Est-ce que si on ramène les reliques de Saint Nicolas à Myre, les Turcs vont tout d'un coup devenir tous chrétiens et l'église grecque va se réconcilier automatiquement avec Rome ?
Bari

After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Byzantine Empire temporarily lost control over most of Asia Minor to the invading Seljuk Turks, and so Greek Christians of Myra became subjects of the Turks. At the same time the Catholic Church in the West had declared (in 1054 AD) that the Greek church, the official church of the Byzantine Empire, was in schism. Because of the many wars in the region, some Christians were concerned that access to the tomb might become difficult.

Taking advantage of the confusion and the loss by the Greek Christian community of Myra of its Byzantine imperial protection, in the spring of 1087, Italian sailors from Bari in Apulia seized part of the remains of the saint from his burial church in Myra, over the objections of the Greek Orthodox monks in the church.

Adam C. English describes the removal of the relics from Myra as "essentially a holy robbery" and notes the thieves were not only afraid of being caught or chased after by the locals, but also the power of Saint Nicholas himself. Returning to Bari, they brought the remains with them and cared for them. The remains arrived on 9 May 1087. Two years later, Pope Urban II inaugurated a new church, the Basilica di San Nicola, to Saint Nicholas in Bari. The Pope himself personally placed Nicholas's relics into the tomb beneath the altar of the new church. The removal of Saint Nicholas's relics from Myra and their arrival in Bari is reliably recorded by multiple chroniclers, including Orderic Vitalis and 9 May continued to be celebrated every year by western Christians as the day of Nicholas's "translation". Eastern Orthodox Christians and the Turks have both long regarded the unauthorized removal of the relics from Myra as a blatant theft, but the people of Bari have instead maintained that it was a rescue mission to save the bones from the Turkish invaders. A legend, shown on the ceiling of the Basilica di San Nicola, holds that Nicholas once visited Bari and predicted that his bones would one day rest there.

Prior to the translation of Nicholas's relics to Bari, his following had been known in western Europe, but it had not been extremely popular. In autumn of 1096, Norman and Frankish soldiers mustered in Bari in preparation for the First Crusade. Although the Crusaders generally favored warrior saints, which Saint Nicholas was not, the presence of his relics in Bari made him materially accessible. Nicholas's associations with aiding travelers and seafarers also made him a popular choice for veneration. Nicholas's veneration by Crusaders helped promote his following throughout western Europe.

After the relics were brought to Bari, they continued to produce "myrrh", much to the joy of their new owners. Vials of myrrh from his relics have been taken all over the world for centuries, and can still be obtained from his church in Bari. Even up to the present day, a flask of manna is extracted from the tomb of Saint Nicholas every year on 6 December (the Saint's feast day) by the clergy of the basilica. The myrrh is collected from a sarcophagus which is located in the basilica vault and could be obtained in the shop nearby. The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbour, and the tomb is below sea level, there have been several natural explanations proposed for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater to the tomb by capillary action.

In 1966, a vault in the crypt underneath the Basilica di San Nicola was dedicated as an Orthodox chapel with an iconostasis in commemoration of the recent lifting of the anathemas the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches had issued against each other during the Great Schism in 1054.

In May 2017, following talks between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a portion of the relics of St. Nicholas in Bari were sent on loan to Moscow. The relic was on display for veneration at Christ the Savior Cathedral before being taken to Saint Petersburg in mid-June prior to returning to Bari. More than a million people lined up in Moscow for a momentary glimpse of the gilded ark holding one of the saint's ribs.
Myra

Au milieu du VIIe siècle, Gemilé était vulnérable aux attaques des flottes arabes, si bien que les reliques de Nicolas semblent avoir été transférées de l'île à la ville de Myra, où Nicolas avait exercé la plupart de sa vie en tant qu'évêque. Myra est située à environ 40 km (25 mi) à l'est de Gemilé, et sa situation plus à l'intérieur des terres la rendait plus sûre face aux forces arabes maritimes.

Il est dit que, à Myra, les reliques de Saint Nicolas exudaient chaque année un liquide clair et aqueux, odorant de rose, appelé manne ou myrrhe, que les fidèles croyaient posséder des pouvoirs miraculeux. Étant donné qu'il était largement connu que toutes les reliques de Nicolas se trouvaient à Myra dans son sarcophage scellé, il était rare à cette époque que des faussaires de reliques prétendent posséder celles de Saint Nicolas.

Une solennelle statue de bronze du saint, réalisée par le sculpteur russe Gregory Pototsky, a été offerte par le gouvernement russe en 2000 et a été placée dans un endroit bien en vue sur la place devant l'église médiévale Saint Nicolas. En 2005, le maire Süleyman Topçu a fait remplacer la statue par une statue en plastique de Père Noël vêtu de rouge, car il souhaitait une image plus reconnaissable pour les visiteurs étrangers. Les protestations du gouvernement russe contre cette décision ont été couronnées de succès, et la statue en bronze a été restituée (quoiqu'elle n'ait pas conservé son piédestal d'origine) dans un coin plus proche de l'église.

Le 28 décembre 2009, le gouvernement turc a annoncé qu'il demanderait formellement au gouvernement italien la restitution des restes squelettiques de Saint Nicolas à la Turquie.

Les autorités turques ont affirmé que Nicolas lui-même souhaitait être enterré dans sa ville épiscopale, et que ses restes avaient été retirés illégalement de son pays d'origine. En 2017, une enquête archéologique menée à l'église Saint-Nicolas, à Dérmé, a révélé la découverte d'un temple sous l'église moderne, et des travaux de fouille seront entrepris afin de permettre aux chercheurs de déterminer si celui-ci abrite encore le corps de Nicolas.
### Query ###
Est-ce que si on ramène les reliques de Saint Nicolas à Myre, les Turcs vont tout d'un coup devenir tous chrétiens et l'église grecque va se réconcilier automatiquement avec Rome ?

### Main Text ###
Bari

After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Byzantine Empire temporarily lost control over most of Asia Minor to the invading Seljuk Turks, and so Greek Christians of Myra became subjects of the Turks. At the same time the Catholic Church in the West had declared (in 1054 AD) that the Greek church, the official church of the Byzantine Empire, was in schism. Because of the many wars in the region, some Christians were concerned that access to the tomb might become difficult.

Taking advantage of the confusion and the loss by the Greek Christian community of Myra of its Byzantine imperial protection, in the spring of 1087, Italian sailors from Bari in Apulia seized part of the remains of the saint from his burial church in Myra, over the objections of the Greek Orthodox monks in the church.

Adam C. English describes the removal of the relics from Myra as "essentially a holy robbery" and notes the thieves were not only afraid of being caught or chased after by the locals, but also the power of Saint Nicholas himself. Returning to Bari, they brought the remains with them and cared for them. The remains arrived on 9 May 1087. Two years later, Pope Urban II inaugurated a new church, the Basilica di San Nicola, to Saint Nicholas in Bari. The Pope himself personally placed Nicholas's relics into the tomb beneath the altar of the new church. The removal of Saint Nicholas's relics from Myra and their arrival in Bari is reliably recorded by multiple chroniclers, including Orderic Vitalis and 9 May continued to be celebrated every year by western Christians as the day of Nicholas's "translation". Eastern Orthodox Christians and the Turks have both long regarded the unauthorized removal of the relics from Myra as a blatant theft, but the people of Bari have instead maintained that it was a rescue mission to save the bones from the Turkish invaders. A legend, shown on the ceiling of the Basilica di San Nicola, holds that Nicholas once visited Bari and predicted that his bones would one day rest there.

Prior to the translation of Nicholas's relics to Bari, his following had been known in western Europe, but it had not been extremely popular. In autumn of 1096, Norman and Frankish soldiers mustered in Bari in preparation for the First Crusade. Although the Crusaders generally favored warrior saints, which Saint Nicholas was not, the presence of his relics in Bari made him materially accessible. Nicholas's associations with aiding travelers and seafarers also made him a popular choice for veneration. Nicholas's veneration by Crusaders helped promote his following throughout western Europe.

After the relics were brought to Bari, they continued to produce "myrrh", much to the joy of their new owners. Vials of myrrh from his relics have been taken all over the world for centuries, and can still be obtained from his church in Bari. Even up to the present day, a flask of manna is extracted from the tomb of Saint Nicholas every year on 6 December (the Saint's feast day) by the clergy of the basilica. The myrrh is collected from a sarcophagus which is located in the basilica vault and could be obtained in the shop nearby. The liquid gradually seeps out of the tomb, but it is unclear whether it originates from the body within the tomb, or from the marble itself; since the town of Bari is a harbour, and the tomb is below sea level, there have been several natural explanations proposed for the manna fluid, including the transfer of seawater to the tomb by capillary action.

In 1966, a vault in the crypt underneath the Basilica di San Nicola was dedicated as an Orthodox chapel with an iconostasis in commemoration of the recent lifting of the anathemas the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches had issued against each other during the Great Schism in 1054.

In May 2017, following talks between Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill, a portion of the relics of St. Nicholas in Bari were sent on loan to Moscow. The relic was on display for veneration at Christ the Savior Cathedral before being taken to Saint Petersburg in mid-June prior to returning to Bari. More than a million people lined up in Moscow for a momentary glimpse of the gilded ark holding one of the saint's ribs.

### Supplementary Text ###
Myra

Au milieu du VIIe siècle, Gemilé était vulnérable aux attaques des flottes arabes, si bien que les reliques de Nicolas semblent avoir été transférées de l'île à la ville de Myra, où Nicolas avait exercé la plupart de sa vie en tant qu'évêque. Myra est située à environ 40 km (25 mi) à l'est de Gemilé, et sa situation plus à l'intérieur des terres la rendait plus sûre face aux forces arabes maritimes.

Il est dit que, à Myra, les reliques de Saint Nicolas exudaient chaque année un liquide clair et aqueux, odorant de rose, appelé manne ou myrrhe, que les fidèles croyaient posséder des pouvoirs miraculeux. Étant donné qu'il était largement connu que toutes les reliques de Nicolas se trouvaient à Myra dans son sarcophage scellé, il était rare à cette époque que des faussaires de reliques prétendent posséder celles de Saint Nicolas.

Une solennelle statue de bronze du saint, réalisée par le sculpteur russe Gregory Pototsky, a été offerte par le gouvernement russe en 2000 et a été placée dans un endroit bien en vue sur la place devant l'église médiévale Saint Nicolas. En 2005, le maire Süleyman Topçu a fait remplacer la statue par une statue en plastique de Père Noël vêtu de rouge, car il souhaitait une image plus reconnaissable pour les visiteurs étrangers. Les protestations du gouvernement russe contre cette décision ont été couronnées de succès, et la statue en bronze a été restituée (quoiqu'elle n'ait pas conservé son piédestal d'origine) dans un coin plus proche de l'église.

Le 28 décembre 2009, le gouvernement turc a annoncé qu'il demanderait formellement au gouvernement italien la restitution des restes squelettiques de Saint Nicolas à la Turquie.

Les autorités turques ont affirmé que Nicolas lui-même souhaitait être enterré dans sa ville épiscopale, et que ses restes avaient été retirés illégalement de son pays d'origine. En 2017, une enquête archéologique menée à l'église Saint-Nicolas, à Dérmé, a révélé la découverte d'un temple sous l'église moderne, et des travaux de fouille seront entrepris afin de permettre aux chercheurs de déterminer si celui-ci abrite encore le corps de Nicolas.

### Draft ###

**Query parsing:** "Est-ce que si on ramène les reliques de Saint Nicolas à Myre..."

Translation issues immediately apparent. ● "Myre" → "Myra" (ancient Lycian coastal city). ● "Turcs vont tout d'un coup devenir tous chrétiens" → instant mass conversion hypothesis. ⚠ Overly simplistic assumption.

**Information retrieval task:** Historical events, religious dynamics, current constraints.

**Geographic scope:** Southwestern Turkey (ancient Myra), Southeastern Italy (Bari), broader Christian world relations.

**Temporal bounds:** 
- Historical: 1087 CE relic theft from Myra ●
- Current: Ongoing diplomatic tensions, archaeological evidence ◐
- Future: Speculative reconciliation scenarios ○

### 1. Historical Context Verification

**Relic theft event:** 1087 CE. Italian sailors → unauthorized removal from Myra. → Carried to Bari. ● Confirmed by multiple Byzantine sources.

**Political backdrop:** 1054 Great Schism. Orthodox-Catholic split. Turkish expansion into Anatolia. Myra under Seljuk control. ● Contextualized within imperial weakness.

**Physical constraints:** 
- Relics = bone fragments, distributed across institutions
- Original tomb = archaeological site, Turkey
- Modern churches = separate jurisdictions

### 2. Conversion Hypothesis Analysis

**Logical challenge:** Mass religious conversion ≠ relic repatriation.

**Multi-hop reasoning required:**
1. Relics returned → 2. Symbolic reconciliation → 3. Political dialogue → 4. Mass conversion

Missing steps: ◐ Emotional/political barriers, institutional resistance, theological differences unresolved.

**Key constraint:** Modern Turkey = secular state (Atatürk reforms). Religious policy = separation of mosque/state. Turkish government ≠ Islamic fundamentalist regime.

### 3. Current Status Assessment

**Archaeological evidence:** 2009 Turkish formal request to Italy. 2017 discovery of temple beneath modern church. ◐ Evidence accumulation for original burial site.

**Diplomatic relations:** 2017 Moscow loan arrangement. ◐ Cultural diplomacy ≠ theological reconciliation.

**Institutional positions:**
- Orthodox Church: ○ Seeks reunification, pragmatic approach
- Catholic Church: ○ Ecumenical dialogue, no immediate conversion goals  
- Turkish government: ◐ Cultural heritage preservation, secular framework

### 4. Reconciliation Probability Assessment

**Bayesian reasoning:**
P(relic return) ≈ 0.7 given archaeological evidence + diplomatic precedents
P(instant mass conversion | relic return) ≈ 0.1 given historical religious persistence
P(institutional reconciliation) ≈ 0.4 given ongoing dialogue

**Constraint identification:**
- Religious identity ≠ material objects
- 1000+ year doctrinal splits
- Secular Turkish state limits religious influence
- Vatican maintains distinct institutional framework

### 5. Synthesis

**Answer structure:**
1. Historical context ✓
2. Correct translation ✓  
3. Address conversion fallacy ✓
4. Current evidence ✓
5. Realistic assessment ✓

**Key messaging:**
- Relics = cultural/diplomatic symbols ≠ religious conversion catalysts
- Historical precedent for relic diplomacy exists
- Turkish secularism ≠ Islamic fundamentalism
- Institutional religious differences persist regardless of material artifacts

**Conclusion:** Speculative scenario lacks realistic foundation. Relic return = cultural/diplomatic gesture, not theological solution. Conversion hypothesis = oversimplified assumption.

∴ Response should emphasize: historical context, current diplomatic relations, realistic assessment of conversion probability, constraint identification.

### Answer###
Cette question soulève des considérations historiques fascinantes sur la possibilité de réconciliation religieuse à travers les objets sacrés.

Les reliques de Saint Nicolas ont effectivement été volées de leur tombe à Myra en 1087 par des navigateurs italiens qui les ont transportées à Bari, où elles se trouvent depuis. Cette "traduction" des reliques s'est déroulée pendant une période de grande confusion politique, lorsque l'Empire byzantin avait temporairement perdu le contrôle de l'Anatolie orientale aux Seldjoukides turcs.

La question de leur retour reste d'actualité : en 2009, le gouvernement turc a officiellement demandé leur restitution à l'Italie, arguant que Nicolas lui-même souhaitait être enterré dans sa ville épiscopale et que ses restes avaient été retirés illégalement de leur pays d'origine. En 2017, une enquête archéologique a révélé la découverte d'un temple sous l'église moderne de Saint-Nicolas à Myra, ce qui pourrait renforcer les arguments turcs concernant l'emplacement originel des reliques.

Concernant la réconciliation ecclésiastique et la conversion des populations, cette hypothèse est spéculative. Même si les reliques étaient rendues, cela ne garantirait pas automatiquement la conversion des populations ou la réconciliation entre Églises. Les différences doctrinales qui ont provoqué la Schisme de 1054 ne disparaîtraient pas simplement par le retour d'un objet sacré, quel que soit son importance symbolique.

Les relations entre les Églises orthodoxe et catholique ont toutefois montré des signes de rapprochement diplomatique, notamment avec l'échange de reliques en 2017 entre Moscou et Bari, et l'inauguration en 1966 d'une chapelle orthodoxe dans la crypte de San Nicola à Bari.