Why there are no tombs/bodies of apostles or of any New Testament figure?

solid_core said:

The first church should have the apostles and other known figures of the New Testament Christianity in a great respect.

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There were some centuries of persecution that made things difficult, but St Peter's in Rome is built on top of the tomb of the Apostle Peter. St Paul's Fuori le Mura is built on top of the tomb of the Apostle Paul. What more do you want?

solid_core said:

The first church should have the apostles and other known figures of the New Testament Christianity in a great respect.

Why do we have absolutely nothing?

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Holy Relics
What are relics? - Catholic Straight Answers

solid_core said:

The first church should have the apostles and other known figures of the New Testament Christianity in a great respect.

Why do we have absolutely nothing?

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That's a good question. Here's a link with information on the subject. Of note I think it's pretty accurate to remember that while we hold the Apostles in high regard there weren't nearly as many in that era who did. For the most part they were regarded as criminals, and trouble makers by the Roman authorities. So it was by small groups of people that any of their relics would've been saved, and it would've been done under darkness making things all the more difficult. Good read here on it though.

Where Are the 12 Apostles Now?

solid_core said:

Is this verified or just a later catholic tradition?

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When Constantine became Emperor, he started building churches. He asked the Christians in Rome where Peter and Paul were buried, and they told him. I have no reason to think that the local Christians were wrong.

Edit: as I was writing, @Phronema posted a link which includes more evidence for the presence of the actual bones of Peter and Paul.

solid_core said:

There are serious doubts that Peter even was in Rome.

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Irenaeus of Lyons and Eusebius the church historian are two people who tell us that he was.

solid_core said:

Also, where are others? The rest of apostles, brothers of Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Trofimus, Filemon, Timotheus, Rufus, Onezimos, Luke, Mark, Barnabas etc etc, all the New Testament people? All simply disappeared?

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There are tombs for the others, such as St Mark's in Venice. In many cases those tombs contain bones moved from elsewhere (in part because of the centuries of conflict around the Eastern Mediterranean), and the identity of those bones can legitimately be doubted.

But to say that we "have nothing" is nonsense.

Phronema said:

That's a good question. Here's a link with information on the subject. Of note I think it's pretty accurate to remember that while we hold the Apostles in high regard there weren't nearly as many in that era who did. For the most part they were regarded as criminals, and trouble makers by the Roman authorities. So it was by small groups of people that any of their relics would've been saved, and it would've been done under darkness making things all the more difficult. Good read here on it though.

Where Are the 12 Apostles Now?

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That was informative. I would add that St Mark's in Venice contains bones said to be those of Mark, transported (some would say, stolen) from Alexandria. There is some question as to whether they are truly the bones of Mark.

solid_core said:

The first church should have the apostles and other known figures of the New Testament Christianity in a great respect.

Why do we have absolutely nothing?

Click to expand...

Peter and Paul are known to be buried in Rome. There is a tomb believed to be of John at Ephesus.

solid_core said:

The first church should have the apostles and other known figures of the New Testament Christianity in a great respect.

Why do we have absolutely nothing?

Click to expand...

The only one we have absolutely no physical relics of their body is Mary the mother of the Lord.

solid_core said:

...Also, where are others? The rest of apostles, brothers of Jesus, Joseph, Mary, Trofimus, Filemon, Timotheus, Rufus, Onezimos, Luke, Mark, Barnabas etc etc, all the New Testament people? All simply disappeared?

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Saint Barnabas died and was buried in my country. I had the chance of visiting his tomb once after the Turks opened the borders to the northern part of the island.