Miracle of the Holy Fire
Most of the miracles we describe in this site have a Catholic orientation in that they are either Marian appearances to faithful Catholics or miracles associated with those apparitions. Our focus has been on these quite simply because they can be verified by empirical evidence, including testimony of multiple witnesses. Miracles, however, are not confined to those of the Catholic faith, and the Miracle of the Holy Fire is but one example. Until recently there has been little or no physical evidence to confirm this annual Easter event. Now, however, because of the rapidly increasing availability of tape and digital recordings, what was once supported only by testimony now lends itself to filmed verification.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre encloses the places where it is generally believed Christ was crucified, entombed, and rose from the dead. It is time to visit this most holy Christian site and witness a miracle that recurs every year on Holy Saturday (that is, the Saturday between Good Friday and Easter as celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox), and has faithfully done so since the 4th century, and possibly before. The miracle is called the Miracle of the Holy Fire and is given to us through the Eastern Orthodox Church.
The tomb of Christ is enclosed by a chapel within the Church of the Sepulchre, and it is there that the Holy Fire reveals its divine origin by spontaneously emerging, first as a mist-like light, from the stone upon which they placed Jesus’ crucified body. The light rises and transforms into a fire which in turn ignites the candles held by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem as he prays alone in the tomb of Christ. Since the Patriarch is there alone in the tomb of Jesus it seems difficult to objectively verify the miraculous nature of the event. In fact, it doesn’t seem miraculous at all because one person going into the tomb without a fire, being there alone, and then coming out holding a lit candle sounds like material for a good yawn. There must be more. There is.
Timeline for the annual occurrence
Here is a condensed description of this annual miracle from the official website.
“Ceremony of Holy Light
“In order to be as close to the Sepulchre as possible, pilgrims camp next to it. The Sepulchre is located in the small chapel called Holy Ciborium, which is inside the Church of the Resurrection [Sepulchre]. Typically they wait from the afternoon of Holy Friday in anticipation of the miracle on Holy Saturday. Beginning at around 11:00 in the morning the Christian Arabs chant traditional hymns in a loud voice. . . . But at 1:00 pm the chants fade out, and then there is a silence. A tense silence, charged from the anticipation of the great demonstration of God’s power for all to witness.
“Shortly thereafter, a delegation from the local authorities elbows its way through the crowd. At the time of the Turkish occupation of Palestine they were Muslim Turks; today they are Israelis. Their function is to represent the Romans at the time of Jesus. The Gospels speak of the Romans that went to seal the tomb of Jesus, so that his disciples would not steal his body and claim he had risen. In the same way the Israeli authorities on this Holy Saturday come and seal the tomb with wax. Before they seal the door, they follow a custom to enter the tomb, and to check for any hidden source of fire, which would make a fraud of the miracle.
“How the miracle occurs
Orthodox Patriarch Diodor tells us what transpires when he enters the tomb:
“I enter the tomb and kneel in holy fear in front of the place where Christ lay after His death and where He rose again from the dead. I find my way through the darkness towards the inner chamber in which I fall on my knees. Here I say certain prayers that have been handed down to us through the centuries and, having said them, I wait. Sometimes I may wait a few minutes, but normally the miracle happens immediately after I have said the prayers. From the core of the very stone on which Jesus lay an indefinable light pours forth. It usually has a blue tint, but the colour may change and take many different hues. It cannot be described in human terms. The light rises out of the stone as mist may rise out of a lake — it almost looks as if the stone is covered by a moist cloud, but it is light. This light each year behaves differently. Sometimes it covers just the stone, while other times it gives light to the whole sepulchre, so that people who stand outside the tomb and look into it will see it filled with light. The light does not burn — I have never had my beard burnt in all the sixteen years I have been Patriarch in Jerusalem and have received the Holy Fire. The light is of a different consistency than normal fire that burns in an oil lamp… At a certain point the light rises and forms a column in which the fire is of a different nature, so that I am able to light my candles from it. When I thus have received the flame on my candles, I go out and give the fire first to the Armenian Patriarch and then to the Coptic. Hereafter I give the flame to all people present in the Church.”
“While the patriarch is inside the chapel kneeling in front of the stone, there is darkness but far from silence outside. One hears a rather loud mumbling, and the atmosphere is very tense. When the Patriarch comes out with the two candles lit and shining brightly in the darkness, a roar of jubilee resounds in the Church.
“The Holy Light is not only distributed by the Archbishop, but operates also by itself. It is emitted from the Holy Sepulchre with a hue completely different from that of natural light. It sparkles, it flashes like lightning, it flies like a dove around the tabernacle of the Holy Sepulchre, and lights up the unlit lamps of olive oil hanging in front of it. It whirls from one side of the church to the other. It enters some of the chapels inside the church, as for instance the chapel of the Calvery [sic] (at a higher level than the Holy Sepulchre) and lights up the little lamps. It lights up also the candles of certain pilgrims. In fact there are some very pious pilgrims who, every time they attended this ceremony, noticed that their candles lit up on their own accord! [T]his divine light also presents some peculiarities: As soon as it appears it has a bluish hue and does not burn. At the first moments of its appearance, if it touches the face, or the mouth, or the hands, it does not burn. This is proof of its divine and supernatural origin. We must also take into consideration that the Holy Light appears only by the invocation of an Orthodox Archbishop.
“The miracle is not confined to what actually happens inside the little tomb, where the Patriarch prays. What may be even more significant, is that the blue light is reported to appear and be active outside the tomb. Every year many believers claim that this miraculous light ignites candles, which they hold in their hands, of its own initiative. All in the church wait with candles in the hope that they may ignite spontaneously. Often unlit oil lamps catch light by themselves before the eyes of the pilgrims. The blue flame is seen to move in different places in the Church. A number of signed testimonies by pilgrims, whose candles lit spontaneously, attest to the validity of these ignitions. The person who experiences the miracle from close up by having the fire on the candle or seeing the blue light usually leaves Jerusalem changed, and for everyone having attended the ceremony, there is always a “before and after” the miracle of the Holy Fire in Jerusalem.”
I urge you to view some videos of the Miracle of the Holy Fire, easily accessible on the official website or through a YouTube search. As you will see, the miracle isn’t just that the Patriarch emerges with a lit candle. For more than 1,500 years (before flash bulbs and other electronic and electrical devices) his emergence from the tomb was, and continues to be, often preceded or followed by spectacular displays of light, as of lightning.
Who says God hides? For more than 1,500 years God has revealed himself in this annual miracle. You are hereby invited to Jerusalem for the next Pashcal Holy Saturday, and you too will be able to witness and participate in the Miracle of the Holy Fire.
A fraudulent claim?
How many witnesses does it take to prove conclusively an event? At Fatima there were 70,000 on that October 13, 1917. Over the centuries the number of witnesses to the Holy Fire led by the Jerusalem Patriarch of the Eastern Orthodox far exceeds that number. If this were a fraud the testimony of the Patriarch quoted above, which substantially tracks the testimony of all his predecessors for the past 1,600 years, would have to be a lie. The smoke of Satan certainly would have to have penetrated the very core of the Orthodox.
It hasn’t. Any objective analysis must conclude that something spectacularly divine occurs every year in Jerusalem, just as the spectacularly divine Jesus appeared, died, was entombed, and resurrected 2,000 years ago.
Hidden treasure
Why haven’t you heard about this event? I think part of the reason for the lack of publicity in the West is that Protestants generally are wary about claimed miracles unless they originate within their own culture (that’s just my opinion) and tend to disassociate themselves from them. Catholics, to the extent they even think about them, tend to focus on Marian apparitions. Their plate is full, so to speak. The Catholic hierarchy tends to ignore the annual Holy Fire (at least publicly), either deliberately or subconsciously, perhaps because the Catholic clergy is not involved (that’s just a guess). It’s not a conspiracy, but a lack of attention in much the same way that non-Catholics ignore Fatima, Lourdes, etc.
The Eastern Orthodox tradition is somewhat foreign to our Western Christianity culture. When given a choice, it is always easier to opt for the familiar. There are plenty of miracles to go around and it is understandable that in our Western Christian heritage we would focus on the familiar. We need to stop being so provincial. Rain and sun fall upon everyone, as do God’s miracles and grace.
Some websites and references
Last modified September 11, 2019