“It was then that she saw the head of St. Savvas lift and turn to her, then it returned again in its place”.

The skeleton was dressed up in Latin garments, but desired Orthodox dressing.

I have written enough about skull and bones, but found this one so interesting that I wanted to share it with you all.

The testimony of Roman Catholic priest “Fr. Seraphim” has been recorded by a website.

Here is the short version of the story:

Fr Seraphim tells of a certain miracle at this time in Jerusalem. An Orthodox nun who was waiting to venerate the holy relics had doubts over whether or not the Latin’s head was indeed given the authentic relics to the Orthodox. It was then that she saw the head of St. Savvas lift and turn to her, then it returned again in its place. Her joy removed all doubts.

The story about St Savvas display that there was disagreements between Rome and the Orthodox Church, in regards to who owned the “holy bones”

“The Pope did not give us the holy relic because he loved us, but because he [St. Savvas] would constantly appear to him [Pope John XXIII] and would bother him to have his relics returned to his monastery. When the Pope died he did not take the wishes of the Saint into account, so he appeared again to his successor pope [Pope Paul VI]. Even in the church where his holy relics were treasured in a glass coffin, he would hit the glass and cause trouble, frightening the guards and the Latin monks.”

Maybe there is more to this story. Maybe its about the skeleton being discomforted with the tight fitting garments put on it.,

A problem arose when it came time to dress the holy relics in Orthodox vestments, since the Latins had dressed him in Latin vestments. After nine centuries it would be impossible to manoeuvre the body so as to put on the rason, the monastic schema and epitrachelion among other things. To further complicate matters, the hands of St. Savvas were crossed over his chest. Metropolitan Kyriakos of Nazareth describes what then happened as follows: “We then saw Abbot Seraphim kneel before the holy relics and pray for a good amount of time. At one point he arose and did prostrations and lifted the arms of Saint Savvas as one would a living man before the amazed eyes of us all.” They were able to change the vestments without a problem in Venice before the return to Jerusalem.

Source: Catholic blogger site.

A “Holy skeleton” on an Island in Greece.

This Orthodox Church site, adding to this grotesque story:

One nun saw the soul of the saint ascending in a golden cloud towards heaven. After about 10 years when the saint’s grave was opened in accordance to the Greek Orthodox custom, a heavenly fragrance emanated from the grave which covered the whole island of Kalymnos, this phenomenon was witnessed by many, including the local bishop.