Sep 13, 2010 / 22:59 pm
A “chapel boat” containing relics of eight saints has begun a cruise along the Volga River. The relics are a gift from the Catholic Church to the Russian Orthodox Church and could have a deeply symbolic impact, one expert says.
The relics are from Sts. John the Baptist, Anne, Bartholomew the Apostle, martyrs Stephen and Lawrence, George, John Chrysostom and Cyril. All the saints lived before the Great Schism split the eastern and western Churches.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) reports that the ship carrying the relics is called “Fr. Werenfried” after the ACN founder who created the mission to convert boats into chapels. Fr. Werenfried van Straaten called them the “flotilla for God.” The boats allow services to be celebrated in places without churches.
Peter Humeniuk, ACN’s Russia expert, helped organized the project.