Over the last several years we have all bought relics from stan_bul, AKA Fr. Georgi Stoev, AKA The Byzantine Cause, but actually known as Aleksandar Stankov. I was delighted with the first item I received, although I noticed abnormalities that I just assumed were local customs. Then I began to notice the same abnormalities amongst all of his relics, even though they were supposedly issued by a diverse range of prelates in different countries, and even different rites of the Church. Myself and my friends were concerned. Our suspicions were heightened when stan_bul (henceforth Stankov) was called out as a fraud by a buyer on eBay. Stankov alleged theft on the part of the buyer, but then acted guilty by retreating from eBay and offering his wares to a mostly new audience on Etsy. He is now back on eBay with weekly offerings.
We eventually contacted various dioceses, eparchies and religious orders with documentation so as to verify whether Stankov's relics were legitimately issued. Not a single diocese, eparchy or religious order affirmed the authenticity of the COAs and thecas we submitted. At that point we knew we had all been had. It was painful to admit, though by the time we sent away the documentation we were 99% sure that stan_bul AKA Fr. Georgi Stoev was a fraud.
So what were some of the SAME abnormalities we noticed that were consistent across different prelates, countries and liturgical rites?
1. The wax seals were all abnormally large, covering the entire back theca. This is atypical for contemporary thecas. Frankly, we've never seen such large wax seals except on Stankov's work. They have exquisite detail even though they are fake.
2. The COAs (certificate of authenticity documents) are not embossed with the relevant seal in the paper itself (a security measure making fraud more difficult), but Stankov merely applies the wax seal again on the COA. That may have occurred in past centuries, but that practice has been out of use for a century.
3. Stankov typically obscures the signature on the COAs in the photos he posts. Even more damning, ninety percent of the signatures and handwriting on the COAs spanning time and territory are the same! The typical characteristic of the signatures are high sharp lines that are barely legible.
4. The COA paper he uses is a fine quality, but is often glossy or waxy, something I've never seen in other contemporary COAs.
5. Almost all contemporary COAs are (sadly) mass produced. Prelates don't even take the time to sign them by hand, nor does a junior functionary write the description out by hand. Most of Stankov's follow the outdated process, and the same hand has written almost all of them! That same person (Stankov) uses the same idiosyncrasies, such as using a notation like this * in place of dates or the relic serial number.
6. Ebay idiosyncrasies: stan_bul routinely offers the same item to the runner-up of an auction at their last (losing) bid price. This disguises how many relics he is actually selling on the site. He also lists transactions as "private" so buyers cannot view what he has sold in the past. There is nothing transparent about the way he operates on eBay, including obscuring COA signatures and not offering large high resolution photos that can be "zoomed" and closely examined.
We commiserate with readers who have been defrauded by Stankov. Some will prefer the path of denial. I would urge all buyers to submit their COAs and thecas/reliquaries to the proper authorities. Postulators have an excellent track record of responding to queries. A few will be harder to unmask (such as the John Paul II relics which are a facsimile of authentic ones), but most will be quickly denied as authentic.
Finally, we've crunched some numbers, and we estimate (conservatively) that stan_bul has cleared well over $150,000 in selling fake relics over the years. That's quite a motive.
