Home

Published by The National Herald, December 3, 2004

After 800 Years, Home at Last

By Theodore Kalmoukos

Special to The National Herald

BOSTON, Mass. - After 800 years, His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew returned the holy relics of his great predecessors, Saints Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, to Constantinople from the Vatican last Saturday, November 27.

In a special service held at Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome earlier that day, Pope John Paul II turned the holy relics over to the Ecumenical Patriarch.

Speaking to the huge congregation, the Patriarch said that "a holy act is taking place today in which an ecclesiastical anomaly and injustice committed eight centuries ago is being rectified. This brotherly gesture on the part of the senior Church of Rome confirms that, in the Church, there are no insurmountable obstacles when love, justice and peace converge in a holy service of reconciliation and unity."

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America, who had gone to Rome leading a group of some 85 Archons, read (in Greek) the letter sent by St. John Chrysostom, who was then Patriarch of Constantinople, to Pope Innocent I, written in early 5th Century.

The relics were brought in front of the altar in their glass and alabaster encasements and were ceremonially given to Bartholomew. The relics, accompanied by the Patriarch and members of his official entourage (Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Myra, Metropolitan Anthimos of Alexandroupolis, Rev. Alexander Karloutsos, Deacon Andrew Sofianopoulos and Gregory Skalkeas), were flown on a special plane to Constantinople.

Archbishop Demetrios, as well as a Roman Catholic delegation headed by Cardinal Walter Kasper, were aboard the same plane. Cardinal Kaspar went to Constantinople to celebrate the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s patron saint, on Tuesday, November 30.

The Doxology was chanted upon the arrival of the relics at the Patriarchal Cathedral of Saint George at the Phanar, and they were placed on the Patriarchal Throne. Rev. Karloutsos read the Patriarch’s message in English in which Bartholomew states, "when we approach and venerate the holy relics with piety, we become participants in divine grace and in the gifts of the Holy Spirit."

After his resignation from the Throne as the Archbishop of Constantinople, Saint Gregory withdrew to the village of Arianzos, where he reposed in the Lord on 25 January 390. His remains were then transferred to Constantinople, and they were placed in the celebrated Church of the Holy Apostles, the customary burial place of the Byzantine Emperors.

St. John Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople, reposed in the Lord on 14 September 407, on his way to exile at the city of Koukousos in Asia Minor. The "arachnid-like" body of the Saint, which had undergone a month-long journey, did not endure the normal hardships of death and decay. His final words were, "Glory be to God for all things." In the year 438, when Emperor Theodosius tried to transfer Saint John Chrysostom’s remains to Constantinople, the Saint remained miraculously immovable.

The Emperor was then forced to address to him a letter of repentance. It was only when the letter of repentance was placed upon the Saint’s relics that his transfer to Constantinople became possible. Upon the return of the relics to Constantinople on 27 January 438, Emperor Theodosius, Patriarch Proclos and the entire population of the City welcomed them with the highest honors.

The relics were taken from the harbor in procession and placed in the Synthronon, a throne within the Holy Altar of the Church of Saint Irene, which had always been the Cathedral of the Ecumenical Patriarch. There, the clergy and the people cried out, "Receive thy throne, o ye Saint." The relics were then placed under the altar in the Church of the Holy Apostles, together with the Relics of Saint Gregory.

The relics of these two saints remained in the Church of the Holy Apostles until the Latin crusaders sacked the city of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. After the pillage which followed, the relics of both saints were taken first to Venice, and later to Rome.

The relics of Saint Gregory were placed in the church of St. Gregory of the Convent of St. Maria in Campo Santo. In 1580, Pope Gregory XIII transferred the relics of St. Gregory to Saint Peter’s Basilica, in the priedieu of St. Gregory in the Capella Gregoriana (which is basically dedicated to the Madonna del Soccorso).

The relics of Saint John Chrysostom were first placed in the Vestry of the old (medieval) Church of Saint Peter. On 1 May 1626, they were transferred to St. Peter’s Basilica and placed in a different chapel of the main church, the Choir Chapel (dedicated to the Conception of the Virgin Mary).

Patriarch Bartholomew visited the Church of Rome last June during the feast day of Saints Peter &Paul in order to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the meeting between the Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem in 1964 (that historic meeting initiated the "Dialogue of Love" and signaled the beginning of a new era of fellowship and dialogue between the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches).

In the framework of the discussions which took place this past summer, the possibility of the return of the relics of these two saints was also discussed.

Cardinal Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sent a letter to the Ecumenical Patriarch on July 15 confirming information concerning the presence of the relics in Saint Peter’s Cathedral, but clarifying that the final decision for their return was under the authority of the Pope.

On July 21, the Patriarch sent an official request to the Pope "for the return of the Holy Relics of the aforementioned Saints to the Church of Constantinople, to which they ethically belong." This as a Pan-Orthodox request, which had been expressed through Patriarch Bartholomew, and was justified as a promotion for the "restoration of some traumatic experiences which were due to historical adventures of past years," and as "a great contribution for the normalization of relations and the creation of appropriate climate of brotherly love" between the two Churches.

Finally, the Patriarch underscored the fact that "the natural and rightful position" of the holy relics "is in the Sacred Patriarchal Cathedral of Constantinople, of which they were Archbishops."

On October 27, the Pontiff responded to the Ecumenical Patriarch with a letter written in Greek, in which he permitted the return of the holy relics "with joy as a sign of brotherhood and of a complete union to which we are called constantly more and more."

The Pope emphasized the meaning of these two saints for Christianity as a whole by stating that "the two Holy Patriarchs of the East, pillars of faith, are beacons for the entire Church and teachers for the knowledge of the Word of God, and of the Triadic mystery." Finally, he offered his vision for the future by saying that "the return of the relics to their home country will become a new bridge between us."



Volume 6 Number 49 - Tuesday, December 7th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY