Do the Orthodox use relics the same way Catholics do?

[JesuXPIPassio]

Do Orthodox Christians also divide relics into small pieces and distribute them for veneration in parishes and for individuals, or do they keep them whole and intact so they are only kept in certain shrines?

I saw an Orthodox site that was selling thecas (the little lockets for relics), but I’ve never seen or heard of the Orthodox Churches making use of them. It looked to me as if they don’t break bones into tiny bits the same way us Catholics do, and instead whole bones are put in special parishes.

Am I mistaken, or do the Orthodox do the same thing we Catholics do with regard to distributing relics?

 

[Nine_Two]

I’m not entirely sure, and I’ll leave it to someone who knows better to make a definitive answer, but I believe small pieces are distributed. I seem to recall reading somewhere that every parish has to have at least one.

 

[JesuXPIPassio]

I’m not entirely sure, and I’ll leave it to someone who knows better to make a definitive answer, but I believe small pieces are distributed. I seem to recall reading somewhere that every parish has to have at least one.

Oh, yeah, I’m such an idiot, I completely forgot about the anti-mension. Yeah, they have relics of saints sewn into those and you need that to celebrate a Divine Liturgy. Can’t believe I forgot about that, thanks for sparking my memory. So that kinda answers the question about breaking the relics into small pieces for distribution.

How about having them in, like, the little theca lockets that we see with Catholics? Do the Orthodox do that?

 

[CatholicLife]

Most Orthodox relics are sealed in wax but some of them use the thecas used by Catholics.
easternorthodoxholyrelics.com/index.php?p=1_8_Photos
flickr.com/photos/35141241@N08/3283657238/

 

[trophybearer]

My parish has a piece of bone from St. Raphael of Brooklyn in one of those small reliquaries placed on the bottom center of the icon we had painted specially for it. In short, the answer is “yes”.

 

[PeaceSerenity]

Orthodox Christians do both. Every church has relics in it and those are usually divided up. Some Saints, however, are preserved whole like St. John Maximovitch whose uncorrupted body lies in the Russian Cathedral in San Fransisco. I don’t know if they’re planning to cut him up in the future though, since he is new Saint, I don’t know if it is a tradition to preserve them whole for a while and then distribute their bodies (that sentence sounds really weird, sorry I’m not up to date on relic terminology). Lockets sound really weird though, it feels kind of disrespectful in a way, toting a Saint around. What if you accidentally lose the locket or it breaks and you lose it on the street?

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

This is an area in which I’m happy to plead ignorance. I know about relics, know of them, have seen a few, but does the Church actually “cut them up?” Do they actually take the body and rip out the teeth and hair and bone and distribute it all over the place? I always thought relics came from martyrs and saints who had already been torn apart in martyrdom or war or some sad situation. I never stopped and thought the Church did it to them? Is this true?

Orthodox Christians do both. Every church has relics in it and those are usually divided up. Some Saints, however, are preserved whole like St. John Maximovitch whose uncorrupted body lies in the Russian Cathedral in San Fransisco. I don’t know if they’re planning to cut him up in the future though, since he is new Saint, I don’t know if it is a tradition to preserve them whole for a while and then distribute their bodies (that sentence sounds really weird, sorry I’m not up to date on relic terminology). Lockets sound really weird though, it feels kind of disrespectful in a way, toting a Saint around. What if you accidentally lose the locket or it breaks and you lose it on the street?

 

[ralphinal]

This is an area in which I’m happy to plead ignorance. I know about relics, know of them, have seen a few, but does the Church actually “cut them up?” Do they actually take the body and rip out the teeth and hair and bone and distribute it all over the place? I always thought relics came from martyrs and saints who had already been torn apart in martyrdom or war or some sad situation. I never stopped and thought the Church did it to them? Is this true?

I am like you on this. I thought that if the body was intact, it was to stay that way. I think that cutting hair is acceptable, though. I thought that rule was the reason we have first, second, and third class relics

 

[CatholicLife]

Some times the church decides to take small fragments from the body. But sometimes they get carried away like what they did to St Theresa of Jesus where they divided some of her fingers and a chruch in rome got one of her feet.

 

[JesuXPIPassio]

This is an area in which I’m happy to plead ignorance. I know about relics, know of them, have seen a few, but does the Church actually “cut them up?” Do they actually take the body and rip out the teeth and hair and bone and distribute it all over the place? I always thought relics came from martyrs and saints who had already been torn apart in martyrdom or war or some sad situation. I never stopped and thought the Church did it to them? Is this true?

Yes, it’s done, pretty frequently, in fact. It’s done not only with hair and clothes, but, yes, bone are pulverised and bits are distriuted. I used to have a reliquary with 30 relics that I inherited. Canonisation ceremonies often have relics of the new saints brought up before the Pope. It doesn’t just happen with saints who were martyred or their bodies otherwise split apart. For example, some of Saint Theresa of Lisieux’s relics have toured the world, visiting churches and even prisons. A small relic of hers was even brought into space with an astronaut. Yet she didn’t die a martyr (even though she wanted to, like any saint ).

In most altars, there are at least four bits of saints’ bodies. In the East, they sew small relics into a cloth that they celebrate their Mass on.

Some times the church decides to take small fragments from the body. But sometimes they get carried away like what they did to St Theresa of Jesus where they divided some of her fingers and a chruch in rome got one of her feet.

I think it’s admirable, actually. Spreading it around helps more people come into physical contact with the saint. And they take certain pieces like that because they might have some sort of symbolism. Teresa of Avila was one of the greatest writers of the Church, so her fingers that wrote have special meaning. Anthony of Padua was a gifted speaker, so they specially venerate his tongue.

Granted, this is one of our customs that might be considered on the weirder side, but it’s an ancient custom and it’s given benefits to members of the Church for many centuries. Saints had relics of other saints. Jesus was probably kinda weird too.