After singing the praises of the Theotokos in many diverse manners, we close the doxology for the Virgin for the Coptic month of Kiahk by praying "We ask you to remember us, O our faithful advocate, before our Lord Jesus Christ, that He may forgive us our sins."
This is what the saints are: our advocates. They in no way take the place of our Lord Jesus Christ as the one mediator before God the Father (as it is Christ specifically Who rightfully sits at the right hand of the Father), but this does not mean that their prayers don't avail much, as testified to in holy scripture already given, and in the life of the Church and its faithful since the beginning. It is right that we should look to them as our models, as they have gone where we too hope to go -- they have run the race until the end. And so, just as (for instance) St. Athanasius the Apostolic learned at the feet of St. Anthony the Father of the Monks, or St. Besa at the feet of St. Shenouda the Archimandrite, or St. Ignatius at the feet of St. John, and so forth, we today learn and progress through the Christian life not as atomized units on a solitary road, but as those who struggle, but with the aid of millions of advocates who hope and pray along with us, who we may draw from strength and examples so as to never be alone in the fight against the snares of the devil.
Recall Ecclesiastes 4:9-12:
Two are better than one,
Because they have a good reward for their labor.
For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
But woe to him who is alone when he falls,
For he has no one to help him up.
Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm;
But how can one be warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.
And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
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If this is the case with regard to a few (and it is), then how much more can the like be said of the many, as in the case of the Theotokos and all of the saints?
