"... We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses..." (Heb. 12:1) 

The Holy Apostle Paul writes to the Hebrews, “…we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…” (12:1), but who are these witnesses? Our Venerable Father Silouan the Athonite reminds us, the faithful, that the cloud of witnesses is comprised of:

…our holy Forefathers and Patriarchs who valiantly carried their faith before …the Prophets who received the Holy Spirit, and by their exhortations called the people to God…the Apostles who died that the Gospel might be preached…the Martyrs who gladly gave their lives for love of Christ…the holy Prelates who followed the Lord’s example and took upon themselves the burden of their spiritual flock…the holy Fathers who lived lives of prayer and fasting, and those who assumed folly for Christ’s sake, all of whom fought the good fight and thereby overcame the world…[and] all the righteous who kept God’s commandments and vanquished their passions.

We build our Parish to God’s glory, honoring Him, together with and through the intercessions of this great cloud of witnesses, most notably those Saints whose Holy Relics we are blessed to have at our parish:

• A Piece of the Holy & Life-giving Cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

• The Holy & Great Martyr Paraskevi

• The Holy & Great Martyr Marina

• The Holy Grand Duchess & Martyr Elizabeth

• The Holy Hierarch Modesto, Patriarch of Jerusalem

• The Holy Priest Sebastian of Jackson

• The Holy & Great Martyr Christopher

• The Holy & Great Martyr Christina

• The Holy Constantine the Great, Crowned Equal to the Apostles

• The Holy Apostle Luke the Evangelist

• The Holy Apostle Barnabas

• The Holy Apostle Philip

• The Holy Hierarch Gregory Palamas

• The Holy & Great Martyr Katherine

• The Holy & Great Martyr Nikitas

• The Holy Apostle Andrew

• The Holy & Great Martyr Panteleimon

• The Holy Hierarch Lazarus, the Friend of Christ

• The Holy Ancestors of God, Anna and Joachim

• The Holy Hierarch and Physician, Luke the Surgeon

• Our Venerable Father, Herman of Alaska

• Our Venerable Father, Pachomios of Patmos

• Our Venerable Father, David of Thessaloniki

• The Holy Hierarch Porphyrios of Gaza

• The Holy & Great Martyr, Theodore of the Commander

• Venerable Sophia, the mother of St. Savvas

• Eulogia, the mother of St. Theodosius

• The Holy & Great Martyr, Theodore of Tyre

• Our Venerable Father, Savas the Sanctified

• 40 Holy Martyrs of Sebastia

• Holy Photini Equal to the Apostles

• Holy Martyrs of St. Theodosios Monastery in Palestine

• The Holy Hierarch Sophronios, Patriarch of Jerusalem

• The Holy Hierarch Flavianos, Patriarch of Constantinople

• The Holy Iakovos, the Brother of the Lord

• The Holy Stephen, the Deacon and First Martyr

• Holy Martyrs of St. Theodosios Monastery in Palestine

• Holy Theophylaktos, Bishop of Ocrid

• Holy Riginos, Bishop of Skopelos

• The Holy Archdeacon Lawrence

• Holy Euboula, the mother of Saint Panteliemon

• Holy Domnica, the Righteous

• Our Venerable Father Porphyrios of Kafsokalivia

• Holy Hierarch Bessarion of Larissa (1540)

• Holy Hierarch Akepsimas (330)

• Holy Presbyter Joseph (330)

• Our Venerable Father Seraphim of Sarov 

• Our Venerable Father Habakkuk, the Ascetic of Cyprus

• The Holy Martyr Tatiana of Rome

• The Holy Hierarch Nectarios of Aegina

• The Holy Martyr Agape

• The Holy Martyr Hope

• The Holy Priest Nicholas Planas of Athens,

• The Holy Priest Martyr Patrikos

• The Holy Martyr Agathangelos of Esphimenos Monastery

Now why would a parish or monastery want but a small relic? Saint Theodoritos of Kyros explains, “The undivided grace of even a divided body remains, and even that very small relic has the same power as a piece of evidence which has not been divided in any way.” Saint Ephraim the Syrian continues, “… the miraculous grace of the Holy Spirit is always present in the holy relics.”