05.10.2020
VATOPEDI MONASTERY VIDEO LIBRARY
The holy relics of the Saints are a prefiguration of the Resurrection
According to our Orthodox Tradition, the Saints are those who have reached the third stage of sanctification, which is called final. As is known, the spiritual life is divided into three stages: the cathartic, the illuminating and the final. In the last, which is also called apathy or theosis, the Grace of the Holy Spirit unites with the human body, not only with the soul, with the result that it is also deified and becomes a treasury of Grace.
Thus, in the holy relics there is the indwelling Grace of the Holy Spirit, because the Grace that our saints had when they were alive, after their repose continues to remain, “inexhaustibly,” according to Saint Gregory Palamas, in their holy relics. Thus, we have the same blessing as the Christians of the era in which the saints lived, to receive the blessing of our saints, we who live in a different era, embracing their holy relics.
The honorable embrace that we give to the holy relics, together with the prayer that we offer invoking the Grace of our Saints, makes us partakers of the Grace of the saints and sanctifies us.