Members of the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Panteleimon in Adelaide, Australia, watched as their beloved church burned last week, gutting the entire building and turning everything inside to ash.
Except one thing. The reliquary, or tiny, gold box that contains relics, or sacred bone fragments of the parish’s patron saints, including a piece from St. Panteleimon himself.
The parish priest Fr. Peter Photakis was stunned when he uncovered the untouched lipsanothiki, as it’s called by Greek Orthodox Christians.
Ahead of Greek Easter this weekend a Greek Orthodox Church in Glenelg North has been destroyed by fire. Worshipers will now have to attend Holy Week services elsewhere. @abcadelaide pic.twitter.com/Yoz1m0r0Xl
— Sarah Mullins (née Hancock) (@sarahmullins) April 3, 2018
“In the altar where we keep them, everything else was pretty much burnt and the only thing that was left was the little box of the relics — not damaged, not even ashes on it, it was just sitting there,” Parish president Nick Kapolos said. “Not a mark, no dust, no nothing.”
A local Catholic Church has offered its church to the Greek Orthodox community for Easter services, giving the members of the parish a breather, before the arduous task of rebuilding must commence.
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