Only the Orthodox Patriarch can take it

THE HOLY LIGHT IS NOT A SIMPLE WAY OF SAYING IT IS A MIRACLE, IT IS THE MIRACLE OF MIRACLES" Patriarch Irenaeus of Jerusalem, recounts the miracle that occurs when the Holy Light appears in Jerusalem). 

 Suddenly, the whole Tomb is filled with the Holy Light. It is an intense blue light. You shudder. You come out of yourself. It is a great bright blue flame that flies. The whole Tomb is filled with this flame."

Patriarch Irenaeus I of Jerusalem, in a talk I had in June 2009, described very clearly what he experienced during the ceremony in his time as patriarch. The most important part of the dialogue we had is the following: 

 

- Your Beatitude, does the miracle happen after you finish reading the special prayer or during the special prayer? 

 

- Sometimes even during it. 

 

- What happens at that time? 

 

- Suddenly, the whole tomb is filled with holy light. It is a dark blue light. You shudder. You come out of yourself. It is a great bright blue flame that flies. The whole Tomb is filled with this flame.... It is not easy to express yourself. 

 

- How do you light the bundles of candles you hold in your hands? 

 

- The moment I lift the four bundles of 33 candles each, they are immediately lit from the bright blue flame that flies and spreads across the sky. After a short time, the flame takes on the yellow color of the ordinary flame. 

 

- Is it true that in those moments the Holy Light does not burn? 

 

- Of course it does. The Holy Light does not burn at all in those first moments. Every time I attended the ceremony, as a patriarch, not a hair of my beard burned. Unfortunately, there are those who mock the miracle. Among them are the race carriers. Just as there used to be iconomachists, today there are also aghiophotomachists (fighters against the Holy Light). God willing they will repent and stop blaspheming. The Holy Light is not simply a miracle. It is the miracle of miracles.