The Holy Fire will be flown from Jerusalem to Bucharest this evening by the Romanian Patriarchate's official Teofil Anastasoaie, and will be offered to the delegates of the dioceses at the Henri Coanda International Airport.
Subsequently, the diocesan centres, through their deaneries, will distribute the Holy Fire to each parish, the Press Office of the Romanian Patriarchate informed.
Also this year, the Holy Fire will be carried, through a delegate of the Metropolitan Church of Moldavia and Bukovina, from Bucharest to Chisinau, where it will be offered to the parishes of the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia.
The Holy Fire will be received at the Patriarchal Cathedral, by Patriarch Daniel.
"Bringing and offering the Holy Fire of Jerusalem to all parishes within the Romanian Patriarchate is, 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," according to the Romanian Christian Orthodox Church (BOR).
Inaugurated by Patriarch Daniel in 2009, the tradition of flying in the Holy Fire from Jerusalem on Holy Saturday continues in the Centennial Year of the Romanian Patriarchate.
The Holy Fire is considered a miracle of Christian Orthodoxy that happens every year on Easter in Jerusalem, during Great Vespers of Holy Saturday, between 12:30hrs and 14:30hrs, when a fire is lit above the Holy Sepulchre that descends from heaven, manifesting itself differently every year and which, in the first minutes, does not burn.
The fire is brought to the faithful by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Holy Sepulchre is inspected as early as Good Friday, immediately after the funeral service. Those who make the check - so that there is no suspicion of staging - are civilian policemen, 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 so that there is no source of fire. He also physically controls those who will enter there at the time of the religious ceremony. Then, at the right 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, with an epithelium and a girdle, goes to the Holy Sepulchre. At the entrance, he is searched by the police in the presence of witnesses belonging to all denominations. The patriarch unseals the entrance to the tomb and enters the first room, in the Chapel of the Angel, accompanied - according to tradition - only by an Arab of the Islamic religion. Further, the patriarch enters the actual room of the tomb alone and kneels in front of the slab.
Later, after prayer, the people in the church often have the opportunity to observe a light like lightning coming through the dome above the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre. Pilgrims compare this light to a globe that spreads into small pieces. The light reaches the slab of the Holy Sepulchre, thus igniting the cotton wool sprinkled on top.
The role of the patriarch is to take this lighted cotton wool in his hands and place it in two golden cups. He returns to the Chapel of the Angel to light up two bundles of 33 candles each, then goes out and distributes the fire to the faithful. AGERPRES
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