No*s
Captain Obvious
The miracle of the Holy Light is a miracle unique to Orthodoxy. It doesn't occur with any other group.
Every Pascha, the people gather to commemorate Christ's resurrection from the dead. On Holy Saturday, they have a procession, the authorities search the tomb for combustables and the like, and they seal it. This is done under the observation of the authorities, the Armenians, and other groups in schism. After this, they seal the tomb.
On the morrow, there is another procession to the Sepulchre, and the Patriarch is again searched, again in front of his rivals. If he fails or is shown to be taking part in fraud, then their churches get a chance at bringing the Holy Fire out. They have every interest for it to fail, for the heterodox and the Orthodox don't get along well there.
After this search, the Patriarch is stripped of his vestaments and brought in with the minimal set of undergarments. Once inside the tomb, the people chant kyrie eleison for an extended period of time. After an indeterminate amount of time, the Holy Fire descends. Sometimes, the Patriarch's candle just lights up, and sometimes it floats about the air before lighting things up. The fire can be touched, and even held. Indeed, to us, this is the very fire of Pentecost.
Other bishops have received the oppertunity to call fort the miraculous fire. They are never successful. The Turkish overlords have tried to stop it that way. When it was done, the people left disappointed, but the Greek Orthodox patriarch was outside atop a column.
After seeing their disappointment, he proclaimed "One is the true faith, and one is the true Church!" and lept down from the column. The column split open, and the Holy Fire proceeded from it.
The Turks tried to inhibit on other occasions, but with similar success (like trying to replace the Patriarch's wick with copper, but it still lit). Today, skeptics try and explain it in a varity of ways. However, they all fall short. One says they cause it with a lighter, but the miracle is at least 1400 years old. There were no lighters there. Others fail in other ways. Why can the fire be held? Why does it float about the air sometimes?
Other churches also have grounds to rebuke the Greek superstition and thus remove its support for Orthodoxy's claim to be the One Church, but they haven't explain it either.
In the end, the Holy Fire and the Eucharist are pretty much the only clockwork miracles.
For some more information:
http://www.holylight.gr/
http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Orthodox_Miracles/Pascha_Holy_Light/index.shtml
Every Pascha, the people gather to commemorate Christ's resurrection from the dead. On Holy Saturday, they have a procession, the authorities search the tomb for combustables and the like, and they seal it. This is done under the observation of the authorities, the Armenians, and other groups in schism. After this, they seal the tomb.
On the morrow, there is another procession to the Sepulchre, and the Patriarch is again searched, again in front of his rivals. If he fails or is shown to be taking part in fraud, then their churches get a chance at bringing the Holy Fire out. They have every interest for it to fail, for the heterodox and the Orthodox don't get along well there.
After this search, the Patriarch is stripped of his vestaments and brought in with the minimal set of undergarments. Once inside the tomb, the people chant kyrie eleison for an extended period of time. After an indeterminate amount of time, the Holy Fire descends. Sometimes, the Patriarch's candle just lights up, and sometimes it floats about the air before lighting things up. The fire can be touched, and even held. Indeed, to us, this is the very fire of Pentecost.
Other bishops have received the oppertunity to call fort the miraculous fire. They are never successful. The Turkish overlords have tried to stop it that way. When it was done, the people left disappointed, but the Greek Orthodox patriarch was outside atop a column.
After seeing their disappointment, he proclaimed "One is the true faith, and one is the true Church!" and lept down from the column. The column split open, and the Holy Fire proceeded from it.
The Turks tried to inhibit on other occasions, but with similar success (like trying to replace the Patriarch's wick with copper, but it still lit). Today, skeptics try and explain it in a varity of ways. However, they all fall short. One says they cause it with a lighter, but the miracle is at least 1400 years old. There were no lighters there. Others fail in other ways. Why can the fire be held? Why does it float about the air sometimes?
Other churches also have grounds to rebuke the Greek superstition and thus remove its support for Orthodoxy's claim to be the One Church, but they haven't explain it either.
In the end, the Holy Fire and the Eucharist are pretty much the only clockwork miracles.
For some more information:
http://www.holylight.gr/
http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Orthodox_Miracles/Pascha_Holy_Light/index.shtml
.