The Holy Fire

Last night, on May 4, 2024, the Greek Orthodox patriarch went into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (on Eastern Holy Saturday) and emerged with a candle that he claims was lit by the annual miracle of the Holy Fire. And this has been going on for centuries. There are many Christians around the world who believe this is a recurring miracle.

A former Lutheran who converted to Orthodoxy - who once chided me for quoting St. John Chrysostom and told me that if I do so, I should convert to The True Church That Chrysostom Belonged To - counted the Holy Fire as divine proof that the Eastern Orthodox Church is the only true church, and we Lutherans were heretics. I suppose that if the Holy Fire were a real miracle, it would also prove to all two billion Christians around the world that the East has the true date of the Paschal Feast, and the rest of us in the West are just LARPing.

While it is a beautiful and moving ceremony of thousands of candles being lit in the sacred church where our Lord’s resurrection happened (and here is the live coverage), there is ample evidence that the candle that lights up inside the tomb isn’t a miracle at all, but rather a centuries-old fraud. There is a legal case in Greece involving the Holy Fire that has just concluded. A journalist and author, Dimitris Alikakos, was sued by the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. According to the article in The Greek Reporter, “The Patriarchate accused him of fabricating evidence in his attempt to prove that the Holy Fire in Jesus’s tomb does not ignite miraculously but through the use of matches,” and the lawsuit was also trying to get a video on YouTube removed, in which Archbishop Isidoros supposedly admits candidly that the Holy Fire is just a guy lighting a candle by means of a lighter or a match (in former times it was done with phosphorous).

Alikakos was acquitted. And the YouTube remains available.

According to the article:

Alikakos claims that in his book ‘Redemption – About the Holy Light,’ he has gathered testimonies from people involved in the process of touching the light, such as guardians of the Holy Sepulcher and Patriarchs. These testimonies lead to the conclusion, as some of them admit, that it is not a miracle, but rather the touch is facilitated by human intervention

In his book, he presents an interview with the skeuophylax Archbishop Isidoros of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, in which the latter admits that the “Sleepless Candle”, which he, himself, puts into the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the morning of the Holy Saturday, is ignited by him with a lighter.

The former (1984–1988) skeuophylax (chamberlain) Archbishop Nikiforos makes the same acknowledgement, except that he was using matches.

I don’t speak Greek, so I cannot attest to the subtitles. But here it is:

Acknowledging that Wikipedia is not known for being sympathetic to Christianity, that said, the entry for Holy Fire includes a lot of Eastern Orthodox sources denying the miraculous nature of this ceremony - some in rather strong and harsh terms.

Of course, medieval Western Christianity had its share of shenanigans designed to gin up income for the hierarchy and business for the travel industry. Our Confessions recall a particular fraud purporting to be a miracle:

In a certain monastery we [some of us] have seen a statue of the blessed Virgin, which moved automatically by a trick [within by a string], so as to seem either to turn away from [those who did not make a large offering] or nod to those making request. ~ Ap 21:34

There is a quote attributed to Dr. Luther mocking the fantastical claims of relic collectors, including his own prince, whose collection was housed at the Castle Church (All Saints) in Wittenberg, where the 95 Theses were first posted:

What lies there are about relics! One claims to have a feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel, and the Bishop of Mainz has a flame from Moses’ burning bush. And how does it happen that eighteen apostles are buried in Germany when Christ had only twelve?

While this quote is, it seems, apocryphal (at least I can’t find a citation for it), Luther does mention, in the Smalcald Articles:

relics, in which there are found so many falsehoods and tomfooleries concerning the bones of dogs and horses, that even the devil has laughed at such rascalities… ~ SA 2:2:22

Many pious Roman Catholics to this day honor the memory of St. Blaise, the bishop of Sebastea who was martyred in AD 316. St. Blaise became very popular in the Middle Ages, and an apocryphal account of his prayers saving the life of a child choking on a fishbone led to Blaise being invoked against throat disease. In modern times, St. Blaise has become the patron saint of sleep apnea. And to this day, some Christians will get their throats blessed by a priest on the Feast of St. Blaise on February 3 in a ritual that makes use of two crossed candles touching the throat. This is supposed to ward off throat diseases. Here is an explanation of the custom:

But what I really found fascinating is the fact that not only has St. Blaise’s remains been preserved and are in reliquaries in churches around the world, there are actually at least four complete extant skeletons of St. Blaise, including eight arms.

In fact, for $680, you can buy a bit of bone from Bishop Blaise on eBay. Just beware that its condition is listed as “used.”

Popular piety within Roman Catholicism is often focused on prayers to, and actions accredited to, the faithful departed saints - especially in various titled personas of the Blessed Virgin Mary, such as Our Lady of Prompt Succor - a popular Roman Catholic devotion in New Orleans. Through this particular title (which was officially approved by Pope Pius IX in 1851), Mary is said to answer prayers and protect Christians - resulting in statues being placed and adorned with crowns. In the following documentary, filled with prayers to Mary, miracles credited to her, and expressions of devotion toward her - the name “Jesus” is said only twice: once in identifying Mary as His mother, and the other in identifying a shadow on the wall that looks like Him. There is not one prayer to Jesus, no mention of His death and resurrection, nothing of His cross, His divinity, His hearing and answering our prayers, - nothing. It is an illustrative look into the popular piety of Western Christians who rejected the Reformation.

If an anthropologist from another country were to watch this documentary to learn what Christianity is, who would he believe the Deity to be? What would he think of Jesus? What would he think the object and central tenet of the Christian faith is?

The Eastern churches never had a Reformation. They never went through a public debate about such things. In the case of the Holy Fire, it is a very old claim (about a thousand years) that would require a lot of humble pie to be eaten if it were repudiated, not unlike the emperor of Japan, following his nation’s defeat in World War II, having to admit that he wasn’t a god. Perhaps the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and its Greek compatriots have the proverbial wolf by the ears, and can’t let go. That said, the claim that this is a miracle was quietly excised from the Patriarchate’s web page in 2018.

Of course, miracles do happen. But that doesn’t mean that every fantastical claim is true. We don’t put our trust in bone chips and self-lighting candles and statues moved around by monks under a trap door. The miracle of the Holy Sepulcher is not a candle that comes out of it in 2024, but rather the Light of the World who emerged from it circa 30 AD on the third day after being crucified. The tomb is empty, for Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! That is the miracle. It is not an annual spectacle, but a continuous reality. The real miracle is the faith that spawns from believing the testimony of the eyewitnesses as recorded by the Holy Spirit in the Word of God. Faith is kindled in this way, not by parlor tricks involving claims of self-lighting candles.

Our Orthodox brethren would do well to get off their high horses when we quote Eastern church fathers, and stop claiming that a duplicitous bishop with a Bic lighter is evidence that we Western Christians are frauds and heretics. Maybe the truth of the matter is that some of their own bishops are frauds if they are involved in a conspiracy to lie to the faithful and refuse to tell the truth. Imagine committing such a deception at what is arguably the holiest place on earth, at the very moment in which we remember our Lord’s resurrection. It is a sin that reminds us of the very first lie in the holy place of Eden: the ongoing flame of deception ignited by Lucifer that burns in us poor, miserable sinners to this day. It is a fire that can only be extinguished by the greater fire of the Light of the World: our Savior.

As Archbishop Nikiforos himself said, “Such ‘miracles’ are performed by charlatans and magicians, not the Church. Our faith cannot be based on scams.”