caw:
Here is a nice summary of Relics, as even the Protestant Church Historian notes, no Church Doctor or Father ever rejected it and there are some passages in the scriptures that relics of some sort were associated with Miracles indicating that God does work through matter to bring about spiritual things. This of course is not surprising to any Catholic or Orthodox Christian worth his or her salt, for this follows logically from the reality of the Incarnation of Christ.
So I will take Saint Polycarp, Jerome, Augustine, etc as evidence supporting my view, you can take all the Free Republic Protestant self anointed prophets and theologians and other internet self anointed theologians to support your view. Again, fair enough.
http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/things/relics.htm
Though the four gospels have been regarded as canonical since Irenaeus in the 2nd century,[1] Harnack—like earlier German scholars—rejected the Gospel of John as without historical value regarding Jesus' life:
"In particular, the fourth Gospel, which does not emanate or profess to emanate from the apostle John, cannot be taken as an historical authority in the ordinary meaning of the word. The author of it acted with sovereign freedom, transposed events and put them in a strange light, drew up the discourses himself, and illustrated great thoughts by imaginary situations. Although, therefore, his work is not altogether devoid of a real, if scarcely recognisable, traditional element, it can hardly make any claim to be considered an authority for Jesus' history; only little of what he says can be accepted, and that little with caution. On the other hand, it is an authority of the first rank for answering the question, What vivid views of Jesus’ person, what kind of light and warmth, did the Gospel disengage?"[2][3
Harnack denied the possibility of miracles but argued that Jesus may well have performed acts of healing that seemed miraculous: "That the earth in its course stood still; that a she-ass spoke; that a storm was quieted by a word, we do not believe, and we shall never again believe; but that the lame walked, the blind saw, and the deaf heard will not be so summarily dismissed as an illusion."[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_von_Harnack#Theology
....”you can take all the Free Republic Protestant self anointed prophets and theologians and other internet self anointed theologians to support your view”.....
I prefer taking God at His Word as it is written as the ultimate authority for what I believe and hold true.
“Forever, O LORD, ‘Your word is settled’ in heaven”....Psalm 119:89
....it is settled, determined, fixed, sure, immovable.... Man’s teachings change so often that there is never time for them to be settled; but the Lord’s word is from of old the same, and will remain unchanged eternally.
Therefore it is thee authority above any other...regardless of those who’s paths others choose to follow.