Archaeologists Uncover John the Baptist Relics in Bulgaria

Archaeologists investigating the Sv. Ivan (St. John) island off Sozopol found on July 28 the exquisite reliquary? a relic urn, built in the altar of an ancient church bearing the name of ST. John the Baptist. This is the oldest church on the island and it dates back to 5th century BC.
At the official opening of the relics on Sunday, the head of the archaeological team, Prof. Kazimir Popkonstantinov, stated that the reliquary was made out of alabaster and not of marble, as they have previously thought.
"An anthropological analysis is to be done soon," he added.
The Bulgarian Minister without Portfolio, Bozhidar Dimitrov, who was present at the opening ceremony, has stated that from now on, Sozopol will be the new Jerusalem.
"The Sozopol church" St. George "currently owns a piece of the Holy Cross and relics of St.Andrew. These are essential Christian relics of the oldest saints," Dimitrov said, adding that besides sea tourism, Sozopol could also develop pilgrimage tourism.
"Pilgrimage tourism is very popular worldwide and it provides 30% of the revenues from the tourism industry," he said.
At the opening ceremony on Sunday, the archaeologists stated that the reliquary included parts of an arm, heel, tooth and a facial bone.
According to archaeologists, such a treasure trove opened for the first time in the area between Cape Emine and the Bosphorus. Valuable in this case is that the reliquary was found intact in its natural environment, architecture, and near it was opened and a small box whose inscriptions spoke that the island "St. Ivan are really relics of the human predicted the coming of Christ.
The head of the archaeological team, Prof. Popkonstantinov, has given the relics to the Bishop of Sliven, Joanikii, who is supposed to decide where the relics should be lying in state.
St. John the Baptist - called also the Forerunner - is an imposing figure in the Christian New Testament. He was the last to prophecize the coming of Jesus Christ - and the one to baptize the young Jesus in the river Jordan. The great prophet died a martyr's death beheaded by king Herod at the request of his daughter Salome. He was the first Christian saint.
According to the Bible, St. John the Forerunner prophesized about Christ thus: "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and fire" (Matthew 3:11).
St. John the Baptist is especially venerated by the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church. Over the centuries, there have been controversies about where his relics are located.
The town of Sozopol is one of the most ancient on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast, dating from the Bronze age.

5 August 2010
The procession led by the Bulgarian Orthodox Bishop of Sliven Yoanikiy brought the relics of St. John the Baptist from the St. Ivan Island to the St. George Church in the downtown where they were laid in state.
Thus, the holy relics have been officially transferred from the archaeologists to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church.
Thousands of Bulgarians as well as dozens of buses with foreign tourists – Germans, Russians, Poles, Czechs - having their vacations along the Bulgarian Black Sea coast have immediately arrived on a pilgrimage trips to pay their respects to the relics of St. John the Baptist.
The samples from the reliquary and the bones are still to be tested by specialists have expressed their views that there is no doubt whatsoever that absolutely unique archaeological discovery consists of relics of St. John the Baptist.
The wide-ranging arguments for that start with the fact that the small sarcophagus was found in a “natural architectural environment” - hidden under the major slabstone on the floor of the St. John the Forerunner Church – the oldest church on the St. Ivan Island.
(The island off the Sozopol coast itself is named St. John the Baptist – as Ivan is the Bulgarian/Slavic name for John.)
Experts have pointed out that at the time of the building of the St. Ivan the Forerunner Church – 4th century AD – the tradition was to build in relics of saints in the construction instead of to lay them in state for pilgrims, and there was no intentional falsifications of such holy items.
The greatest argument supporting the thesis that the relics belong to St. John the Baptist is the “clue” found at 1.2 m from the reliquary. It consists of a small box bearing inscriptions that make it clear who and when brought the relics of St. John the Baptist to Sozopol.
The inscriptions make it clear that a man name Thomas, “God’s servant brought a particle of St. John on the 24th.” Even though some of the end letters are missing, the inscription in Greek makes it clear that the date refers to the birthday of St. John the Baptist, June 24...