www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West The Holy Fire on the Internet (Live from Jerusalem)

I break my Holy Week silence just briefly to post the following which may be of interest to some of you. Until next week.

OrthoMan

The Holy Fire on the Internet (Live from Jerusalem)


For the first time in history they will be broadcasting "Live" the service of
the Great Miracle of Orthodoxy "The Holy Fire" on the Internet. THIS IS A
MUST SEE BY EVERYONE!!! Please plan to visit this site on Great and Holy
Saturday, May 4th at 1:15pm. http://www.holylight.gr/enmain.html

We will be able to see it earlier since time in Palestine is at least 7
hours ahead from the East Coast of America. In other words, on the East
Coast, this viewing of this service will take place around 6:15am.

Awesome! Thanks, OrthoMan, for letting us know about this. I hope to wake up and see this.

This acient monk is a bit confused which is nothing new for me. I am on Central Time. When should I view this marvelous wonder of the Holy Spirit? Thank you!
Silouan

Abuna,

If Orthoman--who lives on the East Coast --will view the miracle at 6:15 am, you will be able to view it at 5:15 am,Central.

Abdur

According to the website referenced above the miracle of the Holy Fire will occur on Saturday, May 4th, 2000 at 13:15 (1:15 PM) Jerusalem Time. Jerusalem Time (according to the website) is GMT +2:00. In North America those in the EDT zone are 4 hours behind GMT. This means those observing EDT are 6 hours behind Jerusalem.

1:15 PM – Jerusalem Time
7:15 AM – ADT
6:15 AM – EDT
5:15 AM – CDT
4:15 AM – MDT
3:15 AM – PDT
(Times modified per Mor Ephrem's info below.)

I recommend that someone else verify the times as they are different from the ones listed by others (either they have forgotten to include the calculation for daylight savings time or I have done it twice!).

My first question is if the listed time is accurate, as I had believed this service to happen at midnight, not 1:15 in the afternoon. But there is a countdown clock on the page displaying the video and it appears to be counting down to Saturday at 1:15 PM JT.

The direct link is:
http://www.jerusalem-patriarchate.org/live/redefault.asp

Those interested may wish to watch to 51 second video to make sure their computer has the proper software to view the Holy Fire.

[ 05-02-2002: Message edited by: Administrator ]

Dear Administrator,

Having calculated the time (for New York) for the broadcast on www.worldtimeserver.com [worldtimeserver.com] it seems that it will be broadcast from Jerusalem (1.15pm, 4 May 2002) at 6.15am Eastern time in NY. I think this calculator takes into account daylight savings, since it asked me to fill in a date. So it's 6.15am, EDT, 5.15am CDT, etc.

That site is rather interesting but I wonder if it is accurate? It tells me that it is currently 12:00 EDT in the U.S. and 7:00 PM in Israel (a seven-hour difference). Yet if I use the calculation feature it states that there is only a six-hour difference. I suspect it may not be accounting for daylight time here in the U.S.

Does anyone know why this service is held in the afternoon rather than at night?

OK, Administrator, I tried the time thing again with a different site, http://timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

And I got the same result...6.15am EDT

Behold, I copied from the page:

13:15:00 Sat May 04 2002 in Asia/Jerusalem

converts to

06:15:00 Sat May 04 2002 in America/New_York

DST* is in effect on this date/time in Asia/Jerusalem

DST* is in effect on this date/time in America/New_York

*Daylight Saving Time

Mor,

You are correct. Just checked with www.weather.com [weather.com] and Jerusalem does observe Daylight Savings Time. BTW, the high on Holy Saturday in Jerusalem will be in the low 70's (22C).

Admin

Well, it's 6.35am, and the Fire's not on, and the countdown clock thing is still running. If I've read the Greek correctly, it seems to be counting down to 1.15pm EDT, which is 12.15pm CDT, etc. I woke up much earlier than I had to...someone at the Patriarchate of Jerusalem is gonna hear from me about this... :p

Christos Voskrese!
Vostinnu Voskrese!

Did anyone get to see this miraculous event via the Internet?

Dear Friends,

Ultimately, NO ONE would have been able to see this miraculous event anyway, since only the three hierarchs, including the Greek Patriarch of Jerusalem are allowed to go into the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre for the beginning of Resurrection Matins.

You would only have been able to see the Patriarch come out with already lit candles, attached in an "X" formation to distribute the Holy Fire to the throngs of people.

But an American medical student once doubted this miracle and leaned on the wall of the small chapel right at the moment when the Patriarch began singing "Christos Anesti,"

At that moment, his lantern lit by itself and he later wrote an article for the New England Journal of Medicine about his experience.

Alex

Last year's not live version featured the blue light flashing everywhere and you could see lampadas lighting up by themselves.

However, an Armenian priest I know once read the gospel at the service for his Patriarch and said he didn't see anything, except lots of pushing and shoving because the pilgrims had to stay in their Church's "space" only...

A Catholic priest I know was sceptical about the Holy Fire, as he lit a candle on pascha... but as he had the doubt, his candle lit up by itself before hitting the flame of the lamp... so go figure.

God is great!

anastasios

Dear Anastasios the Academician,

Yes, it is well-known that the Holy Fire sometimes darts around the entire Church, and this is what that Muslim outside saw when he became a Christian standing on the minaret and then fell to his death, as commemorated on the plaque before the main doors.

The Holy Fire reveals itself to doubters as well.

I didn't know that one could see what you describe on the screen, praise God for His miracles that He communicates to the world!

When I was at the Holy Sepulchre, I carried rosaries that I draped on it for distribution at home.

As we stood before the Sepulchre, an unmistakable feeling of what felt like electricity or energy of some kind permeated the place, the rock, the Chapel and everything.

One could feel this energy go right into you and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before.

At the time I visited there, I had not yet heard of the Holy Fire.

When I read about it afterwards, I accepted it without any doubt whatever.

One may go there at any time of the year and experience the pulsating energy of the Tomb of Christ for oneself.

Christ is Risen!

Alex

[Last year's not live version featured the blue light flashing everywhere and you could see lampadas lighting up by themselves.]


CHRIST IS RISEN!

This is true. I have a video of it taken by a Russian crew a few years back. You can see what looks like hundreds of flashbulbs going off but what is actually static electricity coming downward from the dome. You can also see peoples candles being ignited and people passing their lit candles thru their hair and beards without them catching on fire. If you had checked the short video on the website you will see a small ball of lght (fire) appear in the upper right hand corner of the video. The Holy flame does not only come from the tomb itself.

OrthoMan