Relics

You may not know this, but St. Anthony's Chapel in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds the second-largest reliquary, second only to the Vatican. Some friends in seminary and I traveled to the chapel to see it. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take pictures of the chapel inside. Relics covered the walls, some tiny bone fragments with the occasional skull, femur, or tibia thrown in. The relic-covered walls were only interrupted by life-size sculptures of the stations of the cross. I came to find out that the chapel had also been a historical site because the priest, known as a wonderworker, was given the gift of healing people. People from all over would come to the chapel to be healed. Pictures of the crowds amassing around the chapel filled the museum across the street and hanging from the walls were the crutches of children and adults who had been healed.

You may be like me and have a healthy skepticism about relics because of their abuse throughout history and that a particular bone or splinter of wood may or may not be a bone of a saint or a piece of wood from the holy cross. However, I think there is much to learn from them as they add a fuller scriptural and sacramental understanding of the world. However, because of their abuse, I find the Anglican approach to be the best and healthiest approach.

Let us first look at some Scriptural examples of graces given through items. In the Old Testament, there are several examples of relics. In Exodus 30:28-29, we hear of the temple items being sanctified and that whoever touches them shall be made holy. Additionally, in 2 Kings 2, we are told Elijah's mantle fell from him and that Elisha took it up and hit the waters and the waters parted. Or, later in 2 Kings 13, when "they were burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast the man into the sepulcher of Elisha: and when the man was let down, and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet."

This is not just an Old Testament event either. Think of all of the miracles performed by Jesus when people simply touched his cloak or came in contact with him. In Acts 5, we are told that as Peter walked by the sick in the streets and his shadow went over them, they were healed. Or again, in Acts 19, St Paul would send out his handkerchief and aprons to those who were sick and when they touched them, they would be healed. These are all examples of God giving grace through ordinary items that connected people to himself through the saints or Christ himself.

The Early Church leaned into this as a way to push back against the heresy of Gnosticism, which believed that salvation was achieved through special knowledge, promoting a dualistic worldview that saw the physical as less than the spiritual. The goal was to leave the physical behind and ascend in purely a spiritual sense through knowledge. However, the Church rightly saw that God is redeeming all creation, hence the incarnation. We are not meant to divide the soul and the body; even in death, we await glorified bodies.

Not only this, but God has principally used the natural world to convey his graces towards us. In the creatures of bread and wine, we are given the Body and Blood. In the waters of Baptism, we are joined to Christ and given new life. And in James, we are told to anoint the sick with oil. God uses these physical and material means to convey his graces to others through the Church. They remind us of God's past and current work in the world. The work of God is not just spiritual; the world around us is tied to the work of God. Through material means the veil between the spiritual world and the physical world is thinned and we encounter the graces of God.

So, now that we have seen a brief overview of the biblical and theological ground for relics, what is the problem with relics and how do we overcome these issues as Anglicans? The issue, simply put, is that article 22 of the 39 Articles says: "The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping and Adoration, as well of Images as of Relics, and also Invocation of Saints, is a fond thing, vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God." As Anglicans, we must notice that what is being critiqued is the Romish doctrine of these things.

One of the chief critiques against the Romish abuse of these is that even though they made a distinction between worship (due to God alone) and veneration (given to the saints and angels) was a distinction without difference when it came to the practice of worship and veneration. The issue was that even though a person said they weren't worshipping the saint, there was no distinction in practice. Additionally, the tombs of saints were being robbed, bodies disturbed and dismembered, and treated like special charms.

So how have the Anglican Divines handled this issue, recognizing that the Scriptures offer some warrant to engage with relics and to encounter God's graces? To give one example, the Archbishop of Canterbury William Wake (1657-1737) said, “We will honor the Relics of the Saints as the Primitive Church did. We will respect the images... as some of us now bow towards the Altar, and all of us are enjoined to do so at the name of the Lord Jesus, so will we not fail to testify all due respect to His representation.” The Anglican approach is reverence, not worshipping those who have gone before us. We recognize that God has used these people in a mighty way for his glory and that through them he has offered his graces to the world.

As Anglicans, we are called to recognize the work of God in the world. We expect to encounter him in images, events, in certain places, and even in the lives of those who have gone before us. Let not the abuses of relics prevent us from seeing and reverencing God's redeeming work in the world. May we seek to encounter him with eyes and hearts of wonder.

“Through the veil”,

Fr. Aaron