Show miracle of them the holy fire stirs crowd to frenzy six eastern rites simultaneously ob serve the most precious of all the festivals of eastern christianity easter eye eve in the holy city finds the lurching with their curious dancing gait around the dome on the roof of st Fl helenar elenas He lenas chapel the armenians Armen ians chanting within the chapel the gatins singing their midnight mass la in the chapel of the apparition the gongs high up to in the dome of the church shrilly calling the orthodox to prayer and jacobite and coptic litanies swelling this babel of christian eustas ecstasy 7 during the week that thus reaches its ita climax two services stand out from bromall all the rest the placid miracle play of the washing of the feet based on the thirteenth chapter of st john which is ii performed separately on maundy thursday by the orthodox the armenians Armen ians and the jacobites and the wild outbreak of the holy ore fire on the saturday before easter which Is held jointly by the orthodox the ar men ians lans the copts coats and the jacobites in ID the lofty rotunda of the church of the three ceremonies of the washing of the feet the llie orthodox service Is the best known for it Is held publicly on the forecourt of the church while the armenian find end jacobite services are held indoors the armenian in n the bathed cathedral ral of st james in the southwestern quarter of the walled city the jacobite to in the church of their monastery of st mark also in the mie southwestern quarter those who have hare seen all a three services say that the service lu in the splendid armenian armenini Arme ninn cathedral la Is incomparably the finest the holy fire the little e tableau of the garden of gethsemane Is a feature peculiar to the orthodox service Al members embers of the clergy impersonating st peter st james and st john dispose themselves for sleep on the steps of the platform and presently are aroused from their slumbers slumber they fall asleep again and are again roused this bit of symbolism brings the service to a close and the patriarch and his bis clergy reforming in procession leave the forecourt to the renewed clangor of the bells from these simple services the as bounding toun ding spectacle of the holy fire la Is a 8 violent transition it Is moving beyond belief but it Is a devotional rite this Is the annual miracle ot of the bringing down of flame from heaven land and the thousands of believers who have waited all night around the sepulcher in the rotunda where the flame descends are moved to an uncontrollable emotion as the hour nears lucars by ten on the morning of the saturday before easter the floor t r the rotunda Is pack edwith a seeth I 1 a swaying murmuring mass leaving a narrow lane from the old cru j if idere church now the orthodox ca thedral to the door ot of the sepulcher ae where pollee police holding hands bands preserve a way tor for the coming of the patriarch higher in the rotunda the arched win dows of the ambulatory and the upper galleries betow below the dome are simil ly crowded scene of color and the gold and silver of hanging lamps lamp the bright garments of the women la in the galleries and the blend ing red of the fezzes struggling about the tb walls of the little pinnacled sepulcher below the low roar of voices rising into snatches of chanting and the tha clapping of hands in rhythm the udden sudden of aner shouts as a flying wedge of men bearing a frenzied singer on their shoulders seek to force their way nearer to the sep welter only to be met and broken broke up by it rush of police the never end lag ing rhythmic chant which gives time and beat and measure to the rising all these comprise a scene beene i overwhelming in its effect back in the 3 more tha people were trampled to death at one of these frenzied miracles ot of the holy fire at twelve the bells overhead break into a deafening torrent ot of bound the procession emerges through the narrow lane trona from the orthodox cathedral banners borne by choristers cho and laymen bishops following and finally the white bearded and white robed patriarch a golden g olden cross upon ills his crown crowll three tines times the procession circles the sepulcher diving j through the iwed awed and hushed bushed crowd finally it halts before the low door the ice patriarch removes his crown and an 0 o acolyte bears it away on a silver dish ills hla heavy robes are removed ud and he passes into the sepulcher followed by an armenian bishop in coral biretta and blue stole wild exultation the tension Is now ft at its highest pitch A lane has been cleared from the smoke stained hole bole la in the tide aide of the sepulcher to an outer door runners in white ringlets sing lets and shorts aborts are d willing at the hole and the crowd lt h has resolved itself into a thousand nd clutters clusters of tapers straining toward joward the hole through which the heaven ial sent fire Is to be given A passionate suspense BUt pense mile filli every dragging second the rest happens more quickly than i 0 the eye can take it la in A confused impression remains of the thrust of it a flaming torch from the hole of a reat great roar of exultation drowned dro wiled by the he furious clangor of the bells of half naked runners dashing away with blazing billing torches held high over head bead of fire dancing froni from taper to taper and candle to candle until the entire rotunda glows with a million wavering ai points of brightness I 1 of the aged patriarch san staggering from the sepulcher ath e P holding aloft three his blazing asa s ot tapers an alg ure of gleaming gleam lne nolte title against a back ground of dark faces and dancing fire there remains the memory of his w white h 0 form carried struggling aej s w waylor n y ang nR into the orthodox thodos Or cathedral there remains too the memory of the processions professions process ions circling the sepulcher rejoicing in the possession of the re deeming fire new york tork times mag azine |