Holy Saturday. The Holy Light arrives tonight in Romania. The meaning of the moment

The Holy Light will be taken, again this year, by means of a delegate of the Metropolis of Moldavia and Bucovina, from Bucharest to Chisinau, where it will be offered to the parishes of the Metropolis of Bessarabia.

The same evening, around 19:00, the Holy Light will be received at the Patriarchal Cathedral by His Beatitude Father Patriarch Daniel.

The tradition of bringing the Holy Light from Jerusalem was inaugurated by Patriarch Daniel in 2009.

The Holy Light is considered a miracle of Orthodoxy, which happens every year at Easter in Jerusalem, during the Great Vespers on Holy Saturday, between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m., when a fire is lit above the Holy Sepulcher that descends from sky, manifesting itself differently every year and which, in the first minutes, does not burn.

The light is brought to the faithful by the Patriarch of Jerusalem.

The Holy Sepulcher is inspected since Good Friday, immediately after Prohod. Those who do this 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 Sepulcher to make sure 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 moment, 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 robe, epitrachil and girdle, heads towards the Holy Sepulcher. At the entrance, he is controlled 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, the “Chapel of the Angel”, accompanied – according to tradition – only by an Arab of the Islamic religion. Further, the patriarch enters alone into the actual room of the Tomb and kneels in front of the slab.

Later, after the prayer, those present in the church often have the opportunity to observe a light like lightning, which comes through the dome above the Chapel of the Holy Sepulcher. Pilgrims compare this light to a globe that breaks into small pieces. This light reaches the slab of the Holy Sepulcher, thus igniting the cotton wool sprinkled on top.

The role of the patriarch is to take this burning cotton in his hands, place it in two golden cups and return to the ‘Chapel of the Angel’.

Afterwards, the patriarch lights two bunches of 33 candles each, then goes out and distributes the light to the faithful.