The Holy Fire in Jerusalem was met at home

The Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called will deliver the shrine to Moscow

The world around is changing rapidly. One thing remains unchanged: in the Eternal City of Jerusalem on Great Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the Holy Fire descends. This wonderful tradition could not be prevented either by coronavirus restrictions or the current difficult situation everywhere you throw it. This, of course, partly affects the format and details of the Convergence ceremony. But there is something that has not changed for two decades. The Foundation of St. Andrew the First-Called delivers the Holy Fire from the Church of the Resurrection to Russia, no matter what happens. And today – the fire came down in Jerusalem, as it should be. And now he flies to Moscow, and from there – throughout all of Great Rus’.

In the troubled times of covid, fire was delivered to Moscow with big problems. Foundation staff waited for hours on the plane that landed at Ben Gurion Airport for embassy staff to deliver the flames that descended in Jerusalem directly on board the aircraft. Which was forbidden to leave and set foot on the ground. Times are different now, and so are the challenges.

Without going into details, this time the Foundation received the fire personally in the Church of the Resurrection of Christ. We flew long and confusingly, until the last moment we did not know whether it would be possible to attend the Descent in person. The authorities in Jerusalem, for security reasons, have decided this year to limit the number of people present in the temple. If in the “pre-Covid” times up to 12 thousand people were sent there, now they decided to limit themselves to 3 thousand. It is clear that most of those who wished did not have the opportunity to get into the temple.

However, if you want to truly understand what Passover is, go to Jerusalem. Nature itself at this time in Israel cries of the triumph of eternal life. The flowers are fragrant, the grass is green, the sun does not bake, but caresses. And the Eternal City, which, according to information reports, is shaking from protests and pogroms, these days is quiet and calm and somehow upbeat joyful. Of course, there are fewer people than usual on Easter days. And against the background of this relative “few people”, it becomes clear how homely this Old Town is, where next to the state flags, family linen is dried on the balconies of ancient houses … Otherwise, everything is as usual, and what we missed so much during the three coronavirus years when the Russian delegation arrived in Jerusalem in very limited numbers and with strict conditions.

On Good Friday, religious delegations from different countries still make their way through the streets of the Old City. Only in some details do you understand that it is the Ethiopian Orthodox who have passed, and this is the Syrian believers who are moving. Georgians are recognizable by their capes-flags with crosses, reminiscent of Holy Sepulcher banners. Serbs – in a speech similar to us and their joyful exclamations: “O Russians. Good”. As Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem said during an audience with the Russian delegation, the Jerusalem Orthodox Church is not in vain considered the mother of all churches, since it is in Jerusalem that the diversity of religions, churches and cultures is gathered. Not to mention the fact that all evangelistic events are connected by blood and flesh with these places.

The biggest fears were related to the fact that due to severe restrictions, not the entire delegation will be able to get into the temple. They comforted themselves with the fact that the square in front of the temple was not bad either: as if behind the scenes. You see all the processions from the side. But God was merciful. The entire delegation entered the temple without any problems. And the passage through the Old City through numerous cordons passed extremely quickly, to the exclamations of the security police: “Only Rushins”, cutting off everyone who tried to join our ranks.

This time there were indeed few delegations from Orthodox countries in the temple, the post-Soviet republics were almost completely cut off. But there were many local Orthodox: whole families, even with small children, sat on the steps in the aisles. So, almost at home, we were waiting for the Descent of the Holy Fire. And he got off. Flaming bundles of candles, tears in the eyes, exclamations: “Happy Holidays!”. And then running from pre-Easter Jerusalem to the buses. Time to go home,,,