GOD AND HOLINESS
It must be stated
at the beginning that the only true "saint" or holy one (Hagios) is
God Himself. The Bible states "For I am the Lord your God; you shall name
yourselves holy and keep yourselves holy, because I am holy ... " (Levit. 11:44;
19:2 and 20:7). Man becomes holy and "sainted" by participation in
the holiness of God.
Holiness or
sainthood is a gift (charisma) given by God to man, through the Holy Spirit.
Man's effort to become a participant in the life of divine holiness is
indispensable, but sanctification itself is the work of the Holy Trinity,
especially through the sanctifying power of Jesus Christ, who was incarnate,
suffered crucifixion, and rose from the dead, in order to lead us to the life
of holiness, through the communion with the Holy Spirit. In the Second Letter
to the Thessalonians St. Paul suggests: "But we are bound to thank God
always for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because from the beginning of
time God chose you to find salvation in the Spirit that consecrates you, (en
agiasmo Pneumatos) and in the truth that you believe. It was for this that He
called you through the Gospel we brought, so that you might possess for your
own the splendor of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2: 13–14).
CATEGORIES OF
SAINTS
Through the work of
the Holy Trinity all Christians could be called saints; especially in the early
Church as long as they were baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity, they
received the Seal of the Spirit in chrismation and frequently participated in
the Eucharist. In the same spirit St. Paul, when writing to the Churches he had
visited, calls all the faithful "saints." Writing to the Ephesians,
he addresses "the saints who live in Ephesus" (1:1); writing to the
Corinthians he uses the same expressions (2 Cor. 1:11). St. Basil, commenting
on this point, writes that Paul refers to all those who are united with God,
who is the Being, the Life and the Truth (Against Eunomius, II, 19).
Furthermore, St. Paul writes to the Colossians that God has reconciled men by
Christ's death, "so that He may present you before Himself holy, without
blemish and innocent in His sight" (1:22).
In our society,
however, who can be addressed as a saint? Who are those men and women and
children who may be called saints by the Church today? Many Orthodox theologians
classify the saints in six categories:
The Apostles, who
were the first ones to spread the message of the Incarnation of the Word of God
and of salvation through Christ.
The Prophets,
because they predicted and prophesied the coming of the Messiah.
The Martyrs, for
sacrificing their lives and fearlessly confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of
God and the Savior of mankind.
The Fathers and
Hierarchs of the Church, who excelled in explaining and in defending, by word
and deed, the Christian faith.
The Monastics, who
lived in the desert and dedicated themselves to spiritual exercise (askesis),
reaching, as far as possible, perfection in Christ.
The Just, those who
lived in the world, leading exemplary lives as clergy or laity with their
families, becoming examples for imitation in society.
Each and every one
among all these saints has his or her own calling and characteristics: they all
fought the "good fight for the faith" (1 Tim. 6:12 and 2 Tim. 4:7).
All of them applied in their lives the scriptural virtues of "justice,
piety, fidelity, love, fortitude, and gentleness" (1 Tim. 6:11).
THE CONCEPT OF
THEOSIS
The ultimate goal
of the saint is to imitate God and live the life of deification (theosis). St.
Maximos the Confessor (seventh century) writes that the saints are men who have
reached theosis; they have avoided unnatural development of the soul, that is, sin,
and tried to live the natural way of life (i.e., living according to created
nature), turning and looking always towards God, thus achieving total unity
with God through the Holy Spirit (On Theology, 7.73).
It may be stated
here that the Saints are first of all "friends" of God. Secondly,
through their genuine piety and absolute obedience to God, they pleased Him and
have therefore been "sanctified" both in soul and body, and
subsequently glorified in this world. Third, they have been accepted in God's
bosom after their passing from the world into eternal life. Fourth, many of
them have been given special "grace" or "favor" to perform
miracles either before their departure from this world or after. Fifth, they
have been granted the special gift to pray and intercede for those still living
in this world and fighting the "good fight" for the glory of God and
their own perfection in Christ. This intercession springs from the fact that
they also are part of the "Communion of Saints". They share prayers
and good works with Christians on earth and there is a constant interaction and
unity between the glorified saints in Heaven and Christians who still live in
the world.
THE INTERCESSION OF
THE SAINTS
The fact that Christians
ask the prayers of saints and their intercession is prefigured in the New
Testament. St. Paul asks the Christian Ephesians, Thessalonians, Colossians and
Romans to pray for him (Ephes. 6:19, 1 Thesal. 5:25; Colos. 4:3, and Rom.
15:30-31). In every Liturgy, we ask God the Father to accept, on our behalf,
"the prayers and the intercession" of all the Saints who now live in
heaven. The Fathers of the Church also accept as a matter of course the prayers
and the intercession of all the saints.
In one of his
letters, St. Basil explicitly writes that he accepts the intercession of the
apostles, prophets and martyrs, and he seeks their prayers to God (Letter 360).
Then, speaking about the Forty Martyrs, who suffered martyrdom for Christ, he
emphasizes that "they are common friends of the human race, strong
ambassadors and collaborators in fervent prayers" (Chapter 8). St. Gregory
of Nyssa asks St. Theodore the Martyr "to fervently pray to our Common
King, our God, for the country and the people" (Encomium to Martyr
Theodore). The same language is used by St. Gregory the Theologian in his
encomium to St. Cyprian. St. John Chrysostom says that we should seek the
intercession and the fervent prayers of the saints, because they have special
"boldness" (parresia), before God. (Gen. 44:2 and Encomium to Julian,
Iuventinus and Maximinus, 3).
THE VENERATION OF
THE SAINTS
In the Orthodox
Church the worship (latreia) given to God is completely different from the
honor (tim) of love (agape) and respect, or even veneration (proskynesis),
"paid to all those endowed with some dignity" (St. John Chrysostom,
Hom. III, 40). The Orthodox honor the saints to express their love and
gratitude to God, who has "perfected" the saints. As St. Symeon the
New Theologian writes, "God is the teacher of the Prophets, the
co-traveller with the Apostles, the power of the Martyrs, the inspiration of
the Fathers and Teachers, the perfection of all Saints ... " (Catechesis,
I).
Throughout early
Christianity, Christians customarily met in the places where the martyrs had
died, to build churches in their honor, venerate their relics and memory, and
present their example for imitation by others. Interesting information on this
subject derives from the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp (ch. 17-18), according to
which the early Christians reverently collected the remains of the saints and
honored them "more than precious stones." They also met on the day of
their death to commemorate "their new birthday, the day they entered into
their new life, in Heaven." To this day the Orthodox have maintained the
liturgical custom of meeting on the day of the saint's death, of building
churches honoring their names, and of paying special respect to their relics and
icons. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787 A.D.), in summarizing this practice
of the Church, declares that "we adore and respect God our Lord; and those
who have been genuine servants of our common Lord we honor and venerate because
they have the power to make us friends with God the King of all."
The feast days and
the celebrations honoring the saints had become a common practice by the fourth
century. The twentieth canon of the Council of Gangra in Asia Minor (between
the years 325 and 381) anathematizes those who reject the feast days of the
saints. So great was the esteem in which the Apostles, prophets, and martyrs
were held in the Church, that many writings appeared describing their spiritual
achievements, love and devotion to God.
Together with the
Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, information on the veneration of the Saints derives
from the Martyrdom of the Martyrs of Scilli, a small town in North Africa (end
of the second century). The list of sources indudes St. Athanasius' Life of St.
Anthony; St. Basil's Homily honoring the "Forty Martyrs"; Gregory of
Nyssa's Homily honoring St. Theodore; St. John Chrysostom also delivered a
considerable number of sermons dedicated to the Martyrs of the Church.
RELICS
The Fathers, and all early Christians in general, paid especially great respect to the relics of the martyrs. In addition to the sources already mentioned, Eusebius of Caesarea, the Church historian, says that "those who suffered for the glory of Christ always have fellowship with the living God" (Church History, 5:1). In the Apostolic Constitutions (5:1) the martyrs are called "brothers of the Lord" and "vessels of the Holy Spirit." This helps to explains the special honor and respect which the Church paid to the relics of the martyrs. St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and St. John Chrysostom remind us that the relics of the martyrs "are filled with spiritual grace," that even their tombs are filled with a special "blessing." This Patristic practice still continues today, and people from all over the world visit churches that possess the relics of martyrs and saints. Also, according to the ancient tradition, the consecration of new churches takes place with the deposition of holy relics in the Holy Table of the sanctuary.
Great controversies
have occured in the past over the special honor due to the icons of Christ as
well as those of the saints of the Church. The Iconclastic controversies which
began in Byzantium in the seventh century shook the entire church. The Fathers
of the Church, however, declared quite clearly that the honor belongs to the
"prototype" and not to the material image of Christ or the Saints.
The Acts of the Fourth session of the Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea (787
A.D.) illuminate this particular point:
THE FEAST DAYS OF
THE SAINTS
The Orthodox Church
gives a special place to the honor and veneration of the Virgin Mary the Mother
of God, the Angels, and St. John the Baptist. Concerning the Virgin Mary, as
Mother of God, suffice it to say that the Third Ecumenical Council in Ephesus
(431 A.D.) officially adopted the term Theotokos in her honor. There is a
period of fasting (the first 14 days of August) and numerous feasts and hymns
dedicated to her. Her image is traditionally painted above the Sanctuary and
called "more spacious than the heavens" (Platytera). The Virgin Mary,
being the mother of God, earnestly intercedes for us, for she gave her flesh to
Christ in all humility and obedience, so that the Word of God could become man.
St. John the
Baptist, whose icon is found on the Iconostasis of all Orthodox churches, was
the prophet who baptized Christ and prepared His coming on earth; yet he
suffered martyrdom for his holiness and obedience to the will of God. The Church
has five feasts in honor of St. John the Baptist.
CANONIZATION OF
SAINTS
The Orthodox Church does not follow any official procedure for the "recognition" of saints. Initially the Church accepted as saints those who had suffered martyrdom for Christ. The saints are saints thanks to the grace of God, and they do not need official ecclesiastical recognition. The Christian people, reading their lives and witnessing their performance of miracles, accept and honor them as saints. St. John Chrysostom, persecuted and exiled by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities, was accepted as a saint of the Church by popular acclaim. St. Basil the Great was accepted immediately after his death as a saint of the Church by the people. Recently, in order to avoid abuses, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has issued special encyclical letters (tomoi) in which the Holy Synod "recognizes" or accepts the popular feelings about a saint. Such an example in our days is St. Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain (1955).
Since the early
Christian period there have been preserved many moving descriptions of the
lives and martyrdoms and the miracles of the saints. They were (and still are)
called synaxaria (from the Greek word Synaxis, meaning a meeting in the church
for liturgical purposes, where the lives of the Saints were read). St.
Nicodemos of the Holy Mountain composed synaxaria of the saints during the
eighteenth century; and, most recently, Fr. George Poulos and Dr. Constantine
Cavarnos have written lives of the saints in English.
Source: http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8044
Source: http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith8044
CONVERSATION