The Holy Light will be brought from Jerusalem, on Saturday evening, by the superior of the Romanian Patriarchate’s Establishments at the Holy Places, Archimandrite Father Teofil Anastasoaie, and will be offered to the delegates of the dioceses present at the „Henri Coanda” International Airport.
Subsequently, through the deaneries, the diocesan centers will distribute the Holy Light to each parish within them, the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate reported on Wednesday.
And this year, the Holy Light will be taken, through a delegate of the Metropolitanate of Moldova and Bukovina, from Bucharest to Chisinau, where it will be offered to the parishes of the Metropolitanate of Bessarabia.
The Holy Light will be received at the Patriarchal Cathedral, around 7:00 PM, by Patriarch Daniel.
„Bringing and offering the Holy Light from Jerusalem to all parishes within the Romanian Patriarchate constitutes, therefore, both a testimony of ecclesial unity and a manifestation of the Easter joy shared on the occasion of the great feast of the Resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ,” emphasizes BOR.
Inaugurated by Patriarch Daniel in 2009, the tradition of bringing the Holy Light from Jerusalem on Holy Saturday continues in the Centennial Year of the Romanian Patriarchate.
The Holy Light is considered a miracle of Orthodoxy, which happens every year at Easter in Jerusalem, during Great Vespers on Holy Saturday, between 12:30 and 14:30, when a fire descends from heaven above the Holy Sepulcher, manifesting itself differently each year and which, in the first few minutes, does not burn.
The light is brought to the believers by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Holy Sepulchre has been inspected since Good Friday, immediately after the Prohod. Those who carry out this check – so that there is no suspicion of staging – are civilian police officers, who are not Christians. Usually, there are three of them: an Arab, a Turk and a representative of the State of Israel. Their role is to inspect the room of the Holy Sepulchre to ensure that there is no source of fire. They also physically check those who will enter there during the religious ceremony. Then, at the appropriate time, the lights go out, the door is sealed, and only the guards remain at the entrance.
After the service, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, dressed only in a white sticharion, epitrachelion and belt, heads for the Holy Sepulcher. At the entrance, he is checked by police in the presence of witnesses belonging to all confessions. The Patriarch unseals the entrance to the Sepulcher and enters the first room, the Angel’s Chapel, accompanied – according to tradition – only by an Arab of the Islamic religion. Further, the Patriarch enters alone into the actual room of the Sepulcher and kneels before the slab.
Later, after prayer, those present in the church often have the opportunity to observe a light like lightning, which comes through the dome above the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. Pilgrims compare this light to a globe that is scattered into small pieces. This light reaches the slab of the Holy Sepulchre, thus igniting the cotton wool sprinkled on top.
The patriarch’s role is to take this burning cotton wool in his hands and place it in two golden cups. He then returns to the Angel Chapel and lights two bundles of 33 candles each, then goes out and shares the light with the faithful.
AGERPRES
