Lazarus Abboud
Many of us Orthodox take pride in the fact that the light springs forth in the Holy Sepulchre at the hands of the Patriarch of Jerusalem and no one else, and that there have been several attempts throughout history that failed to bring forth the light. Some therefore regard this event as an occasion to boast over others and to display our greatness — that we are the only original Church. But there are two matters that some do not wish to pay attention to, lest the boasting be undone:
First, the one who brings forth the light is the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox, and there are two other patriarchs, for the Latins and for the Armenian Orthodox. The entry of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch into the Holy Sepulchre on Holy Saturday is subject to agreements in which we have no merit, but rather a source of shame, because, as is well known, the Christian communities dispute the ownership of the church, and disputes arose that continue to this day; a dispute may even break out over the moving of a chair 20 cm. So the church was divided among the communities according to the Status Quo agreement — the “Firman of 1852” of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I, … and the firman received international recognition in Article 9 of the Treaty of Paris (1856). Consequently there exist strict and complex rules even for moving within the church; for example, “the Greek Orthodox, the Latins, and the Armenians each perform the service of the liturgy inside the Holy Sepulchre. As for the service of the prayer of the flow of the light, it belongs only to the Greek Orthodox Church, while the Armenians have a limited participation and have no right to enter the Holy Sepulchre, but only to enter the first section before the door of the tomb.”
Thus the sole party authorized to bring forth the Holy Light is the Greek Orthodox Church, according to rights and rules stipulated among the communities, and consequently the Greek Orthodox Patriarch — this from an initial legal standpoint, and we have no merit in it.
And secondly, the boasting that there were several attempts, among them one that took place in the year 1879 on the part of the Armenians, when they paid money to the Ottoman Sultan and prevented the entry of the Orthodox Patriarch. The account, as it appears on the page of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, says: “The Greek Orthodox Patriarch and a throng of bishops … and all the faithful assembled for the prayer of the flow of the light outside the Church of the Resurrection…. Despite the desperate attempts of the Armenian Patriarch, the Holy Light was not kindled… and instead, the middle column on the left side of the main door of the church split open and the light flowed out from it.”
This event must be read from an entirely different angle, for this matter is in no way a cause for us to boast about ourselves, but rather it is the faithfulness of God, as the Apostle Paul says: ” «it was reckoned to him (to God) as righteousness.»” (Gal 3:6). It is reckoned to God that He is righteous, and not to us. For had the Holy Light come forth at the hands of the Armenians then — those who wanted to bring forth the light by the logic of bribery and by the use of the power of political authority — the event, in its precise description, would have been (adultery), and this would mean that God is not faithful and not righteous, and far be it from Him to be this or that. But God’s righteousness, uprightness, and justice (His lawfulness) are boundless, and as Paul asks: “What then if some were unfaithful? Does their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God?” (Rom 3:3), and we have no merit in it.
The righteous God does not justify the means by the end; had He justified it, the light would have sprung forth at the hands of the Armenians. But God is not like us — far be it from Him — for we violate all the laws for the sake of our goals, and we walk in crooked paths to reach our trivial aims. How often we have violated the divine laws, the ecumenical councils, and tradition for the sake of what we desire.
And on the other hand, had the light come forth at the hands of those who wanted to bring it forth by authority, then the bringing forth of the light would be nothing more than magic, and any mere person who recited the prayers of bringing forth the light would be able to bring it forth, and our prayers would become sorcery — God forbid.
Unfortunately, we have become the new Pharisees. Instead of this event and this experience being a cause for deeper repentance, and for us to realize the magnitude of the responsibility placed upon our shoulders as Orthodox Christians — we who bear a trust in the Body of Christ and His Church, and who bear the experience of this universal event — we have become a stumbling block to ourselves before being one to others. Instead of becoming servants in the image of the greatest Teacher, serving the rest of our brothers among the Christians and the non-Christians, and obeying the word of Jesus, ”«You give them something to eat»” (Luke 9:13), we have become haughty and arrogant about what we have, forgetting that God is able to bring light out of the column for the non-Orthodox and for all our brothers among mankind while we ourselves are deprived of it. The only thing in which we ought to boast is: “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Gal 6:14).
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References
1. Article “The Church of the Resurrection – Six Religious Communities in Dispute under One Dome,” Michael Hollenbach / Abdelhay Al-Alami, reviewed by Tarek Ankay, published on DW , dated 2011/4/22 .
2. Article on the Holy Sepulchre, published on the page of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, undated.
3. Article on the story of the “Immovable Ladder” in the Church of the Resurrection, published on Arabi Post, publication date: 2023/02/04.
4. Dr. Youssef Hussein Omar, British Policy toward the Ottoman State 1839–1909, Al-Aqsa University, Gaza, Dar Nour Publishing, Saarbrücken, Germany, second edition 2016.