Relics of St. Nicholas to leave Italy for first time in 930 years

Moscow, April 28, 2017

St. Nicholas' relics are kept under the altar in the crypt church at the Catholic basilica in Bari, Italy. Photo: stnicholascenter.org

A piece of the relics of the great St. Nicholas the Wonderworker will be brought to Russia from May 21 to July 28, 2017, reports the site of the Moscow Patriarchate.

This is a unique event in that for the 930 years that his relics have been kept at the Catholic basilica in Bari, Italy, they have never left the city. Every year hundreds of Russian pilgrims and Orthodox believers from around the world travel to Bari to venerate the honorable relics of the great bishop and wonderworking saint. Thanks to the upcoming visitation of his relics, even more faithful will have the opportunity to venerate them.

The relics will first be brought to Moscow's Christ the Savior Cathedral, and then will visit one of the cathedrals of St. Petersburg.

St. Nicholas reposed on December 6, 343, his relics being interred in Myra in Asia Minor, where they remained until 1087, when Italian sailors seized his relics in the confusion following Emperor Romanus IV’s defeat at the Battle of Manzikert at the hands of Alp Arslan of the Seljuk Turks. His relics arrived to Bari on May 9, 1087, where they remain to this day.