The Miracle of the Holy Fire

• Every year, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem enters the Edicule (the small chapel inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that contains the Holy Tomb) alone after intense prayer and fasting.
• All candles and lamps are extinguished.
• After prayer, a mysterious light is said to descend from Heaven and ignite the candles of the Patriarch.
• The light is often said by witnesses to behave strangely—sometimes flickering in mid-air, and initially not burning skin or hair, as a sign of its divine origin.

2. 

Why Only the Orthodox Patriarch?

• According to Orthodox tradition and witness accounts, only the canonical Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is able to receive the Holy Fire.
• When other denominations (such as Catholics, Armenians, or Copts) have attempted to receive it in the past, the miracle did not occur.
• There’s a famous oral tradition that when non-Orthodox clerics tried to enter the Tomb in earlier centuries, nothing happened—emphasizing the Orthodox view that the true faith must be preserved in order for divine grace to manifest.

3. 

Theological Significance

• The miracle is seen by Orthodox Christians as a confirmation from God of the true and unaltered faith preserved in Eastern Orthodoxy.
• It also serves as a witness to the Resurrection of Christ and God’s continuing presence and grace through His Church.

4. 

Why Not the Catholics, Protestants, or Others?

• The Orthodox believe that after the Great Schism (1054 AD), and with various reforms and changes (such as in doctrine, liturgy, papal supremacy, and more), non-Orthodox churches departed from the original apostolic faith.
• The Holy Fire not manifesting to others is thus interpreted by Orthodox faithful as a divine sign of that departure.