an Armenian priest holding the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

How a sacred flame spreads across the world despite the pandemic

For more than 1,000 years, Christians have celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony in Jerusalem. Here’s how it continues to bring light to the faithful in dark times of quarantine.

Reverend Father Arbak Sarukhanyan of the Armenian Apostolic Church holds the Holy Fire aloft as he emerges from the Edicule, the small structure inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre that houses what is traditionally believed to be the tomb of Jesus Christ.

Photograph by Natan Dvir, Polaris for National Geographic

Three years ago this weekend, I had a ringside seat on one of the most ancient, exuberant, and terrifying events I’ve ever witnessed in a house of worship: the Ceremony of the Holy Fire.

According to church tradition, each year on the day before Orthodox Easter (April 18 this year), a flame miraculously appears inside the tomb of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The flame is captured by the Greek patriarch of the city, who first enters the tomb with fistfuls of unlit candles and emerges with flaming standards held aloft. More than 10,000 expectant pilgrims packed around the tomb burst into triumphant cheers as the church bells peal and the Holy Fire is hastily passed from

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