Perspective on The Saints

Many people have various ideas concerning the Saints of Christianity. Many Protestants, while acknowledging a few of them by calling them "Saint Paul" or "Saint Luke," fall into two camps. The more "evangelical" denominations generally don't recognize many, if any non-biblical persons as saints, to my knowledge. The "Mainline Protestants" like Methodists, Anglicans, Lutherans etc, do recognize other saints, to a limited degree. Coming from Lutheranism, I know they acknowledge Saint Augustine, Saint Lucia, and others. Ironically, Martin Luther, the Reformer who is credited with "restoring the Gospel" is not recognized as a saint, and no person is considered a saint, in the narrow sense, since the Reformation. In Lutheranism (I'm not sure about others), there is a broad, general sense of saint-hood, and it's generously applied to pretty much all those who have departed this life apparently in the faith. But that's it. Saint is a title applied specifically to some heroes and giants of the Faith, but it's just an honorific.

On the other hand, Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians, while having a broad and a narrow sense of the term, are usually speaking more specifically when talking about saints. They recognize specific people as Saints because the person in question has been "glorified" by God and there has been evidence of their elevated sanctity in life, death or after death.

For examples:

  • St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil, and St. Gregory gave us treasures of theological writings and liturgies.
  • St. Maximus and other "confessors" boldly proclaimed the Faith in the face of persecution. 
  • St. Mardarije of Libertyville IL, a tireless bishop who worked for unity and established a monastery reposed in 1935. He was glorified as a Saint in 2015. In 2017 permission was given to open his grave, and upon doing so, his body was found intact, not reduced to dust, and when the coffin was opened, a sweet aroma filled the tomb. An eyewitness account is here.
  • Others have appeared to people, or their graves/bodies stream a sweet smelling holy oil which has healing properties. There are many many examples.

 Saints continue to be revealed to and recognized by Orthodox Christians. They give the Saints great honor and often seek their help. That's a step too far for Protestants, for a few reasons that are not the point of this post, like the mechanics of "dead people" hearing you, etc.

Some theories about the Orthodox and Roman Catholic honor paid and prayers to the Saints have sprung up in the last 500 years. A very popular theory is that the average Christian was scared of a stern God, and thus they, like a little child might "ask mom," decided to seek the help of St. Mary and others. Others may think they just added more people to "worship" or just made up fantastic stories.

These are misconceptions. Here is how the Orthodox Christians think about the Saints.

The Saints are given to us by God. We didn't invent them, they didn't take a position, none of the hagiography is our creation for whatever purpose one might imagine (idolatry, softening a stern God, etc).

Rather, God gives us saints and He gives them work and parameters, and the Saints generally work, and sometimes specifically are sent to help, strengthen, and encourage us to struggle for our salvation, to "work [it] out," in order that we recognize God's mercy and love and worship and draw near to Him.

Another misconception is an assumed dualism between God and the Saints, as if there is some conflict between them. Either God or the Saints. This is a false dichotomy. The Saints are the friends of God. They do not contradict or oppose Him in any way, on any point. They do not detract from God because the honor given to the Saint is a recognition of the Glory of God in and through that person's life, thus honoring the Saints honors God, Who alone is worshiped.

Like the creation, parents who love us, sacraments, scripture and tradition, prayer, food, sunshine, and everything else, the Saints, their stories, and their continued activity (chiefly prayer for us) are all gifts from God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Unbearable Burden of Raising a Child with Down Syndrome

Image
A couple weeks ago I read the supposition that newborns are “ morally irrelevant ” and children with conditions like Down syndrome can be an “ unbearable burden on the family and on society as a whole.”   Shortly after that I read of a couple that sued a hospital for “wrongful birth,” saying that they would rather have aborted their baby if they would have known she had Down syndrome.   So many things crossed my mind when considering these ideas and the people behind them, but I have come to the conclusion that it’s true, there is a nearly unbearable burden in having a child with Down syndrome. My son, the youngest of six, has Down syndrome, so I know about the burden.  He has Trisomy-21, the most common form of Down syndrome, and the most common genetic disorder in the world.  It means he has three copies, instead of the typical two, of the 21st gene set.  Typical people have 23 pairs of chromosomes.  Today is World Down Syndrome D...
Read more

Israel, the Church, The New Israel, Replacement Theology, Judah, The People of God, and So On...

 In the beginning, God created a home that He shared with Adam and Eve. After a while, Adam and Eve left. When they were outside the home and the locks were changed, they were exceedingly sad. God promised them that One would come from her offspring and would bring the key to a new home. This created the Church; the People of God who lived with hope and faith in the Promise God made. Adam and Eve had sons. Cain did not want to be in the Church. His ego and pride were so great that what happened in the Church made him so mad he killed his brother. This created another church, a false church with the self as its god, culminating in Lamech, the archetypal sinner. Mankind grew and spread out over the earth. The church of the self grew also and was a blight upon creation. God baptized the world to wash away sin. Noah, his sons, his wife, and his son's wives, 8 souls in all remained after the baptism. They were the Church; the People of God, and they settled the land. Ham, unable to live...
Read more

A Challenging Lent Suggestion

Image
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5 “In humility count others more significant than yourselves.” Philippians 2 Inspired by Father Barnabas Powell, St. Macarius the Great, and, of course, the Scriptures, I offer this encouragement to my fellow Christians as a sort of “Lenten Challenge.” Ash Wednesday is this week, March 6, for Western Christians, and the first day of Lent for Eastern Christians is Monday, March 11. Lent, as you know, is a time of repentance and preparation for the events of Holy Week and, ultimately,  Easter or Pascha. Traditionally, whether Eastern or Western, Christians have utilized certain tools to aid them in their repentant preparation: Fasting, Prayer, and Alms-giving. However, the fathers of the church have said that observing a fast to the strict letter of the law is worthless if we still harbor anger, resentment, and other vices when it comes t...
Read more