RELICS

RELICS. The remains of holy men and women, whether their bones, bodies, or clothing, or else objects associated with them or with the great events of Christ’s life (e.g., the fragments of the Cross), are all believed to carry something of the presence, and hence blessing, of the saint (q.v.) or event in question. They are normally enshrined in elaborately worked containers, called reliquaries, kept in the altar area, and are brought out for veneration on the day the saint is commemorated. Evidence for veneration of relics dates back at least to the mid-2nd c. and the veneration accorded the remains of Polycarp of Smyrna (q.v.). The theology of relics is firmly grounded in the Orthodox doctrine of theosis (q.v.), or deification, understood as affecting the whole person of the saint. Popular veneration of relics throughout the Byzantine era (q.v.) and the Latin Middle Ages contributed to the unity of the Church. The far ends of the Christian oikoumene (q.v.) would know, through the relics, of saints who had lived in the most distant regions, for example the veneration of Nicholas of Myra (q.v.) in the Low Countries and England.