My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.
THE VENERATION OF HOLY RELICS
OLD TESTAMENT MIRACLE:
Prophet "Elisha died, and they buried him. Then in the following year, the
raiding bands from Moab invaded the land. And it came to pass, as they
were burying a man, they beheld a lightly armed band of raiders, and cast
the man INTO THE TOMB OF ELISHA. When the man TOUCHED THE
BONES (RELICS) OF ELISHA, HE REVIVED AND STOOD UP ON HIS FEET"
[4 Kingdoms 13:20-21).
The above biblical (Old Testament) account testifies the significance of holy relics of holy people of God, Saints. There are those who struggle with the idea of honoring the holy relics of Saints, doubting they have any special importance and spiritual value. Here, the bones of a departed Prophet and Saint bring a dead man back to life. Saint Cyril comments, "is a dead man raised to life on touching the bones of Prophet Elisha, and is it not much easier for the Creator of mankind to be raised by the power of the Father? Well then, He truly rose, and after He had risen was seen again by the Disciples…are you still incredulous in regard to His Resurrection?"
In giving veneration to the saints of God who have departed with their souls into heaven, the Holy Orthodox Church at the same time honors the holy relics or bodies of saints of God which remain incorrupt on earth. However, in the Old Testament there was no veneration of the bodies of the Righteous, for the Righteous themselves were still awaiting their deliverance. Then also the flesh (of the dead) in itself was considered unclean.
The Seventh Ecumenical Synod in the following words expressed THE DOGMA of the VENERATION OF SACRED ICONS: "We therefore…define with all certitude and accuracy that just as the figure of the Precious and Life-Giving Cross, so also the Venerable and Holy images …should be set forth in the holy churches of God (for veneration)… For by so much more frequently as they are seen in artistic representation (that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Theotokos, the Angels, and Saints who are depicted in the holy icons), by so much more readily are men lifted up to the memory of their prototypes, and to a longing after them. And to those should be given due salutation and honorable reverence (Greek: timitiki proskynisis), NOT indeed that true worship of faith (Greek: latreia) which PERTAINS ALONE TO THE DIVINE NATURE; but to these…incense and lights may be offered…For the honor which is paid to the image passes on to that which the image represents."
In the New Testament, after the Divine Incarnation of the Savior, there was an elevation not only of the concept of man in Christ, but also of the concept of the body AS THE DWELLING PLACE OF THE Holy Spirit. The Lord Himself, the Logos/Word of God, was incarnate and took upon Himself A HUMAN BODY. Christians are called to this that not only their souls but also their bodies, SANCTIFIED BY HOLY BAPTISM, SANCTIFIED BY THE RECEPTION OF THE MOST Pure Body and Blood of Christ, might become TRUE TEMPLES OF THE Holly Spirit. "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you?" (1 Corinthians 6:19). And therefore the bodies of Christians who have lived a righteous life or have become holy through receiving a Martyr’s death, are worthy of special veneration and honor.
The Holy Orthodox Church in all times, following Sacred Tradition, has shown honor to holy relics. This honor has been expressed (a) in the reverent collection and preservation of the remains of the saints of God, as is known from accounts even of the second century, and then from the testimonies of later times; (b) in the solemn uncovering and translation of holy relics; (c) in the building over them of churches and altars; (d) in the establishment of feasts in memory of their uncovering or translations; (e) in pilgrimages to holy tombs, and in adoring them; (f) in the constant rule of the Church to place holy relics of holy Martyrs at the dedication (consecration) of altars, or to place holy relics in the holy antimension upon which is performed the Divine Liturgy.
This very natural honor given to the holy relics and other remains of the saints of God has a firm foundation in the fact that God Himself has deigned to honor and glorify them by innumerable signs and miracles–something for which there is testimony throughout the whole course of the Church’s history. The body of the holy Prophet Eliajah was raised up alive into heaven, and the mantle of Elijah, which was left by him to Elisha, parted by its touch the waters of the Jordan river for the crossing of the river by Elisha.
Going over to the New Testament, we read in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles that handkerchiefs and belts ("aprons") from the body of the Apostle Paul were placed upon the sick, and the diseases of the sick were cured, and evil spirits departed from them (Acts 19:12). Saint Justin Popovich states: "By unceasing enactment of the ascetic struggle set form in the Gospels, Saints gradually fill themselves with the Holy Spirit, so that their sacred bodies, according to the word of the holy Apostle Paul, BECOME TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:17). CHRIST DWELLING BY FAITH IN THEIR HEARTS (Ephesians 3:7) and by FRUITFUL LOVE ALSO FULFILLING THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD the Father. Establishing themselves in the Holy Spirit participate in the life of the Holy Trinity, becoming sons of the Holy Trinity, TEMPLES OF THE LIVING GOD (2 Corinthians 6:16); their whole lives thus flow from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit."
Saint Ephraim the Syrian, speaking of the miraculous power of holy relics, relates the following concerning the holy Martyrs: "Even after death they act as if alive, healing the sick, expelling demons, and by the power of the Lord rejecting every evil influence of the demons. This is because THE MIRACULOUS GRACE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS ALWAYS PRESENT IN THE HOLY RELICS." Another great Holy Father of the Church, Saint Damascene writes: "The Saints have become according to grace that which the Lord Christ is according to nature. That is, they have become gods according to grace: PURE AND LIVING HABITATIONS OF GOD. For God says: "I will dwell in them, walk in the, and I will be their God" (2 Corinthians 6:16; Leviticus 16:12). The Holy Scripture likewise say: "The soul of the righteous are in God’s hand, and death cannot lay hold of them" (Wisdom 3:1). For death is rather the sleep of Saints than their death. Further: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints" (Psalm 119:6).
"The mystery of holy relics is at the heart of the universal mystery of the New Testament: THE INCARNATION OF THE GOD. The full mystery of the human body is explained BY THE INCARNATION, THE EMBODIMENT OF GOD IN THE GOD-MAN, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. For this reason, then, the Gospel message concerning the body: "The body for the Lord, and the Lord for the body" (1 Corinthians 6:13). And through a human body also the entire creation, all of matter, received its divine significance, THE UNIVERSAL MEANING OF THE God-Man. By man, who is SANCTIFIED IN THE Church by the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments) and the holy virtues, the creation and even matter ARE SANCTIFIED, UNITED TO CHRIST. There accrues to this also a joy–THE MYRRH STREAMING PROPERTY OF MANY HOLY RELICS. The wonder of myrrh has been given to the holy relics in order to indicate that Christians ARE TRULY A SWEET-SAVOUR OF CHRIST UNTO GOD" (2 Corinthians 2:15), sweet-smelling to God and to heaven. The truth of the Gospel is that the sin of man is a foul odor before God and EVERY SIN PLEASES THE DEVIL. Through the Holy Mysteries (Sacraments), and holy virtues, Christians become "a sweet-savour of Christ unto God." For this reason, then, the holy relics of the Saints pour forth myrrh" (Saint Justin Popovich).
The way that the holy relics of the Saints were translated and greeted is in a touching manner described by Saint John Chrysostom in a eulogy on Saint Ignatios: "You, inhabitants of Antioch, have sent forth a bishop and received a martyr; you sent him forth with prayers and received him back with crowns; and not only you. but all the cities which lay between. For how do you think that they behaved when they saw his remains being brought back? What pleasure was produced? How did they rejoice? With what laudations on all sides did they beset the crowned one! For as with a noble athlete, who has wrestled down all his antagonists, and who comes forth with radiant glory from the arena, the spectators receive him, and do not suffer him to tread the earth, bringing him home on their shoulders and according him countless praises. So also every city in turn received this Saint from Rome, and bearing him upon their shoulders as far as this city escorted the crowned one with praises, hymning the champion… At this time the holy Martyr bestows grace to the very same cities, establishing them in piety, and from that time to this day he enriches this city."
The remains of the Saints (in Greek, ta LEIPSANA,, meaning what is left. In Slavonic word MOSHCHI "relics," refers not only to the bodies of the Saints, in Church Slavonic this word signifies in general the bodies of the reposed. The holy relics are revered whether or not they are incorrupt, out of respect for the holy life or the martyric death of the Saint, and all the more when there are evident and confirmed signs of healing by prayer to the Saints for their intercession before God. Revering holy relics, we believe not in the power or the might of the remains of the Saints in themselves but rather IN THE PRAYERFUL INTERCESSION OF THE SAINTS WHOSE HOLY RELICS BEFORE US AROUSE IN OUR HEARTS A FEELING OF THE NEARNESS TO US OF THE SAINTS OF GOD THEMSELVES, WHO ONCE WORE THESE BODIES. [Sources: Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Orthodox Heritage)
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"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
The Eastern Orthodox Christian Ethos 