Study Guide: What We Believe About the Saints and the Theotokos

Book: Introducing the Orthodox Church: Its Faith and Life by Anthony M. Coniaris
Chapter 10: What We Believe About the Saints and the Theotokos

Summary

• In the Orthodox Church, invoking and venerating saints is essential to religious life. "Warm veneration of the Theotokos and the Saints is the soul of Orthodox piety."
• By honoring the saints we celebrate God's accomplished work of salvation — we glorify what the Holy Spirit has done in their lives. God is praised in and through His saints.
• Every baptized Christian is called to be a saint. The New Testament word "saints" referred to the whole body of believers, not a spiritual elite. There are Saints with a capital "S" (those officially canonized) and saints with a small "s" (all baptized Christians).
• Saints come from every class and occupation, every temperament and background. They are fully human. They are not mediators but intercessors — we do not pray to them; we ask them to pray for us.
• The Orthodox Church believes firmly in the Communion of Saints: the Church Triumphant in heaven is not insensitive to the needs of the Church Militant on earth. The two remain connected through the bond of love expressed through prayer.
• The Theotokos (Mother of God) holds the most exalted position among all God's creatures. Her titles — Theotokos, Aeiparthenos, Panayia — serve a theological purpose, protecting the correct doctrine of Christ's Person. She is venerated because of her Son and never apart from Him.
• Saints are not worshipped; only God is worshipped. Saints are venerated — reverenced as reflections of the Christ image.
• Relics of saints are venerated because the body remains a Temple of the Holy Spirit even after death; it will rise again. This veneration springs from a highly developed theology of the body.

Key Themes and Sections

1. The Celebration of God's Salvation

Honoring the saints is not merely human hero-worship — it is a celebration of what God has accomplished. Archbishop Paul of Finland writes:

"In glorifying the saints' spiritual struggle and victory, the Church is in fact glorifying God's work of salvation, the work of the Holy Spirit; it experiences the salvation already accomplished in them, the goal towards which the members of the Church militant are still pressing on." (Phil. 3:12,14)

Fr. John of Kronstadt captures how the saints glorify our common human nature:

"How the Creator and Provider of all has honoured and adorned our nature! The saints shine with His light, they are hallowed by His grace, having conquered sin and washed away every impurity of body and spirit; they are glorious with His glory, they are incorruptible through His incorruption. Glory to God, Who has so honoured, enlightened, and exalted our nature."

2. What Is a Saint?

The chapter offers a rich collection of definitions of sainthood:

• A saint is one who makes God's goodness attractive.
• Saints are forgiven sinners living out their lives in the forgiveness God has given them.
• Saints are people who make it easier for others to believe in God.
• A saint is a Christian who lets God's light shine through (a child's definition from a stained-glass window).
• A saint is one who is constantly conscious of being a sinner and rarely conscious of being a saint.
• A saint is one who sees himself in the sins of others.
• A saint is one in whom Christ lives; one who opens his life to Christ and lives as Christ wills him to live.
• A saint is a sinner who keeps trying.
• A saint is a mirror who reflects not himself but Christ.

The Greek word for saint, hagios, comes from a root meaning not like anything else, different. Saints march to the tune of a different drummer; they are conformed to the will of God in Christ.

It has been said that when a saint gets to heaven he will be surprised by three things: first, to see many he did not think would be there; second, that some are not there whom he expected to see; third, that he himself is there.

3. "Called to Be Saints"

St. Paul wrote to the Romans: "To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints…" (Romans 1:7). And to the Corinthians: "To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…" (1 Cor. 1:2).

When Paul was writing to the Christians in Rome and Corinth, reminding them they are "called to be saints," he was not writing to people likely to figure in stained-glass windows, but to shop-keepers, minor civil servants, converted prostitutes, prizefighters, and slaves. These were God's "holy ones" — called to be like Christ their Lord.

There are thus two senses of "saint":

Every Christian is called to be a saint. By our daily faithfulness to Christ, each of us is a saint in the making. Bp. Kallistos Ware writes: "Those who are mentioned in the calendar form but a small fraction of the whole Communion of Saints; besides them there is a great host whose names are known to God alone, and these are venerated collectively on the Feast of All Saints."

4. From Every Class and Occupation

Saints come from every class and occupation, every temperament and background. We have:

• Soldier-saints, scholar-saints, politician-saints
• Missionary-saints, parent-saints, praying-saints
• Healer-saints, worker-saints
• And most important of all: sinner-saints

Saints are not perfect people. To be a saint is to be the best one can be by God's grace. That is why every saint is different — and why every Christian can be one.

5. Fully Human

The Saints were people who were just as human as we are. They were jealous, spiteful, scheming, often depressed and discouraged. St. Paul and St. Barnabas, for example, had such a strong disagreement about John Mark that they parted ways. Writing to the saints at Corinth, Paul reminds them that some had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves — but now in Christ they were washed and sanctified. Thanks be to Christ Who washes our soiled humanity and transforms it into an image of Christ.

6. God's Family

St. Paul wrote: "So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God" (Eph. 2:19).

The Head of our family is Christ. Our brothers and sisters in this family include the Theotokos, John the Baptist, the Apostles, St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, and countless others. Orthodoxy does not espouse a narrowly individualistic "God-and-me" relationship — we are members of God's family, concerned for one another.

The Russian theologian Alexis Khomiakov (1804-60) wrote: "We know that when one of us falls, he falls alone; but no one is saved alone. He is saved in the Church, as a member of her and in union with all her other members."

Fr. George Florovsky wrote:

"The final purpose of the Incarnation was that the Incarnate should have a 'body' which is the Church…. Christ is never alone. He is always the Head of His Body. In Orthodox theology and devotion alike, Christ is never separated from His Mother, the Theotokos, and His 'friends', the Saints. The redeemer and the redeemed belong together inseparably."

7. The Heroes of Our Faith

God has a "Hall of Fame" — Hebrews 11 lists the heroes and heroines of faith. The Saints are in this Hall. Carlyle said, "Show me the man you honor, and I will show you the kind of man you are."

An Orthodox Christian is given the name of a saint at Baptism. St. John Chrysostom wrote:

"Let us afford our children from the first an incentive to goodness from the name that we give them. Let none of us hasten to call his children after his forebearers...but rather after the righteous — martyrs, bishops, apostles. Let the names of the saints enter our homes through the naming of our children."

It is the custom among Orthodox to keep an icon of one's patron saint in one's room, to invoke his or her prayers, and to celebrate the festival of one's patron saint as his/her Name Day — to many Orthodox more important than one's actual birthday.

8. "A Cloud of Witnesses"

"We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1).

The "cloud of witnesses" are the saints who have passed on to the Church Triumphant. They are with us in the stadium as we run the race of life. They fill the bleachers. They applaud us and cheer us on to victory. They pray for us to attain our goal. They offer us more than applause and prayers — they offer us evidence. They can tell us how they ran the race and won.

This is why we are:

• Exhorted to "lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely" (Hebrews 12:1)
• Challenged to "run with perseverance the race that is set before us" (Hebrews 12:1)
• Admonished to look "to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith" (Hebrews 12:2)

9. One Mediator

Orthodox Christians believe there is only one Mediator between God and man: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ" (1 Tim. 2:5).

The Orthodox theologian Kritopoulos explains: we do not say to a saint, "Saint N., save, redeem, or see that I obtain such and such goods" — but "Saint N., pray for us." Saints are not mediators but intercessors. The Church asks nothing more from the saints than that they intercede to God for us.

As Archbishop Paul of Finland writes, life continues after death. It would be strange to think the prayers of a devout Christian reach God during his temporal life but not afterwards when he has "departed and is with Christ" (Phil. 1:23). We do not ask for the prayers of saints because we feel God is inaccessible — that would be an insult to the Incarnation. Jesus is most approachable: "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden" (Matt. 11:28).

10. The Communion of Saints

Although saints are not substitutes for Christ, Orthodox Christians believe firmly in the Communion of Saints. The Church Triumphant in heaven is not insensitive to the needs and sufferings of the Church Militant on earth. The two churches remain connected through the bond of love expressed through prayer. It is a communion of never-ending love and prayer.

Bp. Kallistos Ware writes:

"In God and in His Church there is no division between the living and the departed, but all are one in the love of the Father. Whether we are alive or whether we are dead, as members of the Church we still belong to the same family and still have a duty to bear one another's burdens. Therefore just as Orthodox Christians here on earth pray for one another and ask for one another's prayers, so they pray for the faithful departed and ask the faithful departed to pray for them. Death cannot sever the bond of mutual love which links the members of the Church together."

Fr. John of Kronstadt: "We live together with them (the saints in heaven), in the house of the Heavenly Father, only in different parts of it. We live in the earthly, they in the heavenly half; but we can converse with them, and they with us."

11. The Theotokos

Among all the saints, the Orthodox Church reserves a special position of honor for the Blessed Virgin Mary — the Theotokos (Mother of God), venerated as "more honorable than the cherubim and incomparably more glorious than the seraphim."

Her titles and their meaning:

These titles serve a theological purpose — not to elevate Mary to a fourth person of the Trinity, but to protect and proclaim the correct doctrine of Christ. Too often a refusal to honor the Theotokos goes hand in hand with an incomplete faith in the Incarnation.

Nicholas Cabasilas wrote:

"The Incarnation was not only the work of the Father, of His Power and His Spirit…but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin… Just as God became incarnate voluntarily, so He wished that His Mother should bear Him freely and with her full consent."

Mary stands as the greatest example of human free response to God's offer of salvation — an example of synergy, cooperation between man and God. Her words "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38) counterbalance Eve's disobedience. She becomes the New Eve as Christ is the New Adam.

Two areas where Orthodoxy differs from Rome:

• Immaculate Conception: Not recognized as dogma by the Orthodox Church. Orthodoxy holds that Mary was cleansed of all sin at the Annunciation after she had agreed to accept God's offer — preserving her free response (synergy). The Holy Spirit came upon her at that point to make her fit to receive the Word.
• Bodily Assumption: Remains a pious belief in Orthodoxy, not a declared dogma. The hymns of the Feast of the Dormition (August 15) affirm the belief that Mary's body was taken to heaven, but the Orthodox Church has not dogmatized it.

The Virgin sits in the first pew leading us in our prayers to her Son. As Dr. N.A. Nissiotis writes:

"As shown in the icon, Mary is never alone but always with Christ. Thus prayer to her is the prayer of the Church with her to the incarnate Son…She is the animating power, the leader of this continuous intercession of the Community of Saints to the Trinitarian God."

12. Veneration (Not Worship)

Orthodox Christians do not worship the Theotokos and the saints — they venerate them. God alone is worshipped. The saints are reverenced as reflections of the Christ image. It is God Who is glorified through His saints. Anyone who claims Orthodox Christians worship saints is guilty of bearing false witness.

The veneration of saints also serves as a safeguard of the true faith and as a test of Orthodoxy: any teaching not in harmony with the lives and faith of the saints is rejected as false.

When the priest says in the Divine Liturgy: "The holy things (agia) to the holy (ayiois)" — he is speaking not just to the saints on the iconostasis but also to the contemporary saints participating in the liturgy. The holy things (the Body and Blood of Jesus) are offered to the holy (the living saints) to nourish their life in Christ.

13. Canonization

Canonization in the Orthodox Church begins locally. Nicholas Zernov describes the process:

"Its first requisite is continuous and increasing love and veneration by members of his community. The next step is reached when the hierarchy of a local church undertakes to examine all the records left by the holy man or woman, and if these prove satisfactory, then the last part of the act is performed and canonization is announced and other autocephalous churches are informed."

14. Relics of Saints

The veneration of relics dates back to the early Church. According to Orthodox belief, the body remains a Temple of the Holy Spirit even after death. Redeemed, cleansed, sanctified by the blood of Jesus, consecrated by the indwelling Spirit, the bodies of saints are drenched, as it were, to their very bones with divinity.

Bp. Kallistos Ware writes:

"Belief in the deification of the body and in its eventual resurrection helps to explain the Orthodox veneration of relics. Since the body is redeemed and sanctified along with the soul, and since the body will rise again, it is only fitting that Christians should show respect for the bodily remains of the saints. Reverence for relics is not the fruit of ignorance and superstition, but springs from a highly developed theology of the body."

Key Quotes

"In glorifying the saints' spiritual struggle and victory, the Church is in fact glorifying God's work of salvation, the work of the Holy Spirit." — Archbishop Paul of Finland

"A saint is a Christian who lets God's light shine through." — a child's definition

"We know that when one of us falls, he falls alone; but no one is saved alone. He is saved in the Church, as a member of her and in union with all her other members." — Alexis Khomiakov

"In God and in His Church there is no division between the living and the departed, but all are one in the love of the Father...Death cannot sever the bond of mutual love which links the members of the Church together." — Bp. Kallistos Ware

"We live together with them (the saints in heaven), in the house of the Heavenly Father, only in different parts of it. We live in the earthly, they in the heavenly half; but we can converse with them, and they with us." — Fr. John of Kronstadt

"As shown in the icon, Mary is never alone but always with Christ. Thus prayer to her is the prayer of the Church with her to the incarnate Son." — Dr. N.A. Nissiotis

Discussion Questions

• The chapter says "warm veneration of the Theotokos and the Saints is the soul of Orthodox piety." Why might the saints be so central to Orthodox spiritual life, when many Protestant Christians feel that focusing on saints detracts from Christ?
• The chapter gives many definitions of sainthood. Which definition strikes you most powerfully and why? What does it reveal about what Orthodoxy means by holiness?
• We are told every baptized Christian is "called to be a saint." How does this challenge or expand the way you think about your own spiritual life? How does "saint in the making" reframe daily discipleship?
• The chapter insists saints are not mediators but intercessors. In practical terms, what is the difference? Why does this distinction matter theologically?
• The Communion of Saints means the Church Triumphant in heaven remains connected to the Church Militant on earth through love and prayer. What implications does this have for how you think about those who have died in Christ?
• Mary is described as the "New Eve" whose obedience counterbalances Eve's disobedience. How does this typology illuminate the Orthodox understanding of salvation as requiring human cooperation (synergy) with divine grace?
• The Orthodox Church does not dogmatize the Bodily Assumption of Mary, even while affirming it as a pious belief. What does this restraint reveal about Orthodox theological method compared to Rome?
• The saints are described as "God's Hall of Fame" and the heroes of our faith. The chapter suggests that we grow to be like the people we admire. What does this imply about the importance of giving children (and adults) saints as heroes?
• "A cloud of witnesses" fills the bleachers of heaven, cheering us on. How does this image transform the feeling of isolation that many modern Christians experience in their spiritual lives?
• The chapter states that veneration of saints serves "as a safeguard of the true faith and as a test of Orthodoxy." What does this mean? How can the lives and faith of the saints function as a theological norm?

Key Scripture References

• Romans 1:7 — "Called to be saints"
• 1 Corinthians 1:2 — "To those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints"
• Ephesians 2:19 — "Fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God"
• Hebrews 11 — God's Hall of Fame: the heroes of faith
• Hebrews 12:1-2 — "So great a cloud of witnesses"; "run with perseverance"
• 1 Timothy 2:5 — "One mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ"
• Philippians 1:23 — "Departed and is with Christ"
• Philippians 3:12,14 — "Pressing on toward the goal"
• Luke 1:38 — "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word"
• Luke 1:48 — "All generations will call me blessed"
• 1 Corinthians 12:26 — "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together"
• Matthew 11:28 — "Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden"
• Hebrews 4:15-16 — Christ as High Priest able to sympathize with our weaknesses
• 2 Corinthians 2:15-16 — "The aroma of Christ"
• 1 Corinthians 4:16 — "Be imitators of me"
• Philippians 3:14 — "Press on toward the goal"

Key Terms

• Theotokos (Greek: "God-bearer") — Mother of God; the title affirms the full divinity of the Person of Christ
• Aeiparthenos (Greek: "Ever-Virgin") — One of Mary's titles in Orthodox theology
• Panayia (Greek: "All-Holy") — The highest title for Mary among the saints
• Synergy — Cooperation between human free will and divine grace; exemplified in Mary's fiat
• Communion of Saints — The unbroken bond of love and prayer connecting the Church Triumphant (heaven) and the Church Militant (earth)
• Veneration — The honor given to saints; distinct from worship (latria), which is given to God alone
• Canonization — The formal process by which the Church officially recognizes a person as a saint
• Relics — The bodily remains of saints, venerated as Temples of the Holy Spirit that will rise again
• Hagios (Greek: "saint" or "holy") — Root meaning "not like anything else, different"
• Name Day — The feast day of one's patron saint; often more important to Orthodox Christians than one's birthday
• Dormition — The "Falling Asleep" of the Theotokos (August 15); the Orthodox approach to Mary's death and translation to heaven
• Intercessor — One who prays on behalf of others; saints are intercessors before God, not mediators

For Further Reading

• The Orthodox Church — Bp. Kallistos Ware
• Eastern Christendom — N. Zernov (Nicolas Zernov)
• The Orthodox Way — Bp. Kallistos Ware
• The Face of God — Fr. Anthony Coniaris
• My Life in Christ — Fr. John of Kronstadt