Canonization
was always considered by the Church to be the fact of the work of
God’s holiness in the Church, revealed through a graceful ascetic of
righteousness. This is why at all times the main condition for canonization was
true sanctification and holiness of a righteous person. Metropolitan Juvenalian of
Krutetsk and Kolomenskoe stated the following criteria of the
Orthodox ascetics' holiness in his report during the Local Council of the Russian
Orthodox Church:
1. Church’s
faith in the holiness of the canonizing ascetics as people, who have pleased
God and related to the coming of the Son of God on earth and the preaching of
the Holy Gospel (canonization of forefathers, fathers, prophets and apostles).
2. Martyrdom
for Christ and torments for Christ’s faith (canonization of martyrs and
confessors).
3. Miracles
performed through the prayers to the saint or by their Holy Relics (canonization of venerable
saints, silentiary saints, pillar ascetics, passion-bearers, fool-for-Christ
saints etc.)
4. High primatial
and hierarchal service in the Church.
5. Special
service to the Church and God’s people.
6. Virtuous,
righteous and holy life.
7. In the 17th
century, according to Patriarch Nektarios, the fololowing three things were acknowledged as
the reasons of people’s true holiness:
- irreproachable
Orthodox faith;
- performing
all the virtues and fighting for faith even with his life;
- revealing
supernatural signs and miracles by God.
8. Often it
happened so that glorifying of a saint by people was considered the evidence of
his holiness even during his lifetime.
Although there were
many reasons for canonization of saints in various periods of the Church
history, one thing remained unchanged: canonization of saints is the work of God’s holiness; it has always occurred with the blessing and according to the
will of the Church.
Excerpt from:
https://azbyka.ru/kriterii-kanonizacii-mestnochtimyh-svyatyh-v-russkoj-pravoslavnoj-cerkvi
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