On Relics

When I was reading the Prologue from Ohrid yesterday (16Jan2022), the first thing that I read was about the chains of the Apostle St. Peter. In this paragraph on St. Peter I saw a verse from Acts that I had never really considered before, and that being Acts 19:12.

Acts 19:12 reads, "So that from his [St. Paul] body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and evil spirits went out of them."(KJV)

Now, I'm fairly certain that I have come across this verse before, and probably when looking into the Orthodox Church and veneration of relics. But yesterday, this verse really stuck out to me.

I have heard from the low church types that believing in relics is basically just superstition. I remember being taught the same thing growing up. Relics are just a bunch of fakes that the Evil Catholic Church invented to lead Christians astray. We should put out faith in God, instead of putting our faith in trinkets.

And yet, with a brief look into the Bible, we can see that relics did many amazing and wonderful things. 

In 4 Kings (2 Kings for those who don't use the Septuagint) 2:13-14 we read about the Prophet Elisha taking the mantle of the Prophet Elijah, striking water, and the water parting after being struck by the mantle of the Prophet Elijah, then the Prophet Elisha was able to cross over.

This is clearly a miracle being worked through a relic. OrthodoxWiki describes a relic as, "portions of the earthly remains of Orthodox believers, usually saints. Relics may also include clothing and vestments worn by saints, or items such as pieces of the True Cross." So we see that relics include things such as clothing worn by saints, and the Prophet Elijah is definitely considered a saint. The article from OrthodoxWiki also mentions that God preforms miracles through relics.

This is obviously not a created belief, but one that existed during the time of Christ and the Apostles (as can be evidenced by the Old Testament quote), and into the Early Church (as can be evidenced by the quote from Acts 19).

These are not the only examples of relics and miracles in the Bible.

A little further down in 4 Kings - 13:21 - a dead man was tossed in the sepulchre of the Prophet Elisha. When the dead man touched the bones (relics, as we can see above) of the Prophet he was revived.

So the Prophet Elisha used a relic (the mantle) from the Prophet Elijah to split water and walk across to the other side. Later, a dead man touches the bones (relics) of the Prophet Elisha and comes back to life.

In Acts 5:15-16 we can read that the shadow of St. Peter passing over sick people healed those sick people!

So in the Old Testament we can see miracles being worked through relics. In the New Testament we can see miracles being worked through relics. It is important to remember that it is God who preforms the miracles through the relics - it is not because the relics are some kind of magical item, rather a tool through which God chooses to work His grace.

Even in the Early Church we see after the martyrdom of St. Polycarp that Christians come and take St. Polycarp's relics.

This is obviously a continuation of an older practice, a biblical practice, and it is one that continued on in the Church with many miracles claimed to have been done through many different relics. Those Protestants who argue against relics being anything other than just bones or cloth from at best dubious sources have lost a part of the Christian faith. Where they like to claim that the Evil Catholic Church corrupted the faith and the scriptures - it seems that they are the ones that corrupted the faith; much like a corrupted hard drive is missing information, they are missing relics and the grace God can work through them.