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Posted on February 8, 2010 in Orthodoxy - 0 COMMENTS
The Intercessions of the Saints
by Rev Fr Chris Flesoras
When reflecting upon our weakness and inconsistency versus the stability of the saints, St. Ephraim the Syrian wrote:
Be merciful O Good One, to us who have freely chosen evil, the cause of all misery. The thoughts of our choosing are secret afflictions, and the deeds thereof are public afflictions. Such a choice brought on the first transgression of the law, and all sin is a consequence thereof. Do You, O Pure One, purify our freedom, for now it is a fountain of turbid waters.
I wonder at our free will: it is strong, and yet it has become overthrown. It is a master yet it has become a slave. It has the opportunity to conquer, yet it would rather yield and be conquered itself. Although it is free, it gives itself into slavery, like a bondswoman who signs her own hand to the agreement that binds her.
Blessed be the memory of the righteous ones who stood firm. They did not wax and wane like the moon, but were like unto the sun, whose light is always the same. Their spirit was not like rain-fed streams, which are at times full, but then suddenly dry up.
Wave of temptations of every sort were aimed at the righteous ones, but they did not grow faint. Glory did not make them haughty, nor did abusive treatment cause them to be despondent. They were always the same; never did the fragrance oft their virtue falter.
Blessed is the Good One, Who has poured forth from His vaults the fragrance of their deeds. Blessed is the Just Judge, Who has glorified their feats with crowns.
These words, poetically express what the Psalmist once proclaimed, “God is glorious in His Saints.” Men, women, and children, living in the world, at a monastery, in the desert or on a mountain, have, by God’s Grace have chosen to throw off the shackles of sin in this life, instead clinging to Christ in an unwavering manner, with whom they now live forever as His holy ones, His Saints. Reflecting upon the virtue of the Saints, Bishop Nikolai writes:
Holiness is the virtue that encompasses all the other virtues. If a man is a man of prayer and is not compassionate, he cannot be called a saint, and if a man endures al things, but has not faith and hope, he does not belong among the saints. If a man is full of compassion, but is without faith in God, truly he cannot be reckoned among the saints. A saint is a perfected man, such as the New Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, the prototype and ideal of the true saint.
Similarly, Saint John Maximovich explains:
Holiness is not simply righteousness, for which the righteous merit the enjoyment of blessedness in the Kingdom of God, but rather such a height of righteousness that men are filled with the grace of God to the extent that it flows from them upon those who associate with them. Great is their blessedness; it proceeds from personal experience of the Glory of God. Being filled also with love for men, which proceeds from love of God, they are responsive to men’s needs, and upon their supplication they appear also as intercessors and defenders for them before God.”
It’s no wonder that we are then encouraged by the Church, to both nurture and maintain a close relationship with these holy ones. St. John of Krondstat writes:
We ought to have the most lively spiritual union with the dwellers in heaven, the apostles, prophets, martyrs, saintly bishops, confessors, with all the saints, as they are all members of the one body, the Church of Christ, to which we sinners also belong, and the living Head of which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. This is why we call upon them in prayer, converse with them, than and praise them. It is urgently necessary for every Christian to be in union with them if he desires to make Christian progress; for the saints are our friends, our guides to salvation, who pray and intercede for us.
And, as Bishop Nikolai says likewise “Every saint is close to the place where he is invoked for help, where his holiness is commemorated and glorified.”
It’s tragic though to think that there are those who do not invoke the saints on their behalf. When contemplating the commemoration of the saints, St. John concludes, “Those Christian communities who do not venerate the saints and do not call upon them in prayer lose much in devotion and in Christian hope. They deprive themselves of the great strengthening of their faith by the examples of men like unto themselves.“
Elder Cleopa of Romania was once asked a question that is commonly asked of Orthodox. The inquirer asked: “For what reason do we Orthodox venerate the angels and the saints and place them as intermediaries before God for our salvation? Certain people say that there isn’t but one intercessor between God and man, Jesus Christ.”
Elder Cleopa offers a somewhat lengthy response, yet his spiritual insight is well worth the reference:
It is true that no one except Christ is able to intercede before the Father since only He presents Himself as a sacrifice for the salvation of the world. Accordingly, no one except Christ is able to save man from sin. However, in honoring the saints we don’t put them in the place of Christ, or even adjacent to Him. When the saints pray for us, it is precisely our salvation that they seek from Christ. They intercede with Him for our salvation. From Christ they entreat our salvation. This is what we mean when we say that they intercede for us. By their prayers the saints make petition for our salvation – not, however, as if they themselves have the power to save, for the only one who saves is Christ. Thus we do not venerate the saints and angels as we do God. That which we render the saints and angels is solely a veneration of honor and reverence while God we adore and worship with perfect adoration, which is also properly called worship.
If any question remains as to the respect that ought to be shown to the saints for their holy activity on our behalf, Elder Cleopa assures us: For how is it possible for God to be angry upon seeing His precious and beloved friends being magnified in His Name when He Himself has glorified them, endowed them with wonderworking power and granted them exceptional spiritual gifts…
I therefore close with a most thoughtful glorification offer by St. John of Kronstadt:
“How the Creator and Provider of all has honored us and adorned our nature! The saints shine with his light, they are hallowed by his grace, having conquered sin and washed away every sinful impurity of body and a spirit; they are glorious with His glory, they are incorruptible through his incorruptibility. Glory to God, who has so honored, enlightened, and exalted our nature!” Amen.
