A meeting of prayer has been planned for Thursday in the basilica di S. Paolo fuori Le Mura, in Rome, in which the archpriest, card. Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo, will give to the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, Christodoulos, a reliquary containing two links of the chain that is assumed to have kept the Apostle Paul captive before his martyrdom. It was announced this morning in the Vatican by the archpriest himself as he recalled that a few years ago a similar request was put forward by the Orthodox Church of Athens to the Pope. "As we do not have any such relics as clothes or body parts he explained , we thought of the only certain piece, that is, the chain that for centuries has been regarded as a relic of the same religious and devotional value. Since afterwards the Orthodox authorities did not come to take the relics, they will be delivered on Thursday". As to the objections raised about the truthfulness of "Saint Paul’s tomb", the cardinal highlighted that, "even if it were just a cenotaph, that is, just a sarcophagus-shaped container with the inscription ‘Paul Apostle Martyr’ on it, it would have the same value as a tomb". “When and if the Pope authorises such survey he added , we will be able to find out what it really contains”.
