The record-union., 1897-04-18
MIRACLE OF THE GREEK FIRE.
A Ceremonial in Jerusalem That is
SpectacuIar and BIasphemOuS.

Richard Watson Glider contributes
to the Century" an article entitled
The Miracle of the Greek Fire. de-
scribing ceremonial in the Church of
the Holy Sepulcher at Jerusalem on the
Saturday before Easter Sunday. The
attention that is now directed towards
the Greek Church by events in the East
gives this a special timelineSs. Mr..
Glider says:
Now the time of the miracle ap-
proaches. A flame from heaven is to
be communicated to the expectant
world As a preliminary to this sacred
manifestation there is a new, wild out
burst of cries and screams. We are
told that it is the Jerusalem worship
ers, who pound with their fists their
fellow Christians of Jaffa, and drag
and jerk them away one by one from
the window where the celestial fire is
to appear.
The noise swells like a tempest. A
burst of sound-the changing of bells
and stricken bars of metal! A flash at
the Greek window The fire has come
One wild rush, one high pitched, null
titudinous scream, still the excited
changing, and out springs the light over
the frantic human mass, leaping from
hand to hand, as if each flame We're
lightning and music. Around and up
and over and through, till fame is adj
ded to flame, spreading from candle to
candle, and floor to gallery. Now a
priest appears on the roof of the Sepul-
cher itself, and the flame runs round
the top like a crown of fire Higher it
springs, drawn by a rope up to the peo-
pie at the base of the dome. 1t illumi-
mates the most distant and dungeon
like vaults the chapels above and be-
low, every vantage ground where the
spectators have stood or crouched on
the floor, or in temporary Judgments in
mid Lair.
On and on sounds the clangor and
the shouting; men, women and children
are mad; they pass their hands over
the f1ame-is it not from heaven? how
can it do harm land then draw their
hands over their faces, taking the ce-
lestial touch in ecstatic alteration. Over
path made clear for the runners from
the window already the fire is on it's
way to the ends of the earth.
The Armenian patriarch declared to
us later, and without hesitancy, that
the Greek patriarch simply had a lamp
on the tomb proper, which he blessed
This kindly Old Armenian said to US
that it was not miraculous. 1t was ru-
mored that a prominent visitor was
told by the Greek patriarch that he
told the people that it was only a SYM
boil, and not miracle / asked the
visitor whether this was true. and was
answered: mol How could he tell them
that? He would be torn to pieces. -
Intelligent Greeks assure you that it is
symbol. that holy fire" is the same
as holy water" The Latins will have
nothing to do with this one of the
most venerable ceremonies and the
most appalling scandal of the Christian
world
At the hight of the frenzy, as the
flame leaped through the rotunda and
lighted the encircling chapels, making
more rich and glittering the affairs. the
gorgeous veStments, the whole ecclesi-
astical paraphernalia, the arms and
uniforms of the troops, and the many
colored costumes of the mad and mot
ley crowd, the thought flashed upon
me: Was there ever anything in all
Christendom SO beautiful and so BIAS
nhamo1IS3