HOLY FIRE

In the middle of the night before Passover, always held an Easter Liturgy worship at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. In the middle of building , there is a small chapel-shaped building where there is empty space with a stretch of rock where Jesus was laid when he was buried. This building has a door, which on the eve of Passover is closed and sealed.

Thousands of Orthodox congregation gathered in the evening to look forward to a miracle that happens only on the eve of Easter, that is miraculous appearance of "Holy Fire", which is believed to be a kind of fire that fell from the sky at the time of the Prophet Elijah in a fight with the priests worshipers God Baal (1 Kings 18:38, Then the fire of the LORD fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.), or "tongues like flames of fire" perched on top of the head of the apostles of Christ on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:3).

Orthodox Patriarch was standing at the front door of the tomb, just after midnight he went into the tomb with a candle that is still new. Suddenly the fire out of the expanse of stone from the tomb (or sometimes come from unpredicted places), the fire was grabbed candles that brought the patriarch. The candles are lit by itself. When the sacred fire was burning and burning the bodies of some people in attendance, they do not feel the heat of a fire or burn. However ± 10 minutes later the fire was a normal fire, and from this fire, then they lit their own Easter candles.

Holy Fire, which must be distinguished from the "Purgatory" in the Roman Catholic Church, becoming an integral part in the Easter celebration of the Orthodox congregation. Orthodox Christians believe Jesus was crucified and buried at the site where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands, and that a flame appears spontaneously from his tomb on the day before Easter to show he has not forgotten his followers. It’s a matter of faith.

Happy Easter.