Holy Fire in Jerusalem: A Miracle or a Scam?

A Greek journalist is on trial in an Athens court following a lawsuit by the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which accuses 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.

Orthodox tradition holds that the Holy Fire happens annually on the day preceding the Orthodox Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem. The blue light is said to have emitted within Jesus’ tomb, rising from the marble slab covering the stone bed believed to be that upon which Jesus’ body is to have been placed for burial.

The Greek State in cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Church arranges an elaborate ceremony each year for the arrival of the Holy Fire to Athens and then to the rest of the country.

Journalist Dimitris Alikakos is the man accused by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem of demeaning the tradition by spreading “fake news.”

Holy Fire ignites by a human hand

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.

He said he would never accept that the Holy Fire was a miracle. “Miracles happen when God decides, Not when we decide… Such “miracles” are performed by charlatans and magicians, not the Church.

“Our faith cannot be based on scams,” Nikiforos said.

His testimony was recorded in a video by Alikakos:

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In the same book, Archbishop Gerason Theofanis states that the Holy Fire does not light up miraculously, but naturally, and the Patriarch then blesses it.

He adds: “We deceive the believers letting them believe that it is a miracle. This is unacceptable, and does not reflect well on us”.

According to Theofanis, the fraud of the “miracle” was invented by Catholic crusaders a few centuries ago, and was later continued by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate.

In addition, the Metropolitan Bishop Kornilios of Petras, a surrogate of the Jerusalem Patriarchate in 2001, confirmed an older interview, saying that he also had ignited the candles of the Holy Fire with a natural candle, and he described in full detail what he saw when he entered the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Lastly, in his book, the journalist mentions the chronicle of the deletion of the word “miracle” from the official website of the Patriarchate on 23 June 2018, with the commandment of the Patriarch Theofilos III.