Testimony of a former Sacristan

“This is how I was initiated into the secret”

When I returned to Greece, I continued my research. A friend informed me about a former Archbishop of the Holy Sepulchre, who had served for four years (1984-1988) as sacristan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. He was now living in Athens, as he had resigned from his duties and was subsequently defrocked by Patriarch Theophilos in 2014. He was the former Archbishop
Nikephoros of Ascalon.

I contacted him, and after confirming that he had placed the ever-burning lamp inside the Holy Sepulchre four times, I asked him: ‘Did you place it lit or unlit?’ With obvious embarrassment, he replied: ‘Lit!’ I immediately understood that I had put him in a difficult position, so I told him that ‘I know the secret of the lighting of the Holy Fire,’ and indeed, I… revealed it to him. He paused for a long time and then told me: ‘Yes, alright, we bring it in unlit and light it inside the Holy Sepulchre.’

It made no sense to continue over the phone. That same afternoon, I visited him at his home in Pagrati, where he revealed the ‘secret’ to me in every detail. I didn’t become any wiser, as – with the exception of his denial that he lit a second lamp – he repeated the same admission as Isidore: ‘I would place the lamp inside and usually light it with a small candle’ (which, of course, he lit
with matches or a lighter – there was no point in asking him). What was particularly interesting was the dialogue we had. I present a characteristic excerpt, which is recorded:

– Who initiated you into the secret?
– No one.
– And how did you learn it?
– I didn’t learn it. I learned what happens there through practice.
– Meaning?
– I went to place the lamp…
– Which year?
– In 1985, my first year as sacristan. However, I didn’t know that I needed to have fire with me to light it inside the Holy Sepulchre. I would have left it unlit and come out. But on the way, the dragoman of the Patriarchate, Archbishop Christodoulos of Eleftheroupolis, met me and asked: ‘Do you have matches?’ I said to him, ‘What would I do with matches?’ He replied: ‘And how
will you light the lamp?’ ‘I’m going to light the lamp?!…’ ‘Yes,’ he told me, ‘of course, don’t be foolish, take the matches.’ He gave me matches, and that’s how I lit the lamp.
– He gave you matches halfway?
– Halfway! I was behind the Deposition, from the Sacristy to the Holy Sepulchre.
– Is that how you learned the secret?
– Exactly!
– How many do you believe know the truth in the Patriarchate?
– I cannot know. I simply imagine that many know, but they don’t speak up so as not to be considered enemies of the Faith, the Patriarchate, or anything else one can imagine.
– Does the Patriarch know?
– If the Patriarch doesn’t know, who does?… It’s understood that he knows! And indeed, I believe that if in 1985 I had left the lamp unlit and come out, the Patriarch would have had to have fire with him to light it.

Before I left, he gave me the following photograph, telling me: ‘It was taken on Holy Saturday of 1985, at the moment I am placing the unlit lamp inside the Holy Aedicule. A few minutes before, Christodoulos had put the matches in my pocket, so I could light it above the Holy Sepulchre.’

The above interview is recorded on video. However, I visited Nikephoros again on 2019-03-23. In this meeting, he was a torrent of words.