RELICS:
Just as Calvinists do not know the difference between foreknowledge and causation, the Orthodox and Roman Catholics do not know the difference between faith and credulity. However it is not so much that they are just gullible or naive, not even green or callow, it is more disingenuous and as scripture says "wilfully ignorant". There are none so blind as them that will not see. You can bring a horse to water but you cannot make it drink. They cannot see the wood for the trees. They have itching ears. Frankly they love lies not truth. The bunk they believe about fake miracles, relics and man made rites and rituals is off the scale. Even babies get an exorcism in order to give fake powers to their fake priests.
The incorrupt relics of St. Theodora the Empress are kept in the Cathedral of the Most Holy Theotokos Speliotissis in Corfu, Greece. The relics are carried in procession on the Sunday of the Triumph of Orthodoxy, the first Sunday of Great Lent. (the woman who re-establisghed idols !!! )
note - some of these relics are particularly Catholic.
1) Bits, pieces, dead bodies etc,
2) pseudo Holy objects / pseudo sacred objects
3) Idols and icons
Evolution & Relics - bones.
The biggest list of relics in Orthodoxy are their bishops, the long list of old men with scraggly beards who think they are holy, but have lost contact with spiritual reality, and often social and scientific reality as well. like the so called bishop in Greece who said cremated people cannot be resurrected, and that is a church tradition, so it must be true.
The famous atheist Richard Dawkins does not realise that the study of so called evolution and "bones" has deceived him, in the same way the veneration of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox "pseudo saints bones" and other relics have deceived them. Evolutionists just keep on totally ignoring they cannot prove one species turning into another, and those "drunk on religion" (see Revelation 17:4) just ignore the absurdity of their miracle claims about their ghoulish heap of dead person's bones. Both need to wake up to spiritual reality and be born again.
PICTURES OF JESUS - made without hands.
The relics, icons, artifacts etc often contain pictures of Jesus, many supposedly "made without hands" all of which look very different from each other, yet all of which are supposed to be authentic. The same anomaly occurs with pictures of Mary the Mother of Jesus - the paintings all look like different women.
(under construction)
somehow I think there will be a very long list eventually of relics only someone who is mentally docile, or drunk on religion, would think were real.
It is fair to say the subject of relics and icons and idols are bound to cross over in subject matter, as are the subjects of pseudo "holy" objects. of which Orthodoxy has a whole junk yard of objects clearly man made in their so called sanctity, and to Evangelicals just a jumble of religious clutter, made even more so by the mumbo jumbo rites and rituals that accompany them.
WE ARE THE TRUE CHURCH BECAUSE......
OF FAKES!
This whole mess of fake religious sites, dead bodies, body parts. and artefacts is used partly to create a confusion in people's minds, but also to in effect say "We are the true church because we are the custodians of the actual places where Jesus was born, crucified, and resurrected, we have relics of him, of Mary, of John the baptist, of all the apostles, and even artefacts pertaining to Jesus' ministry, like bits of his cross, the nails from his cross, his crown of thorns, his seamless coat, the holy grail, and even the the table he ate with the disciples on after his resurrection. and much much more!." It is a sales pitch, to get money, power and religious glory. When everyone of those items is an obvious fake. This is partly what they call "our faith is built on traditions". They mean "Our Faith is built on fakes."
Steve Christoforou a popular Orthodox YouTube presenter admitted none, not even one, of their Orthodox traditions is infallible, yet the church that produced them is (just not the Titular head) in which case they are all fallible and can be completely discarded. Why base your religious faith on someone's advice who claims he has the finger of John the Baptist to point you in the right direction? After all, the Muslims have Muhammad's beard and a footprint of Muhammad. So what.
RELICS BEFORE THE INCARNATION:
1) They say "The relics of the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Obadiah, Zachariah and several of the apostles remained incorrupt."
BEGINNING OF LIST:
1) SITES OF JESUS:
THE SITE of Calvary - The Calvary of crucifixion, a small rock called Golgotha, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Inside the church is a pile of rock about 7 metres (23 ft) long by 3 metres (9.8 ft) wide by 4.8 metres (16 ft), believed to be what is now visible of Calvary.
THE SITE - of Jesus resurrection.
THE SITE - of Jesus birth. - Grotto of the Nativity, identified by Constantine's mother Saint Helena and Macarius of Jerusalem, within the Church of the Nativity.
THE SITE - of Jesus Baptism - The site of Al-Maghtas (baptism, or immersion in Arabic)???
THE SITE - of Jesus Ascension -
2) RELICS OF JESUS:
1) "True cross" : is the name for physical remnants which, by a Orthodox Church tradition, are said to be from the cross upon which Jesus was crucified, a clear Orthodox fraud. [1]
a) "The Byzantine reliquary of the True Cross, called Stafrothiki of Limburg.."
2) The blood of Jesus - The Basilica of the Holy Blood in Bruges, Belgium, claims a specimen of Christ's blood in a phial said to contain a cloth with blood of Jesus Christ, brought to the city by (the conman) Thierry of Alsace after the 12th century.
3) The Holy Nail of Jesus Christ.
also the Holy Nails brought back by Saint Helena.
and..... The Iron Crown of Lombardy and Bridle of Constantine, are said to be made from nails used during the crucifixion.
There are said to be 36 churches claiming to have one or more of these nails.
4) The shroud of Jesus - The Shroud of Turin.
5) The Holy Grail - modern education has made ridiculous the claims various churches have the Holy Grail, or the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper, and like a Lizard losing its tail, the Catholics and Orthodox are sweeping it all under the carpet as after all having ten holy grails in ten unholy churches of theirs is an obvious fraud. Apparently now only the Holy Chalice of the Cathedral of Valencia is recognized as a "historical relic" by the Vatican, but of course they say even that is not the grail, so what is it supposed to be? An exact replica?
6) The crown of thorns - a large number of churches claim to have relics of the Crown of Thorns which was placed upon the head of Jesus by the soldiers prior to his crucifixion.
7) The Holy Lance - the spear of Longinus used to pierce Jesus' side when he was on the cross, to ensure that he had died.
8) The Holy Sponge, - the sponge that was dipped in vinegar and put in Jesus' mouth when he asked for water when crucified, in Santa Croce in Gerusalemme.
9) The Scala Sancta, - the stairs from Pontius Pilate's praetorium, supposedly ascended by Jesus during his trial were also reportedly brought to Rome by Saint Helena of Constantinople in the 4th century.
10) The Holy Coat: of Jesus - The possession of the seamless garment of Christ (John 19:23), for which the soldiers cast lots at the Crucifixion, is claimed by
a) the cathedral of Trier, Germany, and
b) by the parish church of Argenteuil, France.
c) The seamless robe of Jesus is kept at the cathedral of Trier.
d) The Argenteuil tradition claims that the garment venerated in that city as the Holy Coat was brought there by Charlemagne.
I thought Jesus taught to only have one coat?
11) The Column of the Flagellation - which Jesus was tied to during the Flagellation of Christ, kept in the Basilica of Saint Praxedes in Rome
12) The Jesus Table - The table on which Jesus ate with his disciples after rising from the dead. It is located at Jesus Table (Mensa Christi) Church in Nazareth, Israel. "Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn't believe those who had seen him after he had risen." Mark 16:14".
13) Jesus' Foreskin - At various points in history, a number of churches in Europe have claimed to possess the Holy Prepuce, Jesus' foreskin from the Circumcision, sometimes at the same time.
14) Jesus' Umbilical cord - A section of the Holy Umbilical Cord believed to remain from the birth of Christ is currently in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.
15) The swaddling clothes of the baby Jesus - Dubrovnik's Cathedral, Croatia, he wore during the presentation at the Temple.
16) The gifts of the Maji - St. Paul's Monastery on Mount Athos claims to have these relics.
**) The Holy Sponge, - the sponge that was dipped in vinegar? (Frankish = alleviated Jesus sufferings on the cross) sent by the Pope to make a war with the Muslims into a Holy War, at the time of Charles Martel
17) Acheiropoieta / acheiropoieton: chiefly Eastern Orthodoxy) An image of Christ believed not to have been created by human hands; a miraculous representation of Jesus. These forgeries all look different.
18) The actual cloth in John 20:5-6. The Sudarium of Oviedo : The Sudarium of Oviedo, or Shroud of Oviedo, is a bloodstained piece of cloth measuring c. 84 x 53 cm (33 x 21 inches) kept in the Cámara Santa of the Cathedral of San Salvador, Oviedo, Spain.[1] The Sudarium (Latin for sweat cloth) is by tradition the cloth that was wrapped around the head of Jesus Christ after he died as described in John 20:6-7.
19) The Veil of Veronica - which according to legend was used to wipe the sweat from Jesus' brow as he carried the cross, is also said to bear the likeness of the face of Christ. Today, several images claim to be the Veil of Veronica.
20) The (now lost?) knife that was used by Jesus during the Last Supper - was also a matter of veneration in the Middle Ages, according to the 12th-century Guide for Pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela....... as opposed to the knife used by Jesus to slice bread which according to French traveler Jules-Léonard Belin was permanently exhibited in the Logetta (decorated entrance hall) of St Mark's Campanile in Venice.
21) The wine jars from the wedding in Cana - are preserved at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Cana. Joanna and her husband Chuza, the Steward of Herod and relatives of Jesus and Mary."
3) BUILDINGS / ARTIFACTS / BODIES / BONES
FROM PEOPLE ALIVE AT THE TIME OF JESUS
MARY RELICS:
many to be listed here:
including:
1) The Tomb of the Virgin Mary - in the Kidron Valley – at the foot of Mount of Olives, in Jerusalem – believed by Eastern Christians to be the burial place of Mary, the mother of Jesus. a drag for Catholics who say she never died.
There are several tombs of Mary in different places, Christians in Nineveh in northern Iraq, mostly Eastern Orthodox in denomination, say that the tomb of Mary is located near Erbil, linking the site to the direction of tilt of the former Great Mosque of al-Nuri minaret in Mosul.
Turkmen Keraites believe, according to a Nestorian tradition that another tomb of the Virgin Mary is located in Mary, Turkmenistan a town originally named Mari.
2) Mary's Holy Belt - a hand-woven, camel-hair belt handed to Saint Thomas just before she floated up to heaven. a special chapel was erected to house it in Prato, Italy in the 14th century, Today, the belt, called Sacra Cintola, is revered as a relic of the Virgin Mary and is displayed five times a year (Christmas, Easter, May 1, Aug. 15, and on Mary's birthday, Sept. 8). a drag for the Orthodox who say she died.
3) The Tunic of Mary (Sancta Camisia) - the tunic that by tradition was worn by the Virgin Mary during the birth of Christ. said to have been given to the Catholic church in 876, was thought to have been destroyed in a fire in 1194. Three days later it was found miraculously unharmed in the treasury, which the bishop claimed was a sign from Mary herself that another, more magnificent, cathedral should be built in its place.
OTHERS:
1) St. Peter - buried Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
1) Jude, the brother of Jesus - Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City.
*) The chains of Saint Peter - The Apostle Peter was jailed in Jerusalem, shackled in an iron chain for preaching about Jesus. The night before his trial, St. Peter was said to have been released from the chain by an angel and led out of the prison. Today, the chain is housed in a reliquary under the main altar in the San Pietro in Vincoli (Saint Peter in Chains) basilica in Rome. Legend says that when the Empress Eudoxia gave the chain to Pope Leo I, he held them next to the chains from Peter's first imprisonment in the Mamertime Prison in Rome and the two chains miraculously fused together.
*) The relics of St Anna - Grandmother of Jesus.
4) The Holy Relics of Saint John the Baptist. (Holy bone and holy black finger) is found in the Monastery Church of Cetinje from Montenegro.
However, it seems that part of the right hand of St. John offered by Sultan Baizid the II to the Order of Hospitallers, returned to the Ottoman Turks in the late sixteenth century. This piece is currently preserved in Topkapi [Palace] museum, in Istanbul.. (this is obviously either yet another stupid "two places at the same time" example, or someone decided to "share out" the hand.)
however....
The famous atheist Richard Dawkins does not realise that the study of so called evolution and "bones" has deceived him, in the same way the veneration of Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox "pseudo saints bones" and other relics have deceived them. Evolutionists just keep on totally ignoring they cannot prove one species turning into another, and those "drunk on religion" (see Revelation 17:4) just ignore the absurdity of their miracle claims about their ghoulish heap of dead person's bones. Both need to wake up to spiritual reality and be born again.
however.....again.......
"A Bulgarian East-Orthodox priest holds up a box containing bones, believed to be the relics of John the Baptist, in front golden-domed ''Alexander Nevski'' cathedral in Sofia, November 12, 2010. The bones, discovered earlier this year in excavation works in the town of Sozopol on the Black Sea coast, will be displayed in ''Alexander Nevski'' cathedral for several days."
but.......
France’s Amiens Cathedral contains a preserved skull (facial bone sans lower jaw) which is supposedly that of famed prophet John the Baptist.
*) Relics of St. Mark - Cathedral in Alexandria, called the Copte-Orthodox Patriarchate carries the relics of St. Mark. St. Mark's relics are worshiped in three important cathedrals in the world, located in Alexandria, Cairo and Venice."
(I have a feeling that if I research it bones of every apostle known will be said to be somewhere in Orthodox churches, and if not if Catholics are added. It would be interesting to see if the bones ever exceed the number in the human body.)
7) The Holy Cross of St Andrew the Apostle .
*) James Ossuary .
*) Erastus Inscription - According to the tradition of the Orthodox Church, Erastus is numbered among the Seventy Disciples, and the name that appears in Acts, 2 Timothy and Romans they claim :by tradition" is the same person and an apostle,
RELICS AFTER THE TIME OF JESUS:
There are a very large number of famous people supposedly buried in Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. They include:
Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City:
*) Jude - the brother of Jesus, who wrote the epistle, but who is denied by Catholics as the brother of Jesus.
1) St. Peter himself
2) St Linus - First Roman pope
3) St Anacletus or (Cletus), a Greek Pope .
*) However the 4th Pope St Clement I . supposedly the man mentioned in Philippians 4:3, and author of the Epistle of Clement (used to justify Apostolic Succession) is not buried there, and they say he was executed by Trajan, by being tied to an anchor and thrown into the sea.
4) Pope Aristus (30 - 107), or Pope Evaristus
5) Pope Sixtus (42-125 AD),
6) Pope Pius 1st (died supposedly 154 AD)
Saints buried in Saint Peter's Basilica, Vatican City. include:
1) Saint Ignatius of Antioch (35-108)
2) Saint Martinian (30-67 AD)
3) and his co-fake Saint Processus,
helping to provide pseudo-proof that their list of bogus saints is as "real" as their bogus Popes.
The Grapevine cross - St. Nino, a Cappadocian woman who preached Christianity in Georgia in the 4th century, was said to have been given the Grapevine Cross — a cross with peculiar drooping arms — by the Virgin Mary herself. Like its original bearer, the cross, now a major symbol of the Georgian Orthodox Church, wandered several countries before finding its home in the Sioni Cathedral in Tbilisi, Georgia, where it is now displayed.
Blood of San Gennaro - Do the Orthodox believe this (and other) Catholic parlour tricks are true? Each year the people of Naples, Italy, gather on the anniversary of the martyrdom of their patron saint, San Gennaro, to watch a miracle: the liquifying of the saint's dried blood. The miracle occurs like clockwork on Sept. 19, and as many as 18 additional times a year. The fact that the phenomenon has been questioned by scientists has never stopped the celebration. Many believe the so-called miracle of the blood serves to protect the town from harm (such as from the nearby Mount Vesuvius). That belief has been partially legitimized in years when the blood failed to liquefy and bad things happened — witness 1527's plague, an earthquake in 1980 and even the defeat of the Napoli football (soccer) club.
6) Holy Relics of St John Hrisostom
8) The Holy Relics of Saint Spyridon of Corfu
9) The Holy Relics of St Alexander of Svir
10) Saint Catherine's Incorruptible hand
11) Holy Relics of Saint George the Martyr
12) Relics of New Martyr Saint Elizabeth
13) The Holy Relics of Saint Nektarios Aegina
14) The uncovering of the Holy Relics of Saint Ephraim of Nea Makri
15) The Holy Relics of Saint's Kvirike and Lulita
16) The Holy Relics of Saint Marina
17) The Holy Skull of Saint Nicholas of Plana.
18) The Holy Skull of Saint Ipomonia
19) The Holy Foot of Saint Panteleimon.
20) The Holy Foot of Saint Paraskeva.
21) The Holy Relics of Saint Anastasia Farmakoritria.
22) Particles of relics of saints usually are embedded in altar tables and foundation stones of churches during consecration of churches.
23) Holy sweat - the relics of Saint Nektarios, which emitted a sweet-smelling sweat after he had passed away and showed no sign of decay until 20 years after his death.
24) The complete relics of St. Herman of Alaska,
25) The complete relics of St. John Maximovitch,
26) The complete relics of St. Alexis Toth.
27) St Martin's Cloak.
28) The holy box of bones of Saint Gregory the Theologian (returned to Constantinople)
29) The holy box of bones of Saint John Chrysostom (returned to Constantinople)
30) relics in the holy cave of the 14,000 holy innocents in Bethlehem .
31) The Holy Jaw of St Gregory Nissa.
32: "The Holy Relics of St. Dympna the virgin martyr, treasured in the Saint's Church in Gheel, Belgium"
33) Irene relics rest in the eastern part of the nave of St. Basil the Great
34) Holy gold - "Tsar Ivan Alekseevich crown, by Moscow Kremlin jewelers" many such examples
35) Incorrupt relics of Anthony, John, and Eustathios at the Orthodox .
36) The tomb and relics of Saint Nicholas at the Orthodox Church .
37) "The relics and mosaic of Holy GreatMartyr Saint Barbara - St. Barbara's Orthodox Church, Santa Barbara, California"
38) Aleksandr Nevsky - Orthodox conscripts venerating his relics.
"Mystagogy Resource Center is an International Orthodox Christian Ministry headed by John Sanidopoulos."
39 The holy arm of Saint Blaise Reliquary (1185-1192) - Dubrovnik treasure, Croatia, Musee de Cluny".
40) "Reliquary of the Jaw of St.Anthony {1349}". I think his tongue "is" in Padua, Italy: The incorrupt tongue of the saint of lost things is venerated in this basilica."
41) Saint Philofteia's relics.
42) Holy Relic of Saint Hope, daughter of Saint Sophia.
43) Relics of the Apostle Andrew in Karyes, Mount Athos, Holy Mountain, Chalkidiki, Macedonia-Greece"
44) The Holy Relics of St. Gabriel the Child-martyr of Poland.
people who see these things sometimes claim to "go into asphyxiations of crucification and holy ecstasy"
MISUSED SCRIPTURES:
Scriptures used to justify their death cult style obsession with relics are:
Scriptures
"And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet." 2 Kings 13:21