The Holy Relics of The Church
Up Close & Personal with Earthen Vessels of Grace
People have a natural fascination with historical objects. Movies dealing with expeditions in search of the Holy Grail, the Ark of the Covenant, or Noah’s ark attract large viewership. There’s something electric about holding in your hands a piece of history. The Church is one of the largest repositories of ancient treasures. From early times, the early Christians, like the Israelites, treated with special care the people and objects it regarded as being made holy by God’s grace. In the story of the Exodus, Moses performed many of God’s wonders by raising a wooden staff with his arms extended (a symbolic gesture of Christ’s crucifixion). The words on the tablets of the Ten Commandments were etched by God. The manna bread that fell from heaven to feed the Israelites in the desert were preserved in a jar. All of these objects were holy and commanded by God to be stored in a specially made Ark. The Glory of God over the Ark and the objects inside it made the Ark holy. The Ark was to be kept inside the Holy of Holies of the Temple in Jerusalem. Only the High Priest, on the Day of Atonement, could enter inside the Holy place. The Ark was such a holy object that the Angel of the Lord struck Uzzah dead for touching the holy Ark of the Covenant when he tried to keep it from tipping over when it was being transported (2 Samuel 6:6-7). In 2 Kings 13:20-21 there is the account of the dead man who was buried in Elisha’s tomb and was miraculously revived when his dead body touched the bones of the Holy Prophet Elisha. This miracle confirmed the holiness of the bones of this grace-filled Old Testament prophet.
The New Testament Church understood, and still does today, that God pours out His grace on people and objects set apart for holiness. The Apostle Paul wrote that we are the temple of God. He goes on further to state: “If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:17) The Apostles’ holiness was evident, as even their shadow would heal the sick (Acts 5:15). The grace of holiness is transferred even onto people or objects touching them. Merely touching the fringe of Jesus’ garments transferred healing grace (Luke 8:44). Even handkerchiefs or aprons brought from the Apostle Paul’s body healed the sick and cast out the evil spirits (Acts 19:11-12). The Early Church preserved and venerated with high honor and reverence all of its holy heroes and holy objects. The relics of many of our saints exude a fragrant myrrh. Unbeknownst to many in the West, The Church of God has preserved onto our day the bodily relics of the Apostles, martyrs, and saints, The True Cross, the Lord’s Tomb, the Crown of Thorns, the Nails and Lance, the Holy Shroud, and many other grace-filled relics, thereby witnessing through them to generations of people the power and historicity of the Incarnation, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord. The relics were housed in beautiful chapels in Constantinople, which replaced Rome as the imperial city of the Roman Empire. Sadly, many of the relics relating to the Passion of our Lord were either sacked during the Fourth Crusade and transported from Constantinople to European cities, or otherwise gifted by the Constantinopolitan emperors to European monarchies. The holy relics grant credence and authenticity to the historical Church in the 21st century, when so many modernists have redefined the church to something other than the One Church that traces its origins to the Apostles. This historical Church is that which preserved the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible: Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Alexandrinus. This is also the same Church that has preserved the original icons written by the Apostle Luke. All of these holy items from the past remain for us earthen vessels of grace for the unity and edification of the holy people of God.
The Finding of The True Cross
One of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time, yet few Christians in the U.S. are even aware the True Cross was unearthed and still exists!
In a twist of irony, the most familiar symbol of Christianity, The Most Holy and Precious Cross, was discovered 1,700 years ago, but few know the amazing story, or have had the great blessing of venerating it.
At the beginning of the reign of Saint Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.), the first Roman emperor to recognize Christianity, he decided to build a church on the site of the Lord’s suffering and Resurrection, and to find the True Cross. In 326 A.D., his mother, Empress Helen, led the imperial expedition to Israel. She journeyed to Jerusalem with a large quantity of gold. Saint Constantine wrote a letter to the Patriarch of Jerusalem, Macarius I (313-323 A.D.), requesting him to assist her in every possible way with her task of the restoring the Christian holy places.
After her arrival in Jerusalem, the holy empress Helen began to destroy all the pagan temples and reconsecrate the places which had been defiled by the pagans.
In her quest for the Life-Creating Cross, she questioned several Christians and Jews, but for a long time her search remained unsuccessful. Finally, she was directed to an elderly Hebrew named Jude, who was persuaded under duress to disclose the Cross was buried beneath the temple of Venus. This temple may have been part of Emperor Hadrian’s reconstruction of Jerusalem as a new pagan city after 130 A.D. and following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Saint Helen ordered that the pagan temple be demolished, and for the site to be excavated. Soon they found a cave underneath with three crosses, a board with the inscription written by Pilate: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews” in Hebrew, Greek and Latin (John 19:19), and four nails which had pierced the Lord’s Body. On the site where the Cross lay, there was freshly scented basil growing. (Note that basil comes from the Greek word "Vasiliko" which means "of the King," since the word "Basileus" in Greek means "King"; so, the plant Vasiliko, Basil, is tied to the Precious Cross of the King of Glory, our Lord Jesus Christ).
Now the task was to determine on which of the three crosses the Savior had been crucified. Patriarch Macarius saw a dead person being carried to his grave, then he ordered that the dead man be placed upon each cross in turn. When the corpse was placed on the Cross of Christ, he was immediately restored to life. After seeing the raising of the dead man, everyone was convinced that the Life-Creating Cross had been found. The Empress Helen, the Patriarch Macarius and all the people with them thankfully venerated the Cross of Christ and kissed it with great joy. Crowds of innumerable people gathered to the place where the Cross had been found. Because of the size of the crowd, it was impossible to see it, so Patriarch Macarius stood on a high place and in order to make it visible to all, he lifted it up several times. The crowd, seeing the Cross, bowed and exclaimed, "Kyrie elison!” which in Greek means, “Lord have mercy!” After finding the Precious Cross, Judas, who had shown the location of the Cross, converted to Christianity. He was later ordained a bishop, with the name Cyriacus, and was raised to succeed as Patriarch of Jerusalem. He suffered for Christ under Emperor Julian the Apostate.
Tragically, the Persians had captured the True Cross as a prize of war when they sacked Jerusalem in 614 A.D. It was recovered by the forces of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) in 627 A.D., when Emperor Heraclius decisively defeated the Sassanid Persians at The Battle of Nineveh, surrounding their capital Ctesiphon, recovering the True Cross, and breaking the power of the Sassanid dynasty. The Elevation took place on March 21, 630 A.D., when Emperor Heraclius entered Jerusalem amidst great rejoicing, and together with Patriarch Zacharios (609-632 A.D.), transferred the Cross of Christ with great solemnity into the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, joyously held up for veneration by the Christian faithful. To prevent future seizure of the True Cross, it was splintered into many pieces, and distributed to churches and monasteries throughout the world, where they can be venerated by Christians to this day.
In the center of the above gold casing are wood fragments from the True Cross in the form of a cross. This relic is housed in a monastery at Mt. Athos, Greece.
The Holy Shroud
This burial Cloth is the most studied relic In History
This Jewish linen burial cloth is perhaps the most controversial historical object known to man. It bears the negative image of a crucified man. There are no paint pigments or evidence of scorch marks. Groups of international scientists from multiple disciplines have remained baffled by the amazing image projected on the cloth. Researchers have concluded that creating an image on linen fibers could only have been accomplished by short and intense burst of UV directional radiation requiring 34 thousand billion watts of energy (more than the output of our most powerful modern laser). The pollen on the fabric is traced back to plants found only in vicinity of Jerusalem. Carbon dating tests in 1988 that dated the Shroud to the Medieval Period have been discounted, as they were done fibers taken from a patch, rather than from the actual woven cloth. The patch was sewn during the Medieval Period to repair burn holes on the cloth that were damaged by molten silver from its silver reliquary box during a fire in a chapel. The man’s image on the Shroud shows blood marks around his head that correspond with forceful placement of a bush of thorns. The man also has a spear wound to the right side around his ribs. The nails were driven through his wrists (not his palms as depicted in paintings) which is anatomically necessary to be able to hold his weight on a cross. The blood stains are still deep red, due to the known effects of bilirubin on the blood when the human body is severely traumatized. There more than 100 scourge marks on both sides of the body, with the marks in the shape of small dumbbells that were commonly attached to the ends of the Roman flagellum whips. The Shroud was originally in the possession of the Orthodox patriarchate of Constantinople until disappearing during the sack of Constantinople in the 4th Crusade. It later re-appeared in France in Roman Catholic hands, and was later translated to Turin, Italy, where it remains to this day.
The Precious Tomb Of Our Lord
For the first time in centuries, scientists in 2016 have exposed the original surface of what is traditionally considered the tomb of Jesus Christ. Located in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City of Jerusalem, the tomb has been covered by marble cladding since at least 1555 A.D., and most likely centuries earlier. Tests run on the the remains of a limestone cave inside Church have dated the tomb to around AD 345, National Geographic reported. The cave, the oldest architectural remnant on the site, is therefore 1,700 years old. According to Christian tradition, the body of Jesus Christ was laid on a shelf or “burial bed” hewn from the side of a limestone cave following his crucifixion by the Romans in A.D. The scientific process analyzed chemicals in the remains to find out how long it had been since they were last exposed to light. The archaeological study on the site in 2016 found that the tomb had never been moved. While the New Testament supports that Jesus died either in AD 31 or 33, historical accounts suggest that Romans located and enshrined the tomb in AD 326. The date corresponds to the rule of Constantine I, the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity and declared it the official religion of the empire. From this point it became more common to build large monuments to Christ. The tomb was totally destroyed and subsequently rebuilt in the year 1009, prompting historians to doubt whether the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was the same burial site discovered by the Romans. However, the latest scientific tests, carried out for over a year by the National Technical University of Athens, have suggested otherwise. The technique used is called optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), National Geographic said. It determines how recently quartz sediment in samples from the tomb's mortar were exposed to light. This burial shelf is now enclosed by a small structure known as the Edicule (from the Latin aedicule, or “little house”), which was last reconstructed in 1808-1810 after being destroyed in a fire. The Edicule and the interior tomb underwent restoration by a team of scientists from the National Technical University of Athens, under the direction of Chief Scientific Supervisor Professor Antonia Moropoulou. Archaeological architect Leen Ritmeyer is widely considered the world’s leading authority on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Ritmeyer was the chief architect of the Temple Mount excavations, which took place in Jerusalem after the Six-Day War of 1967. He served in a similar capacity in the Jewish Quarter excavations and also in the City of David excavations, producing important reconstruction drawings for all of them and for many other sites in Israel and Bible Lands. He believes the site of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher answers the requirements that the burial place was outside but near the city walls of Jerusalem at that time (Heb. 13:12), near a main road (Mark 15:21, 29), in a garden (John 19:41a), where a new tomb had been made (Matt. 27:60; Luke 23:53; John 19:41b). Although the church is located inside the walls of the Old City today, this was not the case in the first century A.D. At that time, this site was situated north of the First Wall and west of the Second Wall. Substantial remains of the First Wall have been found in the Citadel and in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. In these latter excavations, the remains of the Gennath (Garden) Gate and the beginning of what is believed to be the Second Wall have been found, just where Josephus described them as being (cf. War 5.146). The name “Garden Gate” indicates that a garden must have been located nearby. Excavations below the Church of the Holy Sepulcher have shown that this area used to be an ancient quarry, which was later abandoned. The excavators believe that the area was then filled with arable soil, presumably to turn the ugly quarry remains into a beautiful garden.
The Cincture of the Virgin Mary
The Cincture of the Theotokos (i.e. God-Bearer) is believed by the Church to be a relic of the Blessed Virgin Mary, now in the Vatopedi monastery on Mount Athos. The word "cincture" (Greek: zone) is sometimes also translated as "belt", "sash" or "girdle". According to the Sacred Tradition of the Church, at the time of her Dormition, the Virgin Mary was buried by the Twelve Apostles at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Three days later, Thomas the Apostle, who had been delayed and unable to attend the funeral, arrived and asked to have one last look at the Holy Virgin. When he and the other apostles arrived at Mary’s Tomb, they found that her body was missing. According to some accounts, the Virgin Mary appeared at that time and gave her belt (cincture) to the Apostle Thomas. Afterwards, two poor pious women from Jerusalem undertook the responsibility of its preservation. This continued from generation to generation with gentle virgins coming from this family. The Byzantine Emperor Arkadios transferred the Belt to Constantinople and placed it in a reliquary called "Agia Soro". Around 1150 A.D., the Holy Belt was cut into pieces and have been distributed among the churches.
Traditionally, the cincture was made by the Virgin Mary herself, out of camelhair. Its history prior to the reign of Emperor Justinian in the sixth century is unknown. It was kept at Jerusalem for many years, until it was translated to Constantinople in the 5th century, together with the Robe of the Virgin Mary, and deposited in the Church of St. Mary at Blachernae. This relic was embroidered with gold thread by the Empress Zoe, the wife of Emperor Leo VI, in gratitude for a miraculous cure. Later, the Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (1347–1355) donated the cincture to the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos where it remains to this day, in a silver reliquary of newer manufacture which depicts the Monastery.
The stone bench on which the Virgin's body was laid out, now encased in glass (Church in Jerusalem)
Reliquary containing the belt of the Virgin
Relics of the Apostle andrew
Andrew, the First Called of the Apostles By Christ, was Peter’s Brother. Part of His remains, nearly 2,000 years old are Still preserved for believers to venerate
The Apostle Andrew was crucified upside down on an X-shaped cross in Patras, Greece between 60-70 A.D. On the spot of his martyrdom was erected an Orthodox Church. Inside this church is a marble tomb containing a small finger and the top of his cranium. There is also a shrine with fragments of his cross. The larger part of St. Andrew’s remains had been taken to Constantinople, the imperial city, during the reign of Constantius, son of St. Constantine the Great. In 1210 A.D., following the Fourth Crusade, those remains were stolen from Constantinople and taken to Amalfi in southern Italy, where they still lie.
The silver reliquary contains the skull and small finger of the Apostle Andrew