A few random points related to this thread:
- Fr. George is correct about Greek practice.
- Wax face masks, were sometimes put on both incorrupt and regularly decayed corpses in some parts of Western Europe. Sometimes I believe this was just standard practice in the era when the saint died.
- VERY few saints are incorrupt. I've been to a few famous Latin churches in major European cities (e.g. Rome, Prague) and visited the shrines of at least 100 Latin saints. Even though many churches will have 1 or more sets of basically full relics in the church, none of the ones I "visited" in this way were claimed to be incorrupt.
- finally, there is a universally acknowledged saint who has an incorrupt ear and is currently in Orthodox hands: St. John Chrysostom. His incorrupt left ear is at the Monastery of Vatopedi on Mount Athos, as well as the skull of St. Gregory the Theologian and the girdle of the Mother of God. I've seen it - it's an ordinary ear, discolored by time but still most certainly an ear - unlike the ears of say natural mummies which are tiny or nonexistent. You can probably find it on Google images. [for what it's worth, another incorrupt part of his skull I believe is in Russia, and recently visited the US]
The monks bring the relics out for the veneration of pilgrims each day, I believe, and the trip is WELL worth it - beyond the relics, the icons are among the best around, and the chanting is just like on their CDs (i.e. among the best examples of Byzantine chant available). And who knows, one (or all?) of the saints whose relics are there cured me of a minor pain that had afflicted me that day.....
