In general, the ceremonial uses of lights in this church were originated as a forceful representation of Christ and of salvation.  On the eve of Easter a new fire, emblematic of the arisen Christ, is kindled, and all candles throughout the year are lighted from this.  During the service of Holy Week thirteen lighted candles are placed before the altar and as the penitential songs are sung they are extinguished one by one.  When but one remains burning it is carried behind the altar, thus symbolizing the last days of Christ on earth.  It is said that this ceremony has been traced to the eighth century.  On Easter Eve, after the new fire is lighted and blessed, certain ceremonies of light symbolize the resurrection of Christ.  From this new fire three candles are lighted and from these the Paschal Candle.  The origin of the latter is uncertain, but it symbolizes a victorious Christ.  From it all the ceremonial lights of the church are lighted and they thereby are emblematic of the presence of the light of Christ.

Many interesting ceremonial uses may be traced out, but space permits a glimpse of only a few.  At baptismal services the paschal candle is dipped into the water so that the latter will be effective as a regenerative element.  The baptized child is reborn as a child of light.  Lighted candles are placed in the hands of the baptized persons or of their god-parents.  Those about to take vows carry lights before the church official and the same idea is attached to the custom of carrying or of holding lights on other occasions such as weddings and first communion.  Lights are placed around the bodies of the dead and are carried at the funeral.  They not only protect the dead from the powers of darkness but they symbolize the dead as still living in the light of Christ.  The use of lighted candles around bodies of the dead still survives to some extent among Protestants, but their significance has been lost sight of.  Even in the eighteenth century funerals in England were accompanied by lighted tapers, but the carrying of lights in other processions appears to have ceased with the Reformation.  In some parts of Scotland it is still the custom to place two lighted candles on a table beside a corpse on the day of the funeral.

With the importance of light in the ritual of the church it is not surprising that the extinction of lights is a part of the ceremony of excommunication.  Such a ceremony is described in an early writing thus:  “Twelve priests should stand about the bishop, holding in their hands lighted torches, which at the conclusion of the anathema or excommunication they should cast down and trample under foot.”  When the excommunicant is reinstated, a lighted candle is placed in his hands as a symbol of reconciliation.  These and many other ceremonial uses of light have been and are practised, but they are not always mandatory.  Furthermore, the customs have varied from time to time, but the few which have been touched upon illustrate the impressive part that light has played in religious services.