“For the first time ever, the shrine will be taken to the USA, we have already obtained a permission for taking it onboard the plane,” press service of the foundation told Interfax-Religion on Friday.
The Holy Fire will be brought to the USA on the initiative of parishioners of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.
The Holy Fire is brought to dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church and to the patriarchal Easter service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in frames of the many-year program of St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. The important part of the program is a prayer for peace in the Holy Land lifted up by the Russian delegation and the patriarch of Jerusalem.
The Holy Fire condescends on the Great Saturday in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during a special service. Russian monk Daniel first described the event as he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in early 12th century.
The Fire condescends in a chapel erected in 1810 over the place of the burial of Christ. Not long before Easter, which Christians of the whole world celebrate on April 16 this year, the first for 200 years restoration of the Holy Sepulchre was completed.
