On the issue of genuine relics and fakes, which caused a lot of feedback. We would like to continue the topic, taking the opportunity of bringing part of the relics of St. Nicholas to Russia. Tell me, what has happened in recent years?
– It is unlikely that we can touch on all aspects of this topic in an interview. Relics and relics are the sacred heritage of the Church, postulating the connection of times, material objects demonstrating the triumph of the Spirit, silent witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ. This is an eternal and extensive topic.
Speaking about applied aspects, about the activities of the Center for the Study of Orthodox Relics at the Russian Orthodox University in Moscow, the Center for the Study of Christian Relics at the St. Petersburg Metropolitanate, we can say that this is the Church’s reaction to the change in the spiritual balance of the world. In the Middle Ages, wars were fought over the possession of sacred relics, special operations were carried out, such as, in fact, the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas to Bari; then it was believed that shrines increased the status and practically justified the existence of cities and counties. Today, post-Christian Europe is abandoning its roots, churches and monasteries are being closed, and the estates of the old aristocracy are being liquidated. Relics are being liberated from temples, many of which even date back to the sack of Constantinople. Along with genuine shrines, a stream of fake relics poured into Russia.
– Recently, Pravmir interviewed Archpriest Andrei Boytsov, who suggested that many relics of St. Nicholas are fake. What percentage of authentic relics do you think comes to Russia?
– As far as I remember, we were talking about relics that have come to Russia in recent years. Most of the ancient Orthodox shrines ended up in the Catholic Church as a result of the aggressive policies of the West. Temples in Germany and Spain now possess the treasures of Constantinople and Byzantium. But, despite the tragedy that happened to the Catholic Church in the 20th century, careful attitude to the relics has been preserved. Authentic relics that have passed through the centuries are quite well documented. There cannot be any relics in zip bags simply by definition. If any particles of relics are separated, then this must be confirmed by a document and sealed by the bishop. It is impossible to open the reliquary without breaking the seal.
Hundreds of rulers, priests and laymen brought relics obtained in different ways to our centers, but when we investigated their origin, it turned out that the overwhelming majority were false relics with very obvious signs of forgery. A man in Amsterdam fabricates counterfeit relics, makes counterfeit seals, counterfeit documents. A man in Bari makes fake relics with fake documents. Specific people in Belgium, France, and Italy forge documents and reliquaries. So I agree with Father Andrei on the basis of factual material.
“Reliquary”, sealed on both sides with imitation seals of high-ranking hierarchs of the Church with an alleged particle of the relics of St. George the Victorious. Modern fake.
On the other hand, the Catholic Church has preserved many shrines that are of guaranteed ancient origin. Parts of the Cross handed over to Saint Helena, the relics of ancient saints, such artifacts as the titlo, on which a Roman soldier wrote “This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” - all of them have been preserved. The latter, by the way, was studied by paleographers from Israel and came to the conclusion that it dates back to the 1st century and Palestine, since the writing of the letters is characteristic of this particular time and place. In the Middle Ages, these relics were very well preserved; of course, no one scattered them. Do they, their parts, come to Russia? Rarely, but yes.
– What can we say about the authenticity of ancient relics kept on Mount Athos or in the Catholic Church?
– By and large, no one doubts the authenticity of many shrines, such as the relics of ancient saints, parts of the Holy Cross on Mount Athos or in the Roman temple of Santa Croce, and so on. As for the shrine particles, their paths can be traced from the documentation. Let's say there is a document that states that in such and such a year the vicar of the Pope transferred such and such part of the relics of St. Andrew the First-Called to the Archbishop of Florence. The Archbishop of Florence blessed that part of the relics be placed in a certain church, and there is also a document about this. The transferred part is sealed with a seal and has not been opened.
In Rome and Venice there really are historical relics of Christianity, and no one doubts this except scoffers and enemies of the Church. On Mount Athos, and in many other places, there are genuine historical shrines of Christianity. What is the point of doubting the transfer of relics that were accompanied by documents of high-ranking bishops, for example, the Bishop of Porphyrenes in the Vatican? He no doubt had access to authentic relics, as well as some control over his actions.
Authentic Western sealed reliquary containing a piece of the relics of St. Valentine, accompanied by the document of the Vatican Custodian of Shrines
Markus, who produces heirlooms in Stuttgart
– Is it possible for Orthodox Christians to purchase relics? Buy it back?
– Canon law clearly prohibits the sale of relics under penalty of excommunication from the Catholic Church. However, the temples where the relics were kept are closed, and the aristocrats, the guardians of the shrines, die. Small loopholes remain. As a rule, these are negotiations. There is no market for genuine relics and there cannot be. Let’s say there is one organization in Europe that is engaged in the liquidation of churches, and sometimes genuine relics appear on sale. This is a fact. But most of the relics that you can buy at flea markets in Berlin or Naples, Paris or Milan are largely fakes.
A homemade “reliquary” with a fake document. Modern fake
-Who makes them? What kind of people are these?
– For example, one person named Markus lives in Stuttgart. On modern test tubes, he imitates the seal impressions issued by bishops in the 17th–19th centuries, signing the contents with the names of various saints and shrines. Sometimes he even uses an inkjet printer to make a confirmation “document.” I don’t know what he puts inside – cow bones, pork bones, human bones. But he made hundreds of such “relics.” And so he sells them for 20-100-500 dollars.
False seals of a supposedly high-ranking hierarch. Modern fake
Our employee talked to him. He said that he bought the property of the Catholic monastery. We checked from different sides, the information was not confirmed. He is known to antiquarians under the pseudonym All-about-tea and “rheinischekunst”.
Another similar master is known to be a professor from Bari. He forges and sells relics to antique dealers, and we already know his signature. He also makes false documents. He trades on the Internet under the pseudonym Marystar2012. Some of his forgeries are in our collection of fake relics at RPU. Made happens sometimes good level. He sold quite a lot to Russia.
Another person - Ralph of Napier - is an impostor bishop. He sells hundreds of relics, accompanying them with his documents. But there is no such bishop in the Catholic Church.
Another person wrote to our priest friends, introduced himself as an assistant to an archimandrite from Greece and offered the relics of saints from that country. It seems to be for free. But when it came down to it, he said: pay for the delivery, at least 500 euros. The recipient of the money was an Israeli citizen living in Greece. Not connected in any way with the Church of Greece.
A false document accompanying the relic. Modern fake
I already told Pravmir about the case of a Greek deacon selling bones dug up from a cemetery.
There are also active swindler priests in the Catholic Church. At the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, a German researcher of relics spoke about the story when, not so long ago, a Roman Catholic priest began to sell relics of various saints. Whatever kind of relic a person wants, he was ready to sell one. But as soon as they tried to check the person’s integrity, it turned out that the information provided by the priest - the dealer of relics - was false. Recently it became known that the Vatican exiled the priest to the provinces after learning about his art. Another person, a subdeacon in northern Italy, also sold any relics inexpensively. In response to the request, the bishop of that province sent an answer - “sorry, this is all a misunderstanding.”
Unfortunately, there are many such cases. There is a frequent situation when a priest comes from Saratov and says: “I was in Rome and bought the relics of St. Peter. Please look." But we have already encountered this and immediately ask: “Bought for 200 dollars from such and such a person, in such and such a store?” This is fake.
False shrines are brought both “from the Greeks” and “from the Latins.” People come, bringing “relics from Corfu”, “relics from Bari”. And in Corfu they report that the relics of St. Spyridon were not given to anyone at all, and in Bari no one was given the relics of St. Nicholas.
I sometimes get the impression that Western intelligence agencies are behind some counterfeit relic dealers in order to discredit the church revival in Russia, and I believe that this is already becoming a matter of national security.
– Isn’t it possible to bring fraudsters to justice?
– One businessman I know, who bought several “relics” for a decent amount for the temple, tried to initiate a case against a seller of fakes in the West, but I don’t know how it all ended.
– Can the rector or parishioners understand for themselves whether the church in their church is fake or not?
– A person who knows about the origin of a relic knows a lot, sometimes everything. I think that we should not decide these issues for others. It is clear that when priests receive relics that have an incomprehensible or dubious origin, and due to some minor circumstances, perhaps for profit or not wanting to offend the sponsor who spent the money on acquiring the “shrine,” they allow the worship of possible fakes - this, of course, is deeply wrong . It is the responsibility of the hierarchy to stop such cases.
Explore in detail?
Mikhail Arteev in front of a copy of the Shroud of Turin. Photo by Maria Temnova
– In Orthodox churches there are relics of ancient saints, including St. Nicholas, how authentic are they?
- I don't know. We focus on relics coming in recent years. Were particles separated from the relics of St. Nicholas? Yes, they separated. They were mainly taken from the part located in Venice. After all, many small bone fragments are preserved there. At one time, relics were separated in Bari - for the Vatican. If the shrines brought are historically reliable, they are authentic.
We had the opportunity to accompany the bringing of several small particles of the relics of St. Nicholas. In these cases, we know the history of where these particles come from. One piece is from a closed church in the suburbs of Rome, accompanied by a document from the Pope's vicar, the other from the inner chapel of a monastic order with documents from the Bishop of Porphyrenes, keeper of the Vatican's shrines. Another relic of St. Nicholas comes from Belgium, from a closed church. Another relic is from a closed church in Genoa, with documents of the Archbishop of Genoa. These are all relics from closed temples, their origin is clear and transparent.
Or the relic that was brought to the temple on New Square through the labors of Abbot Peter (Eremeev) - in an ancient reliquary, from the chapel of the Roman monsignor from famous surname. We are talking about particles of three to ten millimeters; due to the clarity of origin in the listed cases, there is no need to doubt their historical authenticity.
In the Sretensky Monastery there is a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas, which we accompanied. I was personally present when the sealed reliquary with an ancient parchment inscription was opened. But there are literally only a few of these sealed particles that have a reliable history against the general background. I've seen hundreds of supposed "relics" of St. Nicholas being sold at flea markets. There is no problem getting some kind of relics, 100-300 dollars and you are the owner. One problem - they are fake. As for the historically authentic ones, it’s a different story, there are few of them, they are in no hurry to give them away, but there are many who want to get them, negotiations need to be held.
Ark with particles of the relics of six saints of the Church, donated to the St. Petersburg Theological Academy by the Sacred Heritage Foundation
– Are DNA tests, hydrocarbon analysis and other similar studies carried out to confirm the authenticity of the relics?
– The original relics have been preserved and sealed. Genuine relics are transferred under documents. They don't appear out of nowhere. We all know that the relics of St. Nicholas are kept in Bari, we all know that the relics of St. Boniface are kept in the basilica on the Aventine Hill, we know that the Holy Cross is kept in the Basilica of Santa Croce, or in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore. In the 18th century, a particle of the relics of Saint Boniface was transferred to Tournai or another to Bruges. Now the church in Belgium is closing, and soon we will receive part of the relics of St. Boniface with documents - for the church in St. Petersburg. Given the comprehensive documentation, is there any point in doubting the authenticity of the relics?
Some say: “Are you even sure that the true relics of St. Nicholas rest in Bari?” Of course, one can doubt the entire church history, the acquisition by Saint Helen of the Life-Giving Cross, and the acquisition by the church of the relics of John the Baptist. But this is not ours, this is the non-church path.
Analysis also has a destructive side. Many research methods involve the destruction of part of the material. In the case of shrines this is unacceptable.
Special tests make sense in rare cases. The Bulgarians found in the ruins of the monastery a clay vessel on which was written: “The relics of St. John the Baptist.” As a result of research, it turned out that this is indeed an ancient reliquary, hidden during the upheavals of history. World media wrote about this.
In most cases, the shrines were looked after quite well. The system of storage and accounting of relics in the West was very clear, and in the twentieth century the Catholic Church did a great job in order to remove dubious relics from church circulation.
But the priests still turned to scientists. At the beginning of the 2000s, at a conference in Padua, anatomists studied two skulls and came to the conclusion that the relics of St. Luke, which are located in this city, correspond to the skull from Prague. As a result, a dubious chapter from Rome, which was mistakenly attributed to St. Luke, was removed to the museum.
The relics of St. Nicholas were also examined, and it was confirmed that in Venice there is indeed a part of the relics of the saint missing in Bari. This coincides with church tradition. There have been turbid periods, dark times in history. And there could be some troubles and inconsistencies. But this is not the rule, these are exceptions. Recently in Europe I observed an ancient shrine, the bringing of which to Russia we are currently negotiating. So there is a stack of documents five centimeters thick about everything. historical path her.
Another example. One Belarusian benefactor in Naples made a donation to the bishop for the maintenance of the temple. In response to the question: “How can I thank you?” he asked, if possible, to donate part of the relics of St. Januarius to the Belarusian temple. As time passed, the bishop separated part of the relics, put them in the ark, sealed them, and wrote out the corresponding document. That's it, the story is clear. There are no questions here.
Lecture by Mikhail Arteev at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy on the falsification of Christian shrines
– You say that there are not so many genuine, newly brought pieces of relics. What to do with antimensions in newly built churches?
– I don’t see a problem here at all. A tiny piece of relics from authentic relics of the Orthodox Church is placed in the antimension.
– Did you accompany the delivery of authentic relics to the Orthodox Church? Where? Where are they from?
– We follow the principles that I spoke about. These must be documented and historically reliable shrines. Behind each of them were months of negotiations and sometimes additional research. A policy of utmost documentation and transparency accompanies all our projects. If we donate a shrine to a church, along with copies of ancient documents, a document from the Orthodox bishop who sealed the shrine after its transposition is given. The sources, as I said, are simple - closed churches, monasteries, chapels.
We recently donated a small part of the relics of St. Nicholas to Belarus. The ark and reliquary, made by craftsmen of the Sacred Heritage Foundation, were handed over to Bishop Paul (Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslavsky, Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus. – Ed.). He also ordered that the reliquary be transferred to the church of the Theological Academy. Some time ago, after months of negotiations, part of the relics of St. Nicholas was brought and transferred to the Sretensky Monastery to Bishop Tikhon (Shevkunov).
Archimandrite (now bishop) Tikhon (Shevkunov) brings out the casket given to him with a particle of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for veneration by believers
Seven particles of the relics of ancient saints were transferred to the temple of the Patriarchal Metochion in Bari. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill gave the part of the Holy Cross that we brought to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery. Vladyka Ambrose was given for the church of the St. Petersburg Theological Academy an ark with particles of the relics of six holy fathers of the Church, revered as theologians: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom, Ambrose of Milan, Blessed Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, and Jerome of Stridon. But all this is only part of our work.
Archbishop Ambrose (Ermakov) brings out the ark with the relics of six saints of the Church for veneration for the first time
– You have seen so many shrines and fakes, have you experienced “professional burnout” when a shrine is perceived as something ordinary?
- No. True shrines are companions of the resurrection. They are accompanied by eternal spring. Yes, and miracles. When people tell me about a miracle, I usually immediately start saying: “Let's think about how this can be explained by natural causes.” But there are, for example, dozens of witnesses who saw how my finger healed in two days after being applied to the relics of St. Gregory the Wonderworker. And there are many such stories around. What happens to people near genuine relics is a separate question. People who are not at all prone to emotions, often skeptics in life, leave shrines with tears in their eyes, or priests who have been in the Church for a long time, for whom many things seem to have become familiar, say: “Can I still stay? I don’t want to leave.” Genuine shrines spread the grace of the Holy Spirit around them. And everyone feels it. I would like to say, as on Mount Tabor: “Lord! It is good for us to be here” (Matthew 17:4).
It is clear that a person, for example, is in some serious sin or has renounced his faith, he will have a different attitude. Sometimes even bitterness. But when a person is at least somehow directed towards God, he perceives the shrine as joy. And you never get tired of joy and love.
Prayer service before an authentic particle of the Life-Giving Cross, donated by the Sacred Naslenie Foundation to the Patriarchal Metochion of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Bari, Italy
Undercover work
– The Sacred Heritage Foundation – what are its tasks?
– Support for the full range of educational and research initiatives in the field of Christian shrines. Support for the search in closed churches and monasteries of the West, in the chapels of aristocratic families of Orthodox shrines, whose authenticity is documented and no doubts arise from the research. The mission is to forward them and give them to believers in Orthodox churches. We are strengthening our forces so that the authentic Christian shrines that were once exported to Europe from the East, but have become unclaimed in the modern West, are sent to Russia, and not to other countries, as is happening now.
Rector of SPbDA, Archbishop Ambrose (Ermakov) blesses the faithful with an 18th century crucifix with a particle of the Life-Giving Cross
The Foundation has special care over the St. Petersburg Church of St. Seraphim of Petrograd, for which many documented ancient Orthodox shrines have already been collected and are being collected. As far as I understand, this is the only temple in Russia where every shrine is comprehensively documented. According to the chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees, Vladislav Zhukovich, “without shrines, without a spiritual foundation, a nation dies spiritually. Veneration of shrines is a matter of the survival and strength of Russia, the future of our children.”
The symbol of the Sacred Heritage Foundation - under the life-giving shadow of the Holy Cross, surrounded by the omophorion of the Intercession of the Mother of God in oak and laurel leaves - in strength and glory, the historical Power Russian Empire as an image of our great country, which today remains an island of peace and light in a rapidly degrading spiritually and culturally world.
Repeatedly the Church celebrates events related to sacred relics: the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the discovery of the relics of John the Baptist, the Placing of the Robe Holy Mother of God in Blachernae and so on. People habitually celebrate, but many do not know that these shrines are completely historical and have survived to our time, like traces of God and saints on earth. There is a need for enlightenment here.
The Ark with particles of the Intercession and Robe of the Most Holy Theotokos was brought to the Intercession Church of the RPU. Photo by Maria Temnova
– What are your plans? What relics are you researching and which ones are you going to bring?
– We are conducting many negotiations at the same time. As a rule, these are ancient Orthodox shrines. I would not like to say in advance, but in a number of cases these are unprecedented, unique shrines in the entire history of the Russian Church. For last century many shrines of the Russian Orthodox Church disappeared. Even the Gatchina relics, revered on a general church scale, received by Emperor Paul I from the Order of Malta - the right hand of St. John the Baptist and a piece of the Holy Cross - are in Montenegro and will not return. But if it is impossible to return the Gatchina shrines, then it is possible to bring to Russia particles of the Holy Cross and the relics of St. John, kept in the family of the descendants of a former high-ranking officer of the Order of Malta and having the same origin. Negotiations about this and similar ones are currently underway.
– How do you find out where you can get relics from?
– This is painstaking “undercover” and diplomatic work. We are helped in it by our compatriots and Orthodox priests abroad, as well as friends from the Catholic Church.
– To summarize: why do we still need the work of centers for the study of Orthodox shrines?
- It's simple. We love our Motherland. We love our Church. Authentic Christian relics, which in previous centuries could not reach Russia, should end up in Russia. And fake relics should not end up in Russia.
In Europe, we constantly encounter emissaries of wealthy Greeks from the United States, they “hunt” for authentic relics. I repeat, representatives of the Catholic Church do not have the right to sell shrines. Usually the conversation goes like this: “You know, we would like to receive a gift from you, such and such a relic, but we ourselves would like to help you - repairs, or buy a new printing line.” That is, negotiations and more negotiations. The Greeks in this sense are for us an example of the desire to bring shrines to their temple. Shrines should be where they are revered.
An example is shown to us, first of all, by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, who agreed to bring part of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker to Russia. Others are showing us an example wonderful people, like Konstantin Malofeev, who supported projects to bring shrines to Russia.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill solemnly hands over a crucifix with a particle of the Life-Giving Cross to the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery
After all, shrines come, and with them Moscow and St. Petersburg, Rostov and Voronezh turn into paradise, shrines go away and cities turn into hell, which we already see today on the streets of Rotterdam and on the outskirts of Paris.
On Sunday, Russian Buddhists will worship their teacher— pandito hambo lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov. One of the outstanding Buddhist religious figures of the early 20th century died 90 years ago. Moreover, according to legend, before his death he bequeathed to his students “to visit his grave in 75 years.” After this, he plunged into meditation and died, “going into nirvana.” The lama was buried in a cedar cube in the lotus position. And they found it absolutely intact when they opened the burial many years later. In 2008, it was solemnly transferred to the temple of the Ivolginsky datsan in Buryatia. Since then, several times a year, everyone can worship the incorruptible body of their spiritual teacher.
Orthodox Christians and Catholics also have saints whose bodies do not decompose for years, or even centuries.
When President Yeltsin visited the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery in 1995, he was surprised by the absence of the smell of decay in the caves where the monks were buried. They say that he even asked the archimandrite in a whisper: “Tell me the secret - what do you smear them with?”
Not everything that is incorruptible is holy
“A holy person may have incorruptible relics. This serves as an additional incentive for popular veneration and respect. But the incorruptibility of the body is not a sufficient condition for the Orthodox Church to venerate a person. There is a huge amount of evidence not related to holiness about bodies that have not decomposed for physical or some mysterious reasons. However, the main impulse to glorify a person as a saint is, first of all, popular veneration,” emphasizes Hieromonk Makariy (Markish), the leader of the Internet project “Questions to the Father” on the Elitsa network.
According to him, due to misinterpretation of the incorruptibility of remains, many misunderstandings have arisen throughout history. Thus, in connection with the popular veneration of St. Seraphim of Sarov in the 19th century, a commission was appointed to study the possibility of his canonization. However, when the burial was opened, it was discovered that his body had undergone decay. “There was talk that since the body had decayed, then he was not a saint. Of course, illiterate people thought so, but the prejudice took hold. And only the personal participation of Emperor Nicholas II helped that the glorification of Seraphim of Sarov as a saint did take place,” notes Hieromonk Macarius.
Personality is more important than body
Perhaps the most famous Christian saint, whose relics are revered throughout the Christian world, is Nicholas the Wonderworker, who died in the 4th century. However, it is impossible to see them today - unlike the body of Hambo Lama Dashi-Dorzho Itigelov: they are practically walled up in the crypt of the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Italian city Bari.
But the incorruptible relics of his contemporary Spyridon of Trimythous, stored on the island of Kerkyra in Greece, are open to pilgrims. Saint Spyridon, who lived in Cyprus, became famous for his good deeds: he fed, clothed, and gave shelter to the homeless and wanderers. The saint died at an old age while praying.
“It is important to understand that in Christianity there is a concept of veneration of the personalities of saints, and not objects, not relics. The remains serve only as material carriers, representatives of these people,” emphasizes the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Bishop Nektarios of Aegina, one of the most revered Greek saints, died at the beginning of the 20th century, says Father Macarius. His remains remained intact for more than 20 years, and then very quickly decayed into dust. Another famous saint of the 20th century, John (Maksimovich), Saint of Shanghai and San Francisco, died in 1966. And in the early 90s, the commission for his canonization, having opened the tomb, documented the incorruptibility of his remains.
Miracle or chemistry?
In the Catholic Church, incorruptible relics of saints are not uncommon. For Catholics, as for Orthodox Christians, the incorruptibility of the body symbolizes the victory of life over death, but is not a sufficient sign for canonization.
"But there are also some misunderstandings. In the West there are quite ancient tradition- make wax masks of saints. It happens that the bodies have decayed, but they were imprisoned in wax figure. People think that they have incorruptible remains in front of them, but this is not so. Thus, people are misled with the best intentions,” the director warns information service Catholic diocese Mother of God in Moscow, priest Kirill Gorbunov.
According to him, there are several Catholic saints whose bodies actually did not decompose. For example, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who died in 1879 at the age of 35. The Catholic Church recognized as authentic the woman’s assurances that the Virgin Mary appeared to her. 11 years before her death, Bernadette entered the monastery of the Sisters of Charity in Nevers, cared for the sick and did needlework. There the incorruptible remains of the saint are now kept.
And Saint Catherine Labure, who died in 1876, dreamed of entering a monastery since childhood. In 1830, she entered the monastery of the female monastic congregation “Daughters of Charity” and devoted her life to caring for the elderly. Today her incorrupt body rests in Paris.
However, priest Kirill Gorbunov noted that only bodies that were not embalmed after death can be considered incorruptible relics. Although the body of Pope John XXIII, who died in 1963, was embalmed for preservation during the farewell, today it is still revered as an incorruptible relic. However, the effect of the drugs used in embalming has long ended, and the pontiff, resting in the Vatican Cathedral of St. Peter, even today seems to be simply sleeping.
Relics (Latin reliquiae) are the remains of saints of the Christian Church, which are the object of religious veneration in the Orthodox and Catholic Churches.
The veneration of relics dates back to the very first centuries of Christian history. In the centuries of persecution, when martyrdom for Christians was evidence of their convictions in the truth of the Resurrection of Christ from the dead and the victory over death that occurred after this, in the hope of the coming resurrection, believers used all means in order to obtain their possession and keep their bodies intact co-religionists, and their burial places became sanctuaries where Christian worship was held.
At the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 4th centuries, there were critical reviews of the veneration of relics from a number of clergy, who called this practice a concession to pagan mores. The first decision of a church council regarding the veneration of relics was made by the Council of Carthage (393-419). He established in his rules that all altars erected in memory of martyrs “according to the dreams and vain revelations of some people” and “at which no body or part of the relics of the martyrs are placed” must be destroyed so that “right-thinking people do not become attached to such places in any way.” superstition." The Council also decided to commemorate the martyrs where “there is either a body, or some part of the relics, or, according to a legend handed down from faithful antiquity, their home, or acquisition, or place of suffering.”
In addition to the relics themselves, the so-called contact relics were also venerated, that is, everything that came into contact with the body of the saint during life or after death: clothing, brandeum, chrism, instruments of martyrdom and other objects. Relics could also be created by contact with a saint's grave or other contact relics. The relics begin to be mixed into paints or mastic for painting icons. This type of wax was used to paint the Blachernae Icon, which was revered in Constantinople as the protector of the city and the Byzantine emperors, and after being transferred to Moscow in 1653, it became one of the main Russian shrines.
The relics of saints were valuable property, which sometimes served as a reason for conflict. For example, the remains of St. Mark, kept in Venice, were, according to church tradition, stolen by three Venetian merchants from Alexandria in the early Middle Ages. To transfer the relic to the ship, the traders resorted to a trick: the evangelist’s body was placed in a large basket and covered with pork carcasses, which the Saracens could not touch even during customs inspection. For greater reliability, the basket was hidden in the folds of the sail of one of the ships.
Veneration of the relics
In the work of Professor MDA I.V. Popov “On the Veneration of Holy Relics,” published in the “Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate” (No. 1, 1997), gives three reasons why Orthodox Christians should venerate holy relics.
So, according to the professor, “the remains of saints have an irresistible religious and moral impact on the human soul, serve as a living reminder of the personality of the saint and excite believers to imitate his pious deeds.” True, in this regard, the lives of some saints are not always good example. Let's say the life of St. Alexander Nevsky does not seem at all too righteous and worthy of imitation. The same can be said about a number of other “saints”: the Monk Joseph of Volotsky, for example, in his time called for the most severe executions of heretics who deviated from the “truly correct” teachings of the Orthodox faith.
Secondly, as I.V. writes. Popov: “Along with the moral and edifying veneration of relics in the Church of Christ, there is also a liturgical meaning.” He also claims that the relics of saints are a “guarantee” for the participation of “celestials” in prayers, since “in prayer meetings there is a twofold society: one consisting of people, the other of celestials” (with reference to the words of one of the church fathers, Origen). Thus, this is precisely why “the ancient Church of Christ primarily celebrated the Eucharist (Communion) at the graves of the martyrs, and their very tombs served as a throne for the Sacrament.” And when the persecution of Christians miraculously weakened, the believers quickly sought to erect a tomb at the burial place of the righteous man. According to the rules of the VII Ecumenical Council (787), it was prohibited to build churches without “placing relics.” Violators were ordered to be excommunicated from the church. This rule is invariably observed in Orthodox churches, by the way, to this day. Particles of the relics are sewn into a special silk or linen cloth covering the throne.
Thirdly, according to the theological interpretation of the need to venerate relics, another basis “is the teaching of the Orthodox Church about relics as carriers of grace-filled powers.”
Holy Fathers about the relics
Anthony Novgorodets:“...There is a monastery of the holy prophet Elijah and in it there is a church, and in it there are many relics of saints, and for the holiday, tables are set up throughout the church and the relics of saints are placed on them.”
Cyril of Jerusalem:“There is a certain life-giving and saving power in the bodies of the righteous, when the dead man thrown on the tomb of the prophet Elisha returned to life through one touch of his bones.”
John Chrysostom:“God gave us the remains of the saints for this reason, in order to guide us to such zeal, to give us reliable refuge and protection against the evils that surround us everywhere.”
Saint John of Damascus:“The Lord Christ gave us the relics of the saints as saving springs, which exude many different benefits and pour out fragrant myrrh... Through the relics of the saints, demons are cast out, diseases are repelled, the weak are healed, the blind receive their sight, lepers are cleansed, temptations and sorrows cease, and every good gift from The Father of Lights descends on those who ask with undoubted faith.”
Ephraim the Syrian:“The dead act as if they were alive, heal the sick, cast out demons, and by the power of Christ remove all obscene power, for in the holy remains there is always the grace of the Holy Spirit, performing all miracles in them.”
Isidore Pelusiot:“If you are displeased that we honor the ashes of the bodies of martyrs, ask those who received health from them, and find out how many illnesses they healed.”
John Chrysostom:“God leaves us the bodies of saints for this reason, to give us reliable refuge and protection against the evils that surround us everywhere. Therefore, I urge all of you, whether in sadness, illness, some other worldly misfortune, or in the depths of sin, flow here with faith, you will receive help and return from here with great joy.”
John Chrysostom:“The bodies of the saints protect the city better than any stronghold and, like high rocks visible from everywhere, not only repel attacks visible enemies, but all the intrigues and slander of demons are destroyed as easily as a strong husband destroys the fun of children. Indeed, all human means used to protect the inhabitants, such as walls, ditches, weapons, war, etc., the enemy can overcome with other, even stronger means. But if the city is protected by the bodies of saints, then no matter how much the enemies contrive, they cannot oppose them with anything equivalent.”
John Chrysostom:“Holy relics are inexhaustible treasures, and incomparably higher than earthly treasures precisely because they are divided into many parts and are reduced through division; and those from division into parts not only do not decrease, but even more reveal their wealth: such is the property of spiritual things that through distribution they increase and through division they multiply.”
Illustrative examples
The head of John the Baptist (John the Baptist), cut off by order of Herod Antipas due to the machinations of the Jewish princess Herodias and her daughter Salome. One of the most revered shrines of the Christian world. In memory of the beheading of St. John the Baptist, the Church established a holiday and strict fasting, as an expression of the grief of Christians for violent death great Prophet. The holiday is celebrated on August 29 (September 11). In honor of the discovery of this part of the relics, Orthodox holidays were established for the discovery of the head of John the Baptist. The feast of the first and second miraculous discovery is celebrated by the Church on February 24 (March 8). On May 25 (June 7) the third finding of the head is celebrated.
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Saint Spyridon was born on the island of Cyprus in the village of Askia. As the lives testify, from childhood Saint Spyridon tended sheep, imitating the Old Testament righteous in a pure and godly life: David - in meekness, Jacob - in kindness of heart, Abraham - in love for strangers. In adulthood, Saint Spyridon became the father of a family. His extraordinary kindness and spiritual responsiveness attracted many to him: the homeless found shelter in his house, wanderers found food and rest. For his unceasing memory of God and good deeds, the Lord endowed the future saint with grace-filled gifts: clairvoyance, healing the incurable sick, and casting out demons.
After the death of his wife, during the reign of Constantine the Great (324-337) and his son Constantius (337-361), Saint Spyridon was elected bishop of the Cypriot city of Trimifunt. In his person the flock acquired a loving father. During a prolonged drought and famine in Cyprus, through the prayer of Saint Spyridon, the rains came and the disaster ended. The saint's kindness was combined with fair severity towards unworthy people. Through his prayer, the merciless grain merchant was punished, and the poor villagers were delivered from hunger and poverty.
According to church tradition, Saint Spyridon performed many miracles. One day, during a service, the oil in the lamp burned out, and it began to fade. The saint was upset, but the Lord consoled him: the lamp was miraculously filled with oil. There is a known case when angels invisibly served Saint Spyridon, and after each litany the angels were heard singing: “Lord, have mercy.” The saint healed the seriously ill Emperor Constantius; revived his dead daughter Irina so that she would tell where she hid the jewelry given to her for safekeeping by a noble lady, after which Irina’s soul left her body again.
In the middle of the 7th century, the relics of the saint were transferred to Constantinople, and in 1453 - to the island of Corfu in the Ionian Sea (the Greek name of the island is Kerkyra). Here, in the city of the same name, Kerkyra ( main city islands) and to this day the holy relics of St. Spyridon are preserved in the temple named after him. The gum (right) hand was in Rome for some time. In 1984, the right hand was returned from Rome to Corfu and is currently kept in a silver casket along with the rest of the relics. The incorrupt relics are opened for viewing to believers twice a day. There is a belief that Saint Spyridon walks around the world and helps people, while his shoes “wear out.” Once a year the relics are re-shoeed and the shoes are donated. One of the shoes was donated to the Moscow St. Daniel Monastery. Five times a year, a solemn celebration of the memory of St. Spyridon takes place on the island.
 Procession with the relics of St. Spyridon of Trimifunt (Kerkyra, Corfu) |
On holidays, the relics of the Saint are taken out of the silver shrine and placed in another sarcophagus, where they stand vertically, and when they are returned to the shrine again, they take their previous position. The sarcophagus with the relics of the Saint on a stretcher is carried on the shoulders of four clergymen under a special gold-woven canopy. Bishops, clergy of all ranks, choir, military personnel follow the holy relics brass bands, candle bearers in ceremonial robes, with thick candles with a diameter of more than 15 centimeters. They are carried in special belts slung over the shoulder. The ringing of bells floats over the city, marches of brass bands and church chants sound. There are people standing in dense rows on both sides of the street. Along the route there are stops for reading the Gospel, litanies and kneeling prayers. Closer to the temple, many people, hoping to receive healing, go out to the middle of the pavement in front of the procession and lie on their backs, face up, placing their children next to them so that the incorruptible relics of St. Spyridon will be carried over them in the ark.
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Catherine was born in Alexandria in 287. She suffered martyrdom during the reign of Emperor Maximin at the beginning of the 4th century for failing to renounce Christianity.
After the execution of Saint Catherine, her body disappeared. According to legend, it was carried by angels to the top of the highest mountain of Sinai, now bearing her name. Three centuries later, in the middle of the 6th century, the monks of the Monastery of the Transfiguration, built by Emperor Justinian, obeying a vision, climbed the mountain, found the remains of St. Catherine there, identified them by the ring that was given to her by Jesus Christ, and transferred the relics to the church. After the monks acquired the monastery of the Transfiguration of the relics of St. Catherine and the spread of her cult, by the 11th century the monastery acquired its present name - the monastery of St. Catherine.
In the altar of the monastery catholicon, the Basilica of the Transfiguration, two silver reliquaries with the relics of St. Catherine (head and right hand) are kept in a marble shrine. Every day after hours, believers are given access to the relics of St. Catherine. In memory of the veneration of the relics, the monks give silver ring with an image of a heart and the words ΑΓΙΑ ΑΙΚΑΤΕΡΙΝΑ (St. Catherine). Another part of the relics (finger) is located in the reliquary of the icon of the Great Martyr Catherine in the left nave of the basilica and is always open to believers for veneration.
In Germany, two pieces of the relics of the Great Martyr Catherine are kept: in the church museum of Fulda (chapel of the 14 holy helpers) and in the German Museum of Cold Steel in Solingen (Grefrath). In Solingen, next to a particle of relics, a flask with the world from this particle of relics was placed.
Originally from Marseille (according to another version, from Dobruja), he arrived in Palestine and became a monk in the Bethlehem monastery. From 390 he spent about ten years wandering through the monasteries and hermitages of Egypt, studying the rules and customs of monasticism. Around 400 he arrived in Constantinople and was ordained a deacon by Saint John Chrysostom. In 405 he was sent by the Church of Constantinople to Rome to seek protection for St. John Chrysostom. Then he settled in Marseille. He was ordained a presbyter. He founded two monasteries in Marseille - male and female, similar to Egyptian monasteries.
Gregory of Nyssenus (Greek Γρηγόριος Νύσσης, Latin Gregorius Nyssenus; c. 335 - after 394) - theologian, bishop of Nyssa and saint, philosopher, exegete, one of the three great “Cappadocians”. The younger brother of Basil the Great, a close friend of Gregory the Theologian. Gregory's sister was the Monk Macrina. Gregory of Nyssa is revered by the Orthodox Church as a saint (January 10 according to the Julian calendar) and by the Roman Catholic Church (March 9). Latest news about the life of Gregory was his participation in the Council of Constantinople (394). Where the saint's jaw came from is a mystery.
Saint Wenceslas (907 - 935 or 936) is a Czech prince from the Přemyslid family, a saint revered by both Catholics and Orthodox Christians (under the name Vyacheslav), patron of the Czech Republic. Reigned from 924 to 935 or 936. Son of Prince Vratislav and the pagan Dragomira. At the age of 13, left without a father, Vaclav was raised by his grandmother (father's mother), St. Lyudmila, in the Christian faith. Among the holy relics, the skull of the prince has been preserved, which is still a particularly popular relic not only in the Czech Republic.
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He came to the monastery under Abbot Pimen (1132-1141) already an elderly man. Together with Rev. Nicodemus fulfilled their obedience for 30 years - they baked prosphora, accompanying their work with unceasing prayer and singing psalms. Even during his lifetime, the Monk Spyridon was glorified by God with miracles. There is a known case when he put out a fire in a bakery with his robe: the fire went out, but the mantle remained intact. His relics are located in Anthony's Cave.
Catherine of Bologna (1413-1463) - at the age of 13 she became a member of the community of women tertiaries of the Order of St. Francis in Ferrara. She was assigned to work in a bakery, and years later she was assigned first to lead the spiritual life of the novices, and then to organize a new monastery with a particularly strict charter in Bologna. She became famous among the nuns for her numerous visions (especially one when the Mother of God appeared to her on Christmas Day and placed a swaddled baby in her arms). Her incorrupt remains are kept in the chapel of the monastery to this day (the body in rich vestments was not placed in a coffin, but placed in a chair and placed in a glass sarcophagus). Recognized as a saint in 1492
Alexander Svirsky was born in the Ladoga village of Mandera (Sermaksa), on the right bank of the Oyat River, a tributary of the Svir River, not far from the Vvedeno-Oyatsky Monastery, in the family of peasants Stefan and Vassa, who later also took monastic vows. According to life, the mother prayed to God for a long time for the birth of a child and gave birth to a son after many years of infertility.
At the age of 19, Amos secretly went to Valaam, where he lived for 7 years as a novice, and in 1474 he took monastic vows with the name Alexander. Having retired to a secluded island, later called Saint, Alexander labored in a cave for about seven years. On the Holy Island there is now the Alexander-Svirsky monastery of the Transfiguration of the Savior Valaam Monastery, where they show a cave and the saint’s own grave dug by the hands of the saint.
According to hagiographic literature, he became famous for his many miracles and righteous lifestyle. He raised many disciples in the monastery and led many lay people to the faith. For some time the saint lived in complete solitude and led a harsh life.
St. Vincent de Paul (1581-1660) was born into a poor peasant family in one of the poorest regions of France. He was involved in the missionary training of young priests, as well as improving the education of the clergy. Died in 1660 in Paris. Vincent's body was found "incorrupt" 50 years after his death. The “imperishable” heart of de Paul is also kept in Paris. Pope Benedict XIII proclaimed Vincent beatified on August 13, 1729, and Clement XII canonized him on June 16, 1737.
There is a monastery on the island of Cephalon called New Jerusalem. It was founded by Saint Gerasimos of Cephalonia. Actually, the main attraction of the monastery is the relics of its founder, which, according to legend, were found incorrupt in 1581. Already from childhood, the inhabitants of the island are taught to treat with special respect a dried-up mummy with a golden cross on his neck, called Saint Gerasim...
Once a year, on the day of remembrance of St. Gerasim, his relics are transferred from the small church to the cathedral, where they are placed vertically at full height. Anyone can approach the tall glass coffin, stick their head through the small hole and kiss the “imperishable remains.”
Procession with the relics of St. Gerasim (documentary filmed in 1961)
Maria Bernarda, or Bernadette as she was known, was the eldest of the family's five children to survive childhood. Her father was a miller and her mother a washerwoman. The family was extremely poor, the girl did not receive any education, and at the age of 12 she began working as a maid. On February 11, 1858, Bernadette was collecting firewood and bones for a junk dealer near Lourdes, when she suddenly noticed that the nearby grotto was illuminated with light, and the rosehip bush at the entrance was swaying as if from the wind. In the illuminated grotto, Bernadette saw, as she later said, “something white, similar to a young lady.”
Over the next few months, until July 16, Bernadette saw the vision in the grotto 17 more times. During the eleven apparitions, the figure that appeared to Bernadette did not say anything, then she, according to Bernadette, called for repentance and prayer for sinners and ordered a chapel to be built on the site of the apparitions. In response to the girl’s persistent requests to say her name “young lady,” as Bernadette called her, she answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” The answer perplexed the local priest, since, as he believed, the illiterate girl, who barely knew even the basics of faith, could not know about the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, proclaimed four years earlier by Pope Pius IX.
At the behest of the image that appeared, Bernadette ate grass and drank in front of witnesses. dirty water in the corner of the grotto, as a symbol of repentance for the conversion of sinners. In the corner of the grotto a powerful spring subsequently opened with clean water, which is revered in the Catholic Church as a healer.
Saint Bernadette's body was exhumed three times. The first time this was done in 1909, the remains were found incorrupt, which served as an additional argument for canonization. The body was exhumed a second time in 1919, and a third in 1925, after which her relics were placed in a reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette in Nevers.
Gregory Dekapolit was born in the city of Irinople (Isaurian region of Dekapolis) into a poor family. The mother was distinguished by special piety, the brother chose the monastic life. Having received primary education, became a laborer. The parents tried to force the young man to marry, but he ran away from home. He lived in a monastery for 14 years. He spent his entire subsequent life traveling: he was in Constantinople, Rome, Corinth. Then he returned to Thessalonica, to the monastery of St. Menas, where he lived for three years. He actively opposed iconoclasm. Shortly before his death, he asked to be transferred to Mount Olympus, where he died.
Bishop Innocent (in the world Ivan Kulchitsky or Kulchinsky; 1680 or 1682, Chernigov province - November 27, 1731 near Irkutsk) - bishop of the Orthodox Russian Church; from January 15, 1727 Irkutsk and Nerchinsk, the first ruling Orthodox bishop Eastern Siberia(the Irkutsk bishops who preceded him had the status of vicars of the Tobolsk Metropolis). Canonized by the Russian Church as a saint on December 1, 1804
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Born around 1690 in Little Russia. Upon reaching adulthood, he was recruited into the army of Peter the Great. Participated in Russian-Turkish war 1710-1713 During Prut campaign together with other soldiers, he was captured by the allies of the Turks, the Tatars. Most likely, this happened in the battle for Azov.
After his capture, he was transported to Constantinople and sold into slavery to the commander of the Turkish cavalry (probably the Sipahi). In the life of the saint he appears under the name Aga; perhaps this is just his title.
He brought the saint to his homeland - to Asia Minor, Cappadocia, to the village of Urgup. Out of love for God and Orthodoxy, John refused the offer to convert to Islam and remained faithful to Christianity, for which he was humiliated and cruelly tortured by the Turks, who contemptuously called him and others like him “kafir,” that is, “infidel.” However, over time, seeing the firmness in faith, meekness and hard work of the saint, the owner and household members began to respect him and stopped bullying him. John was no longer forced to renounce Christianity. By order of Aga, the saint began to work and live in the stable. John performed his duties with love and diligence, which caused ridicule from other slaves. But the righteous one accepted this without malice, trying, on the contrary, to console in trouble and help mockers. Over time, for his sincere kindness, the saint earned the love and trust of Aga, and he invited John to live as a free man, in a separate room. But he refused, answering: “My patron is the Lord, and there is no one higher than Him. He destined me to live in slavery and in a foreign land. Apparently, this is necessary for my salvation.”
During the day, John worked, observed strict fasting and prayed, and at night he secretly went to the cave church of St. George, where he read the prayers of the All-Night Vigil on the porch and received communion every Saturday.
Soon Aga became rich and became one of the most influential people in Urgup. He connected this with the fact that a righteous man lived in his house. Having become rich, Agha decided to perform the Hajj. During his journey, the owner's wife called Aga's family and friends for dinner. When the owner’s favorite dish, pilaf, was served, she said to John, who was serving them: “How glad your master would be if he were here and ate this pilaf with us!” The saint asked her for this dish, promising to send it to Mecca. Everyone was very happy, but they complied with the request, deciding that John wanted to eat the pilaf himself or give it to the poor.
When Aga returned, he spoke about a miracle that happened to him: while in Mecca, he discovered in the locked room where he was staying, a steaming dish of pilaf, on which his name was engraved, as on all the dishes in his house .
Silouan of Afonsky was born into a family of peasants in the Tambov province, Lebedyansky district, Shovsky volost and village. He wanted to enter the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra, but his parent insisted that he first enter military service, which he did in St. Petersburg. He arrived on Athos in the fall of 1892, where he entered the Panteleimon Monastery. In 1896 he was tonsured into the mantle, and in 1911 into the schema with the name Silouan. The obedience took place at the Mill, at the Kalamarei metoch (the property of the monastery outside Athos), in the old Nagorno-Russian, in Economy.
Archbishop John (aka Mikhail Borisovich Maksimovich). Born in 1896 in the village of Adamovka, Kharkov province. Bishop of the ROCOR, Archbishop of Western America and San Francisco. He died in Seattle on July 2, 1966, while praying in his cell. After his death, many believers confirmed in writing the facts of miracles that were performed through the prayer of Bishop John, as a result of which on July 2, 1994 he was recognized as a saint by the ROCOR. The remains of the archbishop were exhibited for veneration by the faithful.
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Padre Pio, aka Francesco Forgione, was born on May 25, 1887 into a simple peasant family in southern Italy. In 1916 he settled in a monastery in San Giovanni Rotondo, where he lived until his death. The main event in his life was the creation in 1956 of a large hospital, the “House of Relief of Suffering.” Padre Pio died in 1968. Beatified in 2002, Pio is known for the many miracles he performed during his lifetime, as well as for the fact that he was awarded stigmata - wounds on his hands that resemble the wounds of the crucified Jesus.
Forty years have passed since his death, and, according to the procedure established in such cases, the saint must be exhumed and his relics exhibited for veneration by believers. Pius Petrelchinsky, or Padre Pio, one of the most revered Catholic saints, was exhumed on March 3. The exhumation took place during a three-hour service. The body of the Capuchin monk, who died 40 years ago at the age of 81, was embalmed and has been on display in a transparent coffin since April 24. According to the church, the saint's body, especially his hands, is in good condition.
Myrrh-streaming heads are an ancient and revered shrine of the Lavra caves, about which the Pechersk Patericon tells: “They, being dry and not covered with skin, supernaturally exude oil, or myrrh, and myrrh is not simple, but has the gift of healing the ailments of everyone who comes by faith and is anointed with that myrrh... These chapters, contrary to nature, exuding not just myrrh, but healing, show the holiness and grace operating in the saints of God...”
IN Soviet era When the monastery was closed, the holy heads stopped streaming myrrh. Employees of the atheistic museum accused the “clergy” of falsifying this miracle. In 1988, when the monastery was opened, the flow of myrrh resumed.
Archbishop Jonathan of Kherson and Tauride, who was at that time the governor of the Lavra, talks about this miracle like this: “A novice comes running to me from the caves. Cries: “Father Viceroy, it’s my fault, I didn’t finish watching!” - "What's happened?" “Yes, here,” he explains, “I was cleaning a cave with domes and didn’t notice how water got into one of the vessels!” I immediately, with some instinct, guessed that it was not a matter of water. “Let’s go,” I say. I go into the cave and open the glass vessel. And from it into the face - an inexpressible bouquet of fragrance. I look, and the head, no longer white, but dark brown, seems to be floating in crystal clear oil. Miro! I open two more vessels, now metal, and there is a fragrant liquid about the size of a palm in each. I recognized myrrh, although I had never seen it. My heart began to beat. God! You have shown us a sign of Your heavenly mercy! The relics have come to life! Woke up! Mother of God! You are our Mother Superior. It is You who reveal Your cover of Your abode! He ordered to call the old monk who lived in the Lavra before the closure, the now deceased Archimandrite Igor (Voronkov). He sniffed it. He looked at me. There are tears in my eyes. This, he says, is myrrh!
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John-Chrysostom Blashkevich, (in the world Vasily Nikolaevich Blashkevich) (January 27, 1915, Bely, Tver province - October 3, 1981, Niederalteich, Germany) - graduate of the Moscow Institute foreign languages(1936-1941), was a rural teacher in the Smolensk region. During World War II he deserted and served as a military translator for the Nazis. In 1944 he converted to Catholicism in Poland. In 1946 he entered the Niederalteich Benedictine monastery, where in 1947 he took monastic vows. In 1947-1951 he received a philosophical and theological education at the University of Passau, in 1951 - 1954 he studied at the Russicum in Rome. In 1952 he was ordained to the rank of deacon, and in the same year to the rank of priest of the Byzantine rite. He served in the Russian Apostolate Abroad, which continues the traditions of the Russian Synodal rite. Since 1979 - archimandrite.
In the Russian tradition, the word “relics” is used to refer to something that in Greek and Latin means nothing more than the remains of a deceased person. It doesn't matter what kind of remains it is: bones, dried flesh, dust and even ashes. The epithet “incorruptible” does not indicate the complete preservation of the body of the deceased, but rather the fact that some remaining parts (sometimes very small, and sometimes the whole body) have not disappeared or decayed. For the most part we have to talk about undecayed bones. For Christians, the concept of “holy incorruptible relics” means the preserved remains of a deceased Christian, glorified by the Church as a saint, that is, a person whose faith in Christ and moral life, whose fulfillment of God’s commandments are worthy of imitation.
In the Orthodox tradition there has never been a practice of somehow linking the degree of incorruptibility of remains and the sanctity of a person’s life. A person is recognized as a saint not because his body was preserved after burial, but because he, as a Christian, honestly and deeply lived his faith, because God glorified him before people through various kinds of evidence, including miracles. There are saints of God whose bodies have not been preserved at all, but there are those whose bodies have been preserved virtually completely, for example, Bishop Joasaph of Belgorod, who lived in the 18th century and was glorified as a Russian saint in 1911.
Why the word “power” began to be used in the Slavic, and subsequently Russian tradition, is not entirely clear. It is clear that it comes from the words “power”, “strength”. The most common two explanations are anatomical and theological. The anatomical, in my opinion, a stretch, says that in the old days the power and strength of a person was closely associated with the strength of his bones, and since for the most part it was they (the bones) that remained undecayed, the remains were called relics. The theological explanation is more clear to me, it says that the relics indicate that through something very fragile, through what remains after death, God acts, the power of God acts, for the sake of witnessing the deceased as a true disciple of Christ and for the sake of helping those in need through prayers saint
A little theology
The most difficult question is what veneration of relics means for Christians. As far as one can judge, neither the ancient tradition nor the Old Testament knew a similar Christian cult of veneration of the graves and remains of the dead. Moreover, pre-Christian religious history knows many examples of treating the bodies of the dead and their remains as uncleanness, defilement, which required religious rituals of purification for those who in one way or another came into contact with the dead.
Faith in Christ the Savior and the Christian view of man contributed to the common ancient world picture exception. New Testament filled with hope for healing from death, at one time this was even reflected in the fact that the color of mourning for Christians was white - the color of purity and joy. The bodies of the dead can only be treated with respect, reverence and veneration. It cannot be otherwise. Christians believe that God in Christ became a man, not a ghost or “inhabiting” someone for a while (like various spirits from horror films). Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and grew up like each of us. According to the testimonies of His friends and disciples, reflected in the Gospels, Christ lived among people for more than thirty years, three recent years preached among the Israeli people, announcing the coming of the Messiah-Savior, taught His followers to live by faith in God, cared for many people, treated and consoled them. According to his own prophecy, Jesus was arrested, beaten, and crucified on the cross. After which he died and was resurrected on the third day.
Jesus Christ cannot be imagined outside of His own human body. The same goes for every person. Every body, even a dead one, remains a creation of God, and even if it is distorted by death, the Lord will not allow it to remain in this state forever. Christians are confident that He will restore and resurrect everyone in the glory that He intended for man from the creation of the world.
No matter how you look at what has been said, there were and are not similar testimonies about someone else, the same teaching as the gospel offers. It’s all about the attitude towards a person, who is only a person when he is whole, when he can manifest himself in the trinity of spirit, soul and body. For Christians, the body is not a shell, but an integral opportunity to express oneself in this world, to express oneself in relation to other people.
Man is a complex being; without a body he is not a man. To be human according to God's design is to be human forever. To be born once means to enter into existence forever. Christ by His resurrection showed that only in integrity can one enter heaven to the Heavenly Father. This means that the body of the deceased is something very dear and mysterious, it is something that is just as involved in God as the soul and spirit.
What is the meaning of venerating relics, what does it mean?
In the first Christian communities, they treated the remains of Christians and their burial places in a special way, with great respect. The martyrs for Christ stood out especially, those who gave for their faith the most precious thing they had - life, and thus became witnesses that Christ conquered death. Both the bodies and graves of the martyrs were given due respect. The testimony of the martyrs about the triumph of life in Christ was so strong that the first churches even began to be built on their graves. Subsequently, during the Byzantine period of church history, the formation and consolidation of the Orthodox cult of veneration of relics took place. The relics became shrines. I wrote about the shrines separately and therefore here I will limit myself only to what is related specifically to the relics.
So, the first meaning of Christian veneration of the remains of Christians - holy relics - is that by paying due respect to the grave and remains, we pay veneration, respect and love to the deceased. And how to do this, if not through some intuitive and well-known rituals: bows, kisses, prayer addressed to the deceased saint. But we must remember the admonition that the famous saint, Blessed Jerome of Stridon, left for us back in the 4th century - that Christians do not idolize the remains of martyrs and do not serve the creation more than the Creator.
The second meaning is that the remains of saints have a serious religious and moral impact on a person, as a reminder of the personality and life of the saint. At one time, one of the greatest teachers of the Church, John Chrysostom, said: “The sight of the tomb of a saint, penetrating the soul, amazes it, and excites it, and brings it into such a state, as if the one lying in the tomb praying together is standing before us, and we see it, and thus the person experiencing this is filled with great jealousy and leaves here, becoming a different person.”
The third meaning of venerating holy relics comes from the Orthodox teaching about relics as carriers of God's grace. Grace is always given personally and specifically, for the Dispenser is God Himself—a Living Person who responds to specific needs. Christians believe that through the relics of the saints, God Himself gives them His grace, God Himself touches their soul and body, healing, healing, admonishing, strengthening. Back in the 4th century, the Syrian Christian, famous for his ascetic desert life, Ephraim the Syrian, wrote about this: “even after death the martyrs act as if they were alive. They heal the sick, cast out demons and, by the power of the Lord, repel every evil influence of their tormenting dominion. For holy relics are always characterized by the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit.”
Here, however, some misunderstandings should be pointed out. There is a well-known popular belief: everything that touches the relics is a shrine. From him came the custom of taking earth with him from the grave of a saint. This is typical folk magic. For Christians, the grace of God, God’s power, is, of course, not “magnetism”, it is God’s personal participation in a person’s life out of love.
The fourth meaning of veneration of holy relics is that it is a visible form of invisible personal communication with a saint in prayer. There is nothing strange here. Christians insist: love conquers death, makes it possible to contact the deceased (after all, as a god-like person, everyone is immortal), to conduct a dialogue with him. Man is an integral being; the prayer is complemented by veneration of what remains of the saint, not only his tomb or body, but also his clothes.
In our time, a tradition has developed of a close connection between relics and the liturgical life of Orthodox communities. Relics are in some ways no less important for worship than icons. In a certain sense, the relics of saints are, as it were, a guarantee or evidence of their participation in our prayers. In addition, as a sign of continuity, in memory of the blood shed for Christ, in memory of the tradition of building churches over the graves of martyrs, pieces of relics are necessarily present in every Orthodox church and are even sewn into a special board (called “antimins” in Greek) on which the Sacrament of Communion is performed.
A special and important place in Christianity is occupied by the worship of the remains of dead righteous people, or, more simply, relics. Catholics mainly venerate relics (mummified remains) or incorruptible bodies. However, with the right approach to understanding the number of bodies, relics and other things, numerous deceptions emerge and people worship and pray over bags of cotton wool.
The Orthodox have somewhat expanded the tradition of worshiping relics and worship not only bones, but also scraps of clothing from corpses, individual parts of the body, and even ashes.
How many saints, parts of their bodies, pieces of clothing are there really?
Here are excerpts from the magazine "Revolution and the Church", 1920, Nos. 9-12 "Report of the VIII Department of the People's Commissariat of Justice to the Congress of Soviets on the opening of the relics": "October 22, 1918, when registering the liturgical property of Alexander-Svirsky monastery, Petrozavodsk province, in a cast shrine weighing more than 20 pounds, instead of the “imperishable” relics of Alexander Svirsky, a wax doll was discovered.”
The news published by the Soviet government in the press caused great excitement, both among church officials and among the masses. The people themselves began to demand inspection of the contents in crayfish and caskets for relics. Based on this, a special commission was created, which in a number of provinces, in the presence of experts and representatives of the clergy, carried out 63 autopsies, as a result of which many falsifications on the part of clergy were discovered.
It turned out, for example, that some silver tombs, often shining with precious stones, contained either decayed bones that had turned to dust, or imitation bodies using iron frames wrapped in fabric, ladies' stockings, boots, gloves, cotton wool, flesh-colored cardboard etc.
Immediately, signals began to arrive from the Patriarchal Office, calling for a public examination and examination of the holy relics, in order to “eliminate any reason for mockery and temptation,” they cleanse the cancer of such items as, for example, sardine boxes, brooches with the inscription “Shura” " etc. The “discovery” of these very objects in the coffins of “holy relics” was accurately recorded in the autopsy reports, signed by representatives of the clergy themselves.
Here are examples from inspection reports:
"Abraham martyr, Vladimir February 12, 1919 After removing the covers, cotton wool of fresh origin was discovered, in which lay a group of bones of more than one person, at least two. One bone in its appearance differs from all the others in its freshness, due to its density to whiteness .There is cotton wool inside the skull.
Sergius of Radonezh, Sergiev, Moscow province. April 11, 1919 Moth-eaten rags, cotton wool, dilapidated human bones, a mass of dead moths, butterflies, larvae. In the skull, in wired paper of recent origin, there is light brown-reddish hair.
Prince Vladimir, Novgorod April 3, 1919 A pile of black bones, rags and dust, a skull split into two halves. The breasts have no resemblance to the human skeleton. There are no limbs on the bones. Remains of machine-made leather boots. Cocoons of dried worms are visible in the pile of dust.
Macarius Zhabynsky. Belev city, Tula province. March 16, 1919 The tomb was empty. Due to the instructions of the clergy that the relics “rest in secret,” a grave under the shrine was dug to a depth of 5 arshins; no signs of “relics” were found.
Pavel Obnorsky, Voskresenskoye village, Lyubimsk. u. September 26, 1920 Several boards, old coins, a jar of fixatuary from the Brocard company, shavings, earth, wood chips and bricks."
It is clear that finding numerous relics of saints is a difficult task, especially in conditions when every parish wants to find at least a piece of the shrine. Because of this, relics and parts of saints appear in unimaginable quantities. So, Andrew the First-Called turned out to have 5 bodies, 6 heads and 17 arms. Saint Anne has 2 bodies and 8 heads. Saint Philip has the same number of heads. John the Baptist has 10 bodies and 7 “real heads,” and this despite the fact that, according to Christian legend, John’s body was burned along with his severed head.
But the continuation is selective and far from full list spontaneously cloned relics:
Benedict - 3 bodies and 4 heads;
Erasmus - 11 bodies;
Dorothea - 6 bodies;
Stefan - 4 bodies and 8 heads;
Wilhelm - 7 bodies and 10 heads;
Elena - 4 bodies and 5 heads;
Isaiah the Prophet - 3 bodies;
Jerome - 2 bodies, 4 heads and 63 fingers;
Juliana - 20 bodies and 26 heads;
Luke - 8 bodies and 9 heads;
Peter - 16 bodies;
Fedora - 4 bodies and 6 heads.
A complete list of duplicates will take several more pages.
The 60s of the 20th century were marked by a crisis in the Vatican, as a result of which the latter repented of its sins and demoted many saints known throughout the world. As an example, let us cite the deprivation of all titles and ranks from St. George the Victorious. The reason is that it never existed. But at the same time, 30 bodies were discovered in the possession of a saint who never existed.
Nicholas the Wonderworker was also demoted. The reason for the forced “resignation” is the same as for George. Catholics also recognized that a whole list of their saints had never existed, including, for example, Saint Valentine (the one in whose honor Valentine's Day is celebrated on February 14). However, all these saints have relics.
However, the list of shrines is not limited to just relics; parts and particles of various objects are found all over the world. Let us note the hand of Mary Magdalene and a piece of the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. However, if all the particles available in the world are used, then about a hundred crosses and dozens of hands can be made from them. Apparently the cross was unimaginably large, and the nails spent on Christ were collected all over the world in the amount of 1235 pieces!
But short list other Christian relics. There are truly amazing things that defy understanding:
A piece of the window through which the Archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary;
The candle that shone at the birth of Jesus;
Rags with the blood of the Holy Virgin;
Tears of the Virgin Mary;
Milk of the Virgin Mary;
Hay from the manger in which Jesus lay;
Hair of the Baby Jesus;
Tears of Jesus;
Foreskin of Jesus;
The stone on which Jesus sat;
The relics of the rooster that crowed for Petra;
The robe in which Jesus was led to Calvary;
Box containing Jesus' last breath;
Blood of Jesus collected at the foot of the Cross;
Pieces of Jesus' shroud;
Crown of Thorns (kept in Notre Dame Cathedral);
Silver dish on which lay the head of John the Baptist;
Dishes from the Last Supper;
St. Paul's Nail;
Remains of the apostles' clothes;
A vessel containing the sweat of St. Michael, collected after his struggles with the Devil;
Bones of the donkey on which Jesus rode into Jerusalem (skeleton in Verona, tail in Genoa);
Holy spirit sneezes;
Finger of the Holy Spirit (!);
Bones of cows dreamed by the Egyptian pharaoh.
In November 2002, even the sandals of Christ were discovered (kept in Prüm). There are also two tables in the world that took part in the Last Supper - one is cedar, located in Italy, the other is oak, located in Austria. The items from that very supper are represented in separate, very numerous quantities.
The scraps from the Lord's shroud would be enough to make a decent sail, you might even find the relics of a crowing rooster. It seems that Christ was not followed by disciples, but by collectors of various things and objects for posterity.
Many well-known and revered relics turned out to be fakes, for example, the relics of Saint Rosalia turned out to be the bones of a goat, and a spectral analysis of the Shroud of Turin showed that it was made in the 14th century. In March 1990, the British Museum hosted a huge exhibition about the Shroud of Turin with the telling title: “Fake. The art of deception."
It seems the church is in no hurry to bury its corpses, because even more particles can be made from them for even more worship and chanting.