The holy light of Easter in Jerusalem
Each year at Easter, Orthodox Christians join in an ancient ritual
symbolizing the spread of the light and hope of resurrection to the
world from the traditional tomb of Christ in Jerusalem.
Cambridge Chronicle (Cambridge, Illinois)
Mar. 29, 2013
By Daniel Peterson
One of the oldest rituals in Christendom is enacted each year at the
Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the traditional site of Christ’s burial
and resurrection, on the Saturday before Orthodox Easter – which
falls, this year, on May 4. In the morning, the clergy of the four
eastern Christian churches – Greek, Armenian, Coptic and Syriac –
gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. All lights in the
cathedral are extinguished. Dressed in splendid priestly robes and
carrying crosses, banners, relics, censers and liturgical books, the
Greek Orthodox priests and monks circumambulate the tomb in a grand
procession, chanting hymns and reciting passages from the four
gospels. Thousands of eastern Christians gather for the ceremony, each
holding bundles of thirty-three unlit candles, symbolizing the
thirty-three years of Christ’s earthly life.
Hundreds of Israeli police and soldiers block all roads leading to the
Holy Sepulcher, attempting to limit the numbers entering the
cathedral. Shouts and arguments can occur as irate worshipers demand
to know why they’re not being allowed to go to their church and
pray. No answer is given. Some, desperate to see the ceremony, might
be physically restrained and carried off by the police. Ingenious
pilgrims nonetheless sometimes find a way. With the aid of helpful
monks and priests, some make their way through back doors of
monasteries. Others, finding the road blocked by police, enter a
corner store by a door on one side of the roadblock, exiting by an
alternate door on the other side and quietly joining a procession of
priests.
The cathedral is always filled with worshipers, overflowing into the
large courtyard where hundreds wait for hours in the hot noon sun. The
Greek Orthodox patriarch of Jerusalem is divested of his patriarchal
vestments, clothed only in a white robe (paralleling the white robe
worn by the ancient Jewish high priest when he entered the holy of
holies of the temple). After being inspected for matches and other
means of lighting fire, the patriarch enters the sepulcher of Christ
alone. This is the mystical moment. The faithful wait in tense silence
for the miracle: from the empty tomb, with no source of fire, a divine
flame will miraculously appear. Some pilgrims come year after year to
witness the Easter ritual. Convinced that the flame is divinely
ignited each year, people claim to have seen lamps and candles
miraculously burst into flame in the cathedral. Only once in history
has the miracle failed, when the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem and
expelled the Greek Orthodox patriarch from the Holy Sepulcher. The
Latin patriarch entered the tomb, but the fire did not come. The
Crusaders quickly restored the Orthodox privileges in the cathedral
and the miracle resumed the next year.
A few moments after entering the tomb, the holy fire is passed by the
patriarch through a hole in the wall of the tomb, where it is quickly
transferred to large torch-like candles that flash and spark like
flares. The patriarch emerges from the tomb, encircled with the flames
of these blazing torches as he blesses the people. The crowds jostle
each other to light their candles from the shimmering flames; as each
person’s candle is kindled, he or she turns and passes the flame to
the next. Within moments the cathedral glows as a wave of fire and
light surges in concentric rings like those that spread from a stone
dropped in water. The bells of the cathedral reverberate joyously as
the crowd shouts and claps in ecstasy. Some weep, while others brush
their hands through the flames of candles, ritually washing their
faces in the holy fire. Flashes of intense heat from hundreds of
candles accompany sprays of hot melted wax. Then, in a moment, it is
over. The crowd begins to disperse as many embrace and shake
hands. Priests from all the eastern denominations carry candles and
lamps to light the lamps of their churches throughout the city with
the renewed holy fire. Many of the faithful take their candles home to
light family Easter candles.
Symbolically, the descent of the holy fire commemorates the moment of
the resurrection, when the light of God descended into the darkness of
the tomb of Christ, transforming death into life. As each person
shares the fire of his or her candle with another, the power of the
light and resurrection of Christ is symbolically spread throughout the
world, and the hope of Easter is renewed.