The holy Fire is described by Orthodox Christians as a miracle that occurs every year at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Great Saturday, or Holy Saturday, the day preceding Orthodox Easter.

 

According to tradition, on this day at 2:00PM a sun beam hits Jesus tomb, lighting 33 candles held by the Patriarch of the Greek Church. the fire is then transfers to pilgrim's candles who continue to spread it out of the church area and into the streets of the old city of Jerusalem. The fire is also taken to the other churches and even carried to main churches in other countries.

 

The tradition is celebrated mainly by eastern churches, the Roman Catholic church denounce the Holy Fire as a fraud.

 

The Ethiopian Church has no presence rights in the ceremony and therefore holds its own ceremony later that evening at the courtyard of the Deir Al-Sultan monastery, which sits above the Holy Sepulchre church. 

The Ethiopian pilgrims pour into the courtyard from early hours of the day to pray and celebrate the Holy Fire later in the evening. 

The peak of the event occurs when candles are being lit and the pilgrims chant and surround the courtyard center three times