Today, October 17, the Church remembers Saints Gurias and Barsanuphiustranslated

The discovery of the relics of Saints Guria (+1563), Archbishop of Kazan, and Barsanuphius (+1576), Bishop of Tver, is celebrated by the Orthodox Church on October 17.

The discovery of the relics of two Russian bishops took place in 1595 in Kazan during the construction of a new stone Church of the Transfiguration in the Transfiguration Monastery, founded by St. Barsanuphius.

It was there, near the altar wall of the former wooden church, that the coffins with the bodies of the saints were dug up.

Saint Hermogen, who was then in Kazan, seeing the incorruptibility of the coffins, decided to open them in front of a large crowd of people. After the opening, it turned out that the relics of the saints located in them also remained incorruptible, and not only the relics, but also the robes of the saints.

On that day, many sick people were healed by being anointed with the holy myrrh that flowed from the relics of St. Gurias.

During the discovery of the relics of Saints Guria and Barsanuphius in 1595, the incorrupt bodies and clothes of two more Kazan saints - the venerable monks Jonah and Nektarios - were also found. They were left hidden in the chapel of the Kazan Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery (the chapel was built by Jonah over the tomb of St. Gurias).

On the same day, the Church celebrates the memory of the entire Council of Kazan Saints.

Read...