From the beginning of the 17th to the middle of the 19th century, for approximately two hundred and fifty years, all patriarchs of Jerusalem spent the largest portion of their time at Constantinople and visited Jerusalem on special occasions.¹ Acting in their place was the patriarchal consul, whom they had appointed.

In 1839, the patriarchal consul to be appointed was the Cypriot Bishop Meletios,² who since then, every Holy Saturday, was placed as head of the ceremony of the Holy Fire.

On 16 March 1845, Kyrillos II was elected patriarch of Jerusalem³ and he immediately abolished the tradition in which the patriarchs lived in Constantinople. He decided to live permanently at his natural home, Jerusalem.

One year later, on Holy Saturday of 1846, Patriarch Kyrillos and Bishop Meletios together entered the Church of the Resurrection. However, while everyone expected Patriarch Kyrillos to head the ceremony, on the contrary, through his approval, Bishop Meletios continued to lead the ceremony.

It is very significant to the historical research we are conducting that the specific ceremony was described by an eyewitness: the Moldavian monk Parthenius Ageev, who had recorded the oral tradition that the pillar of the gate of the Church of the Resurrection ignited in 1579 after being struck by lightning.

The narration of the monk Parthenius about the ceremony of 1846 is of particular interest. He speaks of two rivers of fire that spread inside the church and also informs us that, in the middle of the 19th century, the Muslims continued to attend the ceremony and celebrate the miracle with particular ardor.

The Moldavian monk writes:

The Turks opened Christ's Sepulchre and put out all the lamps. Then the Turkish authorities and the Pasha himself came… The church was unusually crowded and stuffy… There was nothing lit anywhere. The Patriarch went up to the main iconostasis with the consul. Meletios, the Metropolitan of Trans- Jordan, sat in the altar with the rest of the bishops, all melancholy… Having finished the procession, all the clergy went quickly into the altar with the banners. Metropolitan Meletios stayed alone at the entrance of the Sepulchre in the hands of the Turks. The Turks divested him, and the authorities searched him. Then they put the omophorion on him, opened the Sepulchre of Christ, and let him go inside… Some time passed, I do not know how long, for we were all beside ourselves from a kind of fear. But all of a sudden from near Christ's Sepulchre there shined a light. Soon light also appeared from the altar in the royal doors in the opening. And it flowed like two rivers of fire, one from the west, from Christ's Sepulchre, and another from the east, from the altar. Oh, what joy and exultation there was in the church then! Everyone became as though drunk or besides himself, and we did not know who was saying what, or who was running where! And a great noise rose in all of the church. All were running around, all were crying out in joy and thanksgiving – most of all the Arab women. The Turks themselves, the Moslems, fell on their knees and cried, “Allah, Allah,” that is, “O God, O God!” Oh, what a strange and most wonderful sight! The whole church was transformed into fire. Nothing could be seen in the church besides the heavenly fire.⁴

Parthenius’ narration is very revealing and detailed. The presence of the Holy Fire is so obvious and imposing that it is even celebrated by the Muslims.

On that Holy Saturday of 1846 Bishop Meletios was head of the ceremony for the seventh consecutive year.

Twenty-one years later, on Holy Saturday of 1867, Patriarch Kyrillos had completed twenty-three years in the patriarchal office, but Bishop Meletios continued to head the ceremony. This is why the Arabs called him the “Bishop of Light!” Warren writes on Holy Saturday of 1868:

The bishops of the Greek Church can be counted by tens; but where is the Bishop of Petra, the “Bishop of Light” as the Arabs call him? He is not! He died last year, and has not been replaced; what a rare opportunity for discontinuing the miracle! But it is to be; the Patriarch Cyril must take his place and work it.⁵

On Holy Saturday of 1867, just a few months before his death, Bishop Meletios led the ceremony of the Holy Fire for the 29th and last time; however, it was the first time that archeologist Warren would participate in the rite. Amazed by what he experienced inside the church he sought to examine the nature of the miracle and so, a few days later, he decided to meet with Meletios.

On that Holy Saturday of 1867, however, a particularly special event took place inside the Sepulchre. As Warren records in his work entitled Underground Jerusalem, Bishop Meletios confided that when he entered the interior chamber of the Tomb he placed on the tombstone a sacred relic of Christianity: the socalled Veil of Veronica.

According to tradition, when Jesus was walking toward Golgotha carrying the Cross on his shoulders, a resident of the city named Veronica took pity on him and used her own handkerchief to clean the wounds on his face. Afterward, stamped on her handkerchief was the Face of Jesus Christ.

The most ancient report refering to Veronica is encountered in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus⁶ or Acta Pilati, which was already known in the second century. In this work it is mentioned that Veronica was the woman with a hemorrhage healed by Jesus, simply by touching the hem of his robe.⁷

The incident of the meeting of Veronica with Jesus en route toward Golgotha is recorded in the short work Cura Sanitatis Tiberii⁸ (The Cure of Tiberius), which was created in the West around the seventh century⁹ and was a Latin addition to the Greek Gospel of Nicodemus.

Jesus and Veronica in a portable icon found at the Greek
Orthodox chapel of the Tomb of the Virgin Mary at Gethsemane.

Statue of Veronica dated to 1629 by the sculptor
Francesco Mochi, at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

According to medieval accounts, the authentic Veil of Veronica was kept at the old Basilica of St. Peter in Rome from the 12th to the beginning of the 17th century and was a particularly popular destination for pilgrims.

Around 1610, during the reconstruction of the Basilica based on the new designs of Michelangelo, the Veil disappeared and since then its fate has been unknown. Two and a half centuries later, the archaeologistWarren, in his work entitled Underground Jerusalem, writes that the Veil of Veronica that existed at the Vatican was now in the hands of the Greeks of Jerusalem. This is what Bishop Meletios had confided in
him, a short while before his death.

Let us examine, however, exactly what Meletios experienced inside the Holy Sepulchre, on the last Holy Saturday of his life, when at the age of 82 he placed the Veil of Veronica on the tombstone and then prayed for the coming of the Holy Fire. Warren writes:

The miracle in the previous year was performed by the Bishop of Petra. It is well known that there is a handkerchief of Saint Veronica in Europe, at the Vatican, I believe; but perhaps it may not be known that the Greeks suppose that they possess this same handkerchief. It is this that the bishop took into the Sepulchre, within a silver case, and laid on the couch of the Sepulchre. On this the fire collected, and then, by picking it up by its four corners, the fire was in a bag, and could be ladled or poured into the goblet.¹⁰

The face of Jesus Christ on the Veil of Veronica as illustrated in 1874 by the Czech painter Gabriel Cornelius von
Max (1840–1915). Some believe it was of his own inspiration, whereas others believe that it is a copy of another
much older representation, perhaps the one that existed at the Vatican. Depicted here is a copy of the Czech
work housed at the Greek Orthodox monastery of Saint Eythymius in Jerusalem. (photo: H. Skarlakidis)

The “Bishop of Light,” as the Arabs called the Bishop of Petra Meletios, was leading the ceremony for the 29th and last time. He placed the sacred handkerchief on the tombstone and then, according to his narration to the British archeologist, the Holy Fire appeared on the image of the Face of Jesus Christ. The sacred flame does not damage the handkerchief but appears like a fluid fire that springs in abundance from the Face of Jesus Christ.

Bishop Meletios transferred the handkerchief over the oil lamp and the divine flame, like a fiery mass with weight, flowed into the vessel of the lamp. What took place inside the Holy Sepulchre, through the presence of the Uncreated Light, brings to mind what occurred during the Transfiguration of Christ at Mount Thabor, again through the presence of the Uncreated Light:

“His face shone like the sun” (Matthew, 17:2).

Inside a completely dark funereal chamber, the darkness is dissolved by a light that emanates from the Face of Christ. Again on Holy Saturday, Christ comes into His Sepulchre as a Light. Just as he arrived in this world as a Light:

I have come as a Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness. If anyone hears my words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world. (John 12:46–47)

Notes:

1. Derek Hopwood writes that Kyrillos II “was the first patriarch to return to Jerusalem and acted independently of Constantinople”. See D. Hopwood, The Russian presence in Syria and Palestine 1843–1914: Church and politics in the Near East, p. 42.

2. The Bishop of Petra in Jordan, Meletios Matteos, was born in 1785 in the mountain village of Lemythos in Cyprus.

3. He was appointed in Jerusalem by the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulchre and not in Constantinople by the Ecumenical Patriarch.

4. Monk Parthenius, “Holy Week and Pascha in Jerusalem,” Orthodox Life 34.2 (1984), New York, Jordanville. See also K. Miliaras, Holy Fire, p. 17.

5. C. Warren, Underground Jerusalem, p. 433.

6. The Gospel of Nicodemus is an ancient apocryphal text that contains the minutes of the trial of Jesus as well as the events that followed until his Resurrection and Ascension. The work was written by a certain Pharisee who was a chosen member of the hieratic caste of the Jews. The oldest reference to the work is encountered by the philosopher and martyr Justin who around AD 150, in his work the First Apology, refers to it with the Hellenized term Άκτα Πιλάτου (“Acta Pilati”). The current form of the work was completed in the fourth century.

7. The canonical Gospels do not make mention of her name. See Matthew 9:20–22, Mark 5:25–34, Luke 8:43–49.

8. In the same work it is mentioned that Veronica went to Rome aiming to meet with Emperor Tiberius who suffered from an incurable disease. When the emperor saw the veil he fell to the ground, bowed to the Face of Christ and was cured of his disease.

9. Ernst von Dobschütz, who published the work in 1899 based on 68 manuscripts, formulated the opinion that it was composed around AD 600. See Dobschütz, Christusbilder, p. 276. More recent scholars date it to between the seventh and eighth century. The oldest manuscript of the work is dated to the eighth century and is found in Lucca, Italy (Biblioteca Capitolare Feliniana, cod. 490).

10. C. Warren, Underground Jerusalem, p. 436.