How can you explain the miracle of the Holy Fire?

[Succubus]

So, we have orthodox priests playing with phosphorus, and contradictory stories about some column.  Where's the miracle again?

No, silly. An engineer filled the priests crack with phosphorus which immediately self ignited and the resulting conflagration buckled the columns causing the roof to collapse into the sacristy and detonating the gunpowder stored under the alter.
The amazing part? No one in the party of Japanese tourists were injured. A fucking miracle I tell you.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

OP, you claim that magic of some kind happened in this event, right?

[Thracian]

Every Easter at the church built on the location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus the Patriarch's candle is lit miraculously and in the first 33 minutes it doesn't burn skin, hair or clothes while it's shared among the believers present.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I do not believe it is possible to doubt a miracle

Not only is it possible, it is practically obligatory. The very nature of proclaimed 'miracles' makes it incumbent upon anyone whose brain hasn't been turned into proselytizing mush to doubt them.

Boru

---

Every Easter at the church built on the location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus the Patriarch's candle is lit miraculously and in the first 33 minutes it doesn't burn skin, hair or clothes while it's shared among the believers present.

There is no such location.

Boru

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Every Easter at the church built on the location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus the Patriarch's candle is lit miraculously and in the first 33 minutes it doesn't burn skin, hair or clothes while it's shared among the believers present.

And that's magic?

[ignoramus]

So this Jesus character probably never existed and if he did, certainly not with the magic bits, but the miracles are real?
Are we clutching desperately at anything to maintain the faith? Don't fear. It's common. Most atheists here were religious at one point.

Candles and flames do not prove anything my friend... Show us God? Not third hand worn out stories ...

[GUBU]

It's been claimed that the Patriarch can dip his candles in white phosphorous so they spontaneously ignite but it's not limited to that. On

Moderator Notice
sorry, 30/30 violation by new member

starting from 3:15:00 you can see people having no regard for safety, holding candles close to face and clothes, and some even resting their palms over the fire.
And then there's this.

Moderator Notice
SNIP, sorry, new members aren't allowed to post links, might be to a virus or something

"On Easter 2008, the cracked column was the subject of Andrey Volkov’s study. The Russian physicist sent high definition photographs of the crack to a scientific expert, Evgeny Michailovich Morozov,6 who is considered one of the top researchers in the world in the field of Fracture Mechanics7 and Physics of Strength of Materials.

Professor Evgeny Michailovich Morozov and his latest scientific work entitled 

Mechanics of Elastic-plastic Fracture,8 which presents the findings of contemporary laboratory research concerning the theory of fractures and examines issues of the behaviour of objects that have suffered fractures – from the criteria of their development to more complex problems of Fracture Mechanics.

This coincidence, that on exactly the Easter when the Fire did not descend, the fracture appeared – is that not a miracle? Of course one could say that all of this was a setup and that the fracture in the column had been created using artificial means. We turned for information to Evgeny Michailovich Morozov, who is a leading expert in the field of Fracture Mechanics not only in Russia, but in the entire world, and has written more than 800 scientific papers on this subject. Evgeny Michailovich examined the high definition photographs of the fracture and declared explicitly that this could only appear as a result of electrical discharge; such is its structure. What does this mean? That it was completely impossible for anyone to manufacture this fracture: imagine how powerful a transformer one would need, and particularly in the sixteenth century, when people had no idea about the existence of electrical energy!
 
Undoubtedly, the scientific opinion of Evgeny Morozov carries great weight and confirms the written sources that mention the miraculous splitting of the column. But I wanted a second opinion on the matter and so I turned to one of the leading Greek scientists in the field of Fracture Mechanics, Professor George Α. Papadopoulos10 of the University of Athens, to whom I sent high definition photographs of the fracture.

Professor Papadopoulos, having examined the photographs, judged that the fracture of the column was indeed caused by an electrical discharge which occurred simultaneously with a seismic wave directed upwards. This combined pressure on the column – electrical discharge plus seismic wave – he believes to be inexplicable and he consequently arrived at the conclusion that “one could only speak of a miracle.”
Professor Papadopoulos, in response to a related email request from me, states the following:
 
Dear Mr. Skarlakidis,
 
Thank you for your email dated 31/1/2010. I believe I can be of assistance to your worthy project.
For the last thirty-five years I have been working with Experimental Fracture Mechanics at the Physics of Strength of Materials Laboratory of the National University of Athens and I believe wherever there is no scientific explanation, there is a miracle.
I have no reason to doubt the Munich Library manuscript dated to 1634 which gives an account of the miraculous manner of the rupture of the column as well as what ensued: that the Greek patriarch used this Fire to light his candle. I do not believe it is possible to doubt a miracle and especially where there are related accounts.
By examining the fracture from the photographs, we could conclude that it is a result of combined pressure: a combination of electrical discharge (probably a strong lightning bolt) and a large seismic tremor. The electrical discharge, due to the high momentary temperature, embrittled the material in the column down the length of a narrow area (origin). The surface seismic wave put pressure on the column resulting in torsional oscillation (fatigue). This simultaneous pressure resulted in the fracture beginning at the base of the column and continuing upwards in a zigzag course (as it appears in the photograph the course of the fracture is not linear) along the length of the area made embrittled by the electrical discharge. If the above indeed occurred, in my opinion this simultaneous combined pressure of the column remains inexplicable. Therefore, one could speak only of a miracle.
Dear Mr. Skarlakidis I would like to offer my congratulations on your work and I wholeheartedly wish you great success.
 
Regards,

George Α. Papadopoulos
Professor of Mechanics,
Physics of Strength of Materials Laboratory
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens"

Moderator Notice
 Thracian:

welcome to atheist forums, but please start an introduction thread and review the rules.

Thank you

Post reported, first for copy pasta. If you put the body of the email into a search engine you bring up a number of fringe and wacko threads on other fora.

Second the email very likely libels an academic by passing off bullshit as his own words (the academic is real, I very much doubt the words are his or any other scientist's, for that matter)

---

I've had a holy fire in my pants, bad decisions.

Moses didn't exist anyway.

Spicy Tandoori pizza last night?

Always does it for me.

[chimp3]

Every Easter at the church built on the location of the burial and resurrection of Jesus the Patriarch's candle is lit miraculously and in the first 33 minutes it doesn't burn skin, hair or clothes while it's shared among the believers present.

I am not compelled to explain this. The gullible worshippers  should be trying harder to do so.

[LastPoet]

So, if we join this guy, MK and little rik together, it might become a reaction just about everyone would be awed to see.

Oooooh I have great ideas.

[Thracian]

Post reported, first for copy pasta.  If you put the body of the email into a search engine you bring up a number of fringe and wacko threads on other fora.

False accusation. I have indeed copy-pasted it from a site, the link being removed as it can be plainly seen. What would the "fringe and wacko threads" have to do with it I don't know, but they don't even exist. I have replicated your search and I found one actual forum thread, some archived /pol/ and /x/ threads, and two on fake forums made for advertising revenue.

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