The descent of the Holy Fire occurs every year on Holy Saturday, the eve of the Orthodox Easter. The earliest evidence of the descent of fire in Jerusalem dates back to the 4th century and belongs to the pilgrim Etheria. The fire descends only on the eve of Easter, celebrated in the old way, Julian calendar, and we know that the celebration of the Resurrection of Christ falls on different days every year. The Holy Fire descends only through the prayers of the Orthodox Patriarch.
Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection of Christ covers with its roof Mount Golgotha, and the Cave of the Holy Sepulcher, and the garden where the first appearance of the risen Christ the Savior to Mary Magdalene took place. This temple was erected in the 4th century by the holy Emperor Constantine and his mother Saint Helena.
Nowadays, the miracle of the descent of heavenly fire happens like this. Around noon, the Patriarch of Jerusalem with the clergy and praying procession goes from the Patriarchate to the Church of the Resurrection. The procession enters the temple and, having walked three times around the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, located inside the temple, stops near its entrance. Pilgrims from all over the world gather in the temple; all the candles and lights in the temple are extinguished.
Every year, several thousand people present in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher see: the Patriarch, whose clothes were specially examined, enters the Edicule, which has been checked and sealed. Representatives of other Christian denominations and police officers participate in the inspection of the Edicule, its sealing and the inspection of the Patriarch every year. The inspection is carried out to prove that the patriarch cannot possibly bring a source of fire to Edicule. This custom was established by the Turks, who captured Palestine in 1517. After searching the Edicule, they sealed it and placed a guard until the patriarch entered.
The Patriarch, wearing only a linen cassock, with thirty-three unlit candles in his hand, enters the chapel. Kneeling, he prays in front of the Holy Sepulcher for the sending of the Holy Fire.
The descent of the fire is preceded by flashes in the form of bluish lightning, piercing the entire air space of the temple. Then, on the marble slab of the Holy Sepulcher, fiery balls of blue flame appear, as if in the form of drops of rain or dew. Sometimes the Holy Fire itself lights the lamps at the tomb. The Patriarch lights cotton wool from them and then lights candles with this fire. Coming out of the chapel, he passes the fire to the Armenian Patriarch and the people. The entire temple is filled with rejoicing, the fire is passed on to each other, lit from already burning candles. People hold in their hands bunches of thirty-three candles - according to the number of years of the Savior’s earthly life. The Holy Fire has the miraculous property of not burning at first. Those standing in the temple pass the flame over their face and hair and “wash themselves”: for the first few minutes the fire does not burn the skin or singe the hair.
The miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire on Orthodox Easter after the prayer of the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is proof of the truth of our faith. In 1579, the Armenian community obtained from the Turkish authorities that their primate, and not the Orthodox patriarch, be allowed into the chapel. (It must be said that the Armenians, although they are Christians, distorted the Orthodox faith back in the 4th century and adhere to the Monophysite heresy, that is, they recognize in Christ only one - Divine - nature.) The Orthodox humbly prayed to closed doors temple, the Armenians were waiting for the descent of the Holy Fire in Edicule. And the Lord performed a miracle: the Holy Fire descended, but not on the Holy Sepulcher. Lightning struck the column next to which the Orthodox were praying, and fire came out of it. The scorched marble column still testifies to this miracle.
Eyewitness account
The famous traveler Abraham Sergeevich Norov was present at the descent of the holy fire. Norov traveled to Jerusalem in 1835 and was in the chapel. From the chapel of the Angel I saw Metropolitan Misail receiving the fire: “Thus, we reached the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher in the midst of a wonderful sight of people, agitated or hanging from all the arcades and cornices.
Only one of the Greek bishops, the 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 above 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. I already said that the entrance there has no doors. I saw how the elderly metropolitan, bowing before the low entrance, entered the den and knelt before the holy tomb, in front of which there was nothing and which was completely naked. In less than a minute, the darkness was illuminated with light, and the Metropolitan came out to us with a flaming bunch of candles.
Easter will come on April 24th. The culmination of the main Christian holiday will be the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Disputes will arise again about what the miraculous fire is, how to explain its occurrence? Atheists are convinced that this is just a hoax. Believers, on the contrary, think that this is a real miracle. Who is right?
Strange discharge
Quite recently, a report appeared in the press that a Russian physicist, an employee of the Russian Research Center “Kurchatov Institute” Andrei Volkov last year attended the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire and secretly made some measurements.
According to Volkov, a few minutes before the removal of the Holy Fire from the Edicule (the chapel where the miraculous fire lights up), a device recording the spectrum electromagnetic radiation, detected a strange long-wave pulse in the temple, which no longer manifested itself. That is, an electrical discharge occurred.
The physicist came to Jerusalem as an assistant to one of the film crews who received permission to work inside the temple. According to him, it is difficult to judge anything reliably from one measurement, since a series of experiments is required. But still, “it could also turn out that we have detected the reason preceding the appearance of the genuine divine Holy Fire”...
Today, closer to midnight, a plane with the Holy Fire landed at Vnukovo airport. According to tradition, the sacred fire from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem was taken to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, and particles of Fire were delivered to various churches throughout the country.
But what is the Holy Fire - a trick for believers or the True Light - a Russian physicist managed to find out. A scientist from the Institute of Atomic Energy, using high-precision instruments, was able to prove that the Holy Fire is actually of divine origin.
The head of the laboratory of ion systems at the Kurchatov Institute, Andrei Volkov, managed to do something that no other scientist in the world had ever succeeded in: he conducted a scientific experiment in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
At the moment of the descent of the Holy Fire, instruments recorded a sharp surge of electromagnetic radiation.
52-year-old candidate of physical and mathematical sciences Andrei Volkov has always been interested in the phenomenon of unusual spontaneous combustion in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which happens on the eve of Orthodox Easter. This fire appears by itself, in the first seconds it does not burn; believers wash their faces and hands with it, as if with water. Volkov suggested that this flame was a plasma discharge. And the scientist came up with the idea of a bold experiment - to measure electromagnetic radiation in the temple itself during the descent of the Holy Fire.
I understood that it would not be easy to do this - in holy place with the equipment they might not let us in,” Andrei Volkov told Your Day. - And yet I decided to take a risk, since all the devices fit in a regular case. In general, I hoped for luck. And I was lucky.
Radiation
The scientist set up the instruments: if during the descent of the Holy Fire there is a jump in electromagnetic fields, the computer will record it. If the flame is a trick that is arranged for believers (this explanation of the phenomenon is still in use among atheists), then no leap will occur.
Volkov watched as the Patriarch of Jerusalem, having taken off his vestments, wearing only a shirt, entered the Edicule (chapel in the Temple) with a bunch of candles. People froze, waiting for a miracle. After all, according to legend, if the Holy Fire does not descend on people on Easter Eve, it will be a sign of the approaching end of the world. Andrei Volkov found out that the miracle had happened before anyone else who was in the temple - his instruments detected a sharp jump!
During six hours of observing the electromagnetic background in the temple, it was at the moment of the descent of the Holy Fire that the device recorded a doubling of the radiation intensity, the physicist testifies. - Now it is clear that the Holy Fire was not created by people. This is not a deception, not a hoax: its material “traces” can be measured!
In fact, this inexplicable burst of energy can be called a message from God?
Many believers think so. This is the materialization of the Divine, a miracle. You can't find another word. God's plan cannot be squeezed into mathematical formulas. But with this miracle the Lord gives us a sign every year that the Orthodox faith is true!
"Fire like a cobra"
An argument in favor of the fact that the Holy Fire is of “natural” and not divine origin is the fact that similar phenomena do occur. Of course, in no case should they be placed on a par with the fire in the Temple of the Lord. However, there are some common features.
Let's start with such a sign as suddenness, the absence of an apparent reason. The same property is characteristic of such a phenomenon as spontaneous combustion, which is not so rare. For example, “Buff Garden” last month wrote about an abnormal fire on Bolshaya Podgornaya Street that occurred last spring. This is far from an isolated case. And not only for Tomsk. For example, causeless fires are not uncommon in Moscow. The most surprising thing is that this happens especially often on the Garden Ring. Moreover, not only apartments and offices are burning, but even car interiors.
Let's take another sign of the Holy Fire - the property of not burning, at least for the first time. This already looks like the so-called cold plasma, a low-temperature ionized substance. It seems that such plasma exists not only in physics laboratories.
Here is a quote from the newspaper “Shakhtarsky Krai”, Novokuznetsk. A case is described when a firefighter went to a call and saw something completely unusual before his eyes. “I somehow broke into a room in the middle of which hovered an orange-blue selective column of flame. The fire stood in like a cobra vertical position as if he was preparing to jump. I took a step towards the flame, and it was immediately sucked into a hole in the floor with a whistle... And when we extinguished the barracks on Vera Solomina Street, the fire seemed to be hiding from us, spreading from one wall to another...” Notice that the flame wriggled, “hidden,” but did not cause a fire.
Science and myths
There are cases when a mysterious flame or glow, taken for miracles, eventually found a scientific explanation. According to old beliefs, the lights flickering in the swamps are candles used to illuminate the path of lost souls. It is now reliably known that will-o'-the-wisps are nothing more than flammable swamp gas released from rotting plants. The bluish glow on the masts and frames of ships - the so-called "St. Elmo's lights", observed since the Middle Ages - is caused by lightning discharges at sea. And what about the northern lights, which in Scandinavian myths is the reflection of the golden shields of the Valkyries? Scientists explain this phenomenon by the interaction of streams of charged particles passing through the upper atmosphere through the Earth's magnetic field.
However, some cases still remain a mystery. In 1905, Welsh preacher Mary Jones was visited by mysterious lights. Their appearance ranged from small balls of fire, pillars of light a meter wide, to a faint glow reminiscent of fireworks disintegrating in the sky. Moreover, some researchers explained the appearance of mysterious lights by the mental stress that Jones experienced during sermons.
We should not guess, but explore
Let us return to where we started, to the wonderful Holy Fire in Jerusalem. It turns out that Moscow physicist Andrei Volkov was almost ahead of Tomsk residents. The year before last I was planning to go to Jerusalem research group, among whom were the director of the Biolon center Viktor Fefelov and the famous photojournalist Vladimir Kazantsev.
“We wanted to study the Holy Fire using physical instruments,” says Victor Fefelov. - With the help of Tomsk scientists scientific center assembled equipment: an automatic spectrophotometer, other various instruments for studying electromagnetic waves of the widest range... Outwardly, everything would look like filming with a regular video camera, in fact, a thorough analysis would be carried out from X-ray and gamma radiation to low-frequency. We completely unbiasedly hoped to find the answer - either this is a miracle, or natural phenomenon, or deception.
Unfortunately, due to problems with visas, the trip was canceled. Although many Tomsk residents provided one form of support or another: corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vladimir Zuev, deputy Nikolai Vyatkin, director of the television studio Elena Ulyanova and others. The researchers also received approval in church circles. Perhaps it will be possible next year.
* * *
Perhaps the answer lies in geophysics? That is, it’s all about the release of a clot of tectonic, underground energy to the surface in the form of low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, which Volkov was able to detect?
“The Earth is a very large, extremely complex electromagnetic object,” says Viktor Fefelov, “and extremely little studied. It is likely that there is a tectonic contribution to this phenomenon. There is no need to guess, we need to explore.
Indeed, perhaps the Holy Fire is due to many reasons? Edicule is in a unique place in terms of plate tectonic dynamics. Perhaps the believers gathered at the Temple of the Lord also generate energy, which, thanks to a large number emotionally excited people increases many times over? Let us recall the aforementioned case of the preacher Mary Jones.
There may be other factors that we don't yet know about.
“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, stated 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 is it a miracle? holy fire 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 in 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. Conveniently, 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 few 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 create 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 hang in grams”. Glycerin is poured into a glass container (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 instead of glycerin they take concentrated sulfuric acid. 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. Similar phenomenon chemical nature illusionists use in their work.
“Do not be deceived, O Jew, become accustomed to the prophetic speech,
and understand that He is truly the Savior of the world, and the omnipotent one.”
(Stichera 6 on “I cried to the Lord” of the Sunday service, 5th tone)
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 Golgotha - 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. 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 in length and six meters in width, located under the arches of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. As in evangelical times, the Holy Sepulcher, the Holy Tomb currently consists of two rooms: a small “burial chamber” 2.07 x 1.93 meters, almost half occupied by a stone bed - arcosalium, and an entrance room (room) called the chapel Angel, size 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, a rotunda - architectural structure with a huge dome, under which the Edicule, Katholikon, 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 Temple Equal to the Apostles Helen, several chapels - small temples with their own altars. On the territory of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there are several active monasteries; it includes many auxiliary rooms, galleries, etc. Moreover, various parts of the Temple belong to several Christian denominations. For example, the Church of the Franciscans and the Altar of Nails - to 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 exactly 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, in addition to the burial shrouds, as we read in the Gospel, he 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 testimonies, appearances of the Holy 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 Sepulchre. Christ's Resurrection 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 it was seven o’clock on the Sabbath day (about 12-13 o’clock modern time. - Auto.), King Baldwin went (the Temple at that time belonged to the Crusaders. - Auto.) 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 he 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. - Auto.). 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 walked ahead and stood in his place, on right side at 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. There are all three grave doors (in the modern Edicule there is one. - Auto.) 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 Tomb, 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, did not see the 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 shine emanated from the Sepulchre.
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 the wonderful one glows differently, its flame is red, like cinnabar, glows unspeakably.”
P Almost the same procedure is happening 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. Both historical and modern practice indicate that during the descent of Fire, three groups of participants must be present.
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 Armenian Church. The Orthodox Patriarch and the clergy in 1579 on Holy Saturday were not even allowed into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. 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 Abbot and 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 mandatory participants - 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 cries and songs of the Arab youth represent ancient prayers on 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 In our time, the descent of the Holy Fire occurs on Holy Saturday, usually between 13 and 15 hours 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, Turkish guards, Israeli police, etc., who carried out the inspection, put their personal seals on the large wax seal. 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 and 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 carried out every time without fail, representatives of the authorities can exercise this right every time, which was often 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 throughout the Temple, either from above from under the domes, down, or from below under the domes of the Temple. An unpredictable shower of such bluish flashes of lightning permeates the entire space of the Temple, especially the Edicule during the kneeling prayer of the Patriarch at the three-day bed of the Savior for the descent of the Holy Fire. His prayer can take ten minutes, maybe more than an hour - depending on how it turns out. The faces of the people in the Temple awaiting the descent of the Fire are full of excitement and expectation. Someone sings prayers to Christ and the Mother of God, someone is anxiously awaiting a miracle and is afraid that, due to our sins, it may not happen when the bluish flashes of lightning subside. All those waiting are imbued with a sense of participation in a great event that occurs no more than two thousand times in the entire history of mankind. During this time, the Roman, Abyssinian, Byzantine, Ottoman empires managed to develop, become famous and perish; enormous changes took place in the ordinary way of life of people, but according to the kneeling prayer of the Patriarchs of Jerusalem on Holy Saturday, in anticipation of a huge number of people, for almost two thousand For years this Great Miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire has been invariably performed.
And finally the Fire goes down. Even before the Patriarch appears with candles lit from the Holy Fire at the door of the Edicule, the speed-walking candle-bearers, who received the Holy Fire through the windows in the chapel of the Angel, are already carrying it throughout the Temple. And the joyful ringing of bells, sounding on Holy Saturday only after the descent of the Fire, informs everyone present in the Temple and the surrounding area about the miracle that has taken place. The fire spreads with lightning speed throughout the Temple - everyone lights their candles from the candles of the messengers-candidates and from each other. Fire doesn't burn, and not only the Fire from the Patriarchal Candle, but also from all ordinary candles bought not in the Temple (there is no trade here), but in ordinary Arab shops in the Old City.
Separately, it is necessary to say about the intensity of the flame. The Easter candle of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher is thirty-three connected candles. Basically, each of those present holds three bunches of candles and candles from other places in the Holy Land. When the Fire has reached a person, there is a standing fire in our hands, from which intense heat emanates. It should be noted that in the Temple people stand so densely that if the Fire were ordinary, someone would definitely catch fire, because everyone has more than one bunch in their hands. However, before each other’s eyes, people are literally washed by the Holy Fire, which at first does not burn at all. Everyone's flame is so vast that it can be seen touching nearby people. The fire literally touches the clothes of nearby people and the headscarves of women. And in the entire history of the descent of Fire - not a single accident, not a single fire.
P After this, a solemn procession with Fire begins in the Old City, which, by the way, is carried at the head of each column by Muslim Turks. The population of Jerusalem is about 800,000 people; the entire Christian and Arab communities of Jerusalem (more than 300,000 people) participate in the processions, and even Muslim Arabs consider it necessary to bring the Holy Fire into the house and light household lamps from it. This day in Jerusalem is not celebrated only by Jews who prefer not to leave home and have sad faces the next day. It is the Jews who mainly write about the imitation of the descent of the Holy Fire by “dishonest” priests (calling the phenomenon of the descent of the Fire Greek “tricks”), and in the last almost fifty years the Jews have participated 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 that was established a long time 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 kavas - Turks who protect the processions from provocations of Muslims and Jews. Before entering the Edicule of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, it remains 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. Safety of the seal on entrance doors 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): “About the sixth hour of the day, 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 invincible 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 is seen in it: the Patriarch approaches the Tomb holding candles on the side of the Tomb , and fire will descend from the Holy Sepulcher onto the patriarchal hands and candles. At the same time, the Christian incense burned itself, like that over the Holy Sepulcher.” Hieromonk Meletius, who made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1793-1794, recounts 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 candlesticks and candles are kindled.”
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 at the Edicule, at the prayer of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, as if reminding us, sinners, annually on Holy Saturday of our 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, the fact of the descent of Fire and different religions. 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.
P In all possible scenarios, during the Miracle of the Descent of the Holy Fire, the following phenomena remain absolutely inexplicable from the point of view of modern science:
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, there is no sound (thunder) characteristic of ordinary lightning. All this creates the impression among eyewitnesses that the source of the flashes is located, as it were, outside the boundaries of 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 frames, you can easily differentiate them: flashes from the camera are shorter in time and have white, lightning flashes last longer 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 as follows (I wrote down almost word for word what I heard): “I, dear sir, if you please know, am no longer a reader without glasses. When I first entered the chapel Angel and the doors closed behind me, there was twilight. The light barely penetrated through two openings from the rotunda of the Holy Sepulchre, also dimly lit from above, but in the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher I could hardly discern whether I had a prayer book in my hands or anything else. - I could barely notice a whitish spot on the black background of the night: it was obviously the white marble plaque on the Holy Sepulchre. When I opened the prayer book, to my surprise, the seal became completely accessible to my vision without the help of glasses. with deep emotional excitement, lines three or four, when, 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 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 a candle wick. It flared up like gunpowder, and - the candle burned and illuminated three images of the Resurrection, as it illuminated the face of the Mother of God and all the metal lamps above the Holy Sepulchre" ( Nilus S. The shrine is 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, despite the fact that 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 for two or 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 during continuous washing with it. human face(without removing the hand with candles). Holy Fire heats, but does not burn! It should be noted that candles are easily lit by Fire and the Fire, which does not burn a person, spreads throughout the Temple due to the ignition 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 no hanging parts of clothing (kerchiefs, belts) long hair Fire does not set women on fire! 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 a joint appearance of all the above-described miraculous phenomena precisely on Holy Saturday on the eve of the holiday Orthodox Easter (in accordance with the Alexandrian Easter, which is currently followed only 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 a 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 the day before Orthodox Easter, By Orthodox calendar And only according to the prayers of the Orthodox Patriarch; The fire is going down only on the candles of the Orthodox Patriarch, that is indisputable evidence of the undoubted truth and divine grace of Orthodoxy- unlike many other denominations that only call themselves Christian. History remembers two cases when representatives of other Christian denominations tried to receive Fire. ABOUT unsuccessful attempt the Armenian clergy received the Fire has already been said. 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 occur until Eastern Christians were invited to participate in this rite. Then King Baldwin I took care of returning their rights to local Christians" ( Stephen Runciman. Eastern schism. M.: Nauka, 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.
H The sight 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 fully 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 Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem). 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 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 an experimental method - in accordance with precise criteria 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 the priests of Baal encroached on were a 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, possessing supernatural properties, miraculously descends. 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 be disgraced... 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 answerer 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 draws this conclusion... In that ancient history 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 itself, but the fact that, having at first received with delight the miraculous testimony of the 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 am left alone, but they are looking for my soul to take it away(3 Kings 19:10) - this is how the prophet Elijah complains about them to God only later short time after the miracle of the descent of fire. This is what is most striking in all this ancient history.
A similar picture remains in our time - the joy of rejoicing at 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 Sepulchre... 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 arbitrary pattern...
From the editors of the magazine "Holy Fire": In defense of the miracle of the Holy Fire, see the articles
“Christ is Risen!” - “Truly He is Risen!” So we are used to hearing this Easter greeting from believers, filled with joy and happiness in honor of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Every year, in the spring, believers celebrate a holiday called Easter. Before the celebration, believers prepare very carefully; for some time they observe strict fasting, thereby repeating the feat of Christ, when after baptism He remained in the desert for 40 days and was tempted by the devil.
On the last day of Lent, on Holy Saturday, a very unusual phenomenon occurs, which millions of Orthodox Christians are waiting for - the appearance of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. Many people know the extraordinary properties of this fire. It is believed that in the first minutes of its appearance, it does not burn; such a miracle is explained by the special Grace that comes to us from heaven; some believers even wash their faces, hands and bodies with a miraculous flame, without causing themselves any harm.
Now, thanks to television and the Internet, the descent of the Holy Fire can be observed in live from any corner of our planet, thus you can observe a miracle without going to Jerusalem, but even seeing how this miracle happens, people do not stop asking the question -
Descent of the Holy Fire in history
Historical mention of the descent of fire dates back to at least the 4th century; it is evidenced by:
- Saint Gregory of Nyssa
- Eusebius of Caesarea
- Sylvia of Aquitaine
There are descriptions of earlier evidence, for example:
- Gregory of Nyssa wrote that the Apostle Peter saw how, after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, His tomb was consecrated bright light.
- Eusebius of Caesarea wrote that in the second century, with the blessing of Patriarch Narcissus, it was ordered to pour water into the lamps from the font of Siloam due to a lack of oil, then fire miraculously descended from heaven, from which the lamps caught fire by themselves.
- The Latin monk-traveler Bernard described in his diary that on Holy Saturday during the service they sang “Lord have mercy” until an angel appeared and lit a fire in the lamps.
Searching the Patriarch's pockets
At a crucial moment, the day before the celebration, all the lamps and candles in the temple are extinguished - this is due to the historical past, due to the fact that different times For various reasons, they tried to expose the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire.
The Turkish authorities carried out a strict search of the Edicule and everything Temple complex. On the initiative of Catholics, sometimes even the Patriarch's pockets were searched to check for the presence of objects from which fire could be extracted.
Since then, before entering the Edicule, the Patriarch is necessarily unmasked, remaining in only one cassock, thereby, as if proving that he has nothing with him. Of course, now, by and large, such actions are more likely a ritual, but during the reign of the Arabs, a search of the patriarch and Edicule was a mandatory element, if they suspected something was wrong, or deception, it was relied upon death penalty. The procession is now being monitored by Israeli authorities.
- Before entering the Edicule of the Patriarch of Constantinople or Israel and the Armenian Catholicos, a lamp with oil is placed on the Holy Sepulcher and a bunch of 33 candles is brought in. Their number is related to earthly life Jesus Christ.
- After the patriarchs enter the cave, the door is closed behind them and a large wax seal is placed, which is additionally secured with a red ribbon.
- The Patriarchs remain in the Tomb until the Holy Fire appears. The descent of the Holy Fire can be expected from a few minutes to many hours. All this time, being in Edicule, the Patriarch of Constantinople kneels and prays tearfully.
It is believed that if in last year If the fire does not go down during the celebration of Easter, the temple will be destroyed and everyone in it will die.
The Holy Fire did not descend
By the way, the presence of two patriarchs in Edicule is also historical in nature. In 1578, the Armenian priests and the new head of Jerusalem agreed on the right to transfer the reception of the Holy Fire to them, and not to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, to which consent was given.
On Holy Saturday 1579, the Patriarch of Jerusalem and the rest of the priests were forcibly not allowed into the temple, and they had to remain outside its boundaries. The Armenian priesthood prayed to the Lord in the cave and asked him for the descent of the fire. However, their prayers were not heard and the fire did not descend into the Tomb.
The Israeli patriarch and priests were praying on the street, it was then that the only descent of the Holy Fire outside the Temple took place, then one of the columns located to the left of the entrance to the Temple cracked, and Fire came out of it!
With great joy, the patriarch then lit candles from this column, passing it on to the rest of the believers. The Arabs immediately expelled the Armenians from the Tomb, and the Israeli Patriarch was allowed to enter the temple.
Since then, it is the Israeli or Constantinople Patriarch who participates in the process of receiving the fire, and the Armenian Catholicos is only present during the descent.
In addition, while awaiting the descent of the Holy Fire, monks and the rector of the Lavra of Sava the Sanctified must be present in the temple. This has been observed since the pilgrimage of Abbot Daniel in the twelfth century.
Another important element is the presence of Orthodox Arab youth in the temple. Some time after the sealing of the Tomb - Edicule - the Arabs enter the Temple with shouts, stomping, drums, dancing and prayer songs. With such actions, Arab youth glorify Christ and the Mother of God. U Mother of God they ask for mercy so that the Son will send them the Holy Fire. It is impossible to accurately determine the history of the origin of such a special Arabic ritual, but nevertheless such a ritual still exists.
Once, not so long ago, during the period of British rule over Israel, the governor tried to suppress the Arab tradition, considering that such behavior was “savage” and was not acceptable in the Holy Temple. However, that year the patriarch prayed for a long time in the Edicule, but the fire did not go down. Then, by his own will, the patriarch ordered that the Arabs be allowed into the Temple, and only after the Arab dances and chants did the fire go down.
After the patriarch enters the tomb, anxious anticipation sets in. The wait of believers before the descent of the Fire is accompanied by another interesting phenomenon. The temple begins to be illuminated with bright flashes and flashes, and, before the appearance of the Holy Fire, the intensity of the flashes increases. These outbreaks occur throughout the Temple and are witnessed by all parishioners.
The Holy Fire is delivered all over the world
Eyewitnesses claim that sometimes it happened that the flame was lit by itself on the candles of some parishioners, as well as on Orthodox lamps hanging near the Edicule.
The lighting of the Fire occurs only during the prayer of the Orthodox Patriarch; this phenomenon reminds sinners of Great Saturday, that Christ is Risen and has conquered hell. In other words, the meaning of this sacrament and phenomenon can be interpreted as follows: Lost sinners who cannot know the truth, or are simply confused in their life path The Lord testifies to them of His Resurrection on the land of Israel as a miracle that can help sinners to believe and take the path of salvation.
The Lord warns those people who do not strive to take the true path of soul salvation about His Second Coming and the Last Judgment. Jesus Christ proves to His opponents His power over hell and victory over it, warning the infidels about the hellish torment that awaits them after the Last Judgment.
After some waiting, Fire appears in the Edicule, at that moment the bells begin to ring. From the southern window of the Tomb, the Armenian Catholicos transfers the fire to the Armenians, through the northern window the patriarch transfers the fire to the Greeks, after which, with the help of special, so-called walkers, the Fire quickly spreads to all parishioners in the Temple.
In our modern times, the Holy Fire is delivered all over the world using special flights that bring it to various countries. At airports he is greeted with special honor and joy. The ceremony is attended by both high-ranking officials, the clergy and simply believers experiencing joy in their souls!
The Mystery of the Holy Fire
This wonderful phenomenon at different times had many critics, some, due to their unhealthy curiosity or disbelief, tried to expose and prove the artificial origin of fire. Even the Catholic Church was among the dissenters. In 1238, Pope Gregory IX disagreed about the miraculousness of the Holy Fire, asking the same question that remains relevant today - Where does the Holy Fire come from?
Some Arabs, not understanding the true origin of the Holy Fire, tried to prove that the Fire was supposedly produced using some means, substances and devices, but they had no direct evidence, moreover, they did not even witness this miracle.
Modern researchers have also tried to study the nature of this phenomenon. It is, of course, possible to produce fire artificially, and 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 when it does not burn or scorch in the first minutes of its appearance.
There were attempts to receive the Holy Fire by representatives of other religious Christian denominations. These were Armenians and, in 1101, Catholics, who at that time dominated Jerusalem after the first Crusade. Then all Christians who were not Latins were expelled, the Temple was captured, and on Holy Saturday of 1101 the Fire did not descend! This suggests that Orthodox Christians must be present!
Once, even before the Nativity of Christ, the question arose before people who believed in different gods, which faith was the most correct: Faith in the True God or faith in various pagan gods? The prophet Elijah took the path of reconciliation. He came up with the simplest way to prove it.
The Prophet invited various confessors to call on the name of their God, and from whose prayers the answer would be received in the form of a descent of fire, that is the true God. If Baal is God, then we will believe and follow Baal; if the Lord is God, then we will follow Him. People willingly accepted this offer and offered prayers to their gods. And only the prayers of the prophet Elijah were answered, fire descended on the altar and burned it, then it became clear whose worship of God is true!
Here is proof that the Holy Fire descends only through Orthodox prayers. Here it is, an undeniable miracle from God, which we observe year after year on Holy Saturday, on the eve of Easter! This is why the answer to the question is, where does the holy fire come from, there can only be one thing - this is a miracle, and whose, nature or the Lord, has not yet been established for sure.