Holy Fire

The story unfolds during the two weeks prior to the Greek Orthodox Easter and takes its cue from real events that occurred in Egypt and Jerusalem in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of this century. Amos Barnea, the protagonist of the novel, is a young Mosad field agent who has disappointed his superiors and has been demoted to a desk job. Amos is called to retrieve an ancient manuscript, Codex Sinaiticus, which was once property of a Greek Orthodox monastery in Sinai, and which has disappeared from the National Museum in Jerusalem. In an effort to redeem his reputation, Amos accepts the mission, but is forced to reevaluate his priorities when he becomes entangled romantically with Yulia, a mysterious American student. Yulia unwittingly draws Amos into a lethal power game that is played out between the Greek Orthodox and the Armenian Patriarchates over the ancient ritual of the Holy Fire. The age-old ritual, which takes place on the eve of Orthodox Easter inside the Tomb of Christ in the Holy Sepulchre Church, has been a source of violent disputes between the two Patriarchates for more than a thousand years. The leaders of the two Christian sects stop shy of nothing in order to establish their hegemony.