"Holy Fire, flame lit at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday, the Saturday before Easter, as calculated according to the Julian calendar. The paschal ritual takes place annually in Jerusalem, where it is conducted by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem with the participation of the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem. The day of the ritual is referred to as Sabt al-Nūr (“Saturday of Light”) in Arabic, the primary language of the local Christian community.
On the afternoon of that Saturday, the Greek and Armenian hierarchs enter alone into the Edicule, which encloses the tomb in which Jesus was said to have been buried. The Edicule is then closed while the Greek patriarch kneels and prays inside. After some time, a glimmer of light flickers from inside the Edicule, followed moments later by the emergence of the patriarch with a bundle of candles that bear a flame in each hand. The patriarch then blesses the crowd before the flame is rapidly (and at times chaotically) distributed. The event bears similarities to the midnight lighting of the paschal candle in the Eastern Orthodox liturgical tradition.
Delegations representing Eastern Orthodox countries carry the flame that same day to their home countries, where it is presented in cathedrals in time for the Easter service. It is also carried locally to cities in the West Bank and Israel with sizable Christian communities—such as Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Nazareth—where crowds gather with fanfare in the city centres to receive the flame.
Many celebrants over the centuries have attributed the lighting of the candles to a spontaneous spark that descends miraculously from heaven, a belief affirmed by many Eastern Orthodox Christians today. That interpretation is perpetuated by the theatrics of the event, which include the searching of the patriarch by civil authorities to demonstrate to observers that he is not carrying any means of combustion into the Edicule. Popular belief in the miraculous nature of the event stirred considerable controversy by the turn of the 11th century and may have been the reason al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh, the Fatimid caliph, ordered the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 1009. In 1100, months after the Crusaders arrived in Jerusalem and took control of the church, the Latin patriarch Daimbert led the ceremony but was unable to obtain the Holy Fire through miraculous means. The Holy Fire subsequently became a tool of polemic between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic clergy, and in 1238 Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull denouncing the ritual as a fraud and forbidding the participation of Roman Catholic clergy in it."
Holy Fire, flame lit at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday, the Saturday before Easter, as calculated according to the Julian calendar. The paschal ritual takes place annually in Jerusalem, where it is conducted by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem with the participation of
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The popular understanding is that the Patriarch of Jerusalem enters the edicule without any means to light the candle. He says a prayer, the candle lights on its own, and he brings the flame out to the faithful. For several minutes, the flame isn't hot, so it doesn't burn. You can hold it up to anything, and it won't ignite. However, after several minutes, it becomes hot like any other flame.That's what most eye-witnesses agree on.
There is so much conflicting information out there,even to me as Orthodox.
I've seen claims that the church never said the way the fire lights is a miracle. I've read articles that claimed it's a proven hoax. I've seen videos where people show that the fire doesn't burn them. I've seen an interview with a supposed Orthodox clergyman who said it was lit by artificial means, but then he also later called it a miracle. I've seen a video where there are flashes of light and candles lit as it passes over them. I've read about people's experiences after they've been there themselves. Yet, I'm still not sure what's going on.
Something miraculous does happen, of that I'm sure, but past that, it's not so clear.
Is the miracle that the flame lights on its own?
Is it that the nature of the flame is different than regular fire (it has been demonstrated that the flame doesn't burn for several minutes)?
Is it what happens among the faithful?
Is it something else?
