The time of the holy queues. Why the whole country rushed to the relics of Nikolai Wonderworker

In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the rib of St. Nicholas, brought from the Italian city of Bari, where the main part of the body of this very revered saint in Russia rests, is exhibited to worship. Thousands of people (it is necessary to say that not all of them are in ordinary church services) stand in a long line in front of the temple, as in 2011 they stood to the Virgin’s belt in order to worship and ask for something. What is the reason for such popularity?

"More precious than expensive stones"

The veneration of the relics, that is, the bodies of the deceased saints and their fragments are one of the oldest Christian traditions, directly related to the veneration of martyrs. It is described in detail already in the “martyrdom of Polycarp”, the message of the Church in Smirn to other communities with the story of how the local bishop was killed for the confession of the Christian faith. After the death of St. Polycarp, the Roman centurion decided to burn his body in order not to leave the opportunity to read, in addition to Jesus, another executed. Centurion did not understand much in dogma. But Christians, after burning the body, “took the bones of it, which are more precious than expensive stones and noble than gold, and put it where it should” - obviously, hidden in some secret place.

The same message, by the way, contains an exhaustingly complete description, what is the difference between the worship of Christ and the veneration of the saints: “We are worshiping Him [Christ] as the Son of God; And the martyrs, as students and imitators of the Lord, adequately love for an invincible commitment to their king and teacher. May God give us to be their common people and fellow practitioners! ” Thus, the martyrs are not equal to Christ, their bodies themselves do not have any meaning, but they were the roads of the first believers as a memory of people who have passed their way to the end of faith, and as an opportunity to touch (in the literal and direct sense) to this of their experience.

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