The Holy Fire is an insoluble and mysterious mystery for scientists all over the world. But not for Christians! We know that the blessed fire is an Easter symbol that the Lord himself gives us from heaven! And the descent of this great and wonderful gift from God has been happening since ancient times.
The blessed fire has appeared in the church of the resurrection of Christ in Jerusalem for more than a millennium. The earliest mentions of the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of the resurrection of Christ are found in Gregory of Nyssa, Eusebius and Sylvia of Aquitaine and date back to the 4th century. They also contain descriptions of earlier convergence.
On the eve in the temple all candles, lamps, chandeliers are extinguished. Back at the beginning of the XX century. this was closely monitored: the Turkish authorities carried out a strict search inside the chapel; on the slander of the Catholics, they even reached the point of revising the pockets of the priestly metropolitan, the viceroy of the patriarch … because of suspicion, the patriarch is forced to expose himself to the cassock so that it can be seen that he is not carrying matches into the cave or anything that can light a fire. During the domination of the Turks, close "control" over the patriarch was carried out by the Turkish janissaries, who searched him before entering the kuvukliya, but now the patriarch is being examined by Jewish policemen.
Shortly before the arrival of the patriarch, the priestless person brings into the cave a large lamp, in which the main fire and 33 candles should light up - according to the number of years of the savior's earthly life. Then the Orthodox and Armenian patriarchs (the latter is also exposed before entering the cave) enter inside. They are sealed with a large piece of wax and red tape is applied to the door; Orthodox ministers put their seals. At this time, the lights in the temple are turned off.
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After sealing the kuvukliya, Orthodox Arab youth rushes into the temple, whose presence is also an obligatory element of the Easter celebrations. Young people are like riders on each other's shoulders. They ask the Mother of God and the Lord to grant the Orthodox the blessed fire. “There is no Faith, Except for the Orthodox Faith, Christ is the True God,” they chant. For parishioners of Europeans, accustomed to other forms of expression of feelings and calm services, it is quite unusual to see such behavior of local youth. However, the Lord reminded us that he accepts such a childishly naive, but sincere appeal to him. During the time when Jerusalem was under the British mandate, the English governor once tried to ban these "Wild" dances. The patriarch prayed in the kuvukliya for two hours: the fire did not go down. Then the patriarch by his own will ordered to let the Arabs in …. And the fire descended. "The Arabs seem to be addressing all peoples: the Lord confirms the correctness of our faith by bringing down the blessed fire on the eve of Orthodox Easter. What do you believe?
All people in the church are patiently waiting for the patriarch to come out with fire in their hands. However, in the hearts of many people there is not only patience, but also a thrill of expectation: according to the tradition of the Jerusalem church, it is believed that the day when the blessed fire does not descend will be the last for the people in the temple, and the temple itself will be destroyed. Therefore, pilgrims usually take communion before coming to a holy place. In different years, the agonizing wait lasts from five minutes to several hours.
Before the descent, the temple begins to illuminate with bright flashes of blessed light, here and there small lightning flashes. In slow motion, you can clearly see that they come from different places of the temple - from the icon hanging above the cuvuklia, from the dome of the temple, from the windows and from other places, and flood everything around with bright light. In addition, here and there, between the columns and the walls of the temple, quite visible lightning flashes, which often pass through standing people without any harm.
A moment later, the entire temple is surrounded by lightning and glare, which snake along its walls and columns downward, as if flowing down to the foot of the temple and spreading over the square among the pilgrims. At the same time, candles light up at those standing in the temple and on the square, the lamps themselves are lit, the cuvuclia on the sides light up themselves (with the exception of 13 Catholic ones), like some others within the temple. “And suddenly a drop falls on the face, and then a cry of delight and shock is heard in the crowd. The fire in the altar of the Catholicon is burning! Flash and flame are like a huge flower. And the cuvuklia is still dark. Slowly - slowly, through the candles, the fire from the altar begins to descend towards us. And then a thunderous cry makes you look back at Kuvuklia. It shines, the entire wall shimmers with silver, white lightning streams down it. The fire pulsates and breathesand from the hole in the dome of the temple a vertical broad column of light descended from the sky onto the coffin. The temple or some of its places are filled with unparalleled radiance, which is believed to have first appeared during the resurrection of Christ. At the same time, the doors of the tomb are opened and the Orthodox patriarch comes out, who blesses the audience and distributes the blessed fire.
However, not everyone ignites the fire from the patriarch's candle; for some, it lights up by itself. “The flash of heavenly light is getting brighter and stronger. Now the blessed fire began to fly all over the temple. Scattered with bright blue beads over the cuvuklia around the icon "The Resurrection of the Lord", and followed by one of the lamps flashed, burst into the temple chapels, to the Golgotha (lit one of the lamps on it), sparkled over the stone of chrismation (an icon lamp was also lit here. - the wicks of the candles were charred, some of them flashed their lamps, bunches of candles by themselves. The flashes intensified, sparks here and there spread through the bunches of candles. she tried twice to extinguish.
The first time - 3-10 minutes, the ignited fire has amazing properties - it does not burn at all, regardless of which candle and where it will be lit. You can see how parishioners literally wash themselves with this fire - they run it over their faces, over their hands, scoop them up in handfuls, and it does no harm, at first it does not even scorch the hair.
Indeed, this is one of the greatest wonders of both past centuries and the modern 21st century! The Lord shows all his followers, all Christians, that he is with us!
In Russia, the blessed fire is delivered to many, many cities for the Easter service, and the joyful holiday of Christ's Easter is aggravated and ascends to heaven, to the birthplace of the blessed fire!