The Paschal Fire in Jerusalem: A Study of the Rite of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Publication Data: Berkeley, CA: Saint John Chrysostom Press, 1999
Format: softcover
Number of Pages: x + 213
Dimensions (l × w × h): 21.3 cm × 13.8 cm × 1.5 cm
Additional Information: black-and-white illustrations
ISBN: 0‒9634692‒0‒7

   
Third Edition

Bishop Auxentios of Photiki
With a Foreword by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna and the Saint Gregory Palamas Monastery

“In the phenomenon of the Holy Fire we have a remarkable artifact that dates back to the undivided Church of the Roman (Byzantine) Empire, the one Church of Old and New Rome. The history of the rite provides us with glimpses into the sad effects of the Great Schism, which drew the Christian West away from a pious commemoration of the Resurrection of Christ that is today an Orthodox rite par excellence, but which is also very much a legacy of the Orthodox roots of the Christian West. This common heritage is lost in the polemical attitude that now leads most Latin Catholics and Protestants to disregard the fascinating ceremony as a hoax or a fraud and which, ironically enough, has also led even some Eastern Christians to shun it as ‘pious legerdemain’ because of its supposed ‘Latin origins.’”
—“Foreword”

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements
Cover
Dedication
Books by the Same Author
Foreword by Archbishop Chrysostomos of Etna
Chapter
   I An Historical Overview of the Phenomenon of the Holy Fire
   II Fire Rituals, the “New Fire,” and the Paschal Candle: Comments on Their Possible Nexus with the Rite of the Holy Fire
   III Contemporary Assessments of the Phenomenon of the Holy Fire
   IV The Phenomenon of the Holy Fire from a Theological Perspective
   V The Rite of the Holy Fire as it is Celebrated in Jerusalem Today
   VI The Rite of the Holy Fire as it is Reflected in the Lenten and Paschal Hymnography of the Orthodox Church and in the Ceremonies of the Contemporary Greek Churches
   VII Concluding Remarks
Bibliography
Index of Names