by Fr. Jonathan H. Cholcher
[This article is the first of four explaining the Orthodox Christian meaning of important topics and practices commonly misunderstood by the non-Orthodox. The three topics are: 1. Praying to Saints, 2. Praying for the Departed, 3. The Veneration of Icons, and 4. The Sinlessness of the Virgin Mary.]
Much of the misunderstanding of the practice of Praying to Saints comes from a restriction of the definition of the English word “pray.” For instance, in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary the verb “pray” means the following: “transitive verb 1 : entreat, implore – often used in introducing a question, request, or plea 2 : to get or bring by praying ~ intransitive verb 1 : to request in a humble manner 2 : to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving.”
If someone thinks the English verb “pray” is only applied to addressing God, then Praying to Saints would be akin to idolatry, that is, putting the Saints in the place of God when expressing adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving. Yet clearly the English verb is not restricted or used only in that sense.
In the King James translation of the Bible, we read the following: “And [Jesus] entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land” (Luke 5:3; italics mine). Here we have our Lord Jesus “praying” to Simon Peter. Obviously Jesus is not addressing Simon Peter as God with a request. Jesus is simply entreating, or asking, Simon to put his boat out from the land.
First and foremost, the Orthodox practice of Praying to Saints is simply an act of entreating, or asking, the Saints for their help. This is not putting the Saints in the place of God. The Apostle Paul writes “to the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in all Achaia…you also helping together in prayer for us” (2 Corinthians 1:1, 11; italics mine). In another place he exhorts: “[P]raying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints – and for me, that utterance may be given to me” (Ephesians 6:18-19).
The Apostle James addresses the faithful: “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Praying to Saints, that is, entreating them for help in their prayers (to God), is a common feature of the true Christian faith. It is natural for Christians to ask one another to help them with their prayers to God.
The other major aspect of misunderstanding concerning the Orthodox meaning of Praying to Saints centers on the definition of the “saints” to whom we entreat for help. For the Orthodox, “saints” (lit., holy ones) refers to the Christian faithful both still living on this earth and those departed from this earth and now in the heavenly places, including the holy angels. Thus for the Orthodox, Praying to Saints means entreating the help of angels, fellow Christians here on earth, and fellow Christians departed from this earth yet alive in the kingdom of God.
Virtually every Christian group, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, acknowledges as good and right, even necessary, asking fellow Christians to pray for one another. In this sense, every Christian group, Orthodox and non-Orthodox, “prays to saints.” The same applies to the holy angels, especially one’s guardian angel, to entreat their help from God whom they serve. Such an entreaty (“prayer”) is addressed to the angels: “Bless the Lord, all you His angels, mighty in strength, who do His word, so as to hear the voice of His words” (Psalm 102:20). Angels personally interact with human beings, e.g., Gabriel and Michael (see Daniel 8:16; 12:1; Luke 1:19, 26), and carry the prayers of the faithful to God (see Revelation 8:3-4). In this no issue exists.
The major issue of misunderstanding concerning Praying to Saints involves asking Christians departed this earth for help. In other words, is it right to entreat the saints in heaven for help?
The Orthodox include the departed in heaven in the company of the saints to be entreated for help, especially those departed this life who are now “with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23). If entreating angels and fellow Christians for help while on earth is meet, right, and salutary, then entreating saints in heaven for help is even better. As the Apostle Paul points out: “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” – he is referring to the Church gathered in Divine Liturgy for Holy Communion – “to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:22-24; italics mine).
The saints departed this earth are alive in Christ and aware of what their brothers and sisters still on earth are experiencing. Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ in glory on the mountain, talking with Him about His impending decease (i.e., suffering and crucifixion) at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30-31). “God is not the God of the dead, but of the living,” specifically, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who “sit…in the kingdom of heaven” with the rest of the faithful (Matthew 22:32; 8:11). This same Abraham is fully aware of the rich man in hades and the condition of his brothers on the earth (see Luke 16:19-31). In heaven we hear the martyrs praying for their brother martyrs on earth: “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10; 20:4).
As natural as it is for Orthodox Christians to ask one another and their guardian angels for help in prayer, it is just as natural for Orthodox Christians to entreat help from the saints departed this life in heaven. The living and departed faithful are active members of the same Body of Christ, the Church (see Ephesians 2:19-22; 3:14-19). The Church is a Holy Communion of prayer, entreating one another in our prayers to God. This fact is borne out in the centuries-long experience of the Orthodox Church in which the Virgin Mary Theotokos, the holy Apostles, Saint John the Baptist, Saint Nicholas of Myra, and countless other saints in heaven have appeared to and helped the faithful on earth in answer to their entreaties for help in prayer to God (cf. 2 Maccabees 15:12-16).
Misunderstanding of this crucial truth abounds among non-Orthodox Roman Catholics and Protestants because of their abuse and ignorance of the topic. The Roman Catholics abused the practice beginning in medieval times by making God unapproachable and elevating and substituting saints as more accessible sources of salvation. Thus in Roman Catholic piety, Praying to Saints became more beneficial than praying to God. The Protestants reacted to this false piety by eliminating the practice of Praying to Saints altogether. Hence succeeding generations of Protestant believers became completely ignorant of the meaning and practice of entreating saints for help in prayer to God. In the process, Protestants almost completely lose, in fact, denigrate and dismiss as “Roman Catholic” superstition, the beneficial role of saints in their own lives of salvation with Christ in the Church.
The Orthodox have never lapsed into either false extreme. The Orthodox never substitute anyone or anything in the place of God, or summon the spirits of deceased persons for special knowledge or supernatural help apart from God. Praying to Saints is not engaging in séances, channeling the dead, divination, or ancestor worship, practices absolutely condemned (see Deuteronomy 18:9-14).
Rather, the Orthodox have always acknowledged of reality of the saints as essential co-participants in the exercise of a genuine, living faith activated in the practice of mutual prayer to God. The saints, living and departed, are not merely examples of true holiness, but they assist and encourage each other to greater holiness before God by praying for and with all the other faithful.
This is the Orthodox meaning of Praying to Saints. “Do you believe and confess that it is proper to reverence and invoke the Saints who are with Christ, according to the interpretation of the Holy Orthodox Church; and that their prayers and intercessions before God are received unto our salvation? I believe and confess it” (from the Service of Reception of Heterodox Converts).
