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Prayer to the Saints

When an Orthodox Christian talks about “praying to the saints” usually the reaction from most Protestant Evangelicals is “So, you worship the saints like the Roman Catholics do”….or, “Why do you pray to the saints when there is only one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ.”

We will look at several aspects of “prayer to the saints” in this article: the theological foundations, the historical foundations and most importantly, the Biblical foundations for the practice as done by Orthodox Christians from the beginning of the Church in Acts 2.

First, we must let the Scriptures define what “prayer” is if we are to understand the proper practice of “praying” to the saints. Without a Biblical understanding of “prayer” we will fall into error.

I. What does “prayer” mean? Generally six Greek words for prayer as translated in different versions, fall into 5 general categories:

a. supplications/intercessions, James 5:5 Prayer of faith will save the sick. I Thess. 5:25 Pray for us, 2 Cor. 9:14 prayer on behalf of the Corinthians, etc.

b. beseeching, Lk. 1:13, 2:37 “fasting and prayer night and day”, Rom. 10:1 “heart’s desire”
James 5:6 effectual fervent prayer.

c. petitions, requests/desires Matt. 21:22 Ask in prayer, believing.

d. worship, Matt 21:13 “house of prayer”, Acts 2:42 “continuing in THE prayers and breaking of bread”, Acts 3:1 “hour of prayer in the temple”, I Cor. 7:5 “fasting and prayer”

THE FOLLOWING IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS ARTICLE:

e. “Prayer” is JUST ASKING: Luke 14:18 “I pray thee excuse me”, Acts 10:48 Cornelius prayed Peter to tarry, Acts 16:9 Macedonian call “Praying to Paul saying, “Come!”, Acts 24:4 Paul to Felix: I pray you give us a brief hearing” The King James translates this word accurately. Most modern translations “fudge” it, but this is technically correct. “Pray” merely means to “ask”or request something of someone.

What do Orthodox Christians mean when we say “Prayer to the saints”?

WE DO NOT MEAN WORSHIP! “Praying to the saints” is merely requesting/asking them to intercede for us, pray for us. THIS IS BIBLICAL LANGUAGE! BUT…if it offends, we can use non-biblical language and just say we are asking the saints for their prayers. (We will deal with whether THAT is Biblical later….)

The hymnology of the Church expresses our relationship to the saints: The hymns about the saints almost always end with “Intercede for us to Christ our God to save our souls”. Note that we do not worship them, or equate them to Christ or God, but merely ask that they intercede for us TO CHRIST, or in modern language, we ask them to pray for us just as we ask any other good Christian friend or pastor to pray for us.

What about the concept of ONE MEDIATOR?

Yes, the Scriptures say there is ONE MEDIATOR, Jesus Christ, but the scriptures say we can have countless intercessors. Neither other Christians who are alive NOR the departed saints “mediate” in the sense that Christ does through His incarnation, death and resurrection. ONLY CHRIST IS THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MANKIND. No Christian of ANY denomination would condemn someone for asking another Christian to pray for them on the basis of I Tim.2:4 . Now if you read I Tim. 2 IN CONTEXT: Paul commands “entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings on behalf of all men”, so he is commanding that we “INTERCEDE” for all men. In that SAME context he speaks of Christ being the ONLY Mediator between God and men. So, St. Paul does not confuse MEDIATION between God and men with INTERCESSION for all men, and neither should we.

The Orthodox Church has kept this distinction clear, not only through its practice and Biblical interpretations, but also in its Canons and decrees of the Councils of the early Church. The Canons of the Council of Nicea 787AD said that God and the saints are addressed differently. “We implore God to grant us blessings and deliver us from evil, we implore the saints to intercede for us to God who grants the petitions. Therefore we pray to God: Have mercy on us, and to the saints, Pray for us. It is strictly incumbent on all to beware lest they transfer to any creature the rights which belong strictly to the Deity. We do not adore any creature nor honor the saints as though to adore them, but we call upon them as brothers and as friends of God and therefore we seek assistance from these our brethren. “

From this we can see that the Church clearly distinguishes between the saints and God, Christ and the saints, and worship to God and prayer to the saints.

II. SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT What is the status of the dead?

Do we have any relationship with them/ Do they have anything to do with our prayers? What is the practical application of “communion in Christ.”

The Biblical Status of the dead

a. The “dead” are not “dead.” Luke 9:28-31 Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah talking to Jesus about His impending death in Jerusalem. Moses and Elijah are VERY much alive.

b. Luke 16:19ff Rich man and Lazarus: Rich man “prays” (begs) Abraham to send Lazarus…

c. Matt. 22:32 God is the God of the living and not the dead.

d. 2 Cor. 5:1ff We long to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, mortality is swallowed up in immortality.

e. John 15:1ff Vine and the branches. If we abide in Christ we have LIFE. LIFE is from Christ. Death is no longer separation from God, nor is death a separation from others who are alive in Christ.

If the saints are “alive in Christ”, do we have any relationship with them? Do they have anything to do with our prayers?

a. Hebrews 12:1 “Since we therefore have such a great cloud of witnesses surrounding us…’
This is a CLEAR statement that the saints who are “alive in Christ” are VERY much aware of us and we should be aware of them.

b. Rev. 6:9 5th angel: Under the altar are the souls of the martyrs crying out “How long O Lord before you avenge our blood on those on the earth?” God replies, rest until their fellow servants andbrethren are killed also. The martyrs are alive AND praying to God.

c. Rev. 5:8 …the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each on having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, WHICH ARE THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS. (Elders are martyrs: golden crowns and white robes are purity in Christ) So in heaven the martyrs who surround the throne are holding our prayers as incense before God. Rev. 7:13 “One of the elders said to me “who are these in the white robes and from where do they come?” And I said, “Lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation….”

d. Where did they get those prayers? Psalm 143 says “let my prayer arise as the incense”…. They got the prayers from us and they offer them to God, just as we offer intercessions and prayer requests up to God on behalf of other Christians.

e. Rev. 8:3ff “I saw another angel who came and stood before the altar holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him that he might add it to the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer and he filled it with the fire from the altar and threw it to the earth and there followed peals of thunder, and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

f. St. John did not seem to have a problem with the idea of the prayers of those on earth being offered to God by those in heaven. So, does St. John practice NECROMANCY (Communicating with the dead)? NO! Necromancy is lack of faith and a pagan practice of divination. (See Saul and the Witch of Endor).

g. Hebrews 12:22-23 “You HAVE COME to Mount Zion, and to the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the myriads of angels, to the general assembly, and the Church of the first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and the spirits of righteous men made perfect. James 5:16: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much.” We on earth are in communion with, in the presence of and alive in Chris with those who have gone before us. They have been perfected and James says the prayers of the righteous availsmuch. How much more the prayers of those made perfect in Christ?

h. SUMMARY: The saints and angels in heaven are praying, they hold our prayers up to God, place them on His altar, and our fellow Christians who have prayed for us on earth are now perfected in heaven, are witnessing our struggles on earth, and we are all alive in Christ in the Church as one body, members of one another… How can we NOT believe the saints intercede for us?

Theological Argument: Communion in Christ is what we are created for.

a. Why does God command us to pray for one another if we can pray to God on our own by ourselves, for ourselves, and we need no one else but Jesus? If that is the case then the REAL QUESTION is not “why intercession of the saints but why intercession AT ALL?”

b. INDIVIDUALITY VS COMMUNION. Western philosophy has influenced the thinking of Christians to individualism as opposed to community as the basis of relationship with God.
The New Testament makes it VERY clear that our salvation is in THE BODY OF CHRIST, and we are “members of one another”. Apart from “communion” we can have no salvation.
As St. Augustine said “Solo Christian is no Christian”, or the modern version “There are no Lone Rangers in Christ”.

c. The basis for all Orthodox thought is based in Trinitarian theology: We are created for communion. God is Love, Three persons in one essence. God IS communion, we are created in His image, thus we cannot be fulfilled/or fully human apart from communion and relationships in love. Intercession is communion, sharing a common life, humanity and being connected to one another through Christ. Orthodoxy: No one is saved alone.

d. Where two or three are gathered, I Tim. 4:5 “You are sanctified by the Word of God and prayer” Acts 1:14 Disciples were in one accord in prayer and supplication.
I Cor. 12 baptized into one body, the Church, all members of one another, Vine and branches.

III. Historical Witness Is there evidence of praying to saints in the piety of the early Church or Judaism from which Christianity came?

a. The Apocrypha : Tobit gives a valuable insight into popular Jewish spirituality in the century or two before Christ. The writer has the angel Raphael say, "When you and Sarah your daughter-in-law prayed, I brought remembrance of your prayers before the Holy One... I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints, and who go in and out before the glory of the Holy One."

b. 2 Maccabbees 15:12 Judas Maccabbees sees a vision of the departed Onias praying for the Jews, and Onias tells him the Prophet Jeremiah is also praying for them and appears to him and gives him a golden sword to conquer with.

c. LXX was the “Bible of the NT Church” There are several NT passages that allude to the LXX and Apocryphal Books: Jude 9, Michael and Satan; 2 Tim. 3:8 Jannes and Jambres Thus ALL the NT writers who were pious Jews would know the Apocryphal stories and the common understanding and practices that went with them in the first century.

d . But did this practice continue into the early CHURCH or was it rejected by the first Christians? Again, we must look at the early archeological evidences:
The Roman catacombs (circa 2nd, and 3rd century) A few of the inscriptions:
"Pray for thy parents, Matronata Matrona. She lived one year and 51 days."
"Januaria, take thy good refreshment, and make request for us."
"Atticus: sleep in peace, secure in thy safety, and pray anxiously for our sins;"
"Martyrs, holy, good, blessed, help Quiracus."
"Peter and Paul, help Primitivus, a sinner."
"Paul and Peter, have us in mind in your prayers, and more than us."
"Paul and Peter, pray for Victor."
A great web site for the Roman catacombs http://www.belmont.edu/honorsprogram/catacombs/catacombs.htm

Summary: The historical witnesses say that prayer to and intercession of the saints was not a LATE “Roman Catholic” pagan accomodation or innovation, or outside of the mind or piety of the early Church. The early Church was Jewish and like the Jews of Christ’s time, used the LXX Deuterocanonicals for teaching and instruction.

IV. What is the REAL problem?
Let’s examine the Reformation, Sola Scriptura and what is called “Rome-o-phobia”.

a . The Reformation was a reaction to Roman Catholicism. Prayer to the saints during Luther’s time was about merits, superergatory works, indulgences and getting the saints to “deposit their extra good works in your overdrawn account before God” kind of thing. This is NOT the Orthodox Church’s teaching, nor is it accepted by the Church. But an abuse or misuse or misunderstanding of something by some people is not a reason to discard a Biblical practice altogether. In our opinion on this issue it is a “baby and the bathwater” reaction. It is sad when Christians reject the plain Truth of the Scriptures and the historical witness of the early Church’s understanding about the Life in Christ, the connection between the living and the departed (NOT THE DEAD), the saints awareness of us and our struggles and their perfection in Christ after death and their continued prayers before the throne of God in the heavenly realm on the basis of fear, falling into error, or even hatred of Rome.

b. Sola Scriptura: The question is always asked: Can we produce an explicit command to ask the departed saints for their intercessions? Frankly, no. Can the post-Reformation evangelical produce an explicit command to NOT ask the departed for their intercessions? No, merely a warning about necromancy. (Which is condemned by Scripture and the Canons of the Church) A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortune-teller shall be put to death by stoning: they have no one but themselves to blame for their death (Leviticus 20:27), Let there not be found among you anyone who immolates his son or daughter in the fire, nor a fortuneteller, soothsayer, charmer, diviner or caster of spells, nor one who consults ghosts and spirits or seeks oracles from the dead. Anyone who does such things is an abomination to the Lord... (Deuteronomy 18:10-12.) But as we have shown we CAN show that the PRACTICE is not outside of the Biblical teachings on prayer, worship, intercession and the life in Christ.

c. What IS the role of Scripture in the life of the Christian?

RULE 1 The Scriptures must explicitly command something before we can do it.

RULE 2 If the Scriptures don’t explicitly forbid it but in principles affirms it, then it is permissible.

THE bottom line question is: Who are you going to believe?

The Scriptures and the Church’s praxis based on Scripture for 2,000 years or the recent interpretations and practices of modern Christians of the last 400 years in reaction to Rome?

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