One of the most controversial-sounding things practiced by traditional Christians, like the Orthodox and Catholics, is the intercession of saints. Are we talking to dead people? I want to decontroversialize it a little bit today.
Introductory one to the topic. There's a lot more to be said about this, and there are links in the description, and books you can go to for further research. This will just be a short intro to what all of this means. The first thing to look at is definitions, including the word 'pray.' What does it mean when we say 'pray to a saint'? When we use the word pray in that context, we are using it in its older definition. The word pray basically means 'to make a request,' and you can still see this usage in Shakespeare, Dickens, and Austen before it changed. Phrases like 'pray move the piano,' or 'pray tell me your name' or 'pray tell me the time' mean to make a request. So, that’s an important differentiation to make: when we say 'praying to the saints,' we’re saying 'making requests of them for THEIR prayers.' We do not worship the saints. That's very important. We do not worship anyone but God.
Next is the question about the dead. Do we talk to dead people? The answer is, of course, no. Jesus says that God is the God of the living, not the dead, and He is also the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, so they’re not dead, right? Moses appears next to Christ at the transfiguration. Moses is not dead; he is alive when he appears next to Christ. This is important: we do not believe the saints are dead. In the words of Saint Athanasius, now that life has risen from the tomb, man no longer fears death. He treads it underfoot as if it were nothing. And that is literally the Gospel message: death has been vanquished.
We also remember that Heaven is a state of being with Christ, and that we begin to be with Christ here on earth. Heaven begins here. The Church is also seen as being in two different states: the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. The Church Militant is us—militant in that we’re fighting the evil of the world, fighting the good fight on earth. The Church Triumphant are those who have gone to their rest, those who have gone to Heaven, to Christ. But that is all one Church.
Another thing to note is the difference between praying to saints and necromancy. Necromancy is literally translated to 'death magic,' or magic of death, and involves summoning and talking with the dead. This is very different from praying to saints. When we pray to saints, we’re asking them to pray to God. We’re not asking them to appear, nor are we expecting a reply. We’re asking them to pray. If a saint should appear to us as Moses did at the transfiguration, we would be very shocked because we don’t expect that to happen. Moments like that are rare in history. We ask saints to pray for us just as we ask fellow Christians to pray for us, whether they’re members of the Church here on earth or in Heaven.
Every Christian understands this because we all know we don’t just spend our lives praying for ourselves and our own needs. We pray for peace in the world, for resolution to conflicts, for our friends. And when we go through things, we approach spiritual people we know to pray for us. And if we have particularly spiritual examples in our lives, those tend to be the first people we go to. If you’re sick and you have a doctor friend, you might ask that doctor to pray for you just because they might have a better idea of what to ask God about. With the saints, we’re asking people who are very close to God. We believe there is no death in Christ, so we ask all our friends—on earth and in Heaven—to pray for us and with us.
Just because we’ve asked saints to pray for us doesn’t mean we should stop praying ourselves. This doesn’t take away any of our responsibility to pray to God for our friends and family, and to be in a constant state of prayer. So, when saints pray for us, we pray to God as well. We’re praying with other Christians. We never get so many people to pray for us that we have to stop. We have to maintain a constant dialogue with God.
There are ancient roots for this practice. In the Book of Job, for instance, Job is asked, "to which of the holy ones will you turn?" The words 'holy ones' in that context can be translated to 'saints.' In the Greek text of Job, it’s translated to 'angels.' In either case, there is an element of spiritual people praying for Job who aren’t on earth. In Jewish culture at the time of Christ, and continuing on for centuries, there was a practice of going to the tombs of figures like Abraham and Isaac and praying to God alongside those tombs. They believed that by praying there, these patriarchs of the Old Testament were praying with them.
In the New Testament, we know of only two Christians recorded as having died: Stephen and James. But as Christianity progressed, more Christians entered the glory of God through martyrdom or old age, meaning more saints were going before God. Christians in Rome held their services among the graves of the dead, alongside their fellow Christians. From as early as the third century, Christians were already requesting the dead to pray for them. There are literal writings on the walls of the catacombs, where they’re asking departed Christians to remember them and to pray for them. Christians weren’t afraid of death. Roman historian Tacitus even criticized Christians for hanging out in the catacombs with the dead.
These requests for prayer from departed saints are seen in writings elsewhere in the empire. Cyprian of Carthage, for example, writes, "let us on both sides always pray for one another, that if one of us by the swiftness of divine condescension shall go hence first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord." That tradition has continued.
The prayers of a righteous person avail much, and I like to ask righteous people to pray for me. When I need prayer, I go to family, friends I trust, and the saints, asking for their prayers to God. Throughout the Bible, we see the value of praying for others. Think of when the centurion came to Jesus to ask for healing for someone who wasn’t even there. Or the friends who cut a hole in a roof to lower their sick friend to Jesus.
So, let this be a reminder to pray more, pray often. Pray for yourself and for others. Like the saints and the Church around us, we’re able to have a conversation with Jesus Christ, and we do so alongside his family, the Church. That’s it for this episode; thank you for watching. There are more links in the description for further research. If this is new to you, please continue learning—perhaps even visit an Orthodox Church to talk with a priest.
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