According to historical texts, Luke was born in Antioch, Syria and died in Greece in about 150 AD.

We don't know when he was born, but it is unlike that it would have been after 20 AD. That would make him about 130 years old at death.

Idiots can't count.

Idiots can't count.

Idiots overestimate the precision of radiocarbon (and other radioisotope) dating.

According to historical texts, Luke was born in Antioch, Syria and died in Greece in about 150 AD.

I wonder how they figured that out.

Hey appy-

they didn't have to "figure it out" -- they read it in history books.

Regards, Lurking'

Obviously, the word "holy" is used analogically. Obviously, an inanimate thing cannot be "holy" in precisely the same way that a person is "holy." But if you had a piece of the True Cross, for instance, you'd make it into a clothespin or use it as a doorstop, on the grounds that it can't be "holy"?

When your grandmother dies, do you send her body to the city dump, on the grounds that a corpse is inanimate, and therefore cannot be "holy"?

The body is created by God. The body of a holy person participates in enjoying the effects of grace during life, and participates in every good act that a person does, and will participate in the happiness of Heaven after the Resurrection. If that isn't holiness, I don't know what is.

The main significance of this discovery is that there weren't many Greeks living in Padua in 1177. Therefore, this very anomalous corpse is interesting - it suggests that the local tradition is more reliable than some of its modern critics.

It's similar to the investigations done regarding the True Cross - it was a common joke among skeptics that there was enough wood from the True Cross in various churches to make a forest. When the fragments were examined it turned out that combined they had a volume smaller than two cubic feet of lumber and that almost every last fragment was of the same wood.

Also, the saints in Heaven hear our prayers to them, and they in turn offer prayers to God, since they are our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and love us now even more than they did while on earth. There are many examples in history of people receiving miraculous healings as a result of praying in the presence of, or while being touched, by holy objects: pieces of the True Cross, relics of saints, etc.

Ever hear of the incarnation? That is the theological basis for the infusing of the holy into matter. Saints' relics (like bones) are thought to continue to have power even after the saints' death. That is why often in Church history when a saint's tomb is opened the uncorrupt state of the body is stressed. There is some scriptural basis for this: "Thou shalt not let thy Holy One see corruption." Regarding the holy state of inanimate objects, remember the woman who was healed by touching the hem of Jesus' robe? Acts states that even Peter's shadow could heal.

Yeah, dead bodies are only so much meat. I assume you use your own relatives' corpses as dog food or compost?

After all they have no significance. I also assume that you use the main aisle of your local church as a latrine. Might as well, right? After all, it's inanimate.

In the Christian East, we have a strong notion of the unity of the person. Despite the unnatural separation of the soul from the body, the dead body is still part of the person. The doctrine of salvation in the Orthodox Church is that one is save through union with the Uncreated Energies of God (made possible by Christ's uniting of human and divine natures in His person, and the gift of the Holy Spirit). This participation in the Divine Energies (which is what we Orthodox call grace) is not limited to the soul, but includes the body (which will rise and be transfigured to be like Christ's in the General Ressurection). The body of a saint is thus holy because it participates in the Energies of God, who alone is holy by nature.

Why Roman Catholics, who deny this doctrine of grace, regard bodies as holy I do not know. Personally I suspect they just have a recollection of when their spiritual forebearers were Orthodox and cling to the idea even though they have removed its actual basis from their teachings.

Now, now, as an Orthodox I can honestly attest to the common provenance of the fragments of the True Cross we keep. But there was a joke current at the time of the Crusades:

Q: Why are there no cedars in Lebanon?

A: Because every Frank in Christendom has a piece of the True Cross.

Of course, perhaps you've done a good job of weeding out the fakes sold by unscrupulous Levantine traders back then.

The doctrine of salvation in the Orthodox Church is that one is save through union with the Uncreated Energies of God (made possible by Christ's uniting of human and divine natures in His person, and the gift of the Holy Spirit). This participation in the Divine Energies (which is what we Orthodox call grace) ... Why Roman Catholics, who deny this doctrine of grace, regard bodies as holy I do not know.

I'm unclear what doctrine of grace you assert Roman Catholics deny. That grace is a participation in the Uncreated Energies of God? The following is no. 1997 from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Grace is a participation in the life of God. It introduces us into the intimacy of Trinitarian life: by Baptism the Christian participates in the grace of Christ, the Head of his Body. As an "adopted son" he can henceforth call God "Father," in union with the only Son. He receives the life of the Spirit who breathes charity into him and who forms the Church.

(Emphasis added.)

Why would the body have been substituted? Seems unusual.

What a load of absolute crap. Sort of like that "Here's what Jesus looked like" nonsense of a few months ago.

We do not deny this doctrine of grace. The Orthodox have unilaterally decided that our doctrinal formulations exclude the concept of grace as the uncreated energies of the Godhead.

I don't know any Catholic theologian who has attacked or dissents from the Orthodox notion of grace as divine uncreated energies or of salvation through theosis. Greeks insist that we deny these doctrines - but we don't.

Greeks insist that we deny these doctrines - but we don't.

As predictable as our being accused of worshipping Mary. It's the price we pay for being the Alpha-Christians.

I believe if you look in your Catechism, you will find grace defined in terms of the Holy Spirit and created spiritual gifts. We object very strongly to the notion of created grace. Grace is God or it cannot be sanctifying.

A spiritual gift, like that of tongues or prophecy, can be ephemeral as St. Paul clearly teaches. The grace of salvation is participation in the life of the divinity.