Miracle of The Holy Fire in Jerusalem

The Miracle of the Holy Fire is a ceremony that is taking place every year on Great Saturday, the day before Orthodox Easter and for the past 1,200 years here in Old Jerusalem. This ceremony of the Holy Fire is considered as the most important in Orthodox Christianity.

The highlight of the ceremony is when the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is entering into the edicule, a structure that shelters the empty tomb of Jesus, and reciting special prayers.  Sudenly, a flame “miraculously” appears in the tomb of Jesus and marks Christ resurrection.

During the ceremony, over 10,000 pilgrims carrying candles pack the Church of the Holy Sepulchre waiting for the holy fire to be passed from candle to candle and spread outside the church and to Orthodox chruches around the world with special lamps that can be carried also on aircraft.

It is believed that for the first several minutes the flames of the holy fire do not consume so during this time faithful pilgrims bath their faces and hands in the flames of the holy fire without being burned as can be seen in the video. People pass the hands and even faces through the fire without burning themselfe.

The ceremony itself is a very stressful experience since there are too many pilgrimes trying to enter the church of the holy sepulchre and the waiting is quite long and difficult, but the minute the holy fire appears and being spread around the church the experience is simply amazing and worth all difficulties. This holy fire is also being spread to central chruches all over the world such us to Moscove, London and more. The Greek use special lumps to take the fire on airplanes while people all over the world wait for this holy fire to start their local seremonies

Now watch our movie to see the excitement of the miracle of the holy fire.

And untill we meet in our next video tour let’s all live the Jerusalem Experience.