In 2019, Patriarch Irenaios of Jerusalem, who served as Patriarch from 2000 till his dismissal in 2005, was asked about the authenticity of the miracle of the Holy Light in light of the allegations of some who serve under Patriarch Theophilos III that it is a hoax, to which he replied:
"I do not know what others say, I do not know if they said it or how they said it, what I know is what I experienced as many times as God required me to perform the Service of the Holy Light. I entered the Holy Sepulcher, I prayed on my knees holding the bundles of candles that, like the oil lamp, lit by themselves. I never looked into 'how' or 'why', but I experienced the event and the miracle of the Resurrection of the Lord with fear of God and awe like all the old and contemporary genuine Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre and every faithful Orthodox Christian."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
"I do not know what others say, I do not know if they said it or how they said it, what I know is what I experienced as many times as God required me to perform the Service of the Holy Light. I entered the Holy Sepulcher, I prayed on my knees holding the bundles of candles that, like the oil lamp, lit by themselves. I never looked into 'how' or 'why', but I experienced the event and the miracle of the Resurrection of the Lord with fear of God and awe like all the old and contemporary genuine Fathers of the Holy Sepulchre and every faithful Orthodox Christian."
Source: Translated by John Sanidopoulos.
