Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: September 12

The Month of September

Day 12

13. On the Incorruption of the Holy Relics

(From the Life of Holy Hieromartyr Autonomos. September Menaion, Sept. 12)

All truly Orthodox Christians venerate with faith the incorrupt relics of the holy Servants of God, approach them with reverence, and often travel great distances in order to venerate them and pray to the holy Servants of God who repose there in incorruption. This is how Orthodox Christians regard the relics of the Saints. But people of this age do not regard them in the same way, whether they are lame in faith, limping on both knees, or entirely unbelieving. And when the subject of the incorruption of relics comes up with them, they usually say: “I do not understand this! What is this all about? Can a body really remain incorrupt after lying in the earth for so many years?” and so forth. Are people of this age speaking the truth to us when they say such things, or not?

When the Hieromartyr Autonomos was killed by unbelievers, his body was buried by a certain deaconess named Maria and remained in the earth for a very long time. After many years had passed, a soldier, by the direction of God, discovered it and brought it out of the earth. The blessed Symeon the Metaphrastes then saw the Saint’s relics, and this is what he says about them:

“I saw the valiant ascetic who, even after death, conquered the laws of nature and rose to the glorification of God. When I gazed into the tomb of the martyr, I saw his holy relics unconquered by the power of death. Ordinarily, within three days after death, the entire bodily constitution of a deceased person decomposes, but here it was not so. In the case of this radiant man, after so many years that his body had remained in the earth, not a single hair had decayed. His eyes were undamaged, his face was intact, his skin was firm, the hairs of his eyebrows also remained intact, and only his eyes were closed. And as I looked upon the Saint, it seemed to me that he obeyed the law of death only through silence. His entire body remained preserved, and nothing had been lost either from his head or from any other part of his body. Thus the Lord glorifies those who also glorified Him in their bodies.”

From what the Metaphrastes saw, it is now evident also that people of this age are mistaken when they reject the incorruption of the holy relics and say that a body cannot remain preserved after lying in the earth for many years—they are speaking falsely. For them, perhaps, this may indeed be so, but it is not so for God. As you have become convinced from this example, the Lord truly, whenever He wills, does not allow His holy one to see corruption (Psalm 15:10); He preserves his body incorrupt, in order to teach us to despise earthly things and strive toward heavenly things, and He causes even the bones of the saints to flourish from their place (Sirach 46:14).

From this, then, let us also learn not to listen to the ravings of unbelieving people, and let us venerate the relics of the Saints as vessels of the grace of Christ. Let us have recourse to them, as we have done until now, in order there to offer prayers to the holy Servants of God. As we kiss their holy remains, let us lift our thoughts toward the lives of the Saints and imitate their steadfast faith and ardent love for God. As we may say in conclusion in the words of Chrysostom: “For this reason God has left us the relics of the Saints, so that, as though by hand, He might lead us to that zeal which was in them.” (Panegyric on Ignatius the God-Bearer, Christian Reading, 1835, Part 3). Amen.

Questions for Discussion 13:

1. How do truly Orthodox Christians regard the incorrupt relics of the holy Servants of God?

2. What is reverence?

3. What were the holy relics of the Hieromartyr Autonomos like when the blessed Symeon the Metaphrastes gazed into his tomb?

4. Whom does the Lord glorify, according to the words of Symeon the Metaphrastes?

5. Why does the Lord preserve the body of His holy one incorrupt?

 

Source: The Cheti-Minei: Homilies for Every Day of the Year (Book 1: September, October, November) by Archpriest Viktor Guryev. Publication of the Russian Panteleimon Monastery on Mount Athos, 1896. Translated by John Sanidopoulos.