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Rich Spirituality 135

jurisdictional legitimacy. Relics of the Right
Hand of St. Gregory the Illuminator are
found in the Holy See of St. Etchmiadzin
and in the Holy See of Cilicia. In St. Etch-
miadzin it is brought out once every seven
years for the blessing of the holy muron, and
in Antelias, in addition to the blessing of the
holy muron, it is displayed to the people,
together with the relics of other saints,
on the feast of St. Gregory the Illuminator.
During the consecration of the holy muron,
the catholicos stirs the mixture with the relic
containing the Right Hand of St. Gregory
the Illuminator in order to connect it with
the original holy muron blessed by St.
Gregory himself; this act is intended to
ensure symbolically the continuity of Ar-
menian Christianity. According to tradition,
the skull of St. Gregory the Illuminator is in
the monastery of St. Gregory the Armenian,
a Catholic monastery in Naples, Italy. In
2001, on the occasion of the 1700th anni-
versary of the proclamation of Christianity
as a state religion in Armenia, as an expres-
sion of ecumenical fellowship, Pope John
Paul II sent a piece of the skull to the Holy
See of St. Etchmiadzin and another piece to
the Holy See of Cilicia.
Relics have a mysterious history. Tracing
their origin and movements from one place
to another is often very difficult. Despite con-
tinuous war and destruction faced by the