September 24, 2012

The Hand of St. Thekla in Sarajevo


The hand of St. Thekla is found in the Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel in Sarajevo. On her feast day, September 24th, the relic leads a procession, and according to tradition waters are sanctified in the church with the hand of St. Thekla.

St. Sava of Serbia brought the relic of this first century martyr from Antioch in the year 1233. Patriarch Arsenije IV (Jovanovic) gave the relic to the Serbian Church in Sarajevo in 1733, while it was Metropolitan Sava (Kosanovic) of Sarajevo who took the relics to Russia in 1873 where the golden glove was made.