Saints

[tansy]

A conversation on the chatbox made me wonder.

How many patron saints are there altogether, and how did they decide who is the patron saint of what, and do you think they could run out of saints eventually to cover all things?

Is there for example a patron saint for space travel? (Astronauts and that)

 

[therockismighty]

thats a good question...... why are they needed?

God covers all these areas....

 

[tansy]

thats a good question...... why are they needed?

God covers all these areas....

I'm not sure I can get my head round the notion of patron saints either...but I would like to know the answers to my questions - and perhaps someone COULD also respond to whether or not they're needed, and how they view them - sorry if I'm not phrasing this very well...I'm extremely tired having been up most of last night, as grandkid had to go to hospital, but he was ok.

 

[tansy]

...

 

[Dorothea]

Here's some info I was able to find for you, tansy:

A patron saint is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Since the time of the early Christians up to the present, a vast number of patron saints have been recorded.


Against demons and witchcraft

• Ss. Cyprian & Justina (October 2)
• St. Mitrophan of Voronezh (November 23, August 7)
• St. Theodore the Sykeote (April 22)

Against drinking

• Holy Martyr Boniface & the Righteous Aglais (June 5)

Against the plague

• St. Bessarion of the Saviour, Archbishop of Larissa (September 15)
• St. Haralambos (February 10)
• St. Marina the Great Martyr (July 17)

Delivery from sudden death

• St. Barbara the Great Martyr (December 4)

For a good end to one's life

• Holy Archangel Michael (November 8)
• St. Niphon, Patriarch of Constantinople (September 14)

For animals and livestock

• Holy Martyr Mamas (September 2)
• Ss. Speusippus, Eleusippus, and Meleusippus: horses (January 16)
• St. George: cattle & herds (April 23)
• St. Modestus of Jerusalem (December 18)
• St. Parthenius of Radovizlios: cattle (July 21)
• St. Tryphon: geese (February 1)

For captives and court cases

• St. George the Great Martyr (April 23)
• St. Onouphrios the Great (June 12)
• St. Peter of Athos (June 12)
• St. Simeon the God-Receiver (February 3)

For care and protection of infants

• St. Stylianos (November 26)

For chastity and help in carnal warfare

• Holy Martyr Ignatios of Athos (October 8)
• Holy Martyr Theodore the Byzantine (February 17)
• St. Anysia the Virgin Martyr (December 30)
• St. Basil of Mangazea (March 23)
• St. Demetrios the Great Martyr (October 26)
• St. John the Forerunner (August 29)
• St. John the Much-Suffering (July 18)
• St. Joseph the All-Comely (the Patriarch; Holy Monday)
• St. Martinian (February 13)
• St. Mary of Egypt (April 1 and the Sunday of St. Mary of Egypt)
• St. Moses the Hungarian (July 26)
• St. Susanna (Old Testament; December 17)
• St. Thomais (April 13 or 14)

For children

• St. Nicholas of Myra (December 6)

For church chanting

• Ss. Leonty and Geronty, Canonarchs of Kievo-Pechersk (July 18 and April 1)
• St. John Koukouzelis (October 1)
• St. Romanos the Melodist (October 1)
• St. Theodosius of Chernigov (February 5)

For cobblers

• St. Eustathius the Cobbler of Georgia (July 29)

For ears

• St. Spyridon the Wonderworker (December 12)

For eyes

• St. Lucia of Sicily (December 13)
• St. Paraskevi (July 26)

For finding employment

• St. Xenia of St. Petersburg (January 24)

For finding things

• St. Menas the Great Martyr of Egypt (November 11)
• St. Phanourios the Great Martyr (August 27)

For guilelessness and simplicity

• Holy Apostle Nathaniel (April 22)
• St. Paul the Simple (March 7)

For headaches

• Holy New Martyr Demas of Smyrna (April 10)

For help against quick-temper and despondency

• St. Tikhon of Zadonsk (August 13)

For help in distress or poverty

• St. John of Kronstadt (December 20)
• St. John the Almsgiver of Alexandria (November 12)
• St. Martin of Tours, the Merciful (November 12)
• St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (December 6)

For help in studies

• St. John of Kronstadt (December 20)
• St. Justin the Philosopher (June 1)
• St. Nestor the Chronicler of Kievo-Pechersk (October 27)
• St. Sergius of Radonezh (September 25)
• Three Hierarchs: St. Basil the Great, St. John Chrysostom, St. Gregory the Theologian (January 30)

For hernias and intestinal disorders

• Holy Great Martyr Artemius of Antioch (October 20)
• St. Artemius of Verkola (June 23 and October 20)

For iconographers

• St. Alypius of Kievo-Pechersk (August 17)
• St. Luke the Apostle and Evangelist (October 18)
• St. John of Damascus (December 4)

For marital difficulties

• Holy Martyrs Shamuna, Guria, and Habib (November 15)
• Ss. Peter and Febronia of Muron: also for newlyweds (June 25)

For meeting a difficult situation

• Holy Archangel Raphael (November 8)
• Ss. Cosmas and Damian and their brothers Anthimus, Leontius, and Evropius of Arabia (October 17)
• Ss. Cosmas and Damian and their mother Theodoti of Asia Minor (November 1)
• Ss. Cosmas and Damian of Rome (July 1)
• Ss. Cyrus and John of Alexandria (January 31)
• Ss. Panteleimon and Hermolaus (July 27 and July 26)
• St. Anicetus (August 12)
• St. David the Prophet, Psalmist, and King (Sunday of the Forefathers and the Sunday following the Nativity)
• St. Diomedes the Healer (August 16)
• St. John of Kronstadt (December 20)
• St. Julian the Martyr (June 21)
• St. Mocius (May 11)
• St. Nectarios of Aegina (november 9)
• St. Thallelaus (Armenian saint)
• St. Zoticos the Orphan-Keeper (December 30 or 31)
• The Holy Unmercenaries and Healers

For mental disorders

• St. Anastasia (October 12)
• St. Gerasimos of Cephalonia: the possessed (August 16)
• St. Naum of Ochrid (June 20)

For patient endurance of affliction

• Holy Forty Martyrs of Sebastia: especially in freezing cold weather
• Holy Forty-Two Martyrs of Amorion
• Righteous Job the Much-Suffering (May 6)
• St. Eustathius Placidas & Family (September 20)
• St. Pimen the Much-Suffering of Kievo-Pechersk (August 7)

For the rest, go to this link:
http://orthodoxwiki.org/Patron_saint

 

[MrPolo]

As Scripture states, the prayer of a holy person is very powerful. And our personalities lend themselves well to certain empathies. For instance, I probably have a greater capacity to understand the suffering of a graduate student's studies than I would a sailor or scuba diver. My prayer for the former comes out of me with a more personal, empathetic vigor. Thus, I am a "better" patron for scholars than scuba divers.

Of course, whoever said earlier that you can pray to God for anything is correct. But we of course saw Paul ask others to pray for him (eg Rm 15:30), so that is where the idea of praying for each other comes from.

 

[Sphinx777]

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, or person. Patron saints, because they have already transcended to the metaphysical, are able to intercede effectively for the needs of their special charges. Some consider it a special devotion to God by displaying humility in asking a saint for intercession rather than expecting to be answered themselves.


List Of Patron Saints...


Patron Saints Of Ailments, Illness And Dangers

Patron Saints Of Occupations And Activities

Patron Saints Of Places

Patronage Of The Blessed Virgin Mary


See Also...


Calendar Of Saints

List Of Blesseds

List Of Saints

Saint Symbology

Slava

​

 

[Dorothea]

Sorry, double post.

 

[Dorothea]

Here's some excellent info on the Saints (excerpts):

Thus, when St. Justin looks at the Lives of the Saints, he does so in the light of the God-man. Real and true life—eternal life in God—became possible only with the Incarnation, death and Resurrection of the Saviour, and this life is the Life of the Saints. St. Justin saw the Lives of the Saints as bearing witness to one life: the Life in Christ.

St. Justin wrote: "What are Christians? Christians are Christ-bearers, and, by virtue of this, they are bearers and possessors of eternal life. The Saints are the most perfect Christians, for they have been sanctified to the highest degree with the podvigs of holy faith in the risen and eternally living Christ, and no death has power over them. Their life is entirely Christ's life; and their thought is entirely Christ's thought; and their perception is Christ's perception. All that they have is first Christ's and then theirs. In them is nothing of themselves but rather wholly and in everything the Lord Christ." [1]

The Saints live in Christ, but Christ also lives in them through His Divine Energies, His Grace. And where Christ is, there is the Father and the Holy Spirit also. Christ says, Abide in Me, and I in you; and elsewhere He says, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 15:4; 14:23).

This is an amazing thing that St. Justin is saying: when we read the Lives of the Saints, we are reading the Life of our Lord Jesus Christ. This in itself should be enough to convince us of the importance of filling our souls with the Lives of the Saints.

I spoke recently to an Orthodox priest who had converted to Orthodoxy from Protestantism. He told me that, when he was received into the Church, the officiating priest told him: "You will never be truly Orthodox without reading the Lives of the Saints." Later, when he himself became a priest, he found that the most pious people in the churches are those who read the Lives of the Saints, and that those who make the most progress in the spiritual life are those who read the Saints' Lives.
The Orthodox Faith is not, first of all, of the head. First of all, it is of the heart: it is felt

and believed by the heart. Through the Lives of the Saints, we develop an Orthodox heart. Our monastery's co-founder, Fr. Seraphim Rose, emphasized constantly this "Orthodoxy of the heart," especially in his writings and talks at the end of his life; and he frequently referred to Lives of the Saints as a means of developing this.

St. John (Maximovitch) himself wrote beautiful words about the Saints. These words well express what he saw as the essence of sanctity, as well as the blueprint of his own life. "Holiness is not simply righteousness," St. John wrote, "for which the righteous merit the enjoyment of blessedness in the Kingdom of God, but rather it is 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 the 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." [13]

The Place of Lives of Saints in the Spiritual Life

 

[Dorothea]

Again, sorry. Had problems posting.

 

[Zebra1552]

Why do we need saints?

 

[SpiritDriven]

This Patron Saint stuff....looks like the worship of Angels that the Bible warns against.

Simply put, every human being that has ever lived is dead and asleep in the dust of the Earth. (I think Elija is the only exception)

Every one of them that believed in Jesus will be a Saint one day.
Those of us who are alive in the Flesh at the moment....who believe in Jesus...are right at this very moment SAINTS!

That is how it works.....yep....you are a Saint in Christ Jesus...pretty neat eh!

Peace

 

[Thekla]

Why do we need saints?

What's up with Apostles, too

 

[Zebra1552]

What's up with Apostles, too

Apostles are cited numerous times in the Bible as people in authority and as a gift of the Spirit. Saints are not, they're just there. I wonder why Catholics make such a big deal of them.

 

[Thekla]

Apostles are cited numerous times in the Bible as people in authority and as a gift of the Spirit. Saints are not, they're just there. I wonder why Catholics make such a big deal of them.

But why have Apostles (who are Saints, btw) ? Couldn't God do it alone ?

 

[Zebra1552]

I stand by my question, Thekla. I'd like a Catholic to answer if they could.

 

[Polycarp1]

Why do we need saints?

Well, considering that a saint is, at rock bottom, any person who has accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior, it becomes obvious why saints are an integral par5t of Christianity -- it's a religion of repentant sinners being made holy -- being sanctified.

The liturgical churches recognize particular saints who have entered into glory as especial examples of holiness, Christian wisdom, compassion, etc., and holds them up to the Faithful as models for following Christ. (The one thing Christ is not useful for is as an example of how to follow Him.) Sometimes this can be overdone, so that there seems to be a line between the Saints -- those officially recognized as saints -- and the rest of us poor sods. But we are all saints.

One thing that people miss is that usually an individual feels an affinity for a particular saint: Elizabeth of Hungary and Francis of Assisi for my wife, Polycarp of Smyrna for me (hence my user name on CF). In short, you pick your own patron, or to be more accurate, you see the fit between you and your patron, and accept his patronage.

And, though you get all kinds of stories, at rock bottom what your patron saint does is to pray in your behalf at the throne of the Most High. That you can ask him to intercede for you is God's mercy in allowing that communication. There are occasional accounts of apparitions of saints, miracles worked through a saint, etc. It needs to be clear that not all such stories are valid, and that whatever happens is God at work -- in much the same way as you doing something you know to be God's will for you to do at that time are a human doing His work, and it is actually God working through you that causes any positive spiritual results.

Does God need saints? Or their intercession? No, of course not. He doesn't need you or me, either -- He didn't even need the Incarnation or the Atonement. They are gifts of His grace and mercy, to a humanity some of whom need examples and intercessors. (Simon, I feel I have been told to tell you to read the 14th chapter of Romans before you reply. So I am posting this; if I am amiss in doing so, pray forgive me -- I'm doing as I feel bid to do.)

 

[Thekla]

I stand by my question, Thekla. I'd like a Catholic to answer if they could.

And I stand by mine
In fact, I think the questions are nearly the same.

 

[Zebra1552]

Saints as the CC defines them are a BIT different than how the Bible defines them.

 

[E.C.]

This Patron Saint stuff....looks like the worship of Angels that the Bible warns against.

Simply put, every human being that has ever lived is dead and asleep in the dust of the Earth. (I think Elija is the only exception)

Every one of them that believed in Jesus will be a Saint one day.
Those of us who are alive in the Flesh at the moment....who believe in Jesus...are right at this very moment SAINTS!

That is how it works.....yep....you are a Saint in Christ Jesus...pretty neat eh!

Peace

Everyone is a saint, but some are Saints.

Just like everyone is a baseball player, but some are Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson or Nolan Ryan.


The Saints are great to look to for inspiration. They are the Church Triumphant, we are the Church Militant. How can we know that it is possible to "finish the race" if we do not look to those who have, the Church Triumphant, for additional inspiration and edification?