Today, no one will be surprised by the fact that the service was broadcast on TV from the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem on the eve of Orthodox Easter. However, everything that happens there at this time is amazing. We are talking about strange light and fiery phenomena, inexplicable from the standpoint of traditional science and common sense, and regarded as a miracle. However, the religious veneration of this phenomenon encounters latent or explicit hostility on the part of individual theologians, is refuted by other religious confessions and finds an explanation only from the side of alternative science.
Miracle of fire
Since ancient times, fire has not only played a utilitarian role, but has also been an object of worship. Many miracles associated with fire are also described. So, for example, the Old Testament prophet Elijah challenged the priests of Baal to a competition, inviting them to light a sacrificial fire with the help of their God, and won the duel.
Buddhists are still very reverent and respectful of the sacrificial fire, believing that it cleanses from all moral contamination. Fire is worshiped by representatives of all Christian confessions, where it is part of many rituals.
There are echoes of fire worship even in secular culture, for example, the eternal flame at the tomb of the unknown soldier, pioneer bonfire, candles on the birthday cake, etc.
The emergence of the shrine
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The first Jerusalem temple of the Resurrection of Christ, or the Holy Sepulcher, was built in the 4th century AD on the site of the crucifixion of Christ. Destroyed by time, as well as by wars, fires and earthquakes, the temple was rebuilt several times. Today's temple complex already has little resemblance to the original structure, with the exception, probably, of the very Golgotha, where the cross with the crucified Christ once stood.
Today, Calvary is a rock about five meters high.
Nearby there is a hill with a man-made cave inside, in which the body of Christ was once buried, and then his resurrection took place.
After in the IV century this place was rediscovered by the Roman empress Helena, it became an object of pilgrimage for Christians, each of whom strove to chop off and carry a piece of stone from the sacred cave, as a result of which the last refuge of Christ began to gradually collapse until it was covered with a massive slab from white marble.
The first Kuvuklia (chapel, tomb) over the place of burial and resurrection of Christ was built at the same time. The current Kuvuklia, already the fourth in a row, was erected at the beginning of the 19th century and has been constantly restored and updated since then. It is with the Kuvuklia that the phenomenon of the Holy Fire is connected.
The symbol of the resurrection of Christ
As already mentioned, the place of Christ's execution and burial almost immediately became an object of worship. However, the mass pilgrimage began only after the official recognition of Christianity by Rome. Near the former grave of Jesus, a small niche was carved, inside which, on religious holidays, monks lit a lamp. However, starting from the 9th century, on the eve of Easter, supernatural phenomena began to occur in the man-made cave - the spontaneous ignition of lamps, candles, sometimes accompanied by lightning and thunderclaps from outside. The miracle of the fire, called the Blessed, was immediately considered a sign, and therefore they began to solemnly prepare every year for this event, marking the resurrection of Christ.
A remarkable feature of the sacred fire is that it does not burn the human body at all in the first minutes of its appearance. People with reverence put their hands in it and even “wash” themselves with fire without getting burned.
Skeptics
It would be naive to think that the Holy Fire evokes awe and full recognition from absolutely everyone - there have always been those who doubt the truth of this miracle.
The versions of the natural origin of fire, as well as deliberate misleading of believers, are adhered not only by Catholics, Jews and Muslims, but also by some prominent representatives of the Orthodox Church, and, of course, by all representatives of orthodox science who do not believe in any miracle at all. The latter argue that spontaneous combustion is not original, since it is inherent in many substances in the open air - for example, white phosphorus, and therefore it cannot be called a miracle.
Already in our days, several physicists tried to enter the temple with their equipment, but they were not allowed there, considering the actions of scientists blasphemy and mockery of the shrine. Nevertheless, some measurements were made by them in secret. So, for example, at the moment of the appearance of the Holy Fire, they recorded a strange long-wave impulse. Noting also the fact of “non-burning” of the sacred fire, physicists came to the preliminary conclusion that all this resembles the so-called cold plasma, and therefore is not a miracle.
But where does a Christian church get long-wave impulses and cold plasma that can only be obtained in a laboratory? Physicists could not answer this question.
Alternative science presentation
Once upon a time, the early Christian thinker Aurelius Augustine expressed the following thought: "There are no miracles that would contradict the laws of nature, miracles contradict only our ideas about these laws." This fully applies to the Holy Fire, which arises contrary to the laws of our world, but in full accordance with the laws of subtle or multidimensional reality.
In this case, in order for a flame to spontaneously appear, a person or, more precisely, a group of people must earnestly believe in its occurrence. In ancient times, when the pilgrimage to the place of burial and resurrection of Christ did not have such a massive character, the clergy had to light lamps and candles. But when large crowds of people from all over the world began to flock for the Easter service, the spontaneous combustion of candles first acquired an episodic, and then a permanent character.
Nowadays, this religious celebration has been overgrown with many scrupulously observed rituals. Moreover, retreating from at least one of them leads to a delay or even to non-combustion of the Holy Fire.
In particular, when, instead of a bunch of 33 wax candles (according to the number of years of Christ), the ministers took a smaller number, then spontaneous combustion did not occur. Another time, when pious and humble pilgrims tried to drive out the noisy and, as it seemed to them, indecently behaving Arab youth from the temple, spontaneous combustion also did not occur until the Arabs were returned to the temple, allowing them to behave as they did. used to it.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №16. Author: Arkady Vyatkin