The Pascha miracle of Holy Fire appears at the tomb of Jesus Christ (pictures)

yahoo.com ^ | Sat Apr 10, 3:27 PM ET

[Destro]

bump

[MarMema]

Christos Anesti, Des.

A lovely post that I will bookmark.

Kristos Voskrese to my ping list.

[MadelineZapeezda]

Voistinu Voskrese, MarMema. Thank You.

Christ is Risen!

[RussianConservative]

Xristos Voskros

[dsc]

My question is, how come I've never heard of this before?

[MarMema]

It only happens on Orthodox Pascha and is apparently a somewhat-well-kept secret among the Orthodox. I had not heard of it until the day I was brought into the church. Now I can't wait to go and see it.

[dsc]

I'd like to see it, too.

If I were a reporter, I'd demand that my employer send me to see it. Wonder why that hasn't happened.

[MarMema]

Let us know if you go. Here is a large site about it.

site.

here is the website of a Greek psychiatrist who went to see it as a skeptic and returned, gave up his practise, and became a priest. We spoke several years ago through email.

[Unam Sanctam]

I thought the Orthodox Easter was on a different day?

[Aliska]

This year Easter happens to fall on the same day for both east and west.

[Aliska]

An update from the Eastern Orthodox newsgroup:

Last Update: 11/04/2004 15:11 Hundreds of Christians gather for Easter service in Jerusalem By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent, Haaretz Service and Reuters

Hundreds of Christians gathered for the Easter service Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, led by Latin patriarch of Jerusalem Michel Sabah.

The number of participants is estimated to be lower this year than other years due to the closure Israel has placed on the territories until after Independence Day, for fear of attacks, Israel Radio reported.

On Good Friday, some 11,000 Christians crowded the church, which Christians consider Christ's last resting place after his body was removed from the cross.

A roar of joy burst from the throats of the worshipers crowding the Holy Sepulcher on Friday afternoon, as out of the darkness the light of two candles suddenly flickered. They were held by the Greek Orthodox patriarch and the Armenian bishop. This was the culmination of the Good Friday procession, in which pilgrims from every strain of Christianity crowded the streets of Jerusalem's Old City, retracing Jesus' path to crucifixion.

Both the Western and Eastern Churches are celebrating Easter on the same day this year, an event that happens rarely because of different calendar calculations. Perhaps this is what prompted Pope John Paul's unexpected Easter appeal for Christian unity on Sunday, saying he hoped the two branches of Christianity that split apart a thousand years ago could one day find reconciliation.

Speaking in Italian at the end of his Easter Sunday mass to tens of thousands of people in St Peter's Square, the Pope noted the calendar coincidence and said he hoped it could become permanent. He said he was praying that all baptized Christians could one day celebrate "this fundamental feast of their faith together.

Groups from Russia, Poland, Greece, the Philippines and Ethiopia on Friday followed the stations of the cross along the cobblestoned Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, the route Christ took from his trial to his burial, according to tradition.

Faith has it that the fire erupting once a year from the sepulcher lights the candles. But this year another mystery was added. Was it the Greek patriarch who brought the fire, as the Greeks said, or did the Armenian bishop accompany him, as the Armenians assert.

The fire-lighting ceremony has been held annually for more than 1,000 years. For the Orthodox, Armenians, Copts and Assyrians, the ceremony symbolizes the beginning of Christ's resurrection. Only a representative of the Greek Orthodox community and a representative of the Armenian community are allowed into the holy chapel at the sepulcher's entrance. A few minutes later they appear at the windows with candles in their hand. Within seconds the fire lights thousands of candles held by worshipers in the church.

For the past two years, the Greek Orthodox and Armenian leaders have been fighting about the access right to the source of fire. This year they asked the Israeli government to settle the issue. But both previous and present interior ministers kept putting off their decision.

This year, the Jerusalem police told both sides the ceremony would be held in the same format as last year. "We told them we would not allow any riots," police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said. "If they don't reach an agreement, there will be no ceremony, or only a very small one."

Finally, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Irineos entered the sepulcher, with Armenian Bishop Vicken close on his heels. An armed police force kept watch inside the church to prevent disturbances.

Outside the church, local shopkeepers - some of whom were selling bootlegged DVDs of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" - and police said this year's Good Friday turnout was larger than any since the outbreak of the intifada in September 2000.

Worshipers sang and carried icons, candles, flowers and crosses as they walked along the alleys to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

One group of about a dozen people, each wearing a crown of thorns, carried a large cross. Another group reenacted the Passion with actors playing the parts of Jesus, Roman soldiers and the disciples.

The procession often ground to a halt as the throng tried to turn sharp corners or pass through narrow passages. Some pilgrims tearfully kissed the pillars of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher as they waited to get in. Once inside, many wiped prayer cloths across the Stone of Unction, where Christ was anointed for burial

[Unam Sanctam]

Thanks for pointing that out. I will join the Pope in his intention for unity of the "two lungs" of the Church, east and west.

[mdmathis6]

Perhaps they should unify...but which is to defer in humility to the other...west or east...This demonstration of power is occuring under Orthodox auspices not Roman.

[Aliska]

I started another thread on this subject last night, but this one has better pictures. In what I posted there is a link to an article in the British Catholic weekly, "The Tablet".

The article is either the same or similar to Holy Fire sets Orthodox rivalry ablaze in Jerusalem

wherein it is stated:

Pope Gregory IX banned Roman Catholics from participating in the ceremony in 1238.

I wonder if the ban was ever lifted or rescinded and if it is binding through the centuries.

Also ""In this worst situation I had to use my emergency light, a cigarette lighter," he later admitted." The article tells of a dispute between the Greek and Armenian patriarch wherein the Greek blew out the Armenian's candle . . .

What was he doing with a lighter?

[katnip]

Beautiful pictures, thank you.

[Conservative til I die]

This demonstration of power is occuring under Orthodox auspices not Roman.

Don't worry, we have plenty of miracles in our Church as well.

[Destro]

Same church - different management.

[Polycarp IV]

This demonstration of power is occuring under Orthodox auspices not Roman.

Just don't put too much into it as a "divine sign" that Orthodoxy is right and Rome apostate. I don't mind keeping alive ancient traditions, and the fact that a ceremonial lamp has been kept lit continuously is no small miracle itself. But let's not undermine the credibility of Orthodoxy by superstitiously claiming a real miracle where none appear to exist, and where petty rivalry has mared this "miracle" in the recent past.

Holy Fire sets Orthodox rivalry ablaze in Jerusalem
By Victoria Clark in Jerusalem
(Filed: 26/04/2003)

Jerusalem's Orthodox Christians celebrating Easter this weekend may be set to make their own contribution to the region's violence when they gather at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem this afternoon for their annual Holy Fire ceremony.

In the absence of an 11th-hour agreement between the Greek and Armenian clergy who traditionally perform the ceremony, the Israeli authorities fear serious violence and have threatened - for the first time in the Holy Fire's more than 1,000-year history - to restrict attendance.

For the city's Orthodox Christians and thousands of pilgrims from the former Soviet Union and the Balkans the ceremony is the season's chief attraction. Undeterred by the two-and-a-half-year-old intifada and wider Middle Eastern unrest, many camped in the old Crusader church last night to participate in what most believe is a true miracle.

If all goes according to plan, at 2pm today the Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem, accompanied by an Armenian bishop, will disappear inside the darkened shrine containing what remains of Christ's empty tomb to keep an appointment with God. A few minutes later they will leave, their candles ignited by a miraculously created fire, to share the blessing with the faithful.

Within seconds the church will be ablaze with the light of thousands of candles. The struggle of the faithful to keep their holy fires alight without burning anyone, while struggling towards the single door and fresh air, begins.

But the Israeli authorities have good reason to fear another kind of conflagration this year. Relations between the clergy who preside over the miracle have been inflamed since last year when the ceremony was marred by a brawl within the shrine.

Out of sight of the faithful, the two churchmen - the Armenian participating for the third time, the Greek for the first - fiercely disagreed on a matter of precedence. Should the Greek patriarch emerge first with the Holy Fire or the Armenian? Would the Greek or the Armenian Orthodox community be first to receive the light?

When Patriarch Irineos fought his corner by twice blowing out the Armenian's candle, the Armenian felt obliged to resort to a shameful expedient to obtain some Holy Fire.

"In this worst situation I had to use my emergency light, a cigarette lighter," he later admitted.

Sensing serious trouble, Greek and Armenian clergy joined in the fray and soon Israeli police arrived in the space no larger than two telephone boxes. "There was no hitting, only pulling and pushing,', said the Armenian Fr Samuel, recalling that he did manage to relieve the patriarch of one of his shoes in the scuffle.

"It's just the spirit of the 19th century again," chuckled Bishop Theophanis, a Greek resident in Jerusalem, explaining that the new patriarch is determined to be a doughtier defender of Greek prerogatives in the holy places than his elderly predecessor.

The matter has remained unresolved all year. During intense talks with both sides the Israelis have suggested that the Greeks be given the benefit of the doubt this Easter.

The Armenian patriarch favoured the compromise but was overruled by 15 out of 18 of his senior clergy. There are fears that young men representing both communities will be ready to fight if the occasion demands.

"It doesn't take much organising - you just need people on all the different levels of the church to be ready," said George Hintlian, who has 25 years' experience of representing the Armenian Orthodox in disputes arising over management of the holy places.

"I'm seriously worried that someone - perhaps an old person - will be killed if there is fighting."

Noisy and violent disputes in the church, which is shared by six Christian sects, are nothing new. Flare-ups over the positioning of candlesticks and mats, over the cleaning of a step, the length of a service or even the repair of a manhole cover pepper the church's long history.

Pope Gregory IX banned Roman Catholics from participating in the ceremony in 1238. The Greek patriarchate's website continues to advertise a miracle with a bold description - "a wheeze is heard and almost simultaneously blue and white lights penetrate from everywhere, as though millions of photographic flashes turn on".

• Victoria Clark is the author of The Far-farers: a journey from Viking Iceland to Crusader Jerusalem

  16 April 2001: Mystery of Jerusalem's Holy Fire comes to light

  *****

  Mystery of Jerusalem's Holy Fire comes to light

  The Guardian, London / England

  Alan Philps

  April 16 2001

  "It's not a miracle. The Greek priests bring in a lamp - one that has been kept burning for 1,500 years - to produce the Holy Fire."

  For more than 1,200 years the ritual of the Holy Fire has been performed in Jerusalem every Easter, with a flame "miraculously" appearing at the darkened tomb of Jesus to symbolise the Resurrection.

  To a great cheer from the 3,000 faithful, the divine light appeared at 2.10 on Saturday afternoon, and was passed from candle to candle around the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and through the narrow streets to Christian homes in the Old City.

  In past centuries, the Holy Fire was carried from Jerusalem all through the Orthodox world - by steamer to Odessa on the Black Sea to light the icon lamps of Russia, on mules to Damascus in the steps of St Paul, and by camel caravan to the churches of the Coptic Christians of Egypt. The mystery of the Holy Fire has been a secret for centuries, even though Muslims have long denounced it as a trick and Roman Catholics and Protestants give the ceremony a wide berth.

  This year, however, the mystery of how the flame appears has been penetrated. The ceremony, conducted by the Greek and Armenian Orthodox churches, begins with the extinguishing of all lights in the church. The door to the presumed site of the burial and Resurrection of Jesus is searched for light and sealed with wax.

  The priests parade around the tomb three times then go inside. After a tense wait, as the often rowdy congregation holds its breath, a flame suddenly appears. Candles are passed out of holes on either side of the tomb to torch-bearers from the Greek and Armenian churches, who race up the steps, competing to be the first to bring the fire to the top balcony.

  A cheer spreads through the darkened church when the fire is first seen. The flame is passed from hand to hand, with the faithful waving bundles of candles and spattering themselves with hot wax. The church comes alive in a blaze of light, smoke and incense. It is hard not to be taken up in the euphoria.

  Local Christians - a tiny minority in a Holy Land racked by violence - certainly need something to cheer them up. But one Armenian torch-bearer, Soukias Tchilingirian, felt the truth had to be told. He said: "It's not a miracle. The Greek priests bring in a lamp - one that has been kept burning for 1,500 years - to produce the Holy Fire. For pilgrims full of faith who come from abroad, it is a fire from Heaven, a true miracle. But not for us. Of course the source of the fire is ancient and symbolic. I heard this from my father and I think he knew the truth."

  For most of the year Mr Tchilingirian is a chef, living in Raynes Park, south-west London. But at Easter he is an aristocrat of Jerusalem's Armenian community and enjoys the ancient privilege of racing the fire up to the Patriarch's throne. At the age of 53, Mr Tchilingirian, who left Jerusalem in 1968, is now handing over to his "much faster" son.

  A senior member of the Armenian community was shocked by the suggestion that Greek priests smuggled in the flame. "I have never seen it as my business to ask the Patriarch from where the Holy Fire comes," he sniffed.

[Destro]

The problem with the Armenian fella's theory (all it is, the Armenian is not awitness to this) is that the area is so crowded and so many bodies pushing against each other that there can be no way the patriarch in a sealed room can smuggle in a flame without his robes catching fire or smothering the flame. I think he also is searched by the authorities - a tradition.