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#0
Dear friends,
Have any of you ever been to Alaska
to visit the relics of St. Herman,
or to San Francisco to visit the relics
of St. John Maximovitch?
How and when did the tradition of
venerating relics of saints develop?
I think it would be a good experience
to visit the remains of St. Andrew and Saint
John and Saint Photios and Saint Mark of
Ephesus, wherever they are known to be.
Anyway, isn\'t this sort of an optional
tradition, or how prominent a place is
this given in Orthodoxy? Aren\'t icons
venerated to a larger extent than the
relics, or am I mistaken? Given my
Protestant background, please forgive me
if I am more inclined to understanding
books and texts, like the Bible, as objects
of veneration, relics of the faith: Church
writings, rather than the remains of Church
writers. Anyway, I respect those who have
gone on before who are genuine Apostles
and Saints of Christ, as they share in the
First Resurrection, and our hope is to
be saved by Christ and so be resurrected
by Him in a state of eternal grace. Relics
remind us of the sanctity of a Christian\'s
body, in our awaiting of the resurrection
of the dead, the blessed dead in Christ.
God bless you this Happy Thanksgiving.
Always, your friend, Scott Harrington
Erie PA USA
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EC
#1
The veneration of relics began with St. Polycarp, who was a disciple of John the Evangelist. Space doesn\'t permit me to tell his story, but it is readily available on the net.
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FC
#2
I have been to San Francisco and have venerated the relics of St John.
Actually, one could say the origins are in the Old Testament when a corpse was thrown in the cave with the remains (relics!) of the Prophet Elisha and was resurrected. Therefore, it is biblical.
I wouldn\'t say it\'s optional. It\'s not as widespread in a sense, because there are limits on how many relics you can have. Icons and Gospels can be mass produced.
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EC
#3
Cyprian wrote:
Actually, one could say the origins are in the Old Testament when a corpse was thrown in the cave with the remains (relics!) of the Prophet Elisha and was resurrected. Therefore, it is biblical.
It started even before that, with the keeping of the remains of Joseph by the Israelites until the Exodus and the carrying of his remains to the Promised Land. (I was referring to New Testament times with St. Polycarp.)
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FC
#4
Oh, you\'re quite right. Many metanias and I beg your forgiveness!
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John Chan
#5
Hi Scott
The concept of relics was a bit of a hurdle for me. I told Fr Joseph before I was baptized that the whole idea kinda creeped me out and his response was \"don\'t worry, you\'ll eventually get it\"
While I don\'t claim that I \"get it\" yet, I no longer have that creepy feeling about it anymore.
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MC
#6
Have not been to Alaska or San Francisco, but I did once go to St. Nicholas\' Cathedral in Seattle where St. John Maximovirch reposed. Beautiful place.
The earliest case of anything relating to relics (outside of the Old Testament) is the fact that when St. Ignatius of Antioch was martyred at the Colosseum, the Christians in the area took his remains to the catacombs and placed them on the altar. I believe this started the tradition of relics in the altar.
The only time that I can recall when our parish\'s relics were brought out, was on the feast day of American saints. I believe that we had relics of St. Herman, St. Raphael of Brooklyn and St. John Maximovitch on the analogion to venerate.
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EC
#7
Our priest recently went to Egypt and brought back a fragment of the relics of St. George the Great Martyr to our church for public veneration. We had a Vespers that I will never forget. Even though the small fragment was encased, you could still smell its sweet fragrance.
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Misha Sarov
#8
Manny wrote:
Our priest recently went to Egypt and brought back a fragment of the relics of St. George the Great Martyr to our church for public veneration. We had a Vespers that I will never forget. Even though the small fragment was encased, you could still smell its sweet fragrance.
this is so beautiful!!!Great Martyr st George is venerated by Muslims in the East.In Egypt ,Turkey and elsewhere one can see many muslims to pray before st.George\'s icons !!!
and many of them testify unbelievable miracles in their lives!
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