"We carry about these clean and holy bones, O king, because we attest in due form our love of those marvelous men to whom they belong: and because we would bring ourselves to remember their wrestlings and lovely conversation, to rouse up ourselves to the like zeal; and because we would catch some vision of the rest and felicity wherein they now live, and thus, as we call them blessed, and provoke one another to emulate them, strive to follow their footsteps: because, moreover, we find thereby that the thought of death, which is right profitable, lends wings of zeal to our religious exercises; and lastly, because we derive sanctification from their touch."
—St. John Damascene, The Precious Pearl: The Lives of Sts. Barlaam and Joseph, p. 248
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/gen_veneration.aspx
—St. John Damascene, The Precious Pearl: The Lives of Sts. Barlaam and Joseph, p. 248
http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/gen_veneration.aspx
