The ceremony to light the Holy Fire took place on Holy Saturday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The Holy Fire appeared in the cuvulion (a small chapel built above the site of Jesus’ burial) during the prayer of Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem, as happens every year on the eve of Easter according to the Julian and New Julian calendars. The descent of the fire was accompanied by cheers from the approximately one thousand people present in the church, to whom the Patriarch handed the holy relic after the ceremony.
The faithful lit candles from the Holy Fire, mostly in traditional bundles of 33 to symbolise Christ’s age, after which they shared the holy relic with hundreds of Christians gathered outside the church.
There is a widespread tradition in the Orthodox tradition associated with the Holy Fire: it is believed that its annual descent is a sign of God’s mercy, and if the fire were ever to fail to descend, this would be seen as a harbinger of great upheavals and the end of the world.
