The Metropolitan Who Retrieved the Holy Fire – Historical Testimony
“They do not want the truth”
On this journey, I was fortunate. Metropolitan Cornelius of Petra, the most senior member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre1, the man who entered the Holy Sepulchre to retrieve the Fire in 2001 –as locum tenens of the throne, as the position had been vacant for several months after the death of Patriarch Diodoros in December of the previous year– revealed for the first time, in every detail, how the Patriarch’s candles are lit. That is, how he himself lit his candles. It should be noted that in 2001, when he made a brief statement on television and spoke of ‘natural light,’ he did not have the experience of the Ceremony.2
For historical reasons, it should be mentioned that this is the first recorded testimony by a hierarch describing how the Holy Fire is lit, after he himself had entered the Holy Sepulchre at noon on Holy Saturday.
The interview lasted approximately thirty minutes and took place in his cell. It continued the next day, as he offered to take me to Bethlehem, specifically to the “Basilica of the Nativity,” and to guide me through the holy site. Both en route and on the return journey, this great hierarch, respected by the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre, imparted additional valuable knowledge about the Holy Fire.
“People are not educated and cannot comprehend many things. And if you try to explain them to them, they call you an atheist. The Holy Fire is lit naturally from a lit oil lamp. There is no miracle.”
I present his historical testimony.
In the end, I asked Cornelius if he was aware of the ‘detail’ I mentioned to him, namely the lighting of the oil lamp above the Tomb. He replied: “Until this moment, I was certain that the oil lamp was brought in lit; I did not know this. However, this makes a bad impression on me –and I do not blame the sacristan, these are the instructions he has received–, as a lighter is used in the sacred space where the Founder of our Faith was buried beneath the Holy Slab.”
If my opinion regarding the sincerity of the above statement holds any significance, it is this: the eyes of the 82-year-old member of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre spoke the truth.
The candle
Here we need to pause for a moment on the candle, which we saw in a previous chapter, and which Cornelius also mentioned, saying, “we light it from the oil lamp, in order to be able to read the Prayer, due to the darkness.”
The almost absolute darkness inside the Holy Sepulchre is a parameter of the issue that, surprisingly, did not concern any skeptic. With all the oil lamps extinguished, it is impossible for someone to read a text inside. Isidore told me exactly the same thing.
Indeed, Elder Chrysostom, abbot of the Holy Monastery of Saint Gerasimos of the Jordan in Jericho –a person very popular with pilgrims, as thousands visit the Monastery and the oasis he has created in the middle of the desert– told me meaningfully: “If one considers the fact that the Prayer cannot be read by the Patriarch without a source of fire, then one can come very close to solving the enigma.”
The above statement is in my book, but I did not mention the name of the person who told it to me, namely Chrysostom, as I considered that he told it to me confidentially. When I revisited the Monastery –after the publication of the book, which I gave him– I told him about it. He laughed and told me: “Wrong, you should have included it” and added again –he had also told me this in 2018– meaningfully: “It’s not a secret. It’s an open secret.”
I present the recorded testimony of the venerable elder, that the Patriarch lights his candles from a lit oil lamp.