Waiting for the Holy Fire

Every year on the eve of Orthodox Easter, on Great Saturday, believers gather in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where they await with trepidation the miraculous descent of the Holy Fire. This tradition is already one and a half thousand years old. According to patristic Tradition, the year when the Holy Fire does not descend into the Jerusalem temple will become the beginning of the end for the whole world.

Perhaps every Christian knows about the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire on the eve of Easter according to the Julian calendar in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. The holy light, otherwise, in the Greek manner, this flame is called, in an incomprehensible way appears during a special service performed in the Kuvukliya - at the place of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. First, tongues of flame, which does not burn, appear at the site of the Resurrection - and then the lamps above it ignite. The Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is at that time in Kuvukliya, takes the bundles of candles brought in advance and prayerfully lights them from the lamp - after which he passes them outside. There, thousands of believers greet the appearance of the Holy Fire with exclamations of approval - and transmit the Holy Light from person to person. Then the Holy Fire, burning which is carefully maintained in special, almost completely closed lamps, is delivered by special flights to different countries - to Russia and Greece, Romania and Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and many other states, whose leaders greet the shrine. In Russia, this exciting ceremony has been repeated from year to year for a quarter of a century.

However, this may not be the case in 2020. After a conversation with representatives of the Israeli police, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been closed since yesterday by the leaders of Christian denominations, who share its space among themselves. So far for a week - however, the tendency that after that the situation will change is not traced. In connection with the coronavirus pandemic, there are no worshipers in the temple. Everywhere in the Holy Land, there are strict restrictions on the movement of people - and anyone arriving from Israel from the outside is automatically quarantined for two weeks.

Representatives of the Greek, Armenian, Syrian, Coptic and other churches serving in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher say that they can hold a service in a closed church. This is indeed so - after all, no one has yet canceled the order of services established here. But the question remains: will the Holy Fire descend into the temple, where besides the church hierarchs there are no worshipers - priests, monastics, laity? After all, it is for the sake of their coming salvation from year to year over the course of many centuries that the miracle of the descent of the Holy Fire takes place.

Great Saturday, preceding Orthodox Easter, falls on April 18 this year. It is a little naive to think that in the time remaining until this day, the security situation in Jerusalem will change. On the contrary, the number of cases in Israel has exceeded two thousand, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that the transition of the entire country to full quarantine is quite possible.

Most likely, the services of Great Saturday this time will be held in the empty Church of the Holy Sepulcher with a live broadcast on television and on the Internet. For many countries, this practice has become commonplace in recent months. However, even if the Holy Fire descends into the most grandiose house of prayer on the planet, in which there are no more worshipers, other questions remain. Perhaps the main one is the delivery of the Holy Light to different countries by air. Israel did not formally close its airspace, but hundreds of flights including special ones, due to the threat of the spread of the virus, were canceled.

“The current rule to send arrivals to Israel for a 14-day quarantine does not apply to planes, but to passengers. That is, air transport can land in Ben Gurion, ”Israeli lawyer Eli Gervitz explained to RIA Novosti. Thus, pilgrims arriving for the Holy Fire from different countries will be able to receive lamps with it right on the plane's ladder, without going to the ground.

The Russian Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called, which has been delivering the Holy Fire to Moscow for many years, is counting on approximately this development of events. “We are doing everything possible and impossible to bring the Holy Fire to Russia. We are constantly in touch on this issue with the authorized state bodies. And our employees and representatives of the Foundation in Israel promptly adjust possible scenarios for bringing the fire, ”says Vladimir Bushuev, Director of the Foundation.

At the same time, the Fund of St. Andrew the First-Called does not exclude an optimistic scenario, in which its representatives on April 18 will be able to personally attend ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

One way or another, the special relationship that has developed between Russia and Israel in recent decades allows us to hope that the parties will make every possible effort to ensure that the Holy Fire is delivered from Jerusalem to Moscow on time.