The miracles to which the relics of saints are capable, even shock skeptics and atheists!
In many religions and beliefs, parts of the bodies of people who have played a sacred role in the history of faith are considered strong artifacts. In Christianity, they are the object of veneration: it is implied that they symbolize the invisible presence of a saint in a church or monastery. But under the desire of believers to touch the sacred remains lies more than the banal curiosity. Each of them heard about miraculous miracles of healing from deadly ailments with the help of relics and would like to personally verify the reality of this phenomenon.
Why are relics considered holy?
It may be called paradoxical that the clergy do not have any explanation for how in the religion that does not greet idolatry, the very idea arose that the remains of the saints can have special power. However, to the bodies of the deceased saints since the time of the Old Testament there was a special attitude. Then it was believed that the body that left the spirit is unclean and can infect the living beings who have touched it.
"Whoso toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days: he shall purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and shall be clean; If he does not purify himself on the third and seventh day, he will not be clean; Everyone who touches the dead body of a person who has died and who has not cleared himself, defiles the dwelling of the Lord: the man shall be cut off from the midst of Israel; for he is not sprinkled with the water of purification, he is unclean, yet his uncleanness is on him. "
The first person to think about the preservation of his body after death was Joseph the Beautiful. In the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Jews it is said:
"God will visit you: and lift up my bones." Moses and the sons of Israel carried from Joseph to the land the promised bones of Joseph the Beautiful. When all came out of Egypt and some worn out gold, other silver, then Moses took and carried the bones of Joseph instead of all wealth, bringing in them a treasure of the greatest and full of innumerable blessings. "
Unfortunately, no evidence of miracles perpetrated by Joseph's remains has been preserved. The first saint, whose relics were able not only to heal a man, but to revive a dead man, became Elisha. The dead Christian who fell in his coffin rose to his feet and began to breathe again.
"And it came to pass that when they buried one man, when they saw this horde, they buried that man in the coffin of Elisha; And when he fell, he touched the bones of Elisha, and he revived, and rose to his feet. The king of Judea of Judea ordered the inhabitants of the city of Bethel to keep the bones of the man of God, buried in Bethel under the king of Israel, Jeroboam, after more than 300 years. "
Throughout many centuries, all church denominations have vehemently discussed the question of whether it is possible to consider as part of religion what is left of the saint on Earth after he entered the heavenly palaces. In 767, at the Second Council of Nicaea, they agreed that relics are the remains of the righteous who are not subject to time and processes of decay. The priests agreed to spread the doctrine that through the kissing of the relics one can receive healing and sanctification. Such a decision was justified, since history knows many mystical cases of getting rid of the disease due to relics.
The relics of St. Mark and God-blessed theft
In the 20-ies of the IX century, St. Mark of Ephesus died in Alexandria, and a real war unfolded for his body. Then the city was under the rule of Muslims who considered it unnatural to preserve the relics, characteristic of Orthodoxy. They intended to consign every Christian relic to oblivion, but hesitated. In that year merchants from Venice arrived in Egypt - they were called Buono Tribuno da Malamokko and Rustico da Torcello. Before leaving the Vatican priests set them a task in the best traditions of modern militants: they were punished by all truths and fakes to take the relics of Mark to Rome.
There is a legend that Mark himself appeared to them in a dream and told the traders the trick that allowed to carry out the conceived. They persuaded Orthodox servants of the local church under persecution, overcome fear and replace Klavdia's relics with the remains of Mark. The body was put in a large basket and covered with pork carcasses, the touch of which Muslims consider a mortal sin. The relics have since been kept in the same temple in Venice. There are cases of healing adults and conceiving long-awaited children after desperate parents turned to the relics for help.
Forbidden artifact: Holy flesh
In the Arab Gospel and the Gospel of Luke, there are references to the fact that on the eighth day after the birth of the baby Jesus passed a circumcision ceremony. For many centuries after his death no one remembered her, but in the Middle Ages, 18 people and churches, who called themselves the keepers of the holy foreskin, were found at once. While Agnes Blanbekin in visions felt her piece in her mouth, Saint Catherine of Siena was rumored to wear it on her finger instead of a ring.
Until 1990, it earned collectors, merchants of "black" antiques and followers of pseudo-Christian teachings. The Church adopted a decree according to which any discussion and attempt to call oneself an owner is punishable by excommunication from faith. Today the only original flesh is stored in Ile-Jezu - the cathedral church of the Order of the Roman Jesuits. No stories with a mystical cure are connected with it: it is only affirmed that touching the flesh redeems sins in the last 10 years.
Breast milk of the Virgin Mary and the choice of a place for the church
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux prayed before the face of the Virgin Mary about the health of the child, when a great religious miracle happened. "Show that you are a mother," Bernard asked, and Maria immediately responded. The statue poured milk that fell into the saint's mouth. In 1650, the artist Alonso Cano portrayed this moment on one of his paintings. Breast milk of the Virgin Mary is equated to relics and priests demonstrate it to those who wish in many European churches. The Bethlehem stone, sprinkled with Mary's milk, turned white, and in this historic place the church was later erected.
International shrine: the relics of the incorruptible Saint Francis
Those wishing to be healed of a serious illness try to touch the relics of St. Francis, they can be seen in almost any part of the world. After the representatives of the church saw that the remains of the saint are not susceptible to decay and remain the same, they divided the relics into several parts. The skull, the left arm, legs and spine are on Goa: Francis is considered the patron of the resort Indian town. The right hand is kept in the Vatican, and the forearm lies in the glass urn of the temple of Joseph near Macau.
Eloquence of Anthony of Padua
Anthony of Padua and after death helps believers: he is considered a patron of people who dream of finding a soul mate. In the Cathedral of St. Anthony - the Catholic church in the city of Padua (Italy), any believing tourist can take a paper and a pen to write a note to the wonderworker with entreaties. It can be left next to the relics - the language of Antonius of Padua. During his lifetime, he was eloquent - hundreds of people were going to listen to his reading parables and religious texts. The saint died in 1231, and when his body was exhumed after three decades, only the language remained of him, which is kept in the Cathedral to this day.
Miracles in reality: the blood of St. Gennaro
2017 started with bad news for all Catholics : according to the opinion of the higher clergy, the time of the apocalypse and other catastrophes is approaching. The predictor was the Holy Januarius, whose blood annually becomes a phenomenon no less significant than the convergence of the Holy Fire .
In the church of Naples, the head of the saint and the vessel with its gore are stored. Once a year, hundreds of believers with their own eyes can see how the blood boils in the ampoule, if it is brought closer to the remains of the severed head. History already knows cases when the blood did not boil in the vessel: in 1939, the absence of a miracle became a harbinger of war, and in 1980 - a powerful earthquake in Naples. What does 2017 prepare for the inhabitants of the planet Earth, even if the defender of the people of Januarius turned away from us?