| | | | The remains of Saint Gregory of Nazianze and Saint John Chrysostom were brought back to Istanbul by Bartholomew I, the Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch on Saturday, after they had been handed over by Pope John Paul II at a mass in Rome earlier in the day.
Both saints had been patriarchs of the Orthodox Church, and had been buried in what was then Constantinople. However, their remains were looted by Latin Crusaders in 1204, when they turned on their supposed Christian allies and sacked the city. The remains of the two saints were subsequently taken to Rome, where they have been held for 800 years.
Addressing a mass in Istanbul’s Saint George’s Cathedral Saturday night, Bartholomew I thanked Pope John Paul for agreeing to return the relics.
“This gesture differentiates them from the deeds of their predecessors eight centuries ago, who accepted the spiritual and material treasures that had been taken from our city and our Church,” he said.
Earlier Saturday, Pope John Paul said that he hoped the decision to return the remains of the two saints would help bring the two churches closer together.
“We see in the transfer of these sacred relics a blessed chance to purify our wounded memories, to affirm our path toward reconciliation,” he said.
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