Dr. Haralambos M. Bousias,
Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria
Great Hymnographer of the Church of Alexandria
The miracle of the Holy Light took place for the first time at the Tomb of Jesus, when His Resurrection was accompanied by an abundant light of incomparable brightness. In the Gospel of John we read that “Mary Magdalene came early, while it was still dark, to the tomb.”[1] Mary Magdalene went to the Tomb before it had yet dawned, that is, at night. But when she saw the “stone taken away,” that is, removed, she ran to announce it to the Apostle Peter, who together with John followed her. John, with his youthful vigor, running faster than the mature Peter, arrived first at the tomb. Yet he did not enter, but “stooping down,”[2] after bending, he saw the linen cloths lying on the ground. Peter, who was running behind him with anxiety, entered the Tomb. But how, while deep darkness still prevailed, did John and Peter manage to see the interior of the tomb and the linen cloths that had wrapped Jesus? And especially John, who did not enter the Tomb?
The answer is given by Gregory of Nyssa in his work On the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, where he states that those who followed Peter that night believed in the Resurrection because the Tomb of Christ had been filled with Light, which was visible both spiritually and through the natural senses.[3]
John of Damascus likewise notes that the Apostle Peter was astonished when he beheld the Light inside the Tomb. He writes in the Kathisma of Matins in the plagal fourth tone: “Peter, running, came to the tomb, and seeing the Light in the tomb, he was amazed.”[4] The same Saint, in his work Homily on Holy Saturday,[5] states that the Light which shone in the Tomb of Christ on that night of the Resurrection was the uncreated Light of the Creator God — the same Light that dazzled the foremost of the disciples at the Transfiguration on Tabor, that Paul saw on his way to Damascus, and that illumined the Holy Apostles as tongues of fire on the day of Pentecost.
This uncreated Light, every Great Saturday, lights the unsleeping lamp of the Holy Sepulchre and the bundles of candles of the Orthodox Patriarch. What is the miracle? It is that the invisible and uncreated Light — the spark that comes forth from the Holy Tomb — becomes created, and its flame lights the candles, which we can touch; for as uncreated Light it does not burn, but when it becomes created, it burns. The uncreated Light of the Resurrection is visible even today to many present at the ceremony of its reception. The most venerable monk, Seraphim the Sabbaite, notes that “the uncreated Light is seen especially by the perfect; yet God permits a partial vision also to the imperfect, even to unbelievers, in order that they may be led to salvation.”[6]
The Church historian Eusebius of Caesarea, in the fourth century, reports that during the time of Patriarch Narcissus in the second century there was not enough oil in the lamp of the icon of the Resurrection, and a certain man filled it with water from the spring of Siloam. Yet in a wondrous manner the lamp was lit and remained burning throughout the Paschal service.
The Latin monk Bernard, in the year 865, writes: “It is worth mentioning what happens on Great Saturday, the Eve of Pascha. In the morning the service begins in this church. Then, when it is finished, they enter chanting ‘Lord, have mercy,’ until an Angel comes and lights with fire the lamps that hang above the Tomb. The Patriarch distributes this light to the bishops and to the rest of the people, and each one has light where he stands.”[8]
A cleric of the imperial court of Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, Niketas, in the year 947 sent a letter to the emperor recounting the attempt of an enraged Emir to put an end to the ceremony of the Holy Light, as also reported by Auxentios of Photiki. The Emir demanded from the Patriarch, under threat of forbidding the public celebration of the Resurrection, the payment of 7,000 gold coins, and confined him to the Praetorium. This sum would not be paid unless 2,000 had first been delivered and guarantees given for the remaining 5,000. While the Patriarch remained under guard in the Praetorium, the God of miracles filled two of the lamps of the triple-lamp of the Holy Unnailing. When the news reached the Praetorium, Christians and Muslims ran to the church and crowded together to see the miracle. The Muslims, however, went intending to slaughter any Christian holding a lit lantern.
Soon the Patriarch arrived, followed by the clergy, and, seeing that the Holy Light had not yet appeared, with the help of the Muslims arranged for the Holy Kouvouklion to be sealed, and began to pray together with the Christians. About the sixth hour, fixing his gaze upon the Holy Tomb, he saw the supernatural appearance of the Holy Light. He entered the Holy Kouvouklion, whose entrance was shown by an Angel. As he was about to take a candle to distribute the heavenly flame to those in the church holding torches, before he had even come out of the Tomb, he saw the church suddenly flooded with a heavenly light. The faithful stood on the right and left, some near the door, others near Golgotha, others near the cross-shaped chain hanging from the ceiling, around which their lamps were suspended — a chain that represents the center of the world and stands there as a sign for all people to marvel at the phenomenon of the divine fire.
Even the Muslims were filled with amazement, since until that time the appearance of the Light each year occurred only in one of the lamps inside the Holy Kouvouklion, whereas on that day the entire church was filled with light. The Emir, watching from a higher place, became a witness of an even greater miracle. The largest of the lamps, the one hanging directly before him, after it poured out the oil and water it contained, suddenly was filled with the divine fire, even though there was no wick left in it.
The Muslim historian Al-Biruni reports that in the year 1000 a governor had brought with him a piece of copper wire instead of a wick, so that it would not be able to light and thus the failure of the phenomenon of the Holy Light would be revealed. Yet the fire descended, and the copper took flame, astonishing both him and all those around him.[9]
Pope Urban, in a preserved written address before the Crusades in the city of Clermont in 1095, states that “the place of the Lord’s burial would be most desirable and incomparable, even if God omitted to perform there the annual miracle. For during the days of His Passion all the lamps within the Holy Kouvouklion and around the church, which have been extinguished, are rekindled by divine command. What heart, my brothers, is so stony as not to be moved by such a miracle?”[10]
The English chronicler Gautier Vinisauf describes an incident related to the descent of the Holy Light in 1187. At that time the Saracens, under Sultan Salah ad-Din, took Jerusalem. That year the Sultan wished to be present at the celebration, although he was not a Christian. The chronicler writes that “upon his arrival, the Holy Light descended suddenly, and his attendants were greatly disturbed. The Saracens, seeing the phenomenon, said that the fire they had seen descending had been produced by deception. Salah ad-Din, wishing to expose the fraud, ordered the lamp that had been lit with the heavenly fire to be extinguished, but it immediately lit again. He extinguished it a second and a third time, but it relit itself. After this the Sultan, greatly confounded, cried out in a prophetic outburst: ‘Yes—either I shall soon die or I shall lose Jerusalem!’”[11]
Notes:
1 John 20:1
2 John 20:5
3 “Those around Peter, having seen, believed… for the Tomb was full of Light, so that although it was still night, they beheld the things within in a twofold manner: both sensibly and spiritually.” — Gregory of Nyssa, On the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Homily II, PG 46, column 636d
4 Paraklitike, edition of the Apostoliki Diakonia of the Church of Greece, p 349, Athens 1992
5 John of Damascus, Homily on Holy Saturday (Homilia in Sabbatum Sanctum), PG 96, column 628
6 Seraphim the Sabbaite, in the preface to the book by Haralampos Skarlakidis, Holy Light: The Miracle of Great Saturday at the Tomb of Christ, Elea Publications, 2010
7 Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History, Book VI, chapter 9, §§1–3
8 Mabillon, Acta Sanctorum, Vol III, Part II, p 473 (cf Auxentios of Photiki, The Paschal Fire in Jerusalem: A Study of the Rite of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre)
9 Krachkovsky, Holy Fire, according to the account of Al-Biruni and other Muslim writers of the 10th–13th centuries of the Christian East, Vol 3, 3rd edition (in Russian) Chronicle of the Muslim scholar Al-Biruni (973–1048) Also: Al-Biruni, In the Garden of Science, Reclam – Leipzig 1991 (English translation)
10 Baldricus, Gesta Dei per Francos, p 87
11 Niels Christian Hvidt, Miracles – Encounters Between Heaven and Earth, Gyldendal, pp 203–229
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
