Why do we give angels the title of "Saint"?

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Maybe "saint" implies something different than I thought?

But why do we call "St. Michael the Archangel" and so on?

I guess I look at "saint" as having more to do with one who is making a certain level of progress of theosis. But of course holy angels simply never fell.

But maybe "saint" is just a matter of one's relationship to God?
 

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it is an American/Western thing. Greek just uses the title holy (Agios) for saints and angels. pretty sure Slavonic does the same.

Ah, that makes more sense. I wasn't sure why, but Holy/Agios is fine. Something just "felt off" with St. Michael, St. Gabriel. I'm not saying it's wrong ... it just seems odd.

Thank you.
 
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~Anastasia~

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They are set apart for the purposes of God.

Hmmmm. But they have always been.

That would seem to imply humans we canonize to be becoming "like angels"?

Sorry, I have several trains of thought converging. :)

Thank you for the reply!
 
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buzuxi02

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The greek word saint- 'hagios' just means holy. This is why the great church in Constantinople Hagia Sofia translates as either Saint Sophia or as Holy Wisdom. ( sophia means wisdom in greek).

Paul uses the word the way it was used in the OT, Deut 7.6, Lev 20.26. In 1Chron 23.13 Aaron is set apart to be ' most holy', his duties are the same as the angels. See also 1 Pet 1.15-16
 
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Hmmmm. But they have always been.

That would seem to imply humans we canonize to be becoming "like angels"?
Well, angels have always been saints. Things that are set aside for the purposes of God are sainted things.

In a sense I suppose canonized human saints are being recognized as like angels, in the sense that angels are holy and the humans in question are also holy. But we aren't treating angels as the archetype of holiness here; that would be God.

To that effect, some Anglican churches are called "St. Saviour" i.e. Saint Christ.
 
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Well, angels have always been saints. Things that are set aside for the purposes of God are sainted things.

In a sense I suppose canonized human saints are being recognized as like angels, in the sense that angels are holy and the humans in question are also holy. But we aren't treating angels as the archetype of holiness here; that would be God.

To that effect, some Anglican churches are called "St. Saviour" i.e. Saint Christ.

St. Christ ... that just sounds wrong to me.

I guess it's just baggage I have attached to the word "saint". I don't have the same issue with Agios/Holy.

I thought maybe it was a bit of a silly question, but I'm glad I asked anyway. I learned several things.

I'll try not to get hung up on "Saint". But I prefer Holy. :)

That might mean "Lives of the Saints" can be said "Lives of the Holy".

I like that. :)


Thanks for the reply!
 
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~Anastasia~

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The greek word saint- 'hagios' just means holy. This is why the great church in Constantinople Hagia Sofia translates as either Saint Sophia or as Holy Wisdom. ( sophia means wisdom in greek).

Paul uses the word the way it was used in the OT, Deut 7.6, Lev 20.26. In 1Chron 23.13 Aaron is set apart to be ' most holy', his duties are the same as the angels. See also 1 Pet 1.15-16

Interesting. I'll look at those passages with that in mind - tomorrow. Must sleep now.

Thank you for the post!
 
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Yeah, it's an issue of English splitting a word with into two words with separate connotations when other languages keep it as one. This and the reverse happen all the time in translations. If you want to play it up as a good thing, this means that English is more precise about this than the original languages!
 
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buzuxi02

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I think the problem is the translation into english "saint" is actually 'holy ones'. Both in 1 thess3.13 and in Jude 14 the saints mentioned are a combination of angels and saints. In Luke 9.26 the angels are described as saintly (or as holy). In the LXX OT, holy ones tend to refer to angels as in psalm 89. In Dan 4.15,17 the 'saint' is in reference to an angel but in Dan 7.18, 22, 25 the saints are in reference to the holy people.

Anyhow saints simply mean 'holy ones'. The KJV interchanges the words . Daniel 8.13 in the KJV uses saint to refer to both the prophet and to an angel:

13 Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
 
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buzuxi02

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That might mean "Lives of the Saints" can be said "Lives of the Holy".


Thats exactly what it is. The lives of the saints are refered to as Hagiography. The first definition in a dictionary for Hayiography tends to be the 'writings of the lives of saints or venerated people'
 
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Because in English you have our vocabulary coming from 3 main sources, the original Anglo Saxon origins of the language, Latin, either directly from Latin or via French (which is a Romance or Latin base langauge) and Greek, mostly via ecclesiastical and academic sources.

So that is why you have in English something like this:

Heavenly (Anglo-Saxon)

Celestial (Latin)

so in the case of the word "saint" it literally means "holy" saint being from "sanctus" Latin for Holy.

It's simply that
 
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Therefore the angels are holy so they are "holy archangel ..."

It would make sense if we switch from saying saint to holy. If we did this it would come out sounding like:

"the Gospel according to Holy John" or "The epistle of Holy Paul to the Corinthians"

If you hear it like that it makes more sense. The Anglo Saxon word "holy" has kept the general meaning in English, whereas "saint" has become more narrow in its definition.
 
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