New Testament Saints
There is no one more filled with the Holy Spirit that she who is “full of grace,” the most holy Theotokos. Like her the holy prophet, forerunner and baptist John has a unique place among Christians as, in Christ’s own words, “among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist” (Mt 11:11). In addition to them, there are countless figures from every age in Christian history honored as saints by the various local Churches. In the Byzantine Churches it has become customary to consider the saints as belonging to one or another of the following categories:- Prophets – God’s Old Testament spokesmen such as Elias or Isaiah who called the Jews back to the true God and His ways whenever they strayed.
- Apostles – The Twelve closest followers of Christ as well as the Seventy who were their companions: eye-witnesses to the presence of Christ on earth.
- Evangelists – The Gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
- Hierarchs – Saintly bishops like Nicholas of Myra, Spyridon of Cyprus or Basil the Great.
- Righteous Ascetics – Giants in the monastic life, both men and women, including elders (guides in the spiritual life) and solitaries, living in forest or wilderness.
- Martyrs – Those who gave their lives witnessing to Christ, from the Great Martyrs of the Roman persecutions, such as St. Barbara and St. George, to the new martyrs who died under modern dictators or religious extremists.
- Hieromartyrs – Hierarchs and priests who sacrificed their own lives as well as offered the Divine Sacrifice of Christ.
- Confessors - Those who survived torture or imprisonment for the Lord but escaped with their lives, like St. Maximos the Confessor.
- Unmercenaries –Those who gave of their talents freely to help the poor and the sick, such as Ss. Cosmas and Damian.
- Fools for Christ – Those who pretended to be mentally incompetent so that their spiritual gifts would not be noticed and praised, like St. Xenia of Petersburg.
- Passionbearers – Those who accepted suffering, even death, rather than to repay violence with more violence.
Who “Makes” Saints?
Ultimately, of course, it is God who makes people holy by giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit. When people make this gift their own and live a heroic life in Christ, others recognize it. When a local Church recognizes that one of its sons or daughters has lived an exceptional Christian life and gives evidence that they are now in glory, it publicly proclaims him or her to be a saint. In the Eastern Orthodox Churches it is the local Church (such as the patriarchate of Constantinople or the Church of Greece) which declares saints. In the East this process is called glorification. In the West recognition of saints is called canonization (inclusion on the canon or list of saints) and is proclaimed by the Pope of Rome.What Do We Do with the Saints?
God has placed certain saints in our lives and we would be remiss if we ignored them. We have our patron saints (those whose name we bear) and those whose icons may be found in our home. Most of our parishes have patron saints as well. We do well to venerate their icons regularly, asking their intercession with prayers like these:Pray for me, St. N., for with fervor I come to you, speedy helper and intercessor for my soul. Holy Father/Mother N., pray to God for us.Observe their feast days according to the Church calendar. If there is no Liturgy scheduled, ask for one to be served in their honor. Why not?
From the Synaxarion
Our most godlike Fathers decreed that we should celebrate the present feast after the descent of the all-holy Spirit as showing in a certain way that the coming of the all-holy Spirit acted through the apostles like this: sanctifying and making wise human beings taken from our mortal clay and, to replace that fallen angelic order [the demons], restoring them through Christ and sending them to God – some by the witness of blood-martyrdom, others by their virtuous conduct and way of life. Thus things beyond nature are achieved…. This is one reason why we celebrate the feast of All Saints.
A second reason is because, though so many people have been well-pleasing to God, they were unknown to humanity by name or…because it was not easy to honor them all properly because of their vast numbers. And therefore, so that we may attract the help of them all… the godly Fathers ordained that we should celebrate this feast -all those in whom the Holy Spirit has dwelt He has made holy.
A third reason is this. It was necessary for the saints who are celebrated individually day by day to be gathered together on one day in order to demonstrate that, as they struggled for the one Christ and all ran the race in the same stadium of virtue, so they were all fittingly crowned as servants of one God and sustain the Church, having filled the world on high. They stir us also to accomplish the same struggle in its different and many forms, to the degree of power that each of us has, and to press onward with all eagerness.