Veneration of the Saints: Solemn Doctrine
or Ludicrous Heresy?
by Gabriel
As most of you already know, veneration of the saints is an originally Catholic belief, and is severely rejected by most Protestants. Protestants are usually somewhat disgusted by this "doctrine," saying, "AHHH! This belief isn't even found anywhere in the Bible!! How can you be so ignorant as to worship the saints?!" A Catholic would then become annoyed and respond, pointing out that Catholics do not worship the saints. Catholics would be quick to tell the Protestant that they venerate the saints, asking the saints to pray for them, and may honor the saints in the process-- but they do not worship the saints. After all, the meaning of the word "saint" is "believer," or "set aside." The Protestant would then reply, saying that the ancient saints are dead and therefore cannot even be aware of earthly events or people. But is that so?
The first thing that Catholics need to prove is that the deceased saints can indeed communicate with, or at least view, the Earth. Let us first turn to Luke 15:7:
<7> I [Christ] say that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
The people in heaven have deceased on Earth. And yet, according to this verse, they know when a sinner, a person on Earth, repents. This is very clear in saying that the beings in Heaven (at least the angels) can watch or even communicate with the people on Earth. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 12:25-27:
<25> that there should be no schism is the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. <26> And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. <27> Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
The body of Christ, obviously, refers to the body of Christians. Does a Christian stop being a Christian when he dies? No, of course not. So this verse blatantly shows the connection of the body of Christ, the Christian Church. This verse proclaims the fact that saints are still aware and very in tune with their fellow body members on Earth. Romans 12:4-5 also speaks about the unity of the body of Christ. Not only are the members of Christ's body connected in some way, but they are branches on the One Tree:
John 15:1-8
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not
fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may
bring forth more fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He
that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye
can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered;
and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me,
and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
The next question is, "Do saints actually pray for us if we ask them to?" First of all, let's take a little look at some logic. You can ask a fellow Christian (a saint, by definition) to pray for you. Why then, should you not be able to ask a deceased person, who is still a member of the body of Christ, to pray for you? Let's take a look at Tobit 12:12 for an example of how saints, as dead as they may be, can intervene in prayer:
The angel Raphael, a saint,
is speaking here.
<12>So now when you and Sarah prayed, it was I who read the record of your
prayer before the glory of the Lord...
Or look at Revelation 5:8:
<8> Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and
twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of
incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
How then, can you say that saints, especially angels, do not intervene during prayer? The fact remains that the saints are not dead. They are alive. During the transfiguration, for example, Elijah and Moses came to Earth, and moved around-- they were alive. The saints arose from the dead after the resurrection of Christ and roamed about Jerusalem-- they were alive (Matthew 27:52). The last questions asked by Protestants are, "But does that mean we should ask dead people to pray for us? Why not just stick with people that are alive on this Earth? After all, doesn't God command against communicating with the dead?" David, of the Old Testament, was a righteous man. We all agree on that. He wrote the Psalms. Let's look at Psalms 103:20-22:
<20> Bless the Lord,
you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His Word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
<21> Bless the Lord, all you His hosts,
Your ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
<22> Bless the Lord, all His works,
In all places of His Dominion.
David is clearly telling the angels, the hosts (probably saints, but possibly a different category of angels), and all of God's works to bless the Lord. This is an absolutely clear message that David is communicating with the saints, and the angels. The last line is also very important. "In all places of His dominion" refers to the fact that David is communicating with beings everywhere, including in heaven. Psalm 148:1-2 is very similar and also refers to David's communication with the "deceased" beings.
So, yes, it is okay, and probably commendable, to communicate with the saints in Heaven. Origen, one of the first fathers of The Church once said, "But not the High Priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels... and those who have already fallen asleep." Protestants also ask, "Doesn't God command us not to communicate with the dead? Yes, Deuteronomy 18:10 does command us not to communicate with the dead. Wow, that would really kill Catholic theology-- if the saints were actually dead. Sure, the saints' bodies are physically deceased, but we do not communicate with their dead bodies-- we communicate with their souls that are totally alive in heaven. In fact, nobody, deceased or physically alive, is dead. The Bible points this out clearly:
Mark 12:26-27
<26> And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of
Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob? <27> He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the
living: ye therefore do greatly err.
If God is the God of all, then all must be living, because God is the God of the living, and not of the dead.
The Early Church Fathers understood the importance and orthodoxy of venerating the saints. Here are some quotes from them below:
"[The Shepherd said:] 'But those who are weak and slothful in prayer, hesitate to ask anything from the Lord; but the Lord is full of compassion, and gives without fail to all who ask Him. But you, [Hermas,] having been strengthened by the holy angel [you saw], and having obtained from Him such intercession, and not being slothful, why do not you ask of the Lord understanding, and receive it from Him?'" (The Shepherd 3:5:4 [A.D. 80]).
"Hail, Mary!" (inscription at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth [A.D. 200]).
"In this way is he [the true Christian] always pure for prayer. He also prays in the society of angels, as being already of angelic rank, and he is never out of their holy keeping; and though he pray alone, he has the choir of the saints standing with him [in prayer]" (Miscellanies 7:12 [A.D. 208]).
"But not the high priest [Christ] alone prays for those who pray sincerely, but also the angels . . . as also the souls of the saints who have already fallen asleep" (Prayer 11 [A.D. 233]).
"Let us remember one another in concord and unanimity. Let us on both sides [of death] always pray for one another. Let us relieve burdens and afflictions by mutual love, that if one of us, by the swiftness of divine condescension, shall go hence the first, our love may continue in the presence of the Lord, and our prayers for our brethren and sisters not cease in the presence of the Father's mercy" (Letters 56[60]:5 [A.D. 253]).
"Hail to you for ever, Virgin Mother of God, our unceasing joy, for unto thee do I again return. Thou are the beginning of our feast; you are its middle and end; the pearl of great price that belongs unto the kingdom; the fat of every victim, the living altar of the Bread of Life [Jesus]. Hail, you treasure of the love of God. Hail, you fount of the Son's love for man. . . . You gleamed, sweet gift-bestowing mother, of the light of the sun; you gleamed with the insupportable fires of a most fervent charity, bringing forth in the end that which was conceived of thee . . . making manifest the mystery hidden and unspeakable, the invisible Son of the Father--the Prince of Peace, who in a marvelous manner showed himself as less than all littleness" (Oration on Simeon and Anna 14 [A.D. 305]).
And so I conclude that veneration of the saints is a commendable practice and is to be revered by all as the Catholic Church has taught from the beginning, unchanged.