Have you heard of the Holy Fire? If so, you know it to be “a phenomenon that repeats every year in the Edicule (Anastasis or Tomb of Christ) of the Holy Sepulcher (Church of the Resurrection) of Jerusalem, and it was recorded annually at least for the past 1200 years.
It happens in the afternoon (about 2 p. m.) of the Holy Saturday of the Orthodox Easter, and Orthodox Christians believe it is a potent symbol of the Resurrection”(Fanti, 1). Below I will be delving into Giulio Fanti’s paper from the University of Padua in Italy, which goes over a study conducted in the Edicule of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem. Fanti’s purpose of the paper is to investigate the Holy Fire to see if there are any results that might be applicable to the Turin Shroud. I was introduced to this area of research by Robert Siefker during a podcast interview which will be posted in the next few weeks.
Connections
Fanti’s paper goes into great depth on the study’s scientific principles; however, in this article, I will be going over the historical aspect of the possible connections between the Holy Fire and the Shroud of Turin as it is essential to learn about the history and context before delving into the statistics.
The Night of the Holy Fire
The Holy Fire (HF) is a long standing and sacred event. Fanti describes the happenings surrounding the event including how it begins, who begins it and many others. The event begins where “The Greek Orthodox Patriarch (or another archbishop) of Jerusalem goes into the Edicule reciting prayers, the sepulcher where tradition refers that the body Jesus was posed after crucifixion”(Fanti, 1).
Then “After a control to make sure that no oil lamps have been left burning inside, the Patriarch with other priests wait until lightening (detected by the author too), appear inside and outside the Edicule…He then lights his candles from a so-called “miraculous flame” probably produced by one strike of lightning and goes out to spread the fire among the crowd by passing the flame from candle to candle so that the all the Basilica becomes illuminated by the HF. It is said that it is a gift from God that sanctifies people”(Fanti, 2).
However, what happens next? Fanti states that when the Patriarch enters the “interior chamber of the Edicule”(Fanti, 2) and from an account “in 1999, Bishop Christodoulos [4, p. 242] affirmed that he noticed the tombstone perspiring liquid myrrh out of its interior and that at the same time a very intense blue light covered the entire tombstone”.
The Lightning and the Blue Light
But, what exactly did he see? Bishop Christodoulos was not the only one to see something mysterious during the Holy Light as “some videos [5, 6] confirm the strange phenomenon also detected by the author: outside the Edicule, various series of tens of strikes of lightning emitted at regular intervals at a frequency variable from 3 to 10 Hz just before the Patriarch goes out of the Edicule with the HF were observed”(Fanti, 2).
Another mysterious attribute is that “these strikes of lightning are not easy to explain because they are characterized by lower frequencies than those typical of camera flashes produced by photographers and with a greater number per sequence.
They can be related to a possible auto ignition of a candle because a strike of lightning can produce a fire in the candle’s wick. It is said that for the first several minutes the HF burns without consuming and that it is warm [7, 8]; pilgrims say that the HF will not burn hair, faces, etc., see Figure 2, in the first 33 minutes after it is ignited [9]”(Fanti, 2).
The Holy Fire – More to come…
Fanti’s conclusion is that “every year in the Edicule of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, the HF is formed without a clear explanation and the Orthodox Church refers to it as a miracle”(Fanti, 10). To learn more about the science behind the Holy Fire go to (link) or head over to shroud.com to learn more about the history of the Shroud and the Holy Fire.
As part of my podcast series, the Backstory on the Shroud of Turin (put link here) , I’ll be exploring this phenomenon as well as other topics surrounding the Shroud of Turin. Stay tuned.
Find Out More
Giulio Fanti. Is the “Holy Fire” Related to the Turin Shroud?. Glob J Arch & Anthropol. 2019; 10(2): 555782. DOI: 10.19080/ GJAA.2019.10.555782 0100.
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