08 — The Incorrupt Relics
The history of St. Alexander’s relics, reported soberly and both-sides: the uncovering of the relics in 1641, found and venerated as incorrupt, which gave rise to his second feast; and the modern ordeal — the 1918 Soviet confiscation of the relics as anti-relic propaganda, their long disappearance, and the 1997–1998 rediscovery and return to the monastery. The incorruption claims are reported as attested and venerated, not scientifically certified.
Tradition: Russian Orthodox
This section, with Section 04, is one of the two hearts of the collection. If the vision of the Holy Trinity is the great claim of Alexander’s life, the incorrupt relics are the great claim of his afterlife in the Church — and, in the twentieth century, the occasion of one of the more dramatic episodes in the Soviet state’s war on the relics of the Russian saints. The section treats the relic history with the same discipline the whole collection observes: reporting what the sources attest, naming what is contested, and neither certifying the incorruption as scientific fact nor dismissing the veneration.
The two files below treat, first, the 1641 uncovering and the veneration of the incorrupt relics, and, second, the modern history — the 1918 seizure, the disappearance, and the 1998 return — reported soberly and with both sides on the incorruption claims.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| the-finding-of-the-relics-1641.md | The uncovering of the relics in 1641 during the rebuilding of the monastery’s church, reported incorrupt; the establishment of the feast of 17 April; the veneration of the relics through the following centuries. |
| the-soviet-seizure-and-the-return.md | The 1918 Soviet confiscation of the relics within the anti-relic campaign; the “scientific examination”; the relics’ disappearance; the 1997–1998 rediscovery, identification, and return to the monastery; the incorruption claims reported as attested, not certified. |
See Also
- The Repose of 1533 — the burial whose tomb was opened in 1641
- The Canonization of 1547 — the two feasts, including 17 April
- Attestation and Tradition — the modern relic history as a different kind of source
- Assessment — the relics in a sober final assessment
References
- “Uncovering of the relics of Venerable Alexander, Abbot of Svir.” Orthodox Church in America. oca.org/saints/lives/2010/04/17/101131.
- “Translation of the Relics of Saint Alexander of Svir in 1641.” johnsanidopoulos.com, April 2018.
- “The Miracles, Visions and Blessings of St Alexander of Svir.” obitel-minsk.org.