Kuvuklia convergence of the blessed fire. How does the Holy Fire actually light up in Jerusalem

This miracle happens every year on the eve of Orthodox Easter in the Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection, which covers with its huge roof Golgotha, and the cave in which the Lord taken down from the cross was laid, and the garden where Mary Magdalene was the first of the people to meet His resurrected. The temple was erected by Emperor Constantine and his mother Empress Helen in the 4th century, and evidence of the miracle dates back to that time.

That's how it goes today. Around noon, a religious procession led by the Patriarch leaves the courtyard of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. The procession enters the Church of the Resurrection, goes to the chapel erected over the Holy Sepulcher, and, after going around it three times, stops in front of its gates. All the lights in the temple are extinguished. Tens of thousands of people: Arabs, Greeks, Russians, Romanians, Jews, Germans, Englishmen - pilgrims from all over the world - are watching the Patriarch in tense silence. The patriarch undresses, the police carefully search him and the Holy Sepulcher itself, looking for at least something that can make fire (during the Turkish rule over Jerusalem, Turkish gendarmes did this), and in one long flowing chiton, the primate of the Church enters. On his knees in front of the Tomb, he prays to God for the sending down of the Holy Fire. Sometimes his prayer lasts for a long time... And suddenly, on the marble slab of the coffin, there appears, as it were, fiery dew in the form of balls of bluish color. His Holiness touches them with cotton wool, and it ignites. With this cool fire, the Patriarch lights the lampada and candles, which he then takes out to the temple and passes to the Armenian Patriarch, and then to the people. At the same moment, dozens and hundreds of bluish lights flash in the air under the dome of the temple.

It is difficult to imagine what kind of jubilation seizes the crowd of many thousands. People shout, sing, the fire is transferred from one bunch of candles to another, and in a minute the whole temple is on fire.

At first, it has special properties - it does not burn, although a bunch of 33 candles (according to the number of years of the Savior) burns in everyone's hand. It is amazing to watch how people wash themselves with this flame, run it through their beards and hair. Some time passes, and the fire acquires natural properties. Numerous police force people to put out the candles, but the jubilation continues.

Holy fire descends into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher only on Holy Saturday - on the eve of Orthodox Easter, although Easter is celebrated every year on different days according to the old Julian calendar. And one more feature - the Holy Fire descends only through the prayers of the Orthodox Patriarch.

Once, another community living in Jerusalem - Armenians, also Christians, but who apostatized from holy Orthodoxy back in the 4th century - bribed the Turkish authorities so that the latter, and not the Orthodox Patriarch, would be allowed into the cave on Holy Saturday - the Holy Sepulcher .

The Armenian high priests prayed long and unsuccessfully, and the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, together with his flock, wept in the street at the locked doors of the church. And suddenly, as if lightning struck a marble column, it split, and a pillar of fire came out of it, which lit candles for the Orthodox.

Since then, none of the representatives of numerous Christian denominations has dared to challenge the Orthodox for the right to pray on this day in the Holy Sepulcher.

In May 1992, for the first time after a 79-year break, the Holy Fire was again brought to Russian soil. A group of pilgrims - clergy and laity - with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch, carried the Holy Fire from the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem through Constantinople and all the Slavic countries to Moscow. Since then, this unquenchable fire has been burning on Slavyanskaya Square at the foot of the monument to the holy teachers of Slovenia Cyril and Methodius.
**image3:center***

Non-burning "blessed" fire in your apartment

Learn chemistry... :)

Initially, the ceremony dedicated to the so-called. The Holy Fire was held at night from Saturday to Sunday. Constant fights between believers forced the Muslim Jerusalem authorities to transfer the divine miracle from night time to daytime. Prof. AA Dmitrievsky, referring to prof. A.A. Olesnitsky, writes: “Once the feast of fire at the Holy Sepulcher was connected directly with Paschal matins, but due to some disorders that occurred during this celebration, at the request local authorities it was rescheduled to the previous day" (*_*).
In ancient times, the first whistleblowers (devout Muslims) did not bother to take serious research work. They believed that fire appears with the help of a special device filled with compounds for spontaneous combustion.
This is how the 12th-century historian Ibn-al-Kalanisi described this technology: “When they are there for Easter ... they hang lamps in the altar and arrange a trick so that the fire reaches them through the oil of the balsam tree and accessories from it, and its property is the appearance of fire when combined with jasmine oil. It has a bright light and brilliant radiance. They manage to pass between neighboring lamps a stretched iron wire like a thread, continuously going from one to the other, and rub it with balsam oil, hiding it from their eyes, until the thread passes to all the lamps ”(* _ *).

According to Islamic writers, there is an agreement between Muslim authorities and priests on mutually beneficial cooperation and an honest distribution of funds received from the donations of pilgrims. So al-Jawbari (d. 1242) writes: "Al-Melik al-Mu" azzam, the son of al-Melik al-" Adil, entered the Church of the Resurrection on the day of the Sabbath of light and said to the monk (attached) to her: "I will not leave until I see this light descend." The monk said to him: “Which is more pleasing to the king: is it wealth that flows to you in this way, or acquaintance with this (deed)? If I reveal to you the secret of it, then the government will lose this money; leave it hidden and get it great wealth". When the ruler heard this, he understood the hidden essence of the matter and left it in its former position" (* _ *).

Income from a miracle is really big, prof. Dmitrievsky writes: “... Palestine feeds almost exclusively on those gifts that are brought to it by worshipers of the holy sepulcher from Europe. Thus, the feast of the Holy Sepulcher is a feast of the happiness and prosperity of the country” (*_*). Muslims even thought of charging an entrance fee to an Orthodox church, a truly unique case. By the way, tickets are still being sold, only the profit goes to the Israeli treasury (*_*).
Approximately in the 13th century, the ceremony of finding the BO underwent an important change, if earlier the fire was expected outside of the Kuvukliy and its appearance was judged by a white flash of light coming out from there, then after the 13th century they began to go inside the Kuvukliy to find the fire. All past revelations talking about a special mechanism have lost their relevance. However, after such a change, the priests were very quickly caught by the hand of a meticulous Muslim researcher (Ibn al-Jawzi (d. 1256)), who decided to independently find out how the fire appeared: “I lived in Jerusalem for ten years and went to the Temple of the Resurrection on their Passover and other days. I investigated how the lampada is lit on Sunday - the festival of light. (...) When the sun sets and it becomes dark, one of the priests takes advantage of inattention, opens a niche in the corner of the chapel, where no one sees him, lights his candle from one of the lamps and exclaims: "The light has come down and Christ has mercy." . "(*_*).

In other words, fire is kindled from a lamp hidden in a niche behind the icon. Naturally, such a trifle did not touch the greedy hearts of the local rulers, and this exposure was simply forgotten. The presence of niches behind the icons is not a secret now, they can even be seen in the photo of pilgrims posing against the background of the slab of the Holy Sepulcher.

In principle, with a few exceptions, Muslims did not doubt the forgery in connection with the BO, only greed and other vices, the required funding allowed them to peacefully coexist with their religious competitors. On the rare occasions when fanaticism and pure faith prevailed, the Muslims did not bother to expose, but simply destroyed the temple on the basis of only one suspicion, which, as fanatics know, is the queen of evidence (*_*).

The next accuser of the forgery with the BO was the Polotsk Archbishop Melety Smotrytsky. His rushing soul tried to try on Catholics and Orthodox, which led him to the union. The devil pulled him to strengthen the Orthodox faith to visit Jerusalem and join the sacrament of the appearance of the Holy Fire. In 1627, he writes to his former teacher, Patriarch Cyril Lukaris of Constantinople: “In [your] hierarchship, you probably remember that I once asked you why your predecessor Meletius, writing against the new Roman calendar and trying to prove the superiority of the old before a new one, cites various miracles to confirm his opinion, not excluding those that are no longer repeated, but does not at all mention this famous, annual miracle of Jerusalem? dignitaries, Protosyncell Hieromonk Leonty and Archdeacon Patriarch of Alexandria, that if this miracle really happened in our time, then all Turks would long ago have believed in Jesus Christ.

The Patriarch of Jerusalem, the very one who takes this fire, carries it out and distributes it to the people, spoke even more sharply about it. Thus, it is regrettable to say, our Orthodox co-religionists, regarding this miraculous fire, which once really appeared, and now, for our sins, has ceased to appear, prefer to be at one with heretics, such as Eutychians, Dioscorites and Jacobites, rather than with Catholics, who are the miracle of this they do not allow for very respectful, especially when they see what the Abyssinian heretics are doing at the tomb at that time. This is what worries me, these are the four worms that, having sunk into my soul during my stay in the East, still do not stop sharpening and gnawing it "(* _ *).
Throughout all the centuries of the existence of the miracle of God, Christians could not calmly perform this rite without stuffing each other's faces. This shame is even recorded in Mark Twain's book, "Simples Abroad": "Each Christian sect (with the exception of Protestants) under the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has its own special chapels, and no one dares to cross the boundaries of other people's possessions. It has long been and definitively proven that Christians are not able to peacefully pray all together at the tomb of the Savior" (* _ *).

Not only ordinary priests are fighting, but also the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite () who entered the Cuvuklia to wait for the fire. Because of this, the Israeli authorities decided that at the time of the appearance of the fire, an Israeli policeman should be present in order to maintain order in Kuvuklia, one of the videos shows how a policeman enters Kuvuklia, then the Greek patriarch, and then the Armenian archimandrite ( Video, 1.20-1.28). In a word, they messed up.

It was the outrages in the temple that caused the loudest exposure of the Holy Fire.
In 1834, a fight in the temple escalated into a brutal massacre, in which the Turkish army had to intervene. About 300 pilgrims died (*_*). The English traveler left memories of a conversation with the local chief Ibrahim Pasha, which describes the ruler's determination to publicly denounce this deceit, but also his fear that this action could be perceived as oppression of Christians in the holy land (*_*)
About the actions taken by Ibrahim Pasha after 15 years, we learn from the diaries of a prominent scientist and leader of the Orthodox Church, the founder of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Jerusalem, Bishop Porfiry (Uspensky). Porfiry kept a diary, where he entered his impressions of historical events, reflections on abstract topics, descriptions of monuments and various trifles. They were published in 8 volumes by the Imperial Academy of Sciences at the expense of the Imperial Orthodox Palestinian Society under the editorship of P. A. Syrku after the death of Uspensky, the third volume was published in 1896. Here is the exact quote:

“In that year, when the famous master of Syria and Palestine, Ibrahim, Pasha of Egypt, was in Jerusalem, it turned out that the fire received from the Holy Sepulcher on Great Saturday is not a fire of grace, but kindled, as any fire is kindled. This pasha took it into his head to ascertain whether the fire really suddenly and miraculously appears on the lid of the Sepulcher of Christ or is lit with a sulfur match. What did he do? He announced to the deputies of the patriarch that he was pleased to sit in the cuvuklia itself while receiving the fire and vigilantly watch how he appeared, and added that in the case of the truth, 5,000 pungs (2,500,000 piastres) would be given to them, and in the case of a lie, let them give him everything money collected from deceived fans, and that he will publish in all the newspapers of Europe about a vile forgery. The governors of Petroarabia, Misail, and the Nazarene Metropolitan Daniel, and the Philadelphian Bishop Dionysius (now of Bethlehem) agreed to consult what to do. During the minutes of the meetings, Misail confessed that he was lighting a fire in a cuvuklia from a lamp hidden behind a moving marble icon of the Resurrection of Christ, which is right next to the Holy Sepulcher. After this confession, it was decided to humbly ask Ibrahim not to interfere in religious affairs, and the dragoman of the Holy Sepulcher Monastery was sent to him, who made it appear to him that it was of no use to his lordship to reveal the secrets of Christian worship and that the Russian Emperor Nicholas would be very dissatisfied with the discovery of these secrets. Ibrahim Pasha, having heard this, waved his hand and fell silent. But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believed in the miraculous manifestation of fire. Having told all this, the metropolitan added that from God alone the cessation of (our) pious lies is expected. As he knows and can, so he will calm the peoples who now believe in the fiery miracle of the great Saturday. And we can’t even begin this revolution in the minds, we will be torn to pieces at the very chapel of the Holy Sepulcher. We, - he continued, - notified Patriarch Athanasius, who then lived in Constantinople, about the harassment of Ibrahim Pasha, but in our message to him we wrote instead of “holy light”, - “holy fire”. Surprised by this change, the most blessed elder asked us: “Why did you start calling the holy fire differently?” We revealed to him the absolute truth, but added that the fire lit on the Holy Sepulcher from a hidden lamp is still a sacred fire received from a sacred place ”(* _ *).

In this entry, it is important to pay attention to the following points:
1. The confession was made in a close circle of the highest hierarchs of the Orthodox Church.
2. A direct participant in the events told Ouspensky what had happened. Eyewitness confession in forgery.
3. Ibrahim was threatened with aggravation of relations with Russia. I note Crimean War showed how dangerous it is for the authorities to interfere in the religious life of the Orthodox Church in the Holy Land.
4. “But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believe in the miraculous manifestation of fire.” So, the result of recognition was the loss of faith in the miracle of the Holy Sepulcher clergy. To which Bishop Porfiry himself was already a witness.
Nothing has changed in 500 years. All the same lamp behind the icon.
A few decades later, doubt spread beyond the borders of Palestine, as the well-known orientalist I. Yu. Krachkovsky writes in 1914:
“The best representatives of theological thought in the East also notice that interpretation of the miracle, which allows prof. A. Olesnitsky and A. Dmitrievsky to talk about “the celebration of the consecration of fire at the Holy Sepulcher” ”(* _ *).

The most complete Orthodox criticism of BO was revealed by an outstanding figure in the Orthodox Church, Professor of the Leningrad Theological Academy ND Uspensky (a student of Dmitrievsky AA) and reported at a church meeting in an act speech on October 9, 1949. Having analyzed the ancient testimonies, Uspensky comes to the following conclusion:
“Your Eminence, Your Eminence, dear colleagues and dear guests! (...) We can agree with the explanation of Metropolitan Dionysius of Bethlehem, “that the fire lit on the Holy Sepulcher from a hidden lamp is still a sacred fire received from a sacred place”, and add to these words of the vicar of the Jerusalem Patriarch from himself that for us this fire is, was and will be sacred also because it preserves the ancient Christian and universal tradition ”().
A former professor of the Leningrad Theological Academy, who broke with religion and became one of the most prominent atheists and critics of religion, A. A. Osipov, left notes on the reaction to this report of the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church.
“Having studied ancient manuscripts and texts, books and testimonies of pilgrims,” writes A. A. Osipov about Uspensky, “he proved with exhaustive accuracy that there never was any “miracle”, but there was and is an ancient symbolic rite of burning by the clergy themselves over the coffin Icon lamps. (...) And as a result of all this work, the late Metropolitan Grigory of Leningrad, also a man with a theological degree, gathered a number of Leningrad theologians and told them (many of my former colleagues probably remember): “I also know that this is only a legend! What… (here he named the author of the speech and research by name) is absolutely right! But do not touch the pious legends, otherwise faith itself will fall!” (*_*).

Before continuing with the new revelations, I want to describe the sequence of actions during the ceremony.

1. Examine Kuvuklia (two priests and a representative of the authorities).


2. The entrance doors of Kuvukliy are sealed with a large wax seal.


3. The keeper of the coffin appears, who brings inside the Coffin a large lampada covered with a cap. The seal is removed in front of him and he enters Kvukliy, and after a few minutes he leaves.


4. A solemn procession appears, led by the Greek patriarch, it goes around Kuvukliy three times. The clothes of patriarchal dignity are removed from the patriarch and he, together with the Armenian archimandrite (and the Israeli policeman), enters the Kuvukliy.


5. After 5-10 minutes, the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite come out with fire (before that, they managed to distribute fire through the windows of Kuvukliy).

So, after the search and before entering the patriarch's Kuvukliy, a priest with a lamp (perhaps the same, inextinguishable one) enters there and puts it on the coffin (or in a niche behind the icon), which is uncertain.

As I have already noted, an Armenian archimandrite enters the Cuvuklia. Although in his recent interview this figure of the Armenian Church did not speak directly about the forgery, he noted an important fact.
“Tell me, how do you pray? Is this a special prayer according to the prayer book, or an impromptu prayer, the one that comes from the soul? How does the Greek Patriarch pray?
- Yes, a prayer is read according to the prayer book. But, in addition to the prayers from the prayer book, I also offer my heartfelt prayer. At the same time, we have a special prayer for this day, which I recite by heart. The Greek Patriarch reads his prayer from the book, this is also a special prayer for the ceremony of Light.
- But how do you read prayers from a prayer book if it is dark there?
- Yes. Because of the darkness, it is not easy to read "().
Indeed, it is impossible to read without light; there must be its source.
To correctly understand this hint, one can refer to the information disseminated by another priest of the Armenian Church, Abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Archangels (AAC), Hieromonk Gevond Hovhannisyan, who has been present at the fire consecration ceremony for 12 years, and is personally acquainted with the priests of the Armenian Apostolic Church, entering the Kuvuklia for consecration of fire together with the Greek patriarch. He's writing:
“By one in the afternoon, the doors of the Tomb are sealed with wax. Where are 2 priests: an Armenian and a Greek. By two o'clock, the doors are torn off and the Greeks bring in a closed (lit) Lampada and put it on the Coffin. After that, the procession of the Greeks around the Sepulcher begins, on the 3rd circle the Armenian archimandrite joins them and together they move towards the doors. The Greek Patriarch enters first, followed by the Armenian. And both enter the Tomb, where they both kneel down and pray together. After the first candle from a lit lamp, the Greek lights, and then the Armenian. Both go and serve candles to the people through the holes, the Greek comes out of the coffin first, followed by the Armenian, who is carried in his arms to our hegumen's room ”(). You can chat with Ghevond in his LiveJournal.
It remains to be stated that the Armenian Church, although it is a direct participant in the ceremony, does not support beliefs in the miraculous appearance of fire.
The words of Patriarch Theophilus about the Holy Fire are interesting:
"Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem: This is a very ancient, very special and unique ceremony Jerusalem Church. This ceremony of the Holy Fire takes place only here in Jerusalem. And this happens thanks to the very Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you know, this Holy Fire ceremony is, so to speak, an enactment, which represents the first good news(the first good news), the first Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (the first resurrection). This is representation- like all sacred ceremonies. Like on Good Friday we have a burial rite, don't we? How do we bury the Lord, etc.
So, this ceremony is taking place in a holy place, and all other Eastern Churches that share the Holy Sepulcher would like to take part in this. Such as Armenians, Copts, Syrians come to us and receive our blessing, because they want to receive the Fire from the patriarch.
Now, the second part of your question is actually about us. It is an experience which, if you like, is analogous to the experience a person has when he receives Holy Communion. What happens there also applies to the Holy Fire ceremony. This means that a certain experience cannot be explained, expressed in words. Therefore, everyone who takes part in this ceremony - priests or laymen, or laywomen - everyone has their own indescribable experience.
Protodeacon A. Kuraev commented on his words
“No less frank was his answer about the Holy Fire: “This is a ceremony that is a representation, like all other ceremonies of Holy Week. Just as once the Easter message from the Sepulcher shone and illuminated the whole world, so now in this ceremony we make a representation of how the message of the Resurrection from Kuvukpiy spread throughout the world. Not the word "miracle", not the word "convergence", not the words " blessed fire was not in his speech. He probably couldn’t say more frankly about the lighter in his pocket ”(). A real political struggle unfolded around these words of the patriarch, including a new "interview" with Theophilus, where he confirms the miraculous nature of fire with quotations from articles by Russian apologists. Kuraev declared this material a fake. The details of this story are collected.

By the way, during the gift between the Armenian priest and the Greek patriarch, the Armenian’s candles were extinguished inside Kuvukliy and he had to light them with a lighter (*_*). So the rumors that the Armenians will not be able to get fire on their own are groundless.

Indirect evidence of the kindling of a fire from an already burning lamp is the text of the prayer of the patriarch, which he reads inside Kuvukliy. This text is analyzed in the article "The Myth and Reality of the Holy Fire" by Protopresbyter George Tsetsis:
“.. The prayer that the patriarch offers before lighting it in the holy Cuvuklia is completely clear and does not allow any misinterpretations.
The patriarch does not pray for a miracle.
He only "remembers" the sacrifice and the three-day resurrection of Christ and, turning to Him, says: "Reverently accepting this kindled (*******) fire on Your luminous Tomb, we distribute to those who believe in the true light, and we pray to You that You have revealed it with the gift of sanctification."
The following happens: the patriarch lights his candle from the inextinguishable lamp, which is located on the Holy Sepulcher. Just like every patriarch and every cleric on the day of Easter, when he receives the light of Christ from the unquenchable lamp, which is on the holy throne, symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher ”(* _ *).

Wonderful flashes, non-burning fire, spontaneous combustion of candles.
Thanks to cinema, we can see everything that happens with our own eyes. Unlike the pilgrims, who are in the crowd and it is difficult for them to distinguish anything, everything will be shown to us from the most advantageous positions, you can review interesting moments again, and even in slow motion. I have at my disposal 7 recordings of video broadcasts, two Orthodox films are not very good quality and a high-quality secular film about the Holy Fire. That is, 10 films about 9 ceremonies. At various forums where I participated in discussions about the Holy Fire, I asked for video materials proving the miraculous spontaneous combustion of candles or the non-burning properties of fire. Nobody has been able to do this.

Unburning fire.

Pilgrims in their testimonies write that the fire does not burn for a time that lasts from 5 minutes to several months. You can find testimonies in which pilgrims tell how the Holy Fire brought to Moscow (their temple) still did not burn, or how they washed themselves with the Holy Fire, visiting Jerusalem in winter. Basically, they write about the non-burning of the Holy Fire during the first 5 - 10 minutes. A huge number of watched videos of pilgrims washing with fire show that they simply move their hands through the fire, scoop fire with their hands, or drive fire in front of their faces and beards. The same is not difficult to repeat using a burning bunch of candles with a regular fire (as I do). By the way, the wicks of a candle with the blessed fire are lit quite easily, which would be strange if the fire were warm.

An interesting experiment was written by LiveJournal user Andronic (andronic) @ 2007-04-08 07:40:00:
“Yesterday, in the daily news on NTV, a few minutes after the condescension of the Holy Fire, Evgeny Sandro, live, slowly moved his hand in the flame of a candle and confirmed that it practically does not burn. I became interested, and at midnight, when my wife, at the moment of the beginning of the procession (where I went with her “for company”), lit a Jerusalem thirty-three candle bundle in front of the church, I also put my hand into the fire, and also slowly shook it there. Although this flame was not lit from the Holy Fire, it did not immediately become hot for the hand. I repeated Sandro's trick a couple more times, and got so carried away that I did not notice how my actions attracted the attention of others who came to the Easter procession. The believers ran up, began to light their candles from our thirty-three candlestick, joyfully put their hands into its flame and shout “Do not burn! Doesn't burn!" Some tried to “catch up” the fire, like water, with their hands folded in a “dipper” and wash themselves with it. The influx of those wishing to join the miracle was so great that we could not move, and the procession left without us. Thus I unwittingly became responsible for the outbreak of religious enthusiasm. Curiously, the “gentleness” of fire towards those who partake of it, in a rather amusing way, depended on the degree of faith. The doubters cautiously raised their hands to the upper tip of the flame, and frightenedly pulled back. Enthusiastic ones (like me before that) boldly put their hands right into the center of the flame, where the temperature of the fire is much lower, and did not get burned. As a result, each received according to his faith "().

Of everything that I have seen, and this is about a hundred washings with the Holy Fire, I can repeat all the washings with fire, except for one. In only one video, the pilgrim held his hand over the Holy Fire for 2.2 seconds, which is difficult to repeat without a burn. My record is 1.6 seconds.
Two explanations can be put forward for this case, firstly, religious ecstasy allows you to reduce pain sensitivity. Many have seen how people in a state of religious insanity beat themselves with iron-tipped whips, crucify their bodies and do many other disgusting acts, while grace illuminates their faces. From here, pilgrims do not feel the burning properties of fire. The second explanation is a draft in the temple. Thanks to the wind, the flame is deflected and an air cushion is created between the hand and the fire, if you “catch the wind”, you can simulate holding your hand over the fire for 3 seconds.
I talked with many pilgrims who attended the ceremony, and not all of them testify to the unburning flame:

Hieromonk Flavian (Matveev):
"Unfortunately, it's on fire. In 2004, literally five minutes after receiving the Holy Fire (we didn’t even leave the church), my friend tried to “wash himself with fire.” The beard seems to be small, noticeably began to flare up. I had to yell at him to put it out. I had a video camera in my hands, so this sad incident remained documented. (...) He himself took an example from others, held his hand over the fire. Fire is like fire. It burns! (The post has been removed from the forum).

Solovyov, Igor Orthodox Christian(newcomer):
“I don’t know how much time has passed since the Holy Fire came down, but when the fire reached me and I tried whether it burned or not, I singed my hair on my arm and felt a burning sensation. (...) In my opinion, the burning sensation was normal. From our group, some people were quite close to the Holy Sepulcher, but none of them said that the fire does not scorch ”().

Alexander Gagin, Orthodox Christian:
“When the fire came down and was handed over to us (a few minutes later), it burned like a normal one, I didn’t notice anything special, I didn’t see men lowering their beards into the fire for a long time” ().

In the article “In defense of the Holy Fire”, Yu. Maksimov writes:
“If we look at least at the video footage posted on the network, we will see, for example, that in one case a pilgrim holds his hand in the flame for three seconds from a whole bunch of candles, in the second case, another pilgrim holds his hand over the flame for five seconds, but the third a frame where another elderly pilgrim holds his hand in the flame for five seconds ”().

However, in the video proposed in the text of the article, people just pass their hands through the fire, but do not hold body parts over the fire for 2 or 3 or 5 seconds. At the Orthodox forum of A. Kuraev, this moment was touched upon in a topic with the same name in the article, and the Orthodox Christian was the first to pay attention to this discrepancy when he bothered to check the words of Maximov (). It is amazing how an Orthodox apologist can present video fragments that do not match the caption in the article, and this can be easily found out, just watch the video. Why do people so easily accept words without validation?

Miraculous flashes.
Dozens of journalists from special equipment for taking photos in darkened rooms and hundreds of amateur photographers. Therefore, there are very, very many flashes. Usually on high-quality video, the flash trace is 1 - 2 frames and has a white or slightly bluish color. On 5 high-quality live broadcasts, and in a secular film, all flashes of light are just like that. On lower quality video, color may vary depending on defects in video settings, development quality, and video processing features. As a result, flashes on different videos will look different colors. The worse the quality of the video, the more varied in time and color the flash can be displayed on it. Interestingly, the criteria put forward by the apologists for the difference between a flash and a flash fit into the possibility of a "trace" of a conventional flash on video different quality. Hence the impossibility, using the criteria of apologists, to distinguish a wonderful flash from a trace of a flash by color, especially after video processing. Thus, it is difficult to disprove or prove flashes based on video.

What do the testimonies left in the years when there were no cameras give?
It is especially interesting to compare the testimonies of modern pilgrims and the testimonies of the pilgrims of 1800-1900, written in a language understandable to contemporaries and quite detailed. There is nothing in these testimonies about flashes of light in the temple during the ceremony. And for some reason, the whistleblowers do not try to explain them at all, as if they do not know about them, but only talk about the deception of lighting a fire in Kuvuklia. Although such flashes would be an even greater miracle.
Apologists for the miracle were able to find evidence that seemed to confirm flashes, for example, pilgrims before the 13th century said that the ignition of a fire was accompanied by a bright white flash. A single flash at the time of the appearance of the fire is explained by the peculiarity of the ceremony of that time - they did not enter the Kuvukliy inside and the ignition of the fire inside was accompanied by a bright flash. This is how the 12th-century Islamic historian Ibn al-Qalanisi, already quoted here, describes the substances for spontaneous combustion used in the ceremony:
“... so that the fire reaches them through the oil of the balsam tree and accessories from it, and its property is the appearance of fire when combined with jasmine oil, it has a bright light and a brilliant radiance.”

"Blessed" fire in the hands

Cold fire - salicylic acid.

Potato + toothpaste with fluorine + salt = holy fire

Who and why needs deception with the so-called. blessed fire in Jerusalem

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

Jerusalem, Saturday on the eve of Orthodox Easter. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a ceremony is held - the Litany of the Holy Fire. The temple is filled with pilgrims, in the middle of the Temple a chapel (Edicule) was built, into which two priests enter (a Greek patriarch and an Armenian archimandrite). After a while, they come out of Kuvukliy with fire, which is transmitted to believers (see photo and video section ). AT Orthodox environment belief in the miraculous appearance of fire is widespread and various amazing properties are attributed to it. However, even at the beginning of the last century, even among the Orthodox, there are doubts about the miraculous nature of the origin of fire and the presence of some special properties in it. These doubts were so widespread in society that it allowed the leading orientalist of the last century, IYU Krachkovsky in 1915 to conclude: “The best representatives of theological thought in the East also notice that interpretation of the miracle, which allows prof. A. Olesnitsky andA. Dmitrievsky talk about "the celebration of the consecration of fire at the Holy Sepulcher" "( 1 ). Founder of the Russian spiritual mission in Jerusalem, bishopPorfiry Uspensky , summarizing the consequences of the scandal with the Holy Fire, which led to the recognition of the Metropolitan as a forgery, he left the following entry in 1848: “But from that time on, the Holy Sepulcher clergy no longer believe in the miraculous phenomenon of fire” ( 2 ). A student of Professor Dmitrievsky mentioned by Krachkovsky - Honored Professor of the Leningrad Theological AcademyNikolai Dmitrievich Uspensky in 1949, he delivered an act speech at the annual report of the Council of the Leningrad Theological Academy, in which he described in detail the history of the Holy Fire, and based on the material presented, made the following conclusion: “Obviously, once, without giving a timely energetic explanation to his flock about the true meaning of the rite St. fire in the future, they were unable to raise this voice in front of the ever-growing fanaticism of the dark masses due to objective conditions. If this was not done in a timely manner, then later it became impossible, without risk for personal well-being and, perhaps, the integrity of the shrines themselves. It remains for them to perform the ceremony and keep silent, consoling themselves with the fact that God "as he knows and can, so he will enlighten and calm the peoples" ( 3 ). There are quite a lot of those who doubt the miraculous nature of the Holy Fire among modern Orthodox believers. Here we can mention Protodeacon A. Kuraev, who shared his impressions of the meeting of the Russian delegation with: the Greek Patriarch Theophilus in the following words: “His answer about the Holy Fire was no less frank: “This is a ceremony that is a representation, like all other ceremonies of Holy Week. Just as once the Easter message from the tomb shone and illuminated the whole world, so now in this ceremony we make a representation of how the message of the resurrection from the cuvuklia spread throughout the world. Neither the word "miracle", nor the word "descent", nor the words "blessed fire" were in his speech. He probably could not have been more candid about the lighter in his pocket" ( 4 ), another example is an interview about the Holy Fire by Archimandrite Isidore, the head of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, where he, in particular, recalled the words of the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne of the Jerusalem Church, Metropolitan Kornily of Peter: Resurrection" ( 5 ). Now disgraced ROC, deacon Alexander Musin (Doctor of Historical Sciences, Candidate of Theology) in collaboration with a church historianSergei Bychkov (Doctor of Historical Sciences) published a book: "HOLY FIRE: MYTH OR REALITY ?”, where they write in particular: “In order to lift the veil over this centuries-old, but by no means pious myth, we decided to publish a short work by the famous St. Petersburg professor Nikolai Dmitrievich Uspensky (1900-1987), dedicated to history the rite of the holy fire of Great Saturday, as well as a forgotten article by the world-famous orientalist academician Ignatius Yulianovich Krachkovsky (1883-1951) "The Holy Fire" based on the story of Al-Biruni and other Muslim writers of the 10th-13th centuries.
A series of works by Protopresbyter of the Patriarchate of Constantinople George Tsetsis is devoted to exposing the myth of the miraculous appearance of the Holy Fire. The patriarch does not pray for a miracle. He only "remembers" the sacrifice and the three-day resurrection of Christ and, turning to Him, says: "Reverently accepting this kindled (*******) fire on Your luminous Tomb, we distribute to those who believe in the true light, and we pray to You that You revealed him with the gift of sanctification." The following happens: the patriarch lights his candle from the inextinguishable lamp, which is located on the Holy Sepulcher. Just like every patriarch and every clergyman on the day of Easter, when he receives the light of Christ from the unquenchable lamp, which is on the holy throne, symbolizing the Holy Sepulcher "( 6 ).
The younger generation of theologians does not lag behind, in 2008 a thesis on Liturgy was defended on the topic “The rite of the descent of the blessed fire in Jerusalem”, performed by a 5th year student of the Institute of Theology of the Belarusian State University Zvezdin P., in which he also dispels the myth of the miraculous appearance of fire ( 7 ).
However, one has only to accept the correctness of the Orthodox figures mentioned here, who have earned honor and respect for their service, Orthodox figures, as one will have to admit that many Greek patriarchs and no less noble Orthodox clergymen hypocritically deceived believers, talking about the miraculous appearance of fire and its unusual properties. This is probably why, in apology articles written by famous Russian theologians, seemingly honored Orthodox figures so often pour mud on them, attributing heretical views to them, a craving for collecting fables for the sake of their preconceived opinion and lack of scientific approach in his critical works regarding the Holy Fire (8 a, b; nine ).

What arguments do critics of the miraculous nature of the appearance of the Holy Fire give?
Almost all skeptics are confused by the clear definition of the time of receipt of fire and the ability to change this time by order of local authorities.
Due to the constant strife between Christian denominations, in 1852, through the efforts of the authorities, a document appeared, the so-called STATUS-QUO, which thoroughly recorded the sequence of actions of all rituals for all denominations in the city. The service of the Holy Fire is also scheduled by the minute, in particular, to gain fire, the priests who entered the Cuvuklia are given time from 12.55 to 13.10 ( 10 ). And now, for 8 years of live broadcasts, this time has been impeccably observed. Only in 2002, due to a fight between the patriarch and the archimandrite inside Kuvukliy, the fire began to be distributed much later than a certain time ( 11 ). Those. the delay was the fault of the priests, and not because of the lack of fire. This fight had serious consequences, for several years now, together with the Armenian archimandrite and the Greek patriarch, an Israeli policeman enters Kuvukliy, vigilantly ensuring that high-ranking clergymen do not fight again in this holy and revered place ( 12 ). Skepticism is also betrayed by another fact related to the time of the appearance of fire, which prof. AA Dmitrievsky, referring to prof. A.A. Olesnitsky, in 1909 he writes: “Once the feast of fire at the Holy Sepulcher was connected directly with Easter matins, but due to some disorders that occurred during this celebration, at the request of the local authorities, it was postponed to the previous day” ( 13 ). It turns out that the time of the appearance of a divine miracle can also be determined by the orders of the Islamic administration.
In principle, God is able to fulfill any order of any administration, since He is omnipotent and can do anything and plan His miracles in any way. However, a miracle so clearly defined in time is the only example. For example, in the gospel example with the pool, to which the apologists of the miracle refer (John 5: 2–4), healings do not occur in a strictly certain time but as the evangelist writes:<…>for the angel of the Lord went down from time to time into the pool and disturbed the water, and whoever entered it first after the disturbance of the water was healed<…>". Also other annual Orthodox miracles, for example, the descent of the Holy Cloud on Mount Tabor on the day of the Transfiguration of the Lord or the appearance of poisonous snakes in the Church of the Assumption Holy Mother of God(on the Island of Kefalonia) on the day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I also do not have a strictly defined time period. By the way, the convergence of the cloud on Mount Tabor and the appearance of poisonous snakes occur in front of people, while the fire arises in Kuvuklia closed from pilgrims. Such accessibility greatly contributes to clarifying the true nature of these phenomena, for example, it turns out that the priests themselves bring snakes and they are completely non-poisonous ( 14 ). With regard to Mount Tabor, everything is also relatively simple. At this time of the year, fogs form on the mountain almost daily, and pilgrims only become witnesses of the origin of such fog ( 15 ). The spectacle is really beautiful, and having an increased religiosity, it is easy to attribute miraculous properties to what you see.

The version of skeptics about the appearance of fire
From the point of view of skeptics, the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite light their candles from the inextinguishable lamp, which the keeper of the tomb brings in shortly before the entrance of the patriarch. Perhaps the lampada is not placed on the coffin, but in a niche behind the icon from which the patriarch takes it out, perhaps some other additional manipulations are taking place inside. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to see this.
Recall the sequence of actions during the ceremony ( 16 , link to video).

1. Examine Kuvuklia (two priests and a representative of the authorities).
2. Seal the entrance doors of Kuvuklia with a large wax seal.
3. The keeper of the coffin appears, who brings inside the Coffin a large lampada covered with a cap. The seal is removed in front of him, he enters Kvukliy, and after a few minutes he leaves.
4. A solemn procession appears, led by the Greek patriarch, it circles three times around Kuvukliy. The clothes of patriarchal dignity are removed from the patriarch and he, together with the Armenian archimandrite (and the Israeli policeman), enters the Kuvukliy.
5. After 5-10 minutes, the Greek patriarch and the Armenian archimandrite come out with fire (before that, they managed to distribute fire through the windows of Kuvukliy).

Naturally, a person with a lamp covered with a cap will be of interest to skeptics. By the way, there are air holes in the cap of the lamp, so that a fire can burn in it. Unfortunately, the apologists of the miracle practically do not explain the introduction of this lamp inside the Kuvukliy. They pay attention to the inspection of Kuvukliy by government officials and priests before sealing. Indeed, after examining the fire inside should not be. Then the apologists of the miracle pay attention to the search of the Greek patriarch, before his entrance into Kuvukliy. True, the video clearly shows that only Greek priests take off their clothes from him and at the same time they do not search their patriarch, but this is not important, due to the fact that another representative of the Greek OC had previously entered there to put the lamp on the Sepulcher and no one does not examine.

The words of Patriarch Theophilus about the Holy Fire are interesting:
"Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem: This is a very ancient, very special and unique ceremony Jerusalem Church. This ceremony of the Holy Fire takes place only here in Jerusalem. And this happens thanks to the very Tomb of our Lord Jesus Christ. As you know, this ceremony of the Holy Fire is, so to speak, an image (enactment), which represents the first Good News (the first good news), the first Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ (the first resurrection). This is representation like all sacred ceremonies. Like on Good Friday we have a burial rite, don't we? How do we bury the Lord, etc.
So, this ceremony is taking place in a holy place, and all other Eastern Churches that share the Holy Sepulcher would like to take part in this. Such as Armenians, Copts, Syrians come to us and receive our blessing, because they want to receive the Fire from the patriarch.
Now, the second part of your question is actually about us. It is an experience which, if you like, is analogous to the experience a person has when he receives Holy Communion. What happens there also applies to the Holy Fire ceremony. This means that a certain experience cannot be explained, expressed in words. Therefore, everyone who takes part in this ceremony - priests or laymen, or laywomen - everyone has their own indescribable experience.

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

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

Recent publications on related topics

Holy Fire- one of the strongest symbols of faith and confirmation of its truth among Orthodox Christians. Once again, he descended from heaven last Saturday, April 15 in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (erected in the 4th century by decree of the Roman Emperor Constantine and his mother Queen Helena in the place where Christ's earthly path was completed) on the eve of the Great Feast Orthodox Easter Christ. This year the Easter holidays of the Orthodox and Catholic faiths coincided.

Holy Fire: miracle or man-made reality?

Scientists and atheists have been trying to explain the power and nature of the Holy Fire for a long time, but so far the attempts have not been successful. Believers accept fire as the highest grace of God, without questioning even the slightest doubt about its divine nature. Skeptics and atheists carefully try to explain this phenomenon from a scientific point of view, and I think this is also normal.

I did not publish this article on the eve of the Easter holiday, as was originally intended, respecting the feelings of true believers, so that my reasoning would not look like an attempt on the shrine of saints.

And yet, let's try to understand the mystery and nature of the descent of the Holy Fire.

How is the preparation for the reception of the Holy Fire

Not for the first millennium, the Holy Fire descends in one place, only in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, and only on the eve of Orthodox Easter, subject to a few more conditions.

The first mention of this phenomenon dates back to the 4th century, they are found among church historians.

A vivid description, full of depth of experienced feelings, is given in his book “I saw the Holy Fire” by Archimandrite Savva Achilleos, who for more than 50 years was the main novice at the Holy Sepulcher. Here is a fragment of a book about how the Holy Fire descends:

“... the patriarch bowed low to approach the Life-Giving Tomb. And suddenly, in the midst of dead silence, I heard some kind of quivering, barely perceptible rustle. It was like a thin breath of wind. And immediately after that, I saw a blue light that filled the entire inner space of the Life-Giving Tomb.

Oh, what an unforgettable sight it was! I saw this light whirl like a strong whirlwind or storm. And in this blessed light, I clearly saw the face of the Patriarch. Big tears were running down his cheeks...

… the blue light has returned to a state of motion. Then it suddenly turned white... Soon the light took on a rounded shape and in the form of a halo stood motionless above the head of the Patriarch. I saw how His Beatitude the Patriarch took bundles of 33 candles into his hands, raised them high above him and began to pray to God to send down the Holy Fire, slowly stretching his hands to the sky. As soon as he raised them to the level of his head, all four beams suddenly lit up in his hands, as if they were brought close to a flaming furnace. At the same moment, the halo disappeared from the light above his head. Tears flowed from my eyes from the joy that engulfed me .... "

Information taken from the site https://www.rusvera.mrezha.ru/633/9.htm

Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, preparation for the descent

The ceremony of preparation for the descent of Fire begins almost a day before the start of Orthodox Easter. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which can accommodate 10 thousand people, is in a hurry to visit these days not only Orthodox believers, but also other Christians, Muslims, and atheist tourists. Representatives of the Jewish police are also present here, vigilantly monitoring not only order, but also ensuring that no one brings fire or devices into the temple that cause it.

Then, an unlit oil lamp is placed on the center of the bed of the Holy Sepulcher, and a bunch of candles in the amount of 33 pieces is also placed here - the number of years of the life of Jesus Christ. Pieces of cotton wool are laid around the perimeter of the bed, a tape is attached along the edges. Everything is done under the strict supervision of the Jewish police and Muslim representatives.

It is important that the manifestation of the descent of Fire is ensured by the obligatory presence in the temple three groups of participants:

1. Patriarch of the Jerusalem Orthodox Church or, with his blessing, one of the bishops of the Jerusalem Patriarchate.
2. Abbot and monks of the Lavra of St. Savva the Sanctified .
3. Local Orthodox Arabs, most often represented by Arab Orthodox youth, who make themselves known by noisy non-traditional performance of prayers in Arabic .

The Orthodox Patriarch closes the festive procession, accompanied by the Armenian Patriarch and the clergy, who go around the most holy places of the temple, go around Kuvuklia (the chapel above the Holy Sepulcher) three times.

Then the Patriarch undresses from the vestments, demonstrating the absence of matches and other things that can cause fire, and enters Kuvukliya.

After that, the chapel is closed, the entrance is sealed by a local Muslim keykeeper.

Those present from this moment are waiting for the Patriarch to come out with Fire in his hands. Interestingly, the waiting time for convergence varies from year to year, from a few minutes to several hours.

The moment of expectation is one of the strongest in faith: believers know that if the Fire is not sent from above, the temple will be destroyed. Therefore, the parishioners take communion and pray fervently, asking to grant them the Holy Fire. Prayers and rituals continue until the appearance of the blessed Fire.

How the Holy Fire descends

Approximately this is how the atmosphere of expectation of the Holy Fire is described by people present in the temple in different time. The phenomenon of convergence is accompanied by the appearance in the temple of small bright flashes, discharges, flashes here and there ...

When shooting with a slow-motion camera, the lights are especially clearly visible near the icon located above Kuvuklia, in the area of ​​​​the dome of the Temple, near the windows.

A moment later, the whole temple is already lit up with glare, lightning, and right there .. the doors of the chapel swing open, the Patriarch appears in his hands with the same Fire sent down from Heaven. At these moments, candles in the hands of individuals spontaneously ignite.

An incredible atmosphere of joy, delight and happiness fills the entire space, it truly becomes an energetically unique place!

At first, Fire possesses amazing properties- does not burn at all, people literally wash themselves with it, scoop it up with their palms, pouring it on themselves. There are no cases of ignition of clothes, hair and other objects. The temperature of the fire is only 40ºС. There are cases and witnesses of the healing of ailments and diseases.

They say that droplets of wax falling from candles, called the Blessed Dew, will remain on people's clothes forever, even after washing.

And in the future, from the Holy Fire, lamps are lit throughout Jerusalem, although there are cases in areas near the temple of their spontaneous combustion. Fire is delivered by air to Cyprus and Greece, and so all over the world, including to Russia. In the areas of the city adjacent to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, candles and lamps in churches light up on their own.

There were fears that this year the Fire would not come down due to the fact that archaeologists in the fall of 2016, for scientific purposes, opened the tomb with the Holy Sepulcher, in which, according to giving, the body of Jesus Christ rested after the crucifixion. The fears were in vain.

Video about the descent of Fire in Jerusalem.

Scientific explanation of the Holy Fire

How does science explain the nature of the Holy Fire? No way! There is no scientific evidence for this phenomenon. Just as there are no scientific interpretations of all things that happen according to the will of God. One must accept the fact of Fire as a divine essence.

Attempts to somehow explain the nature of this phenomenon are rather revealing, as is usually the case, the desire to convict the Church of insincerity, deceit, and concealment of the truth.

But in fact, why does the Fire come down only among Orthodox Christians? Well, God is one, faiths are just different? And why does Orthodox Easter fall on different calendar dates every year, and why does the fire come down at the right time? By the way, in the past, its convergence was observed at night with the onset of Holy Saturday before Easter, now it happens during the day, closer to noon.

Holy Fire is a myth

What arguments do skeptics give, exposing the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire, thereby trying to dispel the myths about the divine nature of fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher:

• Fire at the right moment is obtained from essential oils, pre-sprayed into the atmosphere of the temple and capable of self-ignition.
• The candles that are given out in the temple shop are impregnated with a special composition that saturates the atmosphere of the temple, causing the same flashes and spontaneous combustion of candles.

But after all, other candles were lit, which passionate skeptics brought with them to the temple.

• Some substances are spontaneously combustible, for example, white phosphorus. Concentrated sulfuric acid, when combined with manganese, ignites spontaneously, while the flame does not burn. The fire does not burn for some time when the ethers are burning. But only the first moments.

Divine fire does not burn after a while.

• Here is another recipe for self-ignition:

“... they hang lamps in the altar and arrange a trick so that the fire reaches them through the oil of the balsam tree and accessories from it, and its property is the appearance of fire when combined with jasmine oil. Fire has a bright light and brilliant radiance.

• The phenomenon of fire can be explained as the result of the interaction of streams of charged particles passing through the upper atmosphere, through magnetic field Earth.

But why here and in given time? Unconvincing!

• Perhaps the answer lies in geophysics? The land of Jerusalem is very old, besides the temple is located in unique place, on ancient tectonic plates.

Perhaps this fact contributes to the phenomenon.

• Or maybe the believers themselves, gathered at the Temple of the Lord, with their energy of excitement, a special state nervous system in anticipation of a miracle, they are able to generate energy flows, which are not poor in places of pilgrimage anyway.
• Does not recognize the miraculous nature of fire and the Catholic Church.
• A lot of noise in 2008 was made by the interview of the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos III to Russian journalists, in which he brought the phenomenon of the descent of the Holy Fire closer to an ordinary church ceremony, without any emphasis on the miracle of the descent.

Scientific experiment confirming the divine essence of Fire

Professor Pavel Florensky in 2008 took measurements and recorded three flashes-discharges, akin to those that happen during a thunderstorm, and thereby confirmed the special atmosphere during the appearance of Fire, that is, simply its Divine origin.

Just a year ago, in 2016, Andrey Volkov, a Russian physicist and employee of the Russian Research Center "Kurchatov Institute", managed to bring equipment to the temple for the ceremony of the convergence of the Holy Fire and make measurements of the electromagnetic field inside the room. Here is what the physicist himself says:

- For 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.

- 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.

For almost two thousand years, Orthodox Christians have been celebrating their greatest holiday - the Resurrection of Christ (Easter) in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.

Every time, everyone who is inside and near the Temple, on Easter, witnesses the descent of the Holy Fire.

The Holy Fire has been in the temple for more than a millennium. The earliest references to the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the Resurrection of Christ are found among Gregory of Nyssa, Eusebius and Sylvia of Aquitaine and date back to the 4th century. They also contain descriptions of earlier convergences. According to the testimony of the Apostles and holy fathers, the uncreated Light illuminated the Holy Sepulcher shortly after the Resurrection of Christ, which one of the apostles saw: "Peter appeared before the Sepulcher and the light was terrified in vain in the tomb," writes St. John of Damascus. Eusebius Pamphilus tells in his "Church History" that when one day there was not enough lamp oil, Patriarch Narcissus (II century) blessed to pour water from the Siloam font into the lamps, and the fire that descended from heaven lit the lamps, which then burned throughout the entire Paschal service .

Litany (church ceremony) of the Holy Fire begins about a day before the start of Orthodox Easter. In the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, pilgrims begin to gather, wishing to see with their own eyes the descent of the Holy Fire. Among those present there are always many non-Orthodox Christians, Muslims, atheists, the ceremony is monitored by the Jewish police. The temple itself accommodates up to 10 thousand people, the entire area in front of it and the enfilades of surrounding structures are also filled with people - the number of people who want is much more than the capacity of the temple, so it is not easy for pilgrims.

In the middle of the bed of the Life-Giving Sepulcher, a lamp is placed, filled with oil, but without fire. Pieces of cotton wool are laid out throughout the bed, and a tape is laid along the edges. So prepared, after examining the Turkish guards, and now the Jewish police, Kuvukliya (Chapel over the Holy Sepulcher) is closed and sealed by a local Muslim key keeper.

Before the descent, the temple begins to be illuminated by bright flashes of the Blessed Light, small lightning flashes here and there. In slow motion, it is clearly seen that they come from different places in the temple - from the icon hanging over Kuvuklia, from the dome of the Temple, from windows and from other places, and fill everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and walls of the temple, quite visible lightning flashes, which often pass without any harm through standing people.

A moment later, the whole temple turns out to be belted with lightning and glare, which snake down its walls and columns, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple and spreading over the square among the pilgrims. At the same time, candles are lit at those standing in the temple and on the square, the lampadas located on the sides of Kuvuklia (with the exception of 13 Catholic ones) are lit themselves. The temple or some of its places are filled with an unparalleled radiance, which is believed to have first appeared during the Resurrection of Christ. At the same time, the doors of the Tomb open and the Orthodox Patriarch comes out, who blesses those gathered and distributes the Holy Fire.

"...Most vivid description refers to 1892, where a wonderful picture of the burning of the Holy Fire is given from the words of the Patriarch. He said that sometimes, having entered Kuvuklia, and without having time to read the prayer, he already saw how the marble tomb slab was covered with small multi-colored beads, similar to small pearls. And the stove itself began to emit an even light. The patriarch swept away these pearls with a piece of cotton wool, which merged like drops of oil. He felt warmth in the cotton and touched the wick of the candle with it. The wick flared like gunpowder - the candle lit up. Cotton wool is preliminarily placed on the stove. According to eyewitnesses, sometimes non-believers do this in order to eliminate doubts on this score.

There is other evidence as well. The Metropolitan of Trans-Jordan, who received the Holy Fire more than once, said that when he entered Kuvuklia, the icon lamp standing on the Tomb was burning. And sometimes - no, then he fell and with tears began to ask for mercy from God, and when he rose the lamp was already burning. From it he lit two bunches of candles, carried out and served fire to the people waiting for him. But he himself had never seen a fire ignite.

After the Patriarch leaves the Cuvuklia, or rather, he is taken to the Altar, the people rush into the inside of the Coffin - to kiss. The whole slab is wet, as if wet with rain." The excerpt is taken from the book: Holy Fire over the Holy Sepulcher, 1991.

According to eyewitnesses, the fire does not burn the first minutes after the descent. Here is what they write:

"Yes, and I am a sinful slave from the metropolitan's hands, having lit 20 candles in one place and I burned mine with all those candles, and not a single hair writhed or burned; and having extinguished all the candles and then lit them with other people, I warmed those candles, so but on the third day, those candles were warmed up by me, and then without touching anything, I didn’t scorch a single hair, nor grimaced, and I’m cursed, not believing that heavenly fire and the message of God, and so three times I kindled my candles and extinguished, and before Metropolitan and in front of all the Greeks that I said goodbye that I blasphemed God's power and called the fire of heaven, which the Greeks do sorcery, and not God's creation; and the metropolitan will bless me in this in all simple and simple ways. Life and journey to Jerusalem and Egypt of the Kazanian Vasily Yakovlevich Gagara (1634-1637).

"Father Georgy films everything on a video camera, takes pictures. I also take a few pictures. We have ten packs of candles prepared with us. I stretch out my hand with candles to the burning bunches in the hands of people, I light it. I scoop up this flame with my palm, it is large, warm, light "light yellow, I hold my hand in the fire - it doesn't burn! I bring it to my face, the flame licks my beard, nose, eyes, I feel only warmth and gentle touch - it doesn't burn!!!" Priest from Novosibirsk.

"It's amazing... At first, the Fire doesn't burn, it's just warm. They wash themselves with it, drive it across the face, apply it to the chest - and nothing. with a hole, but it came - there is no hole. Archimandrite Bartholomew (Kalugin), resident of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1983

"I try to take Fire in the palm of my hand and find that it is material. It can be touched, in the palm it is felt as a material substance, it is soft, neither hot nor cold." Parishioner of the church of St. Nicholas in Biryulyovo Natalia.

The people who are at this time in the temple are overwhelmed with an inexpressible and incomparable in its depth feeling of joy and spiritual peace. According to those who visited the square and the temple itself when the fire descended, the depth of feelings that overwhelmed people at that moment was fantastic - eyewitnesses left the temple as if reborn, as they themselves say - spiritually cleansed and enlightened.

Many non-Orthodox, when they first hear about the Holy Fire, try to reproach the Orthodox: how do you know that it was bestowed on you? And what if it was received by a representative of a different Christian denomination? However, attempts by force to challenge the right to receive the Holy Fire by representatives of other faiths have been and have happened more than once.

The most significant event occurred in 1579. The owners of the Temple of the Lord are simultaneously representatives of several Christian Churches. The priests of the Armenian Church, contrary to tradition, managed to bribe Sultan Murat the Truthful and the local city authorities to allow them to celebrate Easter alone and receive the Holy Fire. At the call of the Armenian clergy, many of their fellow believers came to Jerusalem from all over the Middle East to celebrate Easter alone. The Orthodox, together with Patriarch Sophrony IV, were removed not only from the Kuvuklia, but from the Temple in general. There, at the entrance to the shrine, they remained to pray for the descent of Fire, mourning the separation from Grace. The Armenian Patriarch prayed for about a day, however, despite his prayerful efforts, no miracle followed. At one moment, a ray struck from the sky, as is usually the case with the descent of Fire, and hit exactly the column at the entrance, next to which was the Orthodox Patriarch. Fiery bursts splashed from it in all directions and a candle was lit at the Orthodox Patriarch, who handed over the Holy Fire to the fellow believers. This was the only case in history when the descent took place outside the Temple, in fact, through the prayers of an Orthodox, and not an Armenian high priest. "Everyone rejoiced, and Orthodox Arabs for joy they began to jump and shout: "You are our only God, Jesus Christ, our true faith is one - the faith of Orthodox Christians," writes monk Parthenius. At the same time, Turkish soldiers were in the enfilades of buildings adjacent to the temple square. One of them, named Omir (Anwar), saw what was happening and exclaimed: " One Faith Orthodox, I am a Christian" and jumped down onto stone slabs from a height of about 10 meters. However, the young man did not crash - the slabs under his feet melted like wax, imprinting his footprints. For the adoption of Christianity, Muslims executed the brave Anvar and tried to scrape off the footprints, so clearly testifying about the triumph of Orthodoxy, but they did not succeed, and those who come to the Temple can still see them, as well as the dissected column at the doors of the temple.The body of the martyr was burned, but the Greeks collected the remains, which before late XIX centuries were in convent Great Panagia, exuding fragrance.

The Turkish authorities were very angry with the arrogant Armenians, and at first they even wanted to execute the hierarch, but later they had mercy and ordered him, as an edification about what happened at the Easter ceremony, to always follow Orthodox Patriarch and continue not to take a direct part in receiving the Holy Fire. Although the government has changed a long time ago, the custom is still preserved.

The Holy Fire is the greatest miracle of God for all people. For believers - indescribable bliss and joy in Christ, for unbelievers - the opportunity to see and believe!