IT and Church: Russia’s first Center for Study and Expert Examination of Christian Relics opens in Voronezh

Russia’s first Center for Study and Expert Examination of Christian Relics and Artifacts has opened in Voronezh to operate at Voronezh State University.

The center’s key purpose is to conduct historical analysis of relics, which have been recently granted to the Russian Orthodoxy. The research work will attract experts and involve cutting-edge devices. In particular, Voronezh State University has acquired a state-of-the-art digital microscope which makes it possible to carry out research into identity of different artifacts.

Firstly, the new center aims to examine three parts of Saint Nicholas’s relics which are kept in Russia, whose authenticity is doubted by several church representatives. This work will bring together experts in genetic analysis. Underway is the study of 10 pieces of the True Cross.

The center’s experts are going to build the World Relics Catalogue. Similar catalogues exist abroad, however, as a rule they are limited to sacred objects which are located in that particular area. Russia’s new web catalogue will inform of the location of particular relics and provide their detailed descriptions. Few people know, that authentic parts of the True Cross – the one upon which Jesus Christ was crucified can be found in the monasteries of Germany, Spain, and Italy. The new catalogue will give answers to these and other questions.