Newly Revealed Saints
JOHN A. MCGUCKIN
The title of “Newly revealed” (Neophaneis) refers to those saints of the Orthodox Church whose relics have been discovered in relatively recent times, often after years of being lost or forgotten, and whose cult has accordingly revived. From the earliest times the concept of the “revelation of a saint” following a significant and wondrous event (thauma) or a dream in which the saint appears to an individual have been a commonly known part of the cult of saints in the Eastern Church. So it was that in the 5th century St. Cyril of Alexandria discovered the relics of Sts. Cyrus and John, Empress Eudoxia discovered the relics of St. Stephen the Protomartyr in Jerusalem, and the priest Nicholas Calligraphos discovered the relics of Sts. Andronikos and Junia at Constantinople. The cult of St. Phanourios of Rhodes developed in 1500 after an icon was discovered in a hidden chapel; and in 1798 a child’s visions led to the discovery ofthe relics ofthe Megara martyrs, whose cult became especially popular after the Greek War of Independence. The relics of St. Patapios and companions were discovered in a cave church at Geraneia in 1904 and became a focus of much pilgrimage. The New Martyr Ephraim (martyred in the 15th century) was found after a series of visions by a Greek nun in 1950 at Nea Makri. Unknown saints’ relics have also been discovered in the monasteries, such as St. Eudokimos found at Vatopedi in 1841, St. Basil of Akarnania found in 1923, and the relics found after a monk’s grave started one day to emit a fountain of water at Neamt in Romania, after the fall of the communist regime there (St. Paisy Velichovsky’s monastery).
SEE ALSO: Megalomartyr Saints; Military Saints; Myrobletes Saints; Unmercenary Saints
REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Anon. (1983) Hagios Ephraim. Nea Makri: n.p. Gerasimos of Mikrayiannitis (1990) Hosios Patapios. Loutraki: n.p.
Mourtzoukou, D. (1984) Ton en Megarois Athlesanton Neophanon Martyron. Megara: n.p.