Concerning the Orthodox Church’s teaching on the intercession of saints, heretics often argue that it is both idolatrous and unbiblical. When the Orthodox Christian is challenged on this matter, they are forced to respond to at least one of the following objections: ‘How could the saints hear your prayers if they are dead?’, ‘praying to saints is idolatry!”, “where is that in the Bible?”, & “the Bible says that there is only one Mediator between God and Man.”
It is important to note that the Holy Orthodox Church does not by any means disagree with the latter statement presented above, given that this comes directly from Divine Revelation itself (c.f. 1 Timothy 2:5, Heb 8:6, 9:15, 12:25, etc). Before we address the objections to the doctrine of the intercession of the saints, it is necessary to first define Christ’s role as the Mediator between God and man in detail.
First, why is Jesus called the Mediator? In the original Greek, the word for mediator is μεσίτης (mesités), which the Greek lexicon of James Strong defines as: “go-between, i.e. an Internunciator, or a reconciler”, or more specifically, “one who intervenes between two, either in order to make or restore peace and friendship, or to form a compact, or for ratifying a covenant” (STRONGS NT 3316).
This title belongs to Jesus Christ alone for obvious reasons, namely, because it was by the offering of the His life giving and most precious Flesh and Blood that we entered into the New Covenant; (c.f. Jeremiah 38:31, Matthew 26:26-28), reconciling the relationship between God and Humanity that was tarnished through our disobedience to His First Commandment given to us in the garden:
“And the Lord God commanded Adam, saying, “You may eat food from every tree in the garden; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you may not eat; for in whatever day you eat from it, you shall die by death” (Genesis 2:16-17).
This is why Jesus, the Eternal Logos and Creator of all things, came to restore the original state of humanity which we once had prior to the fall; by shedding His very own Blood on the Eternal Altar and Tree of Life; the most precious Cross as both the High Priest and the very Offering itself (c.f. John 1:1,14, Colossians 1:14-16,20-22, Hebrews 7:26-27). It was because of this that He alone deserves the title of Mediator, as He offered up the most perfect sacrifice of His pure and life giving flesh and blood for our sake, willfully taking the punishment that we deserved upon Himself (c.f. 1 Thess 1:10, Roman’s 5:9).
This explains why in the Coptic Orthodox Church, the priest prays:
“O only-begotten Son, God, the Logos, who loved us, and through His love, He desired to redeem us from eternal perdition. And since death was in the way of our redemption, Не desired to go through it out of His love for us. And thus He ascended upon the Cross that He may bear the punishment of our sins. We are the ones who sinned, and He is the One who suffered. We are the ones who were indebted to the divine justice because of our sins, and He was the One who paid off the debts on our behalf.” – (The Fraction to the Son: Only Begotten Son).
He likewise prays:
“O Christ of God, who through Your death have slain death that had slain all … O You who receive the offerings, who have offered Yourself in place of sinners, accept our repentance, we, who are sinners.” – The Fraction to the Son of God: ‘O Lamb of God’.
Given that this is the Church’s theology, She refers to nobody except Christ as the Mediator, as He, being Incarnate God, was the only one capable of saving the human race (c.f. Revelations 5:5-9) that He created.
The Holy Church in no way attributes this to the angels and saints. The evidence is within the prayers of the Liturgy, which says:
“For when You desired to save me, You did not send me an angel nor an archangel nor a cherub nor a prophet. Rather You alone descended from Your Father’s bosom to the womb of the Virgin” – (Fraction to the Son: O You the Being).
Considering the prayers of the Church’s Liturgy which St. Basil says contains Her dogmas (see De Spiritu Sancto), again, we can see that the Church does not consider them to be mediators, deities, or substitutes of Christ. Nor do we pray to them as to God, or worship them. In fact, in another fraction, the Church stresses that they are all subject to Him and worship Him alone, being an example for us to imitate:
“Behold, Immanuel our God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world, is with us today on this table; who is seated on the throne of His glory, and before whom stand all the heavenly orders; whom the angels praise with voices of blessing and before whom the archangels fall down and worship” (Fraction to the Father for the Feasts of the Virgin and Angels: ‘Behold, Immanuel our God’).
This concludes our first point, which refutes any accusation of idolatry, which the Church’s countless liturgical prayers rebuke, and also what many of the Saints have ironically denied and diligently resisted; even to the point of persecution, blood, and death.
As we chant in the Coptic Melody of St. Demiana, who refused to worship the idols:
“Idols do not help on the Day of Judgment, and gods did not satisfy, the requests of man.”
Are the Saints ‘Dead’?
Regarding the former point: “How can the saints hear your prayers”, which is sometimes accompanied by “The dead have no knowledge of what takes place on earth”, my response is as follows:
As we have previously discussed, Christ is the Only Mediator between God and man, as He is the High Priest who offered Himself for our sake that we may have eternal life in Him (John 3:16). In addition, the very Incarnate Word had instituted the holy Sacrament of Baptism, by which we become incorporated into His life giving Body; making us incorruptible through His Grace (1 Cor 15:42-45, c.f. Galatians 3:27 & Romans 6:3-11) as through it we enter His Kingdom, be it by water or even by blood (c.f. John 3:5 & Mark 8:35). This of course extends to the departed in Christ, who have eternal life. This is why Christ was very clear: “God is not a God of the dead, but the living” (Matthew 22:32),
If those who are unfortunately damned have some form of acknowledgement or remembrance of those still on earth (Luke 16:27-28), how much more those in heaven who are in Christ? (Revelations 6:9-11). By the grace of God, all of us are partakers of the general priesthood of Christ which gives us the ability to not only pray for ourselves, but one another (1 Peter 2:9, c.f. James 5:16).
The apostle Peter says:
“Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” – 1 Peter 2:4-5.
Would anyone dare to say that the elect-departed cease being ‘living stones’ once they leave this earth, even though this is a result of being saved?
To add, the Apostle John testified that the elders and angels in heaven rise our prayers to God’s very throne:
“Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints” & “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand” (Revelations 5:8, 8:3-4).
Case in point, certainly then nobody can claim that the Church’s teaching is unbiblical. Nor can anybody in sound and right faith assert that the saints who have departed from this temporal life are “dead”, or that they are not conscious of our request for their prayers, or that they are incapable of helping us. If we ask for each other’s prayers while on earth, and pray for one another, and perform acts of charity (love) for each other which is an icon of the Kingdom, how much more in paradise? For those who continue to stubbornly object to the Church’s teaching on this matter, and still suggest that the saints are not conscious in the after life, the burden of proof is for them to explain how the departed and righteous prophet Moses was capable to speaking with Christ on the Mountain (Deut 34:5-7, c.f. Matthew 17:3-5).
There are also several other references in the scriptures which point to saintly intercession, some of which can even be found within the Old Testament. One example which is indisputable is:
“And it came to pass, as they were burying a man, they beheld a lightly armed band of raiders, and cast the man into the tomb of Elisha. When the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet.” – 2 Kings 13:21.
It is worth noting that even the centurion acknowledged that Christ had the ability to send his angels to heal his servant; which also supports the intercession of the saints.
“And Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.” The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” – Matthew 8:7-9
Commenting on this verse, St. Augustine speaks in the person of the Centurion and says:
“ I am an authority to certain who are placed under me, being myself placed under a certain authority above me. If then I a man under authority have the power of commanding, what power must Thou have, whom all powers serve?” – Sermon XII.
These would be the same powers of heaven that the Three Holy Youth mentioned in their hymn:
“Bless the Lord, all you powers of the Lord, And sing a hymn to Him, And exalt Him beyond measure unto the ages.” (Daniel 3:61).
Granted; the Church on heaven and on earth are inseparable, as the Church is His Kingdom and His Body (1 Corinthians 1:13). Ideas which suggest that Christ could be divided would fall into the heretical category of Nestorianism.
Finally, the Apostle Paul assured us that we are indeed surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1), which is what many of the earliest Christians had full confidence in.
For evidence from the Earliest Christians, see here.
Faith Unto Ages 