Saints and the TheotokosYou can't have much contact with the Orthodox Church without running into the saints. They are everywhere. Their icons adorn the walls of churches and homes, cars, book covers, and greeting cards. Their names grace churches and worshippers alike. In every service they are commemorated, singly and in the aggregate, and their intercessions are invoked. It is clear that they form an important and integral part of the life of the Church. Who are these people, and why do we honor them so highly? Isn't it enough just to have a personal relationship with God?
In the Orthodox viewpoint, there is really no such thing as a "personal" relationship with God-in the sense of a relationship between God and an individual, excluding all other individuals. We do relate to God as persons, but as persons who are part of a whole, an enormous worshipping Body that includes all other Christians, both those on earth and those in heaven. We are not saved in isolation; we are saved as part of a family, the family of God. That family includes the Saints.
The root meaning of "saint" is "one set apart." In one sense, all the faithful are saints, set apart from the world to the service of God. But those whom we honor as Saints with a capital "S" are those whose service to God has been of a demonstrably high order-those who gave themselves to Him so completely that His light, His Divine Energy, could shine through them to illuminate the world. When we honor these saints, we are actually celebrating what the Holy Spirit has done in their lives. They would be nothing without Him. Their whole life's purpose was to point us to God.
When we honor (or "venerate") the saints, when we pray before their icons and even kiss them,
we are not worshipping the saints; worship belongs to God alone. Nor are we praying to them-they are not mediators, for Christ is the only Mediator between God and man. Rather, we are praying with them, and asking them to pray for us. We ask their prayers just as we would ask the prayers of our living relatives and friends. We are all together members of the family of God.
Those whom the Church officially recognizes as saints are only a small fraction of all the saints in heaven. Most of those who have gained the Kingdom of heaven are unknown to the world. Those who are known are regarded as the Heroes of the Faith. They come from all ages, from all races, from both sexes, from all places and walks of life. Some were martyrs for the Faith, like St. Lawrence; some gave their lives to Christ through monastic asceticism; some were apostles, teachers, or missionaries; some were fools for Christ, like
St. Xenia; others lived as outwardly ordinary married men and women in the world. There are even whole families of saints, such as St. Sophia and her three young daughters, Faith, Hope, and Charity, who were all martyred; or that great family of theologian-ascetics, St. Basil the Elder and St. Emilia with their children, St. Macrina the Younger, St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Peter of Sebaste, and St. Theosevia. What they all have in common is that they achieved in their lifetime, purity of heart, illumination, and deification; that is, they became like Christ.
As Christ loves His people, then, His saints also love us, their brethren here on earth. They love to pray for us, to inspire us with their example. We honor them, not out of duty, but out of love. They are our older brothers and sisters, our fathers and mothers, in the Faith. They surround us like a "great cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), cheering us on from the sidelines as we run our race to the finish.