Under strict security measures, the Holy Fire, the highest symbol for the Resurrection of Jesus Christs for the Orthodox Greeks will be transported to Greece from the Holy Sepulcher Church in Jerusalem on Holy Saturday, April 11, despite all odds and the war in the region.
According to a plan agreed between the Greek foreign ministry and Israeli authorities, a Greek mission will arrive in Tel Aviv on Saturday morning and attend the ceremony that will take place under strict security measures and limited presence of people inside the Holy Sepulcher church.
The entry of the faithful into the old city will be carried out under strict controls, while during the ceremony only the Patriarch, 15 monks and the Greek Deputy Foreign Minister will be allowed. Minister Giannis Loverdos will receive the Holy Fire in order to transport it to Greece.
The ceremonies at the Holy Sepulcher Church will be held without the presence of believers, while a similar control will also apply outside the walls, at the Jaffa Gate.
According to state broadcaster ERT, a special mission will depart by plane from Greece to Tel Aviv. The plane crew will remain at Ben Gurion airport, while the delegation will be transported by road to Jerusalem.
The procession will move from the Patriarchate to the Church via an internal route, with a police presence to control access.
As the area remain under high alert and missile attacks despite the agreed ceasefire between the US and Iran, the Foreign Ministry and the Greek Air Force are examining various transport scenarios, which will be implemented until the last minute, to ensure the safety of the mission and the regularity of the ceremony.
The Holy Fire usually arrives in Athens around 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. on Holy Saturday and from there is being transported per airplanes to seven destinations across Greece.These are: Alexandroupolis, Heraklion, Corfu, Chania, Mytilene, Rhodes and Santorini.
It is then distributed to several big and smaller churches, where the faithful receive it from the priest at Midnight.
They all chant Jesus Resurrection and bring their candles with the Αγιο Φως – the “Holy Light” as we call it in Greece – to their homes to be blessed.
