Annually on the first Sunday after the Easter in all the orthodox churches is read the Gospel of John, in which we see how the resurrected Christ appeared to his disciples. Apostle Thomas was absent at that time, that is why he did not believe in the resurrection of Christ: "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe!"
He disbelieved, although he saw many wonders in the time of Jesus' life: how Jesus turned water into wine, fed the 5 thousand people, walked on water, numerous healings of people according to their faith. Thomas saw even that, how Heavenly Father through his Son resurrected dead Lazarus with the Divine energy... Then Christ appeared and told the apostle: "Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe." And Thomas answered: "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him: "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
For two thousand years the number of unbelievers, similar to Thomas, has increased infinitely. They do not believe in obvious things, doubt in things which are true for others. Patriarch Moses in his sermons shows that the situation with Thomas who checked and made sure of Christ's resurrection, served for many people who doubted, and helped even until now to believe in God
(listen here...).
But Heavenly Father helps the modern person to believe not only through the biblical examples. Invariably every year in the temple of Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem there is a wonderful descent of the Holy Fire the day before the orthodox holiday of Christ's Resurrection, on Great Saturday.
The divine service begins approximately the day before the orthodox Easter. Near 10 a.m. on the Great Saturday all the candles and icon lamps are blown out in a temple, the Cubiculum chapel above the Holy Sepulchre is checked up if there is fire. The ceremony of the Holy Fire begins near 1 p.m. and finishes at the entrance into Cubiculum, The festive vestments is taken off the orthodox patriarch. A large icon lamp and 33 candles are given to him. Then patriarch enters the Cubiculum. Now all depends on him, on his secret prayer. The light in the temple is switched off and a tense expectation of patriarch with the Fire in his hands begins. In different times the expectation lasted from 5 minutes to a few hours. Witnesses assert that before the descent of the Holy Fire the whole temple is filled with lightning and flashes which run down the walls and columns and spread among the palmers.
When the time comes, the doors of cave are opened and Patriarch goes out, in his hands he holds blazing candles and he blesses people with this Holy Fire. And then a fire is being given from one person to another. The Fire is taken away out of the temple, as quick as possible, to bring this Holy Fire and good news about its descent to the remotest corners of the world. In this way the modern miracle of Heavenly Father occurs for a modern people. And not only the descent of the Holy Fire is a miracle but also the fire itself, because in the first minutes it does not burn and a lot of the people present wash their faces with it.
But it is not enough for the today's atheists, sceptics. They need, as Thomas, to put fingers in wounds, to believe. Therefore they search new scientific confirmations of existence of the Creator. And they do find. So in 2011 Russian scientist from Kurchatov Institute of atomic energy, the candidate of physico-mathematical sciences Andrey Volkov with the help of highly accurate devices conducted a scientific experiment in the temple of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to find the origin of the Holy Fire.
Tentatively Volkov presupposed that this fire is a plasma discharge. Therefore the jump of the electromagnetic fields must take place during the descent of the Holy fire. During the 6 hour research of electromagnetic background in the temple, the computer fixed the increase of intensity of radiation twofold exactly in the moment of the descent of the Holy fire. "Now it is clear that the Holy fire was not created by people. It is not a deception, not a mystification: its material "imprints" can be measured, - said the scientist
(more...).
Today humanity needs faith, sensible faith which helps in such a difficult life and saves a soul. Therefore Lord constantly shows that He is with us. He as a loving father gives us his hand and calls us: "Reach out your hand towards me. Do not disbelieve, but believe."
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