Hand of John the Baptist in Russia (miracles occur)

It was the only part of John the Baptist's body that Luke the Apostle could take away from the village where he was buried, and it has since been cited as the cause of miracles. It was given to the Russian royal family in St Petersburg to protect it from Napoleon's advancing armies and then whisked away to central Europe when the Bolshevik revolution broke out.

Now, as part of the Kremlin's bid to forge a national identity, John the Baptist's right hand, which Christians think baptised Jesus Christ, has returned to Russia for the first time in 89 years.

The return has been hailed by the Russian Orthodox church with great pomp and reverence. The head of the church, Patriach Alexei II, welcomed it at a ceremony on Wednesday at the Church of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow. The hand will remain there until Friday, when it will be taken on a tour of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine before returning in July to Montenegro, its present home.

The Patriach called on Christians to pray before the hand, according to the state news agency RIA Novosti.

The relic's return to Moscow is part of an orchestrated revival of the church, which is playing a central role in giving Russians a sense of spiritual and national belonging. The move was financed by a religious foundation chaired by Vladimir Yakunin, the head of Russia's vast state railways network who is frequently referred to as a potential successor to President Vladimir Putin.

Miracle of John the Baptist's hand
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
(Filed: 13/06/2006)

John the Baptist's right hand has had many adventures since it was cut from the rest of his body two millennia ago.

Legend has it that it saved the people of Antioch, in modern day Turkey, from a dragon, which choked to death when a man from the city threw a finger from the hand into its throat. The hand, which normally resides in Montenegro, is working wonders again as it visits Russia for the first time since it was smuggled out of the country after the 1917 revolution.

Vladimir Mastukov, a pensioner who lost the use of his legs after a stroke five years ago, bent down to kiss a display case housing the hand. Moments later he cast aside his crutches and skipped out of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in central Moscow.

"I felt such lightness in all my body," he was quoted as saying. "Thank you, God."

Since it arrived aboard a charter flight in a bullet-proof shrine, the relic has stirred religious fervour. Queues several miles long stretch past the cathedral. The faithful wait for up to 11 hours to kiss the relic.

"My soul drew me here," said Vadim Marushenko from the Siberian city of Omsk.

"I can't formulate in words the elation of having seen it. I just knew as I touched it that the lives of those closest to me will be slightly easier."

I understand.

Consider the following scriptures:

Mat 9:20 And behold, a woman who had suffered from a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment;
Mat 9:21 for she said to herself, "If I only touch his garment, I shall be made well."
Mat 9:22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well." And instantly the woman was made well.

Mar 5:27 She had heard the reports about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.
Mar 5:28 For she said, "If I touch even his garments, I shall be made well."
Mar 5:29 And immediately the hemorrhage ceased; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease.
Mar 5:30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone forth from him, immediately turned about in the crowd, and said, "Who touched my garments?"
Mar 5:31 And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, 'Who touched me?'"
Mar 5:32 And he looked around to see who had done it.
Mar 5:33 But the woman, knowing what had been done to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him, and told him the whole truth.
Mar 5:34 And he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

Please read the above two passages very carefully.

Of course, you notice that Jesus said that the woman's faith made her well. But, what energized that faith? Touching Christ's garment.

You should also note that Jesus noted that it happened when it did, rather than Him taking actions like He did with other healings.

Her faith was energized through the use of the sacramental (Jesus' garments) so that she was healed.

Note some of these other cases:

Act 5:14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women,
Act 5:15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

Act 19:11 And God did extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,
Act 19:12 so that handkerchiefs or aprons were carried away from his body to the sick, and diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

In Acts 19, you'll note that items that had been in contact with the St. Paul were effective in healing people. In Acts 5, you'll note that even the Peter's shadow did the same.

Please note the following:

2Ki 13:20 So Eli'sha died, and they buried him. Now bands of Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year.
2Ki 13:21 And as a man was being buried, lo, a marauding band was seen and the man was cast into the grave of Eli'sha; and as soon as the man touched the bones of Eli'sha, he revived, and stood on his feet.

Even an Old Testament example of this. Elisha was dead, yet the man's body came into contact with Elisha's bones and the man came back to life.

Bottom line: I'm not trying to say that relics are magical. Those who would claim that they are talismen are just plain wrong. They work just as any other sacramental: a person's faith is energized through them...and through this energization, a person can then be put in a position to receive God's grace. Through those examples, along with others, we can see that God has made the practice of the use of relics and other sacramentals (e.g., the mud used in John 9:1ff) to help lead people to that grace.

Hope the above helps. I can really appreciate where you're coming from, but it is truly a scriptural practice, this veneration of relics.

First Century Jews...and Christians too were VERY careful about treatment of the body, due to the firm belief in the physical ressurection. When the persecuted were hacked up, the pieces would be collected and put in the same tomb...waiting for that future Christ-like coming back to physical life. This is also why Christians have never practiced cremation (until the 20th Century).

I find it very hard to swallow that Luke the Apostle (probably a gentile 'God-fearer' before he became a Christian), would dismember the body of someone like John the Baptist for the sake of some very un-Jewish blessing (or good luck charm?). This sounds like TOTAL fantasy--and the veneration (or really worship) of relics didn't begin until much later.

As to the miracles, I won't discount them, as God does honor faith--and miracles do occur--even if over some odd body part, the spoil of grave robbers, due to God's grace.

Obligatory Blackadder Excerpt:

***********************************************************

Baldrick: Moving on to relics, we've got shrouds, from Turin; er, wine from the wedding at Cana; splinters from the cross (his finger gets a sliver from one of the splinters); er, and, of course, there's stuff made by Jesus in his days in the carpentry shoppe: got pipe racks, coffee tables, coatstands, bookends, crucifixes, a nice cheeseboard, fruit bowls, waterpoof sandals... (picks up a piece of wood that's partly carved) Oh, I haven't finished that one yet.

Percy: But this is disgraceful, My Lord! All of these are obviously fake!

Edmund: Hah, yes!

Percy: But, but how will people be able to tell the difference between these and the real relics?

Edmund: Well, they won't! That's the point!

Percy: Well, you won't be able to fool everyone. Look (he takes a red cloth from his sleeve): I have here a true relic.

Edmund: What is it?

Percy: (unwraps the cloth) It is a bone from the finger of Our Lord. It cost me 31 pieces of silver.

Edmund: Good lord. Is it real?

Percy: It is, My Lord. Baldrick, you stand amazed.

Baldrick: I am -- I thought they only came in boxes of ten. (he opens a box of finger bones) (??????????)

Percy: What?!

Baldrick: Yeah, yeah -- fingers are really big at the moment. Mind you, for a really quick sale, you can't beat a nose. For instance, the Sacred Appedage Compendium Party Pack: you get Jesus' nose, St. Peter's nose, (??) of St. Francis' nose, and (picks up a pair of false breasts) er, no -- they're Joan of Arc's.

Percy: (he's been getting more and more angry and surprised as he's seen all these `relics') That little bastard verger! I'll show him! (exits into hallway) I'll show him!

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.