Who lights the second oil lamp?
Few know the “detail”
On October 7, I contacted Isidoros, the sacristan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Regarding the first lamp, the one he himself places and lights in the Holy Sepulchre on the afternoon of Holy Saturday, I had completed my research. Everything was clear – there were no other questions to be answered. However, a question remained regarding the second one (the first chronologically). How is it possible for this one to also be placed unlit and emerge lit, as the dragoman will state later? Who lights it?
I asked Isidoros this during that phone call, which lasted 17 minutes and 13 seconds. My question surprised him.
– Do you also light this oil lamp?
– No, only one.
– For safety reasons, wouldn’t it be better if this one were also lit?
– I don’t know what the previous sacristans did; they might have lit it. If they were placing it, there’s a chance they were lighting it.
– This command, instruction, ritual – call it what you will – is not in writing, as you told me when we met. Is it passed down orally through history, from sacristan to sacristan?
– Yes.
– Is this secret known only to the sacristan, or also to others in the Brotherhood?
– It’s not a secret; everyone knows it as information.
– Everyone knows that the sacristan lights the lamp!;
– Some know that he lights it, others that he brings it lit. Most do not know this detail.
– Does the Patriarch know this ‘detail’?
– He certainly knows it.
At this point, I interjected a brief discussion. We discussed the various phenomena that some believers recount, concerning “flashes and fires” in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at the moment the Holy Fire emerges. What he told me is of immense importance, precisely because it comes from the abbot of the church:
“All these videos circulating on television and the internet, which show flashes and fires when the Holy Fire emerges, I, who know the entire ceremony, can debunk them one by one. And I have told this to many of those who support them, but some are stubborn, they don’t listen and they insist. A video on television cannot show the miracle. The miracle is a miracle and is experienced by every Christian who comes here, depending on their spiritual state. For example, there is a priest from Thessaloniki who shows a video where a flame appears to move around. Well, that is the Arab priest who takes the Holy Fire and runs inside the church to hand it over to the sacristan. Because he is short and holds the candle high, among many people, it appears that a flame passes over the heads of the faithful. It’s just one person. I have given you one example out of many that exist.”1
The interjection was extremely interesting, but it was time to conclude it and return to the matter at hand. The guards’ lamp.
– If someone, for example the Patriarch, were to tell you that this one should also be lit as a safety measure…
– He hasn’t said anything.
– But a lamp can go out.
– Yes, certainly, there’s a possibility.
– So you haven’t considered this as a possibility?
– Well… to tell you the truth, I have lit it sometimes.
Isidoros was now speaking freely. That dramatic scene in June, where I pressed him to tell the truth, seemed to have had a liberating effect on him. He was rapidly moving towards final liberation from the lie. Approximately a month and a half later, he would reach the finish line.
- Isidoros refers to Archimandrite Antonios Stylianakis. In a video he filmed in 1994, according to him, a “bright sphere appears to pass over people’s heads”. This particular video has been shown on several television programs, both public and private. On April 10, 2018, the research team of “EllinikaHoaxes” conclusively debunked the Archimandrite’s claims. Isidoros’ testimony constitutes additional proof. ↩︎