was left for them to do was to perform the ritual and remain silent, consoling themselves with the fact that God “as He knows and is able, He will bring understanding and calm the nations” ( 3 ). There are quite a lot of doubters about the miraculous nature of the Holy Fire among modern Orthodox believers. Here we can mention Protodeacon A. Kuraev, who shared his impressions of the meeting of the Russian delegation with the Greek Patriarch Theophilus in the following 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 the edicule 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 spoken more openly about the lighter in his pocket." ( 4 ), another example is an interview about the Holy Fire with Archimandrite Isidore, head of the Russian Spiritual Mission in Jerusalem, where he in particular recalled the words of the locum tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of the Church of Jerusalem, Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra: “... This is a natural light that is lit from the Unquenchable Lamp, kept in the sacristy of the temple Resurrection" ( 5 ). Now disgraced Russian Orthodox Church, deacon Alexander Musin (Doctor of Historical Sciences, Candidate of Theology) co-authored with a church historianSergei Bychkov (Doctor of Historical Sciences) published a book: "THE HOLY FIRE: MYTH OR REALITY ?”, where they write in particular: “In order to lift the veil over this centuries-old, but by no means pious myth, we decided to publish a small work by the famous St. Petersburg professor Nikolai Dmitrievich Uspensky (1900-1987), dedicated to the history of the rite of the holy fire of Great Saturday, as well as a forgotten article by the world famous orientalist academician Ignatius Yulianovich Krachkovsky (1883-1951) “The Holy Fire” based on the story of Al-Biruni and other Muslim writers of the 10th-13th centuries.”
A series of works by the protopresbyter of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, George Tsetsis, is devoted to exposing the myth of the miraculous appearance of the Holy Fire; he writes: “The prayer that the patriarch offers before lighting the Holy Fire in the Holy Edicule is completely clear and does not allow for any misinterpretations. 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 have shown 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 located on the holy throne, symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher" ( 6 ).
The younger generation of theologians is not lagging behind; in 2008, a thesis on Liturgics was defended on the topic “The rite of the descent of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem,” completed by P. Zvezdin, a 5th year student at the Institute of Theology of BSU, in which he also dispels the myth of the miraculous appearance of fire ( 7 ).
However, one has only to accept the correctness of the Orthodox figures mentioned here, who have earned honor and respect for their service, and one will have to admit that many Greek patriarchs and no less noble Orthodox clergy hypocritically deceived believers by talking about the miraculous appearance of fire and its unusual properties. This is probably why in apological articles written by famous Russian theologians, seemingly honored Orthodox figures are so often thrown mud at, attributing to them heretical views, a craving for collecting fables to please their preconceived opinions and lack of scientific approach in his critical works regarding the Holy Fire (8 a, b; 9 ).

What arguments do critics give about the miraculous nature of the appearance of the Holy Fire?
Almost all skeptics are confused by the clear definiteness of the time of receiving fire and the ability to change this time by order of local authorities.
Due to constant strife between Christian denominations, in 1852, through the efforts of the authorities, a document appeared, the so-called STATUS-QUO, where the sequence of actions of all rituals for all denominations in the city was thoroughly recorded. The service of the Holy Fire is also scheduled minute by minute, in particular, to find the fire, the priests who entered the Edicule are given time from 12.55 to 13.10 ( 10 ). And now, for 8 years of live broadcasts, this time has been impeccably observed. Only in 2002, due to a fight between the patriarch and the archimandrite inside the Edicule, fire began to be distributed much later than a certain time ( 11 ). Those. the delay was due to the priests, and not due to lack of fire. This fight had serious consequences; for several years now, an Israeli policeman has been the first to enter the Edicule inside the Edicule, together with the Armenian archimandrite and the Greek patriarch, vigilantly ensuring that high-ranking clergy do not fight again in this holy and revered place ( 12 ). Skepticism is also betrayed by another fact related to the time of appearance of the fire, which is narrated by Prof. AA Dmitrievsky, referring to prof. AA Olesnitsky, in 1909 he writes: “Once upon a time the feast 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” ( 13 ). It turns out that the time of the appearance of a divine miracle can also be determined by the orders of the Islamic administration.
In principle, God is able to carry out any order of any administration, since He is omnipotent and can do anything and plan His miracles in any way. However, such a clearly defined miracle in time is the only example. Let’s say in the Gospel example of the bath, which is referred to by miracle apologists (John 5: 2-4), healings do not occur at a strictly defined time, but as the evangelist writes: “<…>for the angel of the Lord from time to time went into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever entered it first after the water was disturbed was healed<…>" Also other annual Orthodox miracles, for example, the descent of the Holy Cloud on Mount Tabor on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord or the appearance poisonous snakes in the Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God(on the Island of Kefalonia) on the day of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I also do not have a strictly defined time period. By the way, the descent of the cloud on Mount Tabor and the appearance of poisonous snakes occurs in full view of people, while the fire occurs in Edicule, which is closed from pilgrims. Such accessibility greatly contributes to clarifying the true nature of these phenomena; for example, it turns out that the clergy themselves bring snakes and they are not at all poisonous ( 14 ). Regarding Mount Tabor, everything is also relatively simple. At this time of year, fogs form on the mountain almost every day, and pilgrims only witness the birth of such fog ( 15 ). The spectacle is truly beautiful, and having increased religiosity, it is easy to attribute miraculous properties to what you see.

Skeptics' version of the appearance of fire
From the point of view of skeptics, the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite light their candles from an unquenchable lamp, which is brought in by the guardian of the coffin shortly before the patriarch's entrance. Perhaps the lamp is not placed on the coffin, but in a niche behind the icon from which the patriarch takes it out; perhaps some additional manipulations are taking place inside. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to see this.
Let us recall the sequence of actions during the ceremony ( 16 , link to video).

1. Examine the Edicule (two priests and a representative of the authorities).
2. Seal the entrance doors of Edicule with a large wax seal.
3. The keeper of the coffin appears and brings a large lamp, covered with a cap, inside the coffin. The seal is removed in front of him, 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).

Naturally, a man with a lamp covered with a cap will interest skeptics. By the way, there are holes for air in the lamp's cap, so that a fire can burn in it. Unfortunately, apologists for the miracle practically do not explain in any way the insertion of this lamp into the Edicule. They pay attention to the inspection of the Edicule by government officials and priests before sealing. Indeed, after inspection there should be no fire inside. Then the miracle apologists pay attention to the search of the Greek patriarch before his entry into the Edicule. True, the video clearly shows that only Greek priests remove his clothes and do not search their patriarch, but this is not important, due to the fact that earlier another representative of the Greek Orthodox Church entered there to put a lamp on the slab of the Tomb and no one does not examine.

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. How in Good Friday We have a burial ceremony, don't we? 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.”

The apologist for the miracle did not like such an answer so much that, in my opinion, there was even a fake interview with Patriarch Theophilus ( ).

The most important evidence of the miraculous appearance of fire.
Once again, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that by trusting Orthodox skeptics, we thereby recognize the deception on the part of the Greek patriarchs and a number of prominent Russian Orthodox figures. I will present this evidence.
- Monk Parthenius, recorded the stories of those who talked with the Metropolitan of Transjordan (1841-1846 or 1870-1871), in which he talks about the spontaneous combustion of the lamp: “Sometimes I go up, and it’s already burning; then I’ll soon take it out, and sometimes I’ll go up, and the lamp is not yet burning; then I will fall to the ground from fear and with tears begin to ask for mercy from God. When I get up, the lamp is already burning, and I light two bunches of candles, take them out and serve them" (24).
- Viceroy Peter Meletius, whose words are conveyed to us by the pilgrim Barbara Brun de Sainte-Hippolyte, traveling around 1859, who left the following note: “Now grace has already descended on the Savior’s Tomb when I ascended into the Edicule: apparently, you all prayed earnestly, and God heard your prayers. I used to pray for a long time with tears, and the fire of God did not descend from heaven until two o’clock, but this time I already saw it, as soon as they locked the door behind me" (24).
- Hieromonk Meletius quotes the words of Archbishop Misail, who received the fire: “When he came in, he told me, inside to St. To the Tomb, we see on the entire roof of the Tomb a shining light, like scattered small beads, in the form of white, blue, alago and other colors, which then copulated reddened, and transformed over time into the substance of fire; but this Fire, over the course of time, as soon as you can slowly read forty times “Lord have mercy!” And because of this, the fire does not burn the prepared candlesticks and candles” (24).
- Patriarch Diodorus in 1998 says: « I'm making my way through the darkness interior space, and I fall to my knees there. Here I offer special prayers that have come down to us through the centuries and, having read them, I wait. Sometimes I wait a few minutes, but usually the miracle happens as soon as I say the prayers. From the midst of the very stone on which Jesus lay, an indescribable light pours out. It is usually blue in color, but the color can vary and take on many different shades. It cannot be described in human words. Light rises from the stone like mist rises from a lake - it almost looks like the stone is covered in a damp cloud, but it is light. This light behaves differently every year. Sometimes it covers only the stone, and sometimes it fills the entire Edicule, so that if people standing outside looked inside, they would see it filled with light. The light does not burn - I have never burned my beard in all sixteen years that I have been the Patriarch of Jerusalem and received the Holy Fire. The light is of a different consistency than ordinary fire burning in an oil lamp.
- At a certain moment, the light rises and takes the form of a column, in which the fire is of a different nature, so that I can already light candles from it. When I light candles with fire in this way, I go out and hand over the fire first to the Armenian Patriarch, and then to the Coptic Patriarch. Then I pass the fire to all the people present in the temple" ( 25 ).
- Abraham Sergeevich Norov, former Minister of National Education in Russia, famous Russian writer, who traveled to Palestine in 1835:
“Only one of the Greek bishops, an Armenian bishop (who had recently received the right to do so), the Russian consul from Jaffa and we three travelers entered the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher behind the metropolitan. The doors closed behind us. The never-fading lamps over the Holy Sepulcher were already extinguished; only weak lighting passed to us from the temple through the side openings of the chapel. This moment is solemn: the excitement in the temple has subsided; everything came true as expected. We stood in the Angel's chapel, in front of the stone rolled away from the den; Only the metropolitan entered the den of the Holy Sepulcher. &

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The appearance of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem today is considered a miracle by only one of the Christian churches - the Russian Orthodox. The rest honestly admit that this is just a ritual, an imitation, and not a miracle.

On the eve of Orthodox Easter in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher, God performs an amazing miracle - lights a fire. This fire, however, does not “spontaneously combust” in public view. Two high-ranking priests enter a small stone chamber called an edicule. This is a special room inside the temple, like a chapel, where supposedly there is a stone bed on which the body of the crucified Christ lay. Having gone inside, they close the door behind them, and after a while they take out fire from the edicule - a burning lamp and bunches of flaming candles. Crowds of fanatics immediately rush to them to light the candles they brought with them from the blessed fire. It is believed that this fire does not burn in the first minutes, so pilgrims who have fallen into ecstasy, who had previously languished in anticipation for many hours, “wash” their faces and hands with it.

“Firstly, this fire does not burn, which is proof of a miracle,” hundreds of believers write on dozens of forums. “And secondly, how, if not God’s miracle, can one explain that with such crowded people and so much fire there were never fires in the temple?”

In fact, the temple has already burned several times, which is not surprising given the old construction and such closeness of parishioners with fire. During one of the fires in the temple, 300 people were burned alive. And another time, due to a fire, the dome of the temple collapsed, seriously damaging the edicule. The technology of fire that does not burn is simple - you need to move the fire across your face in the area of ​​the chin or move your hand through the flame quickly. This is exactly what pilgrims do, as anyone can see by watching television footage from the scene of the event. And many of them - those who are not agile enough - end up being burned by a “non-burning” fire! They leave the temple with burns and singed beards.

Back in the middle of the 20th century, professor of the department Holy Scripture Old Testament and the Department of Hebrew Language, Master of Theology and Archpriest Alexander Osipov, having processed a huge historical material, showed that there was no regular “miracle of spontaneous combustion”. And there was an ancient symbolic rite of blessing the fire, which the priests lit over the Holy Sepulcher in a cuvuklia.

Around the same time as Osipov, similar work was carried out by a Master of Theology, Doctor of Church History, an honorary member of the Moscow Theological Academy, and also a member of two Local Councils Professor N. Uspensky. He is not the last person in the church and is very respected, awarded many church orders... So, in October 1949, at the Council of the Theological Academy, he made an extensive scientific report on the history of the Jerusalem fire, in which he stated the fact of deception of the flock, and even explained the reasons for the occurrence legends about spontaneous combustion.

“We are faced with another question: when do legends about the miraculous origin of the Holy Fire appear, and what was the reason for their emergence?.. Obviously, once, without promptly giving an energetic explanation to their flock about the true meaning of the rite of the Holy Fire, the hierarchs later found themselves unable to raise this voice in the face of the increasingly increasing fanaticism of the dark masses due to objective conditions. If this was not done in a timely manner, then later it became impossible to do without risking personal well-being and, perhaps, the integrity of the shrines themselves. All that remains for them is to perform the ritual and remain silent, consoling themselves with the fact that God “as He knows and is able, He will bring understanding and calm the nations.”

And as for the moral aspect of this deception, Uspensky exclaims: “How great and sacred in the Orthodox fatherland is the rumor about the kindling of the Holy Fire, so painful for the eyes and heart is the very sight of it in Jerusalem!”

After listening to Uspensky’s report, the churchmen were indignant: why turn out dirty linen in front of believers? The then Metropolitan of Leningrad, Grigory Chukov, expressed the general opinion: “I know as well as you that this is only a pious legend. Essentially a myth. I know that there are many other myths in the practice of the church. But do not destroy legends and myths. For by crushing them, you can crush faith itself in the trustingly believing hearts of ordinary people.”

In his opinion, simple people- these are simpletons who cannot believe without deception... Well, what can you say, except that the troublemaker Uspensky is an honest man?..

Just recently the Armenian apostolic church, directly participating in the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire, told the truth about the nature of the fire taken out of the Holy Sepulcher. “A miracle does not happen, we never declared this, that there was no fire, and it comes down from heaven,” commented Archimandrite Ghevond Hovhannisyan, rector of the Church of the Holy Archangels of Jerusalem.

Against the backdrop of political conflicts, a legend was created about the supernatural descent of the Holy Fire, which brought many pilgrims to Jerusalem, in particular from Russia. “According to eyewitnesses, over the past fifty years before the visit of the Greek Patriarch and the Armenian Archimandrite, the lamp had already been burning there,” said Gevond Hovhannisyan.