The Place of Holy Relics In The Orthodox Church

[Steve Hayes]

The Place of Holy Relics In The Orthodox Church

By St. Justin Popovich

Without doubt, matter is represented in the human body in a manner which is
most puzzling, most mysterious, and most complex. The brain: What wondrous
mysteries pass between its physical and spiritual parts! How vast is the
experience of the human race. In no manner can one ever fully comprehend or
grasp these mysteries. Indeed, little of this is accessible to the human
senses or intellectual investigation. So it is also with the heart of man,
formed as it is entirely and solely from cosmic mysteries. So formed, too, are
every cell, every molecule, every atom. Everyone and all are set on their
mystical path toward God, toward the God-Man.

Inasmuch as it was created by God, the Logos, matter possesses this same
theocentricity. Moreover, by His advent into our earthly world, by His
all-embracing condescension as God and Man for the redemption of the world,
the Lord Christ clearly demonstrated that not only the soul, but matter also
was created by God and for God, and that He is God and Man; and for it,
matter, He is all and everything in the same manner as for the soul. Being
created by God, the Logos, matter is, in its innermost core, God-longing and
Christ-longing.

The most obvious proof of this is the fact that God the Word has become
Incarnate, has become man (St. John 1:14). By His Incarnation, matter has been
magnified with Divine glory and has entered into the grace- and
virtue-bestowing, ascetic aim of deification, or union with Christ. God has
become flesh, has become human, so that the entire man, the entire body, might
be filled with God and with His miracle-working forces and powers. In the
God-Man, the Lord Christ, and His Body, all matter has been set on a path
toward Christ —the path of deification, transfiguration, sanctification,
resurrection, and ascent to an eternal glory surpassing that of the Cherubim.
And all of this takes place and will continue to take place through the Divine
and human Body of the Church, which is truly the God-Man Christ in the total
fullness of His Divine and Human Person, the fullness “that fills all in all”
(Ephesians 1:23). Through its Divine and human existence in the Church, the
human body, as matter, as substance, is sanctified by the Holy Spirit and in
this way participates in the life of the Trinity. Matter thus attains its
transcendent, divine meaning and goal, its eternal blessedness and its
immortal joy in the God-Man.

The holiness of the Saints—both the holiness of their souls and of their
bodies—derives from their zealous grace- and virtue-bestowing lives in the
Body of the Church of Christ, of the God-Man. In this sense, holiness
completely envelopes the human person—the entire soul and body and all that
enters into the mystical composition of the human body. The holiness of the
Saints does not hold forth only in their souls, but it necessarily extends to
their bodies; so it is that both the body and the soul of a saint are
sanctified. Thus we, in piously venerating the Saints, also venerate the
entire person, in this manner not separating the holy soul from the holy body.
Our pious veneration of the Saints’ relics is a natural part of our pious
respect for and prayerful entreaty to the Saints. All of this constitutes one
indivisible ascetic act, just as the soul and body constitute the single,
indivisible person of the Saint. Clearly, during his life on the earth, the
Saint, by a continuous and singular grace- and virtue-bestowing synergy of
soul and body, attains to the sanctification of his person, filling both the
soul and body with the grace of the Holy Spirit and so transforming them into
vessels of the holy mysteries and holy virtues. It is completely natural,
again, to show pious reverence both to the former and to the latter, both to
soul and body, both of them holy vessels of God’s grace. When the charismatic
power of Christ issues forth, it makes Grace-filled all the constituent parts
of the human person and the person in his entirety. By unceasing enactment of
the ascetic efforts set forth in the Gospels, Saints gradually fill themselves
with the Holy Spirit, so that their sacred bodies, according to the word of
the holy Apostle, become temples of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:19;
3:17), Christ dwelling by faith in their hearts (Ephesians 3:17) and by
fruitful love also fulfilling the commandments of God the Father. Establishing
themselves in the Holy Spirit through grace-bestowing ascetic labors, the
Saints participate in the life of the Trinity, becoming sons of the Holy
Trinity, temples of the Living God (II Corinthians 6:16); their whole lives
thus flow from the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit. By piously
venerating the holy relics of the Saints, the Church reveres them as temples
of the Holy Spirit, temples of the Living God, in which God dwells by Grace
even after the earthly death of the Saints. And by His most wise and good
Will, God creates miracles in and through these relics. Moreover, the miracles
which derive from the holy relics witness also to the fact that their pious
veneration by the people is pleasing to God.

The pious veneration of holy relics, based on their miraculous nature,
originated from Divine Revelation. Even in the Old Testament God deigned to
celebrate with miracles the holy relics of certain of those who were
well-pleasing to Him. Thus, by the touch of the holy relics of the Prophet
Elisea, a dead man was resurrected. The tomb and bones of this Prophet, who
had prophesied to Jeroboam the destruction of idolatrous altars, were greatly
revered in Judea. The Patriarch Joseph also left a testament to the sons of
Israel to preserve his bones in Egypt and, during their exodus, to carry them
to the promised land (Genesis 50:25).

The New Testament raised the human body to the sublime and divine heights,
endowing it with a glory which the Cherubim and Seraphim do not possess. The
Good News of the New Testament concerning the body—the significance and goal
of the human body—is that, together with the soul, it achieves and inherits
immortal life in Divine eternity. The Lord Christ has come to deify, to make
Christ-like, the entire man, that is, the soul and body, and this by the
resurrection, insuring thereby victory over death and eternal life. No one
ever elevated the human body as did the Lord Christ by His bodily
resurrection, the ascension of His body into heaven, and its eternal session
at the right hand of God the Father. In this way, the Resurrected Christ
extended the promise of resurrection to the nature of the human body—”having
made for all flesh a path to eternal life.” Thus man now knows that the body
is created for eternity through union with the God-Man and that his divine
work on earth is to struggle, with the soul, for eternal life; to struggle,
with all those means that convey grace and virtue, to make himself
grace-filled, fulfilled by Divine grace, and created anew as the temple of the
Holy Spirit, the temple of the Living God.

Bearing in mind that this New Testamental notion of the human body has been
achieved and realized in the persons of the Saints, Christians show a pious
veneration for the bodies of the Saints, towards holy relics, the temples of
the Holy Spirit, Who by God’s grace abides within them. But Holy Revelation
indicates that by God’s immeasurable love for man, the Holy Spirit abides
through His grace not only in the bodies of the Saints, but also in their
clothing. So it is that the handkerchiefs of the holy apostle Paul healed the
ill and expelled unclean spirits (Acts 19:12). With his mantle the Prophet
Elias struck the water, separating the waters of the Jordan, and along the dry
bed of the river crossed the Jordan with his disciple Elisea (IV Kings 2:8).
The prophet Elisea did the very same thing, himself, with the same mantle,
after the taking-up of Elias into heaven (IV Kings 2:14). All this has its
verification and source in the Divine power that rested in the garments of the
Savior, which encompassed His most pure and Divine body. Moreover, by His
inexpressible love for man, the Divine Lord allows the servants of His
Divinity to work miracles not only through their bodies and clothing, but even
with the shadow of their bodies, which is evident in an occurrence with the
holy apostle Peter: his shadow healed an ill man and expelled unclean spirits
(Acts 5:15-16).

The eternal good news of Holy Revelation about sacred relics and their pious
veneration is proved, and is continually being proved, by Holy Tradition from
Apostolic times to the present day. Innumerable are the sacred relics of the
holy Chosen Ones of God throughout the Orthodox world. Their miracles are
innumerable. The pious veneration of these relics by Orthodox Christians is
everywhere to be found. And without doubt this is because the holy relics,
through their miracles, incite the Orthodox toward their pious veneration.
From the very beginning, in Apostolic times, Christians piously preserved the
honored relics of the Holy Forerunner and the holy Apostles, so that these
could be preserved even for us. As well, during the times of persecution the
sacred remains of the bodies of the holy Martyrs were taken away by Christians
and hidden in their homes. From that time until now, the sacred relics of the
holy Chosen Ones of God have, by their miracles, poured forth the immortal joy
of our faith into the hearts of Orthodox Christians. The proofs concerning
this are countless. We shall cite only several.

The way that the holy relics of the Saints were translated and greeted is in a
touching manner described by St. Chrysostomos in a eulogy on St. 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 they rejoiced! 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.”

Speaking of the miraculous power of holy relics, Saint Ephraim the Syrian
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.”

During the finding of the relics of Saints Gervasius and Protasius, St.
Ambrose, in speaking to his listeners, relates this with pious enthusiasm:
“You know—indeed, you have yourselves seen—that many are cleansed from evil
spirits, that very many also, having touched with their hands the robe of the
Saints, are freed from those ailments which oppressed them. You see that the
miracles of old times are renewed, when through the coming of the Lord Jesus
grace was more abundantly shed forth upon the earth, and that many bodies are
healed as it were by the shadow of the holy bodies. How many napkins are
passed about! How many garments, laid upon the holy relics and endowed with
the power of healing, are claimed! All are glad to touch even the outside
thread, and whosoever touches it will be made whole.”

Speaking of the miracles produced by holy relics, the blessed Augustine says:
“To what do these miracles witness, but to this faith which preaches Christ
risen in the flesh and ascended with the same flesh into heaven? For the
martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, were witnesses of this
faith…. For this faith they gave their lives, and can now ask these benefits
from the Lord in whose name they were slain. For this faith their
extraordinary constancy was exercised, so that in these miracles great power
was manifested as the result. For if the resurrection of the flesh to eternal
life had not taken place in Christ, and were not to be accomplished in His
people, as predicted by Christ…, why do the martyrs who were slain for this
faith which proclaims the resurrection possess such power? …These miracles
attest this faith which preaches the resurrection of the flesh unto eternal
life.”

Saint Damascene, summarizing the life-giving teaching of Holy Scripture and
Holy Tradition concerning the pious veneration of holy relics, preaches in a
Cherubic manner from the altar of his God-bearing and Christ-like soul: “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 them, and I
will be their God’ (II Corinthians 6:16; Leviticus 16:12). The Holy Scriptures
likewise say: ‘the souls of the righteous are in God’s hand, and death cannot
lay hold of them’ (Wisdom of Solomon 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). What, then, is more precious than to be in
the hand of God? For God is life and light, and those who are in God’s hand
are in life and light. Further, that God dwells even in their bodies in a
spiritual manner the all-divine Apostle attests: ‘Know ye not that your bodies
are the temples of the Holy Spirit dwelling in you?’ (I Corinthians 3:16).
And, ‘the Lord is Spirit’ (II Corinthians 3:17). Thus, the evangelical truth:
‘If anyone destroy the temple of God, him will God destroy—for the temple of
God is holy, and ye are that temple’ (I Corinthians 3:17). Surely, then, we
must ascribe honor to the living temples of God, the living dwelling-places of
God. These, while they lived, stood with boldness before God. The Lord Christ
granted us the relics of the Saints to be fountains of salvation unto us,
pouring forth manifold blessings and abounding in sweetly fragrant oil. Let no
one disbelieve this! For if water burst in the desert from the steep and solid
rock according to God’s will (Exodus 17:6), and from the jawbone of an ass to
quench Samson’s thirst (Judges 15:14-19), is it then unbelievable that
fragrant oil should spring forth from relics of the holy Martyrs? By no means,
at least to those who know the omnipotence of God and the honor which He
accords to His Saints. According to the Old Testament law, everyone who
touched a dead body was considered impure (Numbers 19:11). However, the Saints
are not dead. For from the time when He Who is Himself Life and the Author of
life was counted among the dead, we do not call those dead who have fallen
asleep in the hope of the resurrection and with faith in Him. For how could a
dead body work miracles? And how, through the holy relics, are demons driven
off, diseases dispelled, the sick made well, the blind restored to sight,
lepers cleansed, temptations and tribulations overcome; and how does every
good gift come down from the Father of lights (St. James 1:17) to those who
pray with sure faith?”

The universal faith of the Church concerning the pious veneration of holy
relics was confirmed by the God-bearing Fathers of the Seventh Œcumenical
Synod in its decrees: “Our Lord Jesus Christ granted to us the relics of
Saints as a salvation-bearing source which pours forth varied benefits on the
infirm. Consequently, those who presume to abandon the relics of the Martyrs:
if they be hierarchs, let them be deposed; if however monastics or laymen, let
them merely be excommunicated.”

….That a pious veneration of the holy relics is a constituent part of the
salvation rendered by the God-Man is also evidenced by the following facts:
from the depths of sacred antiquity, churches were built on the graves and
relics of Saints, and the holy Liturgy is performed only on antimensia, in
which are placed parts of the holy relics. Moreover, the divine service books,
especially the Menaion, are replete with prayers and hymns which refer to the
pious veneration of holy relics….

All in all, the mystery of holy relics is at the heart of the universal
mystery of the New Testament: the incarnation of 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” (I
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 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 relics.
This 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” (II 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 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.

Source: Orthodox Tradition, Vol. VII, No. 1, p. 9.

from:
http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2011/03/place-of-holy-relics-in-orthodox-church.html


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk