What are the relics of saints? The relics of Saint Matrona in Moscow. The relics of St. Luke in Simferopol

The relics of people who are kept in churches, churches and monasteries have long been considered holy to all Orthodox Christians. They are the bodies of saints, which miraculously survived for many centuries, they do not smolder and can heal like the best healer.

What are the relics of saints? The answer to this question is stored in the hearts of all Orthodox, each of them gives its own definition. It is believed that a person who during his life endures the torments of hunger and deprivation, but does not renounce faith, preaches it and directs them on the path of those who have strayed from the road, becomes a saint. His body assumes the status of a temple of the Holy Spirit, which allows him to be kept for many years.

Since ancient times, the Christian church has been especially concerned with the burial places of the bodies of the martyrs. Monasteries or temples were built on such places, if there was no such opportunity, then the ceremony of Divine Service was performed. But holy relics can not be read as icons, it is divine, the attitude towards them must be pious, nothing more.

Science and incorruption of the holy relics

The imperishable ashes of the saints are virtually impossible to explain. In a world where every element is destroyed sooner or later, the safety of the relics is wonderful. Moreover, even coffins, clothes, and individual things that the saint touched do not smolder. A lot of examples indicate that such remains triumph over physical decay. Plus, there are real stories, when holy relics helped people, exuding their wonderful grace. All these facts bring the thoughts of mankind beyond the usual and ordinary world, where everything has a scientific justification and proof.

In trying to explain what the relics of saints are, scientists make two assumptions. In the first case, they make the "culprits" themselves. If you keep a strict fast throughout your life, refrain from any temptation, then the body's moisture decreases. This allows him to stay for a long time. The truth is part of this, for the saints actually wear out their posts and exploits. However imperishable for several centuries can only remain those bodies that are generally devoid of any moisture. As for man, without liquid he will die, not to mention any abstinence. Therefore, this assumption has its weak points.

There is another fair observation of scientists. It is based on the property of the soil. For example, some holy relics in Irkutsk remain, by definition of science, because soil contributes to this. Such an assumption takes place, but it has absolutely nothing to do with the imperishability of the bodies of the saints. Neither the church nor strangers divide the dead into saints and sinners, all are buried equally, in the same land. But most of the remains quickly turn into ashes, and some remain in the state in which they were buried. Mineralogy, medicine, chemistry and physics today are as close to perfection. However, none of the scientists have yet expressed an exact definition, under what conditions the human body remains imperishable. Consequently, the assumption was advanced, but it was not proved.

Thus, science can not say exactly what the relics of saints are. In addition to the miracle, there is no other way to explain this phenomenon.

The life and death of Saint Matrona

Matrona Moscow is a blessed old man, one of the revered saints of the twentieth century. During her life she was an illiterate peasant woman, she did not have a home, vision, often there were seizures that, because of the pain, did not allow her to move. For 25 years she traveled around Moscow, wandering from one house to another. Despite all the misfortunes that fell on her, Nikonova Matryona Dmitrievna was able to earn respect and honor of people. This was possible thanks to the gift of divination and healing. However, what she really remembered her contemporaries and their descendants is a deep faith, unshakable and persistent. Probably, that's why the relics of Saint Matrona in Moscow are the main shrine of the city.

Unfortunately, next to Matrona there were no chroniclers, for this reason there is very little information about her. It is only known that she did not have eyes, and her eyelids were always closed. At the age of 17, the girl lost her ability to walk - her legs refused. All this - lack of vision and disease - led to the fact that Matrona could not influence her environment. In fact, it was, but her bright mind and true faith helped not only to cope with their troubles, but also to solve the problems of other people. Despite the fact that the canonization of Matrona happened only in 2004, people knew about it long before that. Her grave has never been left alone or alone. Crowds of Christians went to her for help, both during life and after death.

The relics of Saint Matrona

The relics of Saint Matrona in Moscow are located in many Orthodox places. However, the most visited is the Pokrovsky Monastery. No matter what the weather is outside, what day of the week, there is always a queue for this shrine. Christians are willing to wait several hours to receive the grace of Matrona.

Reasons for visiting relics are the usual problems that occur in the life of everyone. This treatment for diseases, the solution of family quarrels or troubles at work, requests for healthy children or a successful marriage. Some do not come to ask for anything, but for gratitude for the help already provided.

But not only in the Intercession Monastery you can see the relics of Saint Matrona. 2014 allows to worship these shrines in many churches. Moreover, its remains are carried across cities and countries, so that all the inhabitants of the planet who are related to the Christian faith could feel the grace of this saint. For example, in September of this year the relics of St. Matron in Irkutsk were visited. First the remains were taken to the chapel "Irkutsk sky", then they created a procession around the city. The rest of the days they rested in Sibexpocentre, where any Orthodox could turn to the saint with his problems.

Particular attention should be paid to the church of St. Martin. In the house of 15, in Solzhenitsyn Street, Matrona's mansions are not stored, but her funeral shirt, which also radiates a curative effect on everyone who seeks help.

St. Luke: patron of medicine and doctors

From an early age, St. Luke helped people, his relics do not refuse help to this day. Even before this person turned to the church, he operated thousands of people, each of whom invariably got rid of his illness. After the acceptance of the church dignity, Luka began to not only treat his patients, but also to lead to faith, if they got lost or were not originally in it.

At first, Luke's life was not difficult. He did his job, gave debt to people, working as a surgeon, and even was awarded the Stalin Prize. However, arrest, torture and repression were not far off. But even after all the suffering that this saint suffered, he did not think to betray his faith. And since 1961, since Luke is no longer alive, Christians have begun to notice that the prayers addressed to him give miraculous healings. The sick, who seemingly have no hope of recovery, have gained strength to fight their illness. And, in the end, they were completely healed. This was and is Saint Luke.

Relics in Simferopol: the miracles of St. Luke after death

Luke Voino-Yasenetsky was a doctor who had been treating people all his life. He was also a professor, passed on his knowledge to students. He was also a prisoner, spent some time in prison under constant torture. One can not help noticing his love for preaching: becoming a preacher, he gained new powers, which miraculously helped him in his work. He often rushed between medicine and service to God, but managed to reunite both sides. Despite all the facts of life unjustified by science, one can not argue with the miraculous power that St. Luke possessed.

Relics in Simferopol help only in healing. If other remains of saints manage in the event of prayerful treatment to them with any troubles, problems at work, disorders in the family and so on, then Luke is an assistant to the sick. But many people are ready to give the last thing they have in order to regain their health. More often than not, Luke granted sight to those who did not have it, but often helped with other ailments.

Where the relics of St. Luke

Speaking about where the relics of St. Luke can be seen, one must pay attention to the Crimean peninsula. Here, in the Holy Trinity Cathedral there is a shrine, not only of this sacred place, but of the entire Crimea as a whole. In 1995, at the end of November, Luke was ranked as a saint, and a year later the cathedral acquired a shrine in the form of relics. In 2000 he was received as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church.

The life of St. Luke was filled with various amazing events, which are of interest not only to the inhabitants of the city of Simferopol. The relics of a saint are not the only thing that the Crimea has to offer visitors. Opposite the Holy Trinity Cathedral there is a museum where you can see everything that Luka was dealing with. A well-known surgeon left a great legacy behind him. These are treatises, and various other records. In general, the museum is quite light and cozy, it is pleasant to be in it.

Since 1946, only in Crimea, Archbishop St. Luke served his services, his relics deservedly are there. But from time to time there is the opportunity to personally pray to them for every Christian - cancer with remains travels the world. Every year, she is pleased with her miracle-working several cities, and even countries.

Life and death of St. Spyridon

In the village of Ascia, located on the territory of the island of Cyprus, the Holy Hierarch Spyridon was born. According to sources, from an early age this man tried to imitate all the saints who were known at that time. He earned grazing sheep, and by the age of maturity he had accumulated enough wealth to start a family. But his own worries and hardships did not prevent him from becoming an assistant to many people. They came to him from all corners of Cyprus, hoping to find shelter, food or shelter. And everyone who addressed him, he always helped. After death, these concerns were taken over by the relics of St. Spyridon.

It is believed that during his lifetime Spiridon was endowed with various talents. He could cast out demons, see the future, heal those who were not helped by the medicine of that time. A virtuous life has not gone unnoticed, and from 337 onwards Spiridon becomes a bishop. Since that time, miracles have begun, which have become famous throughout the world. For example, once Spiridon served, and the oil in his lamp was over, as a result of which it gradually faded. However, this did not happen. In front of dozens of parishioners, the lamp was filled with oil and continued to burn even brighter than at the beginning of the service.

Each service was accompanied by some miracle. Could, for example, the angels sing at the end of prayer. But there are also known cases of miracles outside the temple. Spiridon cured the Emperor Constance when all the doctors and sorcerers were just raising their hands.

However, you can not call Spiridon completely virtuous. He was fair, and even then, when it was necessary to teach unscrupulous citizens. So one day a bread-seller was punished, which starved the small town.

The holy relics of St. Spyridon since 1984 are kept in Kofra in a silver ark. There is a belief that this person travels the world, not waiting for the moment when people themselves turn to help for his relics. As a result, his shoes wear out. Therefore, every year the saint's shoes are changed, and those that were worn earlier, bring a gift to other Orthodox.

So the relics of a saint appeared in Moscow, as recently one of the taken off shoes was transferred to the Danilov Monastery. You can approach them with requests or prayers, just as if you address the remains.

The tradition of the Orthodox churches about the reverence of the holy relics

The fact that the holy relics in Simferopol, Moscow, Irkutsk or any other modern city can give a man not only faith in all that is wonderful, but even the miracle itself, has been known for many decades. However, how did the worship of imperishable remains begin? When did this tradition come about?

For a long time, even at the source of faith, it was believed that the human body is a temple, but only in a reduced size. Someone fills it with their faith, good deeds and miracles, and someone refuses such actions because of their personal considerations. The first in fact become proof that they are a kind of temple, since they help any oncoming life and after death. Therefore, from the very beginning of the existence of Christianity, the attitude to the remains of the martyrs is special. Since the truth of faith is determined by the blood of the martyrs, the erection of churches or churches on the site of the funeral was quite logical. If the burial place did not give opportunities for construction, then the relics were transferred to other temples.

However, initially in 3-4 centuries more than half of the clergy were critical enough about the remains of the saints. They were not so much embarrassed by the worship of relics, as the barbarous attitude to the graves of the buried. After all, before these remains begin to respond to the requests of Christians, they are extracted from their coffins. Such barbarity was unacceptable. But later the clergy changed their minds for a number of reasons.

As for the help of the relics of the saints, the church history abounds with such stories. There are many examples where, with a pious attitude toward the remains, a person receives healing or other gifts that he asks for the corresponding saint.

Worship to relics: how to behave correctly

Holy relics, like any other sacred shrine, require a certain attitude. In order to ask for anything from the remains of a saint, you need to approach this as well as to icons. It is recommended to leave all extraneous thoughts aside, not to rush, and pay attention during your prayer, first of all, to gratitude to the saint. Only after the tribute is paid, you can ask for something.

Ideally, to prepare for a meeting with holy relics, you need:

• For a while, stop thinking about all your worries and problems.
• Fill your thoughts with the life of a saint, whose relics he plans to ask for help.
• Bow. These obeisances can occur both in the mind of man, and in reality. However, it is not always necessary to worship holy relics in churches or monasteries, because large queues are built to the shrines. And a Christian intending to worship delays the progress of other people.

The most important component of the request for holy relics should be the belief that they will really help. If there is at least a minimum of skepticism, then it is better to abandon the campaign. Let this refusal be temporary, but bowing to relics is always accompanied by faith.

Another nuance of worshiping holy relics during a long line is a certain rush. For this reason, most Orthodox are baptized not 3, but 2 times before adoration. The third crossing, they perform on the side, so as not to interfere with the rest.

There is another opinion, that each person intuitively feels, when he is in close proximity to the holy relics, how he should behave. People involuntarily recall all those good deeds that the saints did during their lifetime. They compare their own and their existence, and strive for the ideal that the "terrestrial angels" have asked. And that feeling makes the Christian pray not at all about his problems with which he actually came to the relics, but about the gift of faith, the strength of the spirit. At the same time, appeals in prayer are directed not at all to that saint, near the remains of which there is a person, but to all who have ever asked a high bar of Christian belief. Therefore, there is no need to prepare for the campaign, to study a large amount of information. Each of his senses will understand how to behave.

Miracles from the holy relics

Despite the fact that holy relics have many mysteries, especially for science, their main property is not this, but miracle. For example, the relics of Saint Matrona heal more than half of those who turned to their help. Often, when personally observing such amazing things, people who did not believe before, turned to the Lord. But miracles associated with holy relics appear much earlier than their immediate help to Christians.

It was mentioned above that initially the clergy refused the holy relics, since it was required to break the integrity of the grave in order to extract the remains. But they quickly changed their mind. The whole point is that the very opening of the sacred objects in question is accompanied from the very beginning by miracles. After all, somehow people need to understand that in a certain place there are relics that have been preserved for decades or even centuries.

Most often they are reported by the saints themselves, being various clergymen or even ordinary Christians in dreams, less often - in reality. During a brief dialogue, they report that their remains can be retrieved and placed in a temple or monastery as a shrine. Sometimes everything happens differently, a special fragrance spreads over the grave of the saint, which indicates that his remains do not smolder. There are also cases when a kind of light mist rises each night over the burial.

Only after the clergymen find the maximum evidence that Christ really wants to get the relics, work begins on the opening of the grave. Otherwise, no one will ever dare to disturb her, since the burial always represented a sacred place. Excavations are conducted in the presence of many people, so that there are as many as possible witnesses to the extraction of the shrine.

So, for example, the relics of the Holy Matron were discovered by accident. Her burial was transferred from the Danilovsky cemetery to the territory of the Intercession Monastery. During this action, the commission for reburial found that the remains did not decay. Although it was assumed earlier that Matrona is a true saint, people always came to her grave with their prayers and requests, but now there were proofs of her faith and holiness.

Among the good deeds of Matrona can be identified a few basic. Once, she helped Father Sergiy to cope with the misfortune that tormented him. It consisted in the fact that near the Christian cross established by the Baptists planned to build their own center. This would have a negative effect on all Orthodox believers, because the call to faith was violated. Matronushka helped not only to protect the place near the cross from the construction of the center, but also quickly healed Father Sergius from illnesses, and he did not even ask for it. Another real miracle was getting rid of addiction. A certain parishioner asked for his brother Matron, and he got rid of the disease in a matter of days without the help of clinics or procedures. Often the saint helped to get rid of cancerous tumors, they miraculously disappeared without carrying out operations. The doctors literally bred their hands.

The holy relics of St. Luke were extracted in 1996 on the night of March 18. All members of the clergy, dioceses and ordinary people gathered at the cemetery. During this action near the burial was a gusty and cold wind, it was going to rain. However, after retrieving the remains, the sky instantly brightened, the windy squalls stopped. When the Liturgy served, there was a golden cloud over the relics, which seemed to feed on the prayers of the parishioners. The lamps burned relentlessly, and the oil inside them did not end.

The holy relics of St. Luke emitted incense throughout the Holy Trinity Cathedral. There are many witnesses of these miracles, about 40 thousand people came to worship the remains, turn to them with their prayers. And today, after a time, relics continue to emit incense and help people.

Despite many assumptions about the relics of the saints, one can not conclusively conclude about this miracle. Directly forgetting the remains is initially an inexplicable fact, but the miraculous does not end there. These shrines help people cope with any of their problems, but most often they cure. That's why all clergymen who talk about holy relics mean the healing of a person who turned to them.