New data regarding the supernatural origin of the Holy Light in Jerusalem

“Is the Holy Light miraculously lit on the Holy Sepulchre or by a human hand”? This is a burning and timeless question that provokes much debate and doubt. Science, for its part, answers that the origin of the Holy Light is supernatural, while new data have recently emerged.

Mr.Haris Skarlakidis, a writer, with a Master’s degree in Theology, and an architect, with more than ten years of historical research on the Holy Light, with tours in the largest libraries in Europe, such as London, Paris, Vatican, Berlin, Munich and Florence, as well as in major Muslim libraries, such as in Cairo and Constantinople, in search of manuscripts and rare books, reveals to NeaProini, what exactly happens inside the Holy Sepulchre, just before the Patriarch exits with the Holy Light on his candles, and what the research of eminent scientists has shown.

Mr.Haris Skarlakidis, architect and theological scholar

What happens inside the Holy Sepulchre

Immediately afterwards, Mr.Skarlakidis explains what exactly happens inside the Holy Sepulchre, just before the Patriarch exits with the Holy Light in his candles. “The Patriarch of Jerusalem enters the inner chamber alone and kneels before the tombstone, under which is the part of the rock on which Jesus’ body was deposited. On the tombstone is the sacred candelabrum, which is already lit. As soon as the Patriarch kneels down, he immediately begins to read a special invocation, in which he asks Christ to bring forth the Holy Light “as a gift of sanctification and as a reward for all divine grace.”That is, as a divine gift through which man is sanctified. At that moment the whole interior of the Holy Sepulchre is flooded with the Holy Light. The whole tomb is flooded with the Light of Christ’s Resurrection. The miracle of the Holy Light is not the candelabra lighting itself. The miracle is the Light that manifests itself and floods the entire Holy Sepulchre and the temple of the Resurrection. And this miracle has nothing to do with what the patriarch of the day does or believes. The miracle is completely detached and independent of the person of the patriarch. The coming of the Holy Light does not depend on persons, but is above persons. That is why we do not judge persons. The miracle is completely independent of whether the candelabra is extinguished or lit.”

One might, of course, at this point ask “how can we be sure that the Holy Sepulchre is indeed flooded with the Holy Light and the flame of the candelabra – if it is already lit – is transformed into a sacred flame? How can we be sure that the Patriarch, when he comes out of the Tomb, is really distributing the Holy Light and not a common flame”?

Science gives the answers

Mr Scarlakidis says:”These questions are reasonable and the answers are provided by science itself. On Holy Saturday 2019, Giulio Fandi, professor of engineering and thermal measurements at the University of Padua, participated in the Holy Light ceremony to measure and record the thermal properties of the sacred flame. His partner in this project was a colleague from the same university, Professor of Applied Mechanics, Roberto Basso. The results of their measurements were published on 10 July 2019 in an article in the interdisciplinary journal “Global Journal of Archaeology and Anthropology”.

Professor Fandi lit his bundle of 33 candles of Holy Light two minutes after Patriarch Theophilus left the tomb and immediately placed it under his face. He wanted to see if the sacred flame burned the skin. The professor writes in his article. The duration of the experiment was two minutes.”

At this point it is useful to mention that I have participated in the Holy Light ceremony 23 times and have touched the sacred flame as many times. I assure you that the Holy Light flame does indeed burn with a mild intensity, much less than a normal flame. We should also make it clear that this flame, even in the event that the candelabra is miraculously lit, is a normal built flame. But because this flame comes from the uncreated Light of Christ’s Resurrection, it retains for a few minutes the properties of the uncreated Light and therefore does not burn.”

Professor Fanti holds a bundle of 33 candles with the Holy Light under his face. He felt a moderate heat, he says, but did not burn or feel any pain.

Returning to the research of J.Fandi, Mr.Scarlakidis notes: “The professor carried out twelve experiments. In one of them, ten minutes after lighting his bundle of candles, he placed a piece of linen cloth three centimetres above two identical lit candles. The first candle he had lit with the Holy Light, the second with a lighter. The linen cloth remained over the two flames for thirty seconds. The normal flame burned and pierced the cloth, while the Holy Light did not cause any significant damage. Specifically, J. Fuddy writes in his article, “From the experiment described in this paper, it appears that during the first few minutes the Holy Light does not cause burning in linen fabrics, such as that caused by a common flame, but only scorching. The results of our experiment are interesting and are in agreement with the measurements of Fr. Gennadius Zarice, who discovered a change in the temperature of the Holy Light 15 minutes after its initial ignition.”

The linen cloth that Professor Fanti placed over the two flames for 30 seconds. The normal flame (left) burned the cloth, while the holy light flame (right) burned it slightly.

We ought to explain that on Holy Saturday 2016, the Russian priest and biologist, Gennadius Zarice, measured the temperature of the flame of the Holy Light two minutes after Patriarch Theophilus left the Holy Sepulchre, and found that the temperature of the flame was only 42 degrees Celsius. When he measured the flame again, fifteen minutes later, he found the temperature had risen to 320 degrees Celsius, which was again lower than a normal flame. The temperature of a normal flame is about 1300 degrees Celsius. So as time goes on, the temperature of the Holy Light flame rises and tends to become the same as the temperature of a normal flame. J. Fandi’s experiments confirmed the measurements of Fr. Gennadius Zarice.

In January 2023, in a new scientific article entitled “Holy Fire and Body Image of the Holy Shroud: Divine Photography Hypothesis,” World Scientific News 176 (2023), p. 105, J. Fuddy writes: “I had the opportunity to personally verify what happened on Holy Saturday of Orthodox Easter 2019. I verified by scientific experiments that during the first ten minutes the Holy Light, which had been transmitted to me by the Patriarch through the pilgrims, was a miraculous flame characterized by a cold creature, which cannot be reproduced in the environment of the Cube of the Holy Sepulchre. I therefore consider that the Holy Light has a miraculous origin and claims that it is the product of fraud are considered unreliable. I agree with the Russian scientists Andrey Volkov and Fr. Gennady Zarice who proved that the Holy Light is connected to an electric field. The presence of this intense electric field is impossible to explain scientifically, but it can be considered a miraculous event related to the Resurrection of Christ”.

Incredible and completely unexplained

Andrei Volkov is an associate professor of physics at the Moscow National Nuclear Research University. On Holy Saturday 2008, using a special device, he managed to record some strong electrical discharges at the time of the appearance of the Holy Light. Volkov calls the results of his measurements “incredible and completely unexplainable” and likens the Holy Light to a cold creature. Professor Fandi also describes the Holy Light as a kind of cold creature. The thermal measurements recorded by the latter scientifically confirm the supernatural character and supernatural origin of the Holy Light.  “The fact that the sacred flame does not burn like a common flame demonstrates the cause of its existence and the source of its origin, which is one and unique: “The Light of the Resurrection of Christ,” he emphasizes, and concludes. The fact that the sacred flame does not burn like an ordinary flame demonstrates the cause of its existence and the source of its origin, which is one and unique: The Light of the Resurrection of Christ. At the time of Christ’s resurrection, a Light surrounded his risen Body. The Body of the God-Man emitted the so-called uncreated Light, which is the Light of his Divinity. This filled the whole Holy Sepulchre. This is the first presence of the Holy Light in history, at the time of Christ’s resurrection, on the night of the Holy Sabbath, April 5, 33 AD. On that night, Christ conquered death. And from then until today, every Holy Saturday, the Light of his Resurrection is shown in the same place as a reminder, as a seal and as a verification of that victory.”

The eastern side of the rock of Golgotha (11 metres high) in the gardens and orchards of the ancient quarry (reconstruction by Haris Skarlakidis). In the background, we can see the Tomb of Jesus, 45 metres from the site of the Crucifixion. At point A is the double cave discovered in the 1977 excavation, which, according to the Spanish archaeologist Díez, had been converted into a place of worship of Christ in the 1st century. The place of the Crucifixion was delimited by a stone enclosure, which we have approximated (with dimensions of 16×8 metres). The inhabitants of the town could see the Crucifixion from a distance, standing around the quarry. Those who knew Jesus, as the evangelist Luke writes, “stood and watched from afar” (Luke 23:49).