Western Witness: Miracle of the Holy Fire

 


The French Monk, Bernard the Wise [circa 875 AD], made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem around the year 870 AD. Bernard visited during the time of Patriarch Theodosius of Jerusalem, who was Patriarch from 864 to 879. Here Monk Bernard records the Miracle of the Holy Fire:

"However, this should be told that on Holy Saturday, i.e., Pascha Eve, the Office is begun early in this church, and after the Office is done, Kyrie eleison is chanted, until by the coming of an Angel, the light is kindled in the lamps that hang above the aforesaid Sepulchre. The Patriarch gives this Fire to the Bishops and to the rest of the people, that each may with it light up his own home. This Patriarch was called Theodosius, who for the merit of his devoutness, was carried by the Christians from his Monastery, distant 15 miles from Jerusalem, and made Patriarch over all Christians in the Land of Promise."

from the The Library of the Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society
https://archive.org/details/cu31924028534273/page/n11/mode/2up




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