An Athens court acquitted a journalist who wrote a book about the Holy Fire

An Athens court acquitted journalist Dimitris Alikakos, who wrote a book about the Holy Fire in 2019, which the Patriarchate of Jerusalem called blasphemy. This was reported by the Greek portal avgi.gr.

According to him, a three-member Athens court acquitted Alikakos and the manager of the Ekremes publishing house after a lawsuit filed against them by Archbishop Konstantinos Aristarchos and Archbishop Isidore of Hierapolis “for continuous libel in the press, violation of the confidentiality of private conversations and violation of the law on personal data." The reason for filing the lawsuit was statements that the journalist included in his book “Salvation - About the Holy Fire,” published five years ago. From what was written it followed that the ceremony of the descent of the Holy Fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was supposedly not a miracle, but a product of human intervention.

The court hearing itself took place at the end of March.

The Holy Fire descended on Holy Saturday on the eve of Easter in the Edicule - a chapel in the center of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ (Church of the Holy Sepulcher) in Jerusalem. A particle of the Holy Fire was handed over to representatives of the delegation of the St. Andrew the First-Called Foundation (FAP) in Jerusalem; the lamp will be delivered to the Russian Federation on May 4, the FAP press service told reporters.