Moscow, May 11, 2017

The opening of his relics, in advance of his July 14-16 Pan-Orthodox glorification services, revealed his relics to be incorrupt, reports Fr. Nikolaj Kostur, the Chairman of the Liturgical Sub-Committee for the Glorification of St. Mardarije, on the site of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America.

His tombstone and the flooring over his relics were removed following a Liturgy and Akathist served by His Grace Bishop Longin on May 4, revealing that his casket was in a cement vault, which was opened the following day. “Christ is Risen” and other Paschal hymns and the troparion to St. Mardarije were sung in Serbian and Russian tones throughout the exhumation process.

St. Mardarije’s relics were then washed with warm water and white wine and anointed with spikenard, and placed in a sticharion, awaiting their full vesting before his glorification in July.

St. Mardarije labored tirelessly in America, and personally founded the St. Sava Monastery where he was buried after his repose on December 12, 1935. The Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church added his name to the diptych of saints on the Church’s calendar at its May 29, 2015 meeting.

Read the full report on the site of the Serbian Orthodox Church in North and South America