ARTICLES

More Than A Dry Bone

St. Anne Comes to Sacramento

BY BRIAN O'NEEL

St. Anne, the mother of Mary (and Jesus' grandmother), has come to Roseville; but not all of her, obviously. While her soul rests in heaven, and her relics are scattered here and there, a part of her skull has recently come to rest at California's newest Greek Orthodox church, St. Anna's.

The relics of St. Anne, the "Grandmother of God," are at several places throughout the world: most of her skeleton rests in Germany, while other portions of her remains are in France, Canada, Greece, and Cyprus (her left foot). But the last place one might expect to see any part of her -- much less a sizable chunk of her skull -- is in one of California's fastest growing suburbs.

The story of St. Anne's coming to the Sacramento region starts at the funeral of Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Anthony Gergiannakis in San Francisco last year. At that funeral, Father Christopher Flesoras, the young pastor of the newly formed St. Anna Greek Orthodox Church, met Father Cheroubim Apostolou from the Skete of St. Anna, a monas tery on Mt. Athos in Greece. The skete houses a major relic of St. Anne.

Father Flesoras asked Apostolou if he would grant St. Anna's, the only Orthodox church under the patronage of St. Anne in North America, a relic from the skete. His request was met with a polite but unequivocal no. Father Apostolou did not think it his place to part with a relic from the skete.

However, Father Flesoras' request obviously had an effect on the elder cleric, for once back in Greece, Father Apostolou began e-mailing the young pastor. Father Apostolou said he had once received a relic of St. Anne's from Cyprus (a vast repository of relics from the early saints). Would the Rose ville parish like this?

The bone fragment arrived in February and was formally given to the community the Sunday preceding this year's feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, July 26.

The ceremony was a vespers service held in the 105 degree late afternoon Sacramento sun under a tent withOrthodox clergy from all over Northern California. Replete with chant,incense, gleaming gold, and a profound mysticism not often seen intheWestern Church since before the Second Vatican Council, the event was an example of full body worship. Father Apostolou, visitingfrom Greece, led the service, and it was not uncommon to see men and women dabbing tears from their eyes as the event built to the crescendo of the relic's gifting.

During his homily, Father Apostolou said, "Saint Anna, who bore the all-holy Theotokos [i.e., God-bearer], she who was barren and without creative power, whose womb was opened in advanced age by the Lord to transform the disgrace of barrenness to the joy of a unique fertility, was a descendant of the tribe of David.... Anna was married in Galilee and bore the Lady Theotokos. This honor was bestowed upon her by the gift-granting Lord as a reward for her piety and her charitable works toward orphans and the poor."

Father Apostolou explained that the name Anna means "grace." The Virgin Mary, who was full of grace, he said, "was born of a mother whose name means, 'grace.'" St. Anna, who could not conceive, the "field" of whose "female nature was barren, dry and infertile," said Father Apostolou, "resembles the field of the pre-Christian world," which "had grown old in sinfulness and the law of God was not observed. A solution had to come from heaven. And the solution was the rightful reward of evil works and eternal death or forbearance and grace -- salvation and liberation ... Saint Anna, by the grace of God, dispelled the disgrace of her barrenness, and also the disgrace of the curse upon those living before Christ. That is why the Kontakion on the feast of the birth of our Theotokos says: 'Joachim and Anna were freed of the disgrace of childlessness, while Adam and Eve were freed of the corruption of death through your holy birth.'"

Father Apostolou noted the significance of the presence of St. Anna's relic in Roseville. "To think," he said, "that the New World now possesses a holy piece, not simply of history, but of our Heavenly Father's divine plan of salvation, is a blessing." St. Anna's in Roseville, continued Apostolou, "will become a place of pilgrimage" for Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. The people of St. Anna's, he continued, should love these pilgrims, "and as you love them, let the people of America learn the blessed story of Saint Anna! Let the people of America venerate her Holy Relic! Let the people of America become intoxicated with the divine fragrance of myrrh! And, let the people of America find salvation in her grandson, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

With this the dedication ceremony resumed, and Father Apostolou pro cessed through the tent and around the perimeter, preceded by acolytes and followed by the other Orthodox priests. Then Father held the relic in his hands, while over 200 people came up to venerate it, first by kissing an icon, then by making the sign of the cross, and finally by kissing the relic itself. As Father Flesoras explained to the assembled crowd, the relic naturally exudes the scent of myrrh, a scent so present one could smell it from a yard away.

Here was the ancestor of Our Lord, Jesus' grandma, and it was possible to kiss her in love and to ask her intercession. Such devotion, however, may seem odd to most Christians, even Catholics and Orthodox, since relics are not something with which most have much experience.

When asked about this, Father Flesoras noted that the veneration of relics goes back to the ancient Church. Indeed, there are several biblical passages that, while they don't show the veneration of relics, do prove God has worked through them to heal and give evidence of His love and grace.

For instance, a man is healed by Elisha's bones in II Kings 13. The hemorrhaging woman is healed by touching Christ's garment in Matthew 9. Peter's mere shadow heals the sick in Acts 5, and handkerchiefs and aprons that simply touched St. Paul cured the ill and expelled evil spirits in Acts 19. In the recently rediscovered tomb of St. Paul at the basilica named for him in Rome, a hole rests in the center of the sarcophagus cover. This enabled the faithful to lower pieces of cloth and such that would touch his bones and thus be used as relics, just like in Acts 19.

Because of this ancient attachment to relics, Father Flesoras noted, altars in both Catholic and Orthodox churches still contain relics. Furthermore, they are brought out for the people's veneration in different parts of the world. For instance, the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome houses the skull of St. Valentine, which is brought out each year on his feast day. The same thing happens in that same city with the still partially incorrupt head of St. Lawrence the Deacon (d. 258).

When asked about why Christians today should care about relics, Father Flesoras said, "they bring us into living continuity with the ancient Church, of which we are both [Catholic and Orthodox] recipients. They are something tangible for us, of the resurrection, of those who went before us, and of that transition period between the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant."

In response to the fact that most Christians today might find the notion of kissing a portion of someone's skull a bit morbid, Father was very matter-of-fact. "The culture today, we've become very distant from death," he said. "We're very uncomfortable with even the discussion of death. You go back to European countries, and after a certain amount of time had passed after someone's death, their bones would be taken up, washed with water and wine, and then put in a special tomb. Today, especially in the western world, we' ve become very sterile [in regards to death], very unfamiliar with death, and that's very unfortunate. There is a beautiful interchange between those on earth and those in heaven, and yet so many Christians today have developed such a calloused approach to death because of its not being part of their experience, and I think that's tragic.

"The Gospel I love is the account of the rich man and Lazarus. The picture we get is of the rich man in hell, and he has a concern with his brothers up on earth. If we are amazed that souls in hell can know of and have concern for those of us still on earth, then what about those in heaven? It is naïve to think they have no concern for us. We know miracles were wrought by reverencing and venerating these relics, even though we can't explain these from our western scientific method. But God is beyond these things and above these things because He created these things, and God will work how He works when He works."

Therefore, said Father Flesoras, it's not so much that people have "a revulsion over these relics. It's more of a skepticism, an uncertainty of how to react, and again we get this even from cradle Orthodox and converts. Both are overwhelmed by the presence of a relic, while not really knowing how to grapple with the relic or understand it."

Though few Catholics know it, California has a most remarkable relic -- what might be the first incorrupt body of a saint in North America. This is the body of St. John Maximovitch, who was the Russian Orthodox archbishop of San Francisco and was often observed with a halo around his head. Although he died in 1966, his body remains incorrupt without the benefit of any embalming efforts. His remains rest at Joy of All Who Sorrow Russian Orthodox Cathedral, located at 6200 Geary in San Francisco, where hundreds of people come each year to venerate his remains. (Incidentally, St. Anna's was recently given a portion of St. John's first coffin, so the church will house a relic of his, as well.) If the attention generated so far by St. Anne's relic is any indication, just as many people may come to St. Anna's in Roseville someday.

In the meantime, the church has yet to be built (currently, the parish leases space in an office park). The community is currently in the midst of a huge $3–5 million building campaign in order to erect a shrine worthy of Our Lord's grandmother and the Theotokos' mother. The church will be approximately 10,000–12,000 square feet and will be a traditional Byzantine structure in a Greek cross shape with a prominent dome. It will have portable icons from the Skete of St. Anna on Mt. Athos, and the apse will feature either a fresco or mosaic by artists from either Italy or Greece. The parish will house the relic in the right transept, and there the parish will celebrate supplication services to St. Anna. Additionally, the narthex will have a formal salon where visitors can learn what venerating entails and whom they venerate when they enter the church.Plans include a guesthouse for pilgrims.

Currently, those wishing to venerate the relic must make an appointment. Father is especially keen to have groups come pay their respects. He eventually plans to have a relic of St. Anne from the West here, as well. He has been in contact with authorities in Rome to help facilitate this, and he hopes it will help improve inter-Church and inter-communion relations.

"The reality is that [the Orthodox and Catholic are] not in agreement over many things," said Father Flesoras. "We are not one Church, but that doesn't mean we can't be cordial and work together on common interests. I attended the [recent diocese of Sacramento] synod, and I was warmly received by the Catholic clergy. A few have contacted me and expressed interest. I've also had interest from a few Lutherans, and others in the mainstream Protestant denominations, such as the Episcopalians. The Bible-based Christians up here really have no idea what to do with this, even with all the media attention. For them, it's just now going to start coming to the surface, and they will have to grapple with this at some point. They will have to come up with a response to what this is because people are talking about this on the street, so the pastors will eventually have to talk about it from the pulpit."

Ultimately, Father Flesoras' reasons and hopes for this mystical venture echo those of Father Apostolou. "My prayer is that many hearts will be softened when they come in contact with St. Anna. Of course that's in God's time," he said with a laugh. "I don't have any control over that."

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