In 2019 Metropolitan Timotheos of Bostra and Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre in Cyprus was asked by the Cypriot news agency REPORTER to comment on the reactions caused by a book titled “Redemption: About the Holy Light”, in which the author and journalist Dimitris Alikakos cites testimonies through which the theory of the miracle with the Holy Light is allegedly overturned. Among the testimonies is that of the Skeuophylax of the Holy Sepulchre Isidoros, who allegedly confesses that he himself lights the Holy Light with a lighter. Being a part of the Jerusalem Patriarchate, Metropolitan Timotheos offered his own testimony whether or not a hoax is involved. He not only questions the authenticity of the Skeuophylax’s interview, that is, whether what is mentioned in the book was correctly attributed to him, but he is quick to emphasize that miracles do happen and in this case the grace of God is indeed at work.
The following is the April 27th 2019 interview of the Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre with REPORTER:
Question: The Skeuophylax of the Holy Sepulchre claimed that the Holy Light is lit with a lighter. We want your comment?
Answer: I am not in a position to comment on the interview of the Elder Skeuophylax of the All-Sacred Temple of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, Archbishop Isidoros of Hierapolis, as much has been said about the inauthenticity of the produced videotape.
In any case, regardless of how the description may be, the essence of the ceremony of the Holy Light being spread from the Holy Sepulchre, on which we, as faithful Christians, must focus, lies in the fact that the Tomb of Christ is, as the hymn says, a source of “new drink” and eternal joy, and from this Tomb came forth the Light of the world, our Redeemer Christ, who is our Life and Resurrection.
Therefore, all our thoughts, our works and our lives must be directed by this Holy Light, which will fill our inner world and with it we will journey towards our own resurrection. But if, because of our disbelief and the doubts we might have about whether God is truly involved in this, so that other means are used, it doesn't at all diminish the spiritual message of the ceremony. We are certain that during the ceremony, the Grace of God is undoubtedly at work at that particular moment. Depending on the fervor of faith, Christians can gaze with the eyes of the soul and others with the natural eyes at the Light of Christ. Others are unable to.
Therefore, we should not insist on examining the way in which the Holy Light appears, but on the message transmitted through it to the ends of the world that “Christ is Risen”, something that constitutes the sure conviction for us and the culmination of our Faith, since according to the Apostle Paul, “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and our faith is also in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).
As an Orthodox Christian and Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, I believe in miracles, which occur throughout time, with the faithful as recipients, who experience and recount them as personal, perhaps even group experiences.
In the ecclesiastical history of Jerusalem, miraculous appearances of the Holy Light are described, in various times and circumstances, as well as of the Holy Cross, and it has even been established that the anniversary of the appearance of the Cross in heaven is officially celebrated annually.
I do not exclude the miraculous intervention of God at the reception of the Holy Light. Rather, I firmly believe that, “where God wills, the order of nature is overturned.”
The amazing thing is that there are numerous testimonies of contemporary faithful Christians who have experienced unprecedented emotions and miracles during the ceremony of the Holy Light, which we respect.
Question: On such days, we usually see someone come out and make statements about the subject of the Holy Light, such as the one with the lighter. Is there any purpose in your opinion or is it a coincidence?
Answer: In the historical course of the Church, there have been many who have attempted at times to question basic principles of Christian teaching and sacred traditions that were spread orally, or are contained in the apocryphal Gospels.
There were not only laymen, but also clergymen, high priests and patriarchs, who, always based on human reason, were unable to understand the doctrines of faith, such as the incarnation of the Divine Word, the two natures of Christ, our faith in the Risen Christ, and even the mysteries of the Church, such as the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and they ended up in heresy because they, lacking divine knowledge and the radiance of divine light, were misled.
Let us not forget that so many heresies were spread by clergymen, for the most part, based on their logic and “omniscience”.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
The following is the April 27th 2019 interview of the Exarch of the Holy Sepulchre with REPORTER:
Question: The Skeuophylax of the Holy Sepulchre claimed that the Holy Light is lit with a lighter. We want your comment?
Answer: I am not in a position to comment on the interview of the Elder Skeuophylax of the All-Sacred Temple of the Resurrection in Jerusalem, Archbishop Isidoros of Hierapolis, as much has been said about the inauthenticity of the produced videotape.
In any case, regardless of how the description may be, the essence of the ceremony of the Holy Light being spread from the Holy Sepulchre, on which we, as faithful Christians, must focus, lies in the fact that the Tomb of Christ is, as the hymn says, a source of “new drink” and eternal joy, and from this Tomb came forth the Light of the world, our Redeemer Christ, who is our Life and Resurrection.
Therefore, all our thoughts, our works and our lives must be directed by this Holy Light, which will fill our inner world and with it we will journey towards our own resurrection. But if, because of our disbelief and the doubts we might have about whether God is truly involved in this, so that other means are used, it doesn't at all diminish the spiritual message of the ceremony. We are certain that during the ceremony, the Grace of God is undoubtedly at work at that particular moment. Depending on the fervor of faith, Christians can gaze with the eyes of the soul and others with the natural eyes at the Light of Christ. Others are unable to.
Therefore, we should not insist on examining the way in which the Holy Light appears, but on the message transmitted through it to the ends of the world that “Christ is Risen”, something that constitutes the sure conviction for us and the culmination of our Faith, since according to the Apostle Paul, “if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is in vain, and our faith is also in vain” (1 Cor. 15:14).
As an Orthodox Christian and Bishop of the Church of Jerusalem, I believe in miracles, which occur throughout time, with the faithful as recipients, who experience and recount them as personal, perhaps even group experiences.
In the ecclesiastical history of Jerusalem, miraculous appearances of the Holy Light are described, in various times and circumstances, as well as of the Holy Cross, and it has even been established that the anniversary of the appearance of the Cross in heaven is officially celebrated annually.
I do not exclude the miraculous intervention of God at the reception of the Holy Light. Rather, I firmly believe that, “where God wills, the order of nature is overturned.”
The amazing thing is that there are numerous testimonies of contemporary faithful Christians who have experienced unprecedented emotions and miracles during the ceremony of the Holy Light, which we respect.
Question: On such days, we usually see someone come out and make statements about the subject of the Holy Light, such as the one with the lighter. Is there any purpose in your opinion or is it a coincidence?
Answer: In the historical course of the Church, there have been many who have attempted at times to question basic principles of Christian teaching and sacred traditions that were spread orally, or are contained in the apocryphal Gospels.
There were not only laymen, but also clergymen, high priests and patriarchs, who, always based on human reason, were unable to understand the doctrines of faith, such as the incarnation of the Divine Word, the two natures of Christ, our faith in the Risen Christ, and even the mysteries of the Church, such as the transubstantiation of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, and they ended up in heresy because they, lacking divine knowledge and the radiance of divine light, were misled.
Let us not forget that so many heresies were spread by clergymen, for the most part, based on their logic and “omniscience”.
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
