The Holy Relics are the miracle-working bones, clothing, or objects, of certain saints. We honor them as objects in which God Himself manifests all the miraculous power of His Grace. As long as the saints were on earth, they had the Grace of the Holy Spirit in abundance and by this Grace they not infrequently worked miracles.

This Grace also lives in their souls in heaven where they now dwell. As the saint remains close to the people who call upon him to help them by means of a miracle, so much the more does he himself maintain an especial tie with his body, which is also a habitation of the Holy Spirit, as the Apostles says: "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you and which you have from God, and that you are not your own" ^{(1 Cor. 6:19)}.

Holy Scripture speaks to us concerning the miracle-workings of the saints during the period of their life on earth, that they bore witness to the power dwelling within them. Many people were healed only by touching the Apostle Paul's body with a handkerchief ^(Acts19:12) while others were healed only by being under the shadow of the Apostle Peter when he passed by ^{(Acts 5:15)}.

^{- Elder Cleopas of Romania +1998}