<P> This pious fraud, first devised in the ninth century, was devoutly cherished by the Latin crusaders, and is annually repeated by the clergy of the Greek, Armenian, and Coptic sects, who impose on the credulous spectators for their own benefit and that of their tyrants . </P> <P> Thomas Tegg, a 19th - century Englishman, included a deflationary account of the event in The London Encyclopaedia, published in 1828, speculating that the event is purely natural and motivated by pecuniary interest . </P> <P> Some Greeks have been critical of the Holy Fire, such as Adamantios Korais, who condemned what he considered to be religious fraud in his treatise "On the Holy Light of Jerusalem ." He referred to the event as "machinations of fraudulent priests" and to the "unholy" light of Jerusalem as "a profiteers' miracle". </P> <P> In 2005, in a live demonstration on Greek television, author Michael Kalopoulos, dipped three candles in white phosphorus . The candles spontaneously ignited after approximately 20 minutes due to the self - ignition properties of white phosphorus when in contact with air . According to Kalopoulos' website: </P>

Where did the holy fire get its name