Whodunit Wednesday: Saint Servatius

We work with the church in Maastricht, the Netherlands. Maastricht is an old Roman city, but it is also the home of the patron Saint Servatius. This Saint of the Catholic Church is buried here. Every seven years or at moments of distress (like during Desert Storm) his bones are brought out and walked around the city to call for a blessing. 

Interestingly, I have recently come to know that Servatius is an Armenian. In 2020 we were planning on having the Harding Chorus come to sing for the second time in Maastricht. The first time had been quite a good opportunity to meet new people and serve the city. That first time, the concert was held in a very special church which was not a church any more (for more see this article. 

This second time I had gone looking for another venue, since the previous venue was no longer available. I found a church building which had changed hands from the Catholic Church to the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was when I went to talk to the caretaker that I found out about Saint Servatius as the patron saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. 

You see, in Maastricht Saint Servatius (Sint Servaas) is everywhere. The Servaas bridge is the oldest bridge in the city (12th century). The main church on the town square is the Servaas church. “Servaas” was used for quite some centuries as a given name. So I was more than familiar with the saint and his name. 

I was not familiar with the fact that he was an Armenian. The Eastern Orthodox Church that was now housed in this old Catholic building from the 1950’s is part of a larger whole comprising the full Eastern Orthodox Church. But this group is historically Armenian - and they were quite proud of having Servatius as their saint and being in “his” city. Servatius died and was buried in Maastricht in the 4th century. 

Unfortunately, we had to conceal the concert in 2020. But this church building in Maastricht would make its mark in our lives in a different way. One of our newest members in the congregation in Maastricht is a woman from Armenian heritage who came to the Netherlands as a refugee with her family (Armenia and Azerbaijan are in a deep struggle still today). She grew up in Dutch schools and was nominally aware of her parents cultural Christianity. It was during the corona years that she actually started looking at the Bible and came to faith. She has been an encouragement and example since then for others in the congregation and does he best to share her faith and the grace of God in her job as police officer. Her parents still attend the Eastern Orthodox Church in town celebrating Saint Servatius.