Monk had nun's body in his luggage

A CYPRIOT monk, caught at a Greek airport with the skeletal remains of a nun in his luggage at the weekend, told authorities he was taking the relics of a saint back to his monastery.

The 56-year-old Cypriot was detained at Athens airport on Sunday after security staff discovered a skull wrapped in cloth and the rest of the skeleton in a sheet inside his luggage.

"He maintained it was a woman who was a saint," a Greek police official said, adding that the monk told authorities he was transferring her remains to a monastery in Cyprus.

The remains were those of a nun who died four years ago. She was not a saint in the Greek or Cypriot Orthodox churches, but had once been a nun at a Cypriot convent, police confirmed.

Revering the skeletal remains of saints is common in the Greek Orthodox tradition. A sect within the church may have venerated the nun even though she was not an official saint.

In many churches, venerated relics are put on display for the faithful to touch or kiss and a collection box is placed nearby.